Cornwall Spearfishing 2006

[Mr. X]

...stuff them under my weightbelt if I dont have a float (be careful what they can reach with their claws though...

rofl Owwwcha! That would be an extreme case of crabs!

BTW Anybody use a crab hook? I bought one last year but haven't really found any use for it. It has a spike at the other end which I believe is intended for flatties. Perhaps more of a scuba diver tool?

 

[Andrew@Rockface]

BTW Anybody use a crab hook? I bought one last year but haven't really found any use for it. It has a spike at the other end which I believe is intended for flatties. Perhaps more of a scuba diver tool?

I used to use one way back when with my nan. Used to get huge crabs with it. Made my own recently but not had any luck so far. Wouldn't use one whilst diving though, 'specially skin-diving. Go out to the rockpools and find a deep hole (usually hidden in the weed around the sides of the pools). Poke the hook in and wiggle it until you feel a crab grab it, then gently ease the crab from the hole.

 

[Robbo66]

lol, I can just imagine a crowd of people gathering on the rocks to watch some guy playing with his lobster in a rock pool, little do they know he's in training to land many more in the future rofl

Excellent idea, I must give that a try sometime, they're tricky little bliters! I've only ever come across 2 and successfully landed one of 1.2K, being more fish orientated in my diving. It's illegal to use tongs or spear them here in France and I'm fairly sure it is also the case in Ireland, perhaps Huan could enlighten us?

Hi Paddy,

My inlaws live in Rennes, with a place in Erquy. The Beau Pere teaches Apnea and Spearfishing in association with Subchandlers, Jean Christophe and Roland. Meet every wednesday. Also friendly with Yannick Haugan, national champ from a few years ago. Classes run at main pool in Rennes every wednesday.

All the best , Rob

 

[paddythefrog]

cheers robbo! I'm away on holidays from the 14th of July until the 20th of August. This weekend is taken by a wedding but we're managing to get a dive in on Saturday before the evenings festivities :martial

probably Brequigny where they do their training? It's the only olympic sized swimming pool in town and I live right next door to a smaller 30m pool which serves me well so I don't often wander over there but it's not far, I live right in the middle of town and get out diving on the north and west coast at every available opportunity.

Will be in touch

 

[Robbo66]

cheers robbo! I'm away on holidays from the 14th of July until the 20th of August. This weekend is taken by a wedding but we're managing to get a dive in on Saturday before the evenings festivities :martial

probably Brequigny where they do their training? It's the only olympic sized swimming pool in town and I live right next door to a smaller 30m pool which serves me well so I don't often wander over there but it's not far, I live right in the middle of town and get out diving on the north and west coast at every available opportunity.

Will be in touch

The pool is indeed Brequigny, very old but a classic. I used to train there when over on wednesdays. Beau parents in St Jaques de la lande. Got married in Rennes, beautiful. The fish market on Saturdays is cracking.
I'm there (erquy) from 14th to 29th August, tend to fish outlying outcrops with 5m rib. Nothing inshore. Let me know if you want to dive at soem point.
Cheers,
Rob

 

[paddythefrog]

excellent, you've got mail robbo

 

[Crispin]

"the Manacles"

.....You can swim it from porthoustock we used to all the time but be aware of tides - low water out there is approx 2 hours after low on the beach but its never exact. Avoid spring tides. I'd say unless you really like long surface swims it a boat dive......

Ahh the memories......

 

[Mr. X]

Just booked a caravan down on the E. coast of the Lizard, end of next month. Lucky, the first 4 places we looked at were all booked up. Should probably have booked the first place we looked at which was closer to Penzance & non-spearing activities. Tough break, the Lizard looks like it'll be mainly spearing, fishing & kayaking...:hmm, tough break.

Also managed to order a rod & reel from http://www.jims.org.uk in Redruth. Nothing fancy, but enough to do the job properly (I hope). I was lucky to get some great advice (off the forum esp. the guys in Guernsey, Magpie & ADM, & from Dr. Mike Ladle, thanks). Just hope no more bills come in...

 

[podge]

Just booked a caravan down on the E. coast of the Lizard, end of next month. Lucky, the first 4 places we looked at were all booked up. Should probably have booked the first place we looked at which was closer to Penzance & non-spearing activities. Tough break, the Lizard looks like it'll be mainly spearing, fishing & kayaking...:hmm, tough break.

Also managed to order a rod & reel from http://www.jims.org.uk in Redruth. Nothing fancy, but enough to do the job properly (I hope). I was lucky to get some great advice (off the forum esp. the guys in Guernsey, Magpie & ADM, & from Dr. Mike Ladle, thanks). Just hope no more bills come in...

Mr.X where to on the lizard and when are you down there?
The family and myself are down their next week and Stuckinsurrey and myself are down for a long weekend at the end of the month.
What rod and reel have you bought?

