Got in for a dive this morning in Falmouth bay.
Looking at the flat calm sea and feeling the warm sun on your face, one could be excused for thinking that a foray into the drink would not be unproductive! Well in typical British fashion I suited up and gracefully fell into the cold sea (doing the put-your-fins-on dance) with a stiff upper lip, hopeful and half-expectant of seeing some silvers. I must have seen at least ten different species.... of jellyfish - which stoked the fires of good old British Disappointment some more. There were however lots of tiny sandeels, normal sized sandeels, large launce, and more even larger launce - so many of such great size that if you cared to shake a stick at them, the stick would run away scared. They must have been 18 inches long, and most certainly not garfish! I urinated. Now, usually when you can see the seabed from dry land it is a sign that you're looking at a dry beach over low tide or at a postcard. Well, the visibility reassured me that I hadn't in fact become confused and this really was the spearfisherman's dream. At least in the UK. In May. At the weekend.
I digress.
Progress was rather slow, searching out large Pollock for a fish pie proved to be easy enough but their ability to stay beyond range of a 75cm gun was uncanny. Undoubtedly their ability to stay beyond the range of a 110cm gun would be equally uncanny. Perhaps its better to convince oneself that the solution cannot be solved by dousing the problem in money and buying a bigger gun, but instead just to accept ineptitude and concentrate on bettering breath-holds and cunning.
After 40 minutes the cold (which actually onset within the first 6 seconds) was becoming unbearable so I returned to the shallows for some flattie bashing. The term bashing should be taken with a pinch of salt.
The particular spot where they are seen here tends to be in 1 gully about 20m from the shore, 2-4hrs after high tide in about 1.5 - 2m of water. It is necessary to hunt them drifting downtide, and with the sun in front of you so as not to spook them with clumsy shadows. Interestingly, every flattie I have seen here has been found facing
downtide which makes the hunting tactic particularly easy. Has anyone else noted this?
The result was one fat flounder, possibly 14" inches or so in length. I'll take a picture and upload later.
It would be nice to know where to bag a plaice down here, as surely this season will be good for them with the water staying cold this early.
