Depth and distance from shore (UK)

[steviehype]

Hi,

I've only been spearfishing for about 2 seasons. I tend to go with friends that started around the same sort of time and therefore we've mainly been figuring things out for ourselves (with a lot of input from the forum!).

I really didn't have a great season last year, it was much better the year before where I knew less and had less gear but, I'm determined to do get out more and progress this year.

I know answers to these questions will vary hugely, some of you have boats or kayaks etc but...

What's the average depth you dive/hunt in when out spearfishing?
How close do you tend to stay to the shore?

I'm curious because while I have a float etc, I still tend to stay within the first 50-70m of the shore and seem to only dive around 1-4m (on average this is). Obviously if it drops off fast I'll be closer in.

I know this is partly because I'm still finding my way and not ever having been out with someone who's really experienced, I know I still have much to learn. Saying that, I'm beginning to think I need to explore a little further out and deeper.

I'm thinking of doing a freediving course this year to build my confidence and safety skills which I'm sure will help.

I'm down in South West Devon (UK), mainly diving from the shore.

Again I know there is no straight answer to this (it will vary mark to mark, time of year etc) but broadly speaking, where (distance and depth wise) do you find you have most success when hunting?

Perhaps this is a silly question, but thanks in advance for you answers.

 

[John B Griffith Jr]

Stevie, welcome to the forum! There is an amazing amount of information available here, and the members are all tremendous people, willing to share their knowledge. I do not purport to be an expert at anything diving related, but I would offer the following from my experience: A) You must dive with a buddy. I don't know that you aren't, but it wasn't clear in your post. Not only from a safety point, but it so much better to share your experiences with someone else. B) Depth doesn't matter if you are spearing...if you feel comfortable in a few meters and can get to the fish, then that's fine...and sometimes the best fishing is near the shore. C) Take the class! I have never found a diver who did not benefit from taking a class. Freediving classes teach divers so much important and safety-related information, techniques and methods to greatly increase your breath hold (bottom time) and depth, and...you will feel more confident in deeper and further waters! Have fun, good luck, and see you in the sea!

 

[harrychamas]

Hay, I dive in tropical waters, mostly on the reef so my expecience might not relate to the UK. But for me the bigger fish are further out and deeper. How far and how deep just depends on the site and the fish your after.

In general i'll dive between 10m and 20m with 2 minute breaks in between dives. As a rule of thumb you could say that the deeper you can go and the longer you can spend down there the more chances you have of finding a nice fish that you'l be proud to bring home.

If you want big fish you generaly have to find a site that drops of deep and fast with some current, headlands are a good spot because they offer shelter from weather/swell/current.

smaller fish can be found anywhere with some shelter such as reef or a site with lots of rocks, cracks and caves for them to hide in and around. but again you will have much more luck if you are comfortable with a 20m dive.

I'm a Freediving instructor and get people with less experience in the water than you to 20m no problem, you will have huge benifits from the course and so long as you choose a good instructor 20m will feel easy for you by the end. if i was you i'd do a course asap. pick whichever one gives you the most dive sessions, you cant learn to freedive in a classroom.

Good luck out there mate

 

[halfandy]

I've only started spearfishing last year so I can't really offer too much in way of experience. I am in Devon though so it will at least be relevant to you.

I have mostly dived within 100m or so of the shore line as this is where I've had most success. I've not tried going out much further than this. Not yet anyway.
I'm guessing depth to be upto 7 or 8m (I tend not to push myself too hard as I normally dive alone). I have caught decent bass, mullet and cuttlefish within 10 or 20m of the shore and in less than 5m of water so I don't think distance or depth is too important in finding fish.
There do seem to be bigger fish in deeper water. I've been angling on a local wreck at around 20m deep that produced some nice sized pollack and bass, but I don't know if they were bigger there because of the depth, because it's fished less, or because it gets less disruption than close to the shore.

I like the exploration as mush as the spearfishing an having a dinghy with a little engine makes exploration a lot easier, and safer IMO. Using a float I am constantly worried about getting tangled up in the line and drowning.