 

[Mr. X]

Lizard, rod & reel

Mr.X where to on the lizard and when are you down there?
The family and myself are down their next week and Stuckinsurrey and myself are down for a long weekend at the end of the month.
What rod and reel have you bought?

Hi Podge,

Re. the Lizard
I will pm you full details. We'll be staying near Coverack on the East side of the Lizard .(Any suggestions for locations would be much appreciated. Any Cornish/Devon spearos that might like to meet up, let me know too).

Re. the Rod

I was looking for a lure/spinning rod that I could use for freshwater & seafishing. I wanted it to be good with small spinners & big lures. Basically, the style of fishing described by Dr. Mike Ladel in the bass section of his on-line book.

The rod I went for is a 10 foot Shakespeare Royalty -- the least expensive, long carbon, 2 piece spinning with a cork handle with a lure rating of 10-60g I could find. It arrived today and looks great. Thinner, lighter & with more eyelets (7) than I had expected. It has a folding hook loop. Appearance, feel & build quality appear similar to Shimano (v. good). The site above had the best price I could find.

Several v. experienced people suggested a carp rod might be a better & more versatile - however, I had already researched the spinning rods available and didn't have the heart to back track. Long rods are generally recommended (a guy at work reckons he has an 18 foot & 20 foot rod - I think he was serious(?)) -- the experts seem to use 11 foot. There is an 11 foot Shakespeare Royalty (& 9/8/7 too, I think) I went for 10 as it is the longest that will fit my Lidl's rod/speargun bag. However, the rod came with its own lightweight rod bag. (I have an old 13 foot Shakespeare fibre glass course rod too, quite light but in need of a new eyelet -- the new rod is much slimmer & lighter). These rods are so light & slim that even a small child could easily handle them (watch the power lines though!).

If you are looking to spend more money, consider the Daiwa Whisker spinning rod (9/10/11 foot) and, perhaps the ultimate for this sort of fishing, Veal's Daiwa-made Mike Ladel rod (11ft 2 piece or 4 piece 10 ft).

BTW The XL version of the Royalty has spigot joints...which I think one of my old glass fibre rods had. The joints on the regular version are very good though -- the same as Nick Nack's Shimano rod.

eBay sometimes has bargain, more often though, you can get a better deal from an on-line store.

Re. the Reel
I got the Leeda NorthStar 60 RD, as I saw it included in several kits on other sites, it usually sells at a significantly higher price elsewhere and it seemed higher quality (5 bearings & 2 spool!) than most reels at this price. Now that I have received it, I will say that it is a bigger, heavier & more butch than I had expected. Definitely a sea reel ("surfcasting reel"). Lucky I also bought 600m of 10lb clear line (£2) -- as this reel has a bigger capacity than I was looking for (320 yds of 12lb - I was looking for 150+yds of 10lb). So I have partially padded the spool with cellotape - an old course fishing idea. The reel came with 2 spools, I filled the "graphite" one with the 10lb - I may put something stronger on the aluminium spool (12.5lb?/braid?).

If you like big reels, this is great value. However, it is less refined & sophisticated than Nick Nacks little Shimano 2000 - which always moves the bail arm to the right spot for casting (one handed casting is supported too - never use it though). In hindsight, I think a smaller reel, perhaps a 2000/2500/3000/4000 would be adequate and would have suited me better (compact & lightweight) -- I would think this reel is 4000-6000-ish(?). However the Shimano reels are not without their drawbacks, the newer ones have a reputation for tangling at the end of a cast - we have noticed this ourselves & also the line generally twists more than I would expect.

It has several neat feature: rear drag, on-spool line clip, big "fighting" handle (for big fish?).

To me, it looks like all the reels made today are made in the same factory in China(/Taiwan) and just have different badges/cosmetics added -- but I am cynical .

Line
Several of the experts recommended braid over mono (better feel & strength for similar diameter) but I am trying to get set up relatively cheaply at first... I can always upgrade later; as a diver, I have some reservations about using super strong lines. I also came across a US Bass Pro (yes they have professional bass fishermen) that always uses clear mono (others have recommended clear too).

Other
As well as the 600 of 10lb clear line, I got a couple of big Eddystone eels (17cm & 22cm) for the handline ...hope we might get some bigger fish behind the yak next time! The big Eddystone eels have some weight & could probably be cast without additional weight. (I plan to use Rapala-style plugs, jelly lures, spinners & perhaps feathers mainly)

Well, you did ask! ...Bear in mind ... I know even less about sea angling that I do about spearfishing (gulp!). Your mileage may vary.

 

[podge]

Mr.X
What a reply you sure you don’t work in advertising.
I’ve got spinning rods and reels but after reading your reply I’d go and buy one of each!
Have sent you a PM.

 

[Mr. X]

Calculating fishing reel capacity

While we're off topic, anybody know how they size reels i.e how they calculate the fishing reel capacity? I was thinking perhaps:

Reel Capacity = volume of line = area of the line x length = pi * (d^2)/4 *L)

... but that doesn't work. Closest I could figure was this:

Reel Capacity = d * pi/4 * L
i.e.
Reel Capacity ~= d * 0.8 * L
d = line diameter in mm
L = line length in cm

It seems to work consistently ... although the maths appears wrong (dimensionally incorrect).

e.g.
0.35 * 3.142/4 * 180 ~= 49.5 = 50 (or 5000mm2 for Shimano)
0.25 * 3.142/4 * 150 ~= 29.5 = 30 (or 3000mm2 for Shimano)

Back almost on topic: are spearo reels sized the same way (ta-dah!).

 

[Mr. X]

Mr.X... you sure you don’t work in advertising.
I’ve got spinning rods and reels but after reading your reply I’d go and buy one of each!

No I don't...perhaps I should. No vested interest either . Working on a project with Doc to sell medical sea water though!

 

[1 shot 1 kill]

Mr X, just a quick thought on spool volumes: The maximum lenght of line on a spool is proportional to both its diameter and the diameter of the centre of the spool, therefore, unless two spools have idential centres then the volume of the same line they can hold will be different even if their external dimensions are the same.

e.g. length of line on reel = (total spool vol - vol of centre) / area of line

I suppose the reel manufacturers keep the amount of volume on the spools for line carrying constant so that people can get on standard amounts of line on every spool i.e. 100 of 5lb, 50m of 8lb. No idea if this is true but it would make some sense!

 

[podge]

Gentleman they are fishing reels not nuclear reactors all this math’s and stuff has made my eyes go funny.
Buy the reel whack some line on it cast it out catch a bass then home for a fish supper and brownie points from the wife.
Happy Days!!!!rofl

 

[foxfish]

Mr x I have done a lot more rod fishing than I have spearfishing & I have done a fair bit of spearfishing. Although I do use mono on occasions, I much prefer braid as do a lot of other fishermen. Braid has a much lower diameter for its breaking stain than mono. However it might throw your formula out the window because most braids have a flat profile.
As a general rule I use 20lb braid for inshore work, about the diameter of a average 10lb mono. It has been said braid is difficult to use, difficult to tie (although I doubt that would be a problem for you) & because it has no stretch, difficult to land fish. I say that opinion is old hat, braid is great.
Round profile braid is quite expensive compared to mono or flat profile but well worth the extra money.

 

[Mr. X]

Mr x I have done a lot more rod fishing than I have spearfishing & I have done a fair bit of spearfishing. Although I do use mono on occasions, I much prefer braid as do a lot of other fishermen. Braid has a much lower diameter for its breaking stain than mono. However it might throw your formula out the window because most braids have a flat profile.
As a general rule I use 20lb braid for inshore work, about the diameter of a average 10lb mono. It has been said braid is difficult to use, difficult to tie (although I doubt that would be a problem for you) & because it has no stretch, difficult to land fish. I say that opinion is old hat, braid is great.
Round profile braid is quite expensive compared to mono or flat profile but well worth the extra money.

Thanks Foxfish -- I really value the advice & experience. For the moment, the cost was the main issue with the braid; 3 top notch anglers have now recommended it - I can see which way the wind is blowing. With my new reel -- I'd need a lot.

Just did some checking. The formula I gave above was good for Okuma reels but for Shimano a better formula is:

Shimano capacity ~= 247 * d * d * L
= volume * pi mm3?
pi * pi * 100/4 = 246.7

So my new reel (60) is about equivalent to a Shimano 6500 or Okuma 62. (As might be expected:duh). Big. Might need to look for something a tad smaller later on (2500-4000/25-40?). Enough formulas ... weather looks a little better this weekend.

"....it were a Spear & Jackson #4, wi' brass handle...and it broke!" - Ripping Yarns

 

[foxfish]

Mr x you will only need 100mt of braid, you can back fill your spool with mono. If you have two spools fill one with quality .35mm mono (about 15lb)
fill the other with 20lb braid & 30lb mono backing.

 

[Huw]

Hi guys,

Just came online to check emails, headlines etc and stumbled across this story which i thought a few of you may like to read.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/5172636.stm

Kind of ties in with the (rod) fishing theme that is running in this thread, and a few questions being asked in other threads on DB.

Happy reading,

Huw.

PS: i would like to see the man (or woman) who can land a 10ft mako on 10lb mono!

 

[Mr. X]

...PS: i would like to see the man (or woman) who can land a 10ft mako on 10lb mono!

You'd need a good drag!(I see that as a benefit of weaker line -- less chance of having to deal with a 10 foot shark in a 14 foot dinghy!).