Good luck

 

[growingupninja]

Pretty general question, I have shot fish anywhere from 2M to 40M. Coastlines vary immensely as far as steepness; here in LA there are a few spots we can swim out 400M to be in water 250M deep, other places I have fished you would need to be 10 miles offshore to find water 30M deep....

Basically though big fish are ALWAYS going to be close to where their food is unless they are spawning and unconcerned with eating. That means you want to hunt where you see bait. Bait typically congregates near cover--structure like reefs, wrecks, kelp, seaweed. And because baitfish like their cover but need to eat, they will favor cover where food comes to them, usually via currents, upwellings, or drainage (ugh but it does work). Also cover which isolated is going to be something of a fish magnet.

In the real world there are other factors but for coastal diving you usually can't go wrong by working the upcurrent outer edge of a reef or pinnacle.

 

[steviehype]

There's some good answers here. Thanks.

Regarding the float line issue I've got a stretchy hose type which tends not to get tangled and so far, it's been fine. But if I go out on the kayak I just stay relatively close to that and stick a dive flag on it.

It was all just from curiosity really. I'm going to start exploring a little deeper this season. Nothing crazy, but really I was wondering what others tend to do. I realise it varies from mark to mark, I just didn't see a lot last year at all (compared to the year before that is) and figured I needed to change things up a little.

I'm booking for a 2 day freedive course down in Cornwall in July. I'm sure this will be of great help.

 

[John B Griffith Jr]

So, I wondered, after reading the posts, what is limiting depth? I know that I read many instances of spearos diving alone...so maybe the lack of a dive buddy (get a buddy) and fear of SWB (a real safety concern, you can die without someone there), equalization (there are some really good training techniques to improve that ability), uncomfortable/unfamiliar with the depth...understandable without a good, comprehensive training program to enhance safety and skill-sets and condition you to go deeper, safer. I note that many spearos are seeing the value in good training...and in having a buddy. The really cool thing about a buddy is, besides safety, you now have someone to take that picture of that amazing dive and fish! Be safe and I'll see you guys in the Sea!

 

[halfandy]

So, I wondered, after reading the posts, what is limiting depth? I know that I read many instances of spearos diving alone...so maybe the lack of a dive buddy (get a buddy) and fear of SWB (a real safety concern, you can die without someone there), equalization (there are some really good training techniques to improve that ability), uncomfortable/unfamiliar with the depth...understandable without a good, comprehensive training program to enhance safety and skill-sets and condition you to go deeper, safer. I note that many spearos are seeing the value in good training...and in having a buddy. The really cool thing about a buddy is, besides safety, you now have someone to take that picture of that amazing dive and fish! Be safe and I'll see you guys in the Sea!

I'm not sure what it's like where you dive but the visibility in the UK is poor by most standards. In my experience 5m of good vis is a pretty good day. I don't think I've seen more than 10m vis - and this was in sheltered shallow (<2m) water. There are parts of the UK that get better vis than my local area but IMO I think most people in the UK would call 5m 'good' visibility.
This makes diving at depths over 10m pretty dark and claustrophobic. Aside from the fact this makes seeing anything difficult I find it eerie and uncomfortable when it starts getting dark and the vis closes in.
The bad vis also makes 'one up one down' diving with a buddy pretty pointless IMO. You lose sight pretty quickly, so the only time you'd know if your buddy had suffered from a shallow water black out would be after he/she hadn't surfaced. Don't get me wrong, it is safer to be in the sea with a buddy, but diving to depths that could cause a SWBO wouldn't be safe even with a someone watching for you.

Dive safe - alone or not! Andy.

 

[steviehype]

So, I wondered, after reading the posts, what is limiting depth?

Thats a reasonable question and an interesting conversation...

...5m of good vis is a pretty good day....
This makes diving at depths over 10m pretty dark and claustrophobic. Aside from the fact this makes seeing anything difficult I find it eerie and uncomfortable when it starts getting dark and the vis closes in.

This is my experience as well. I guess this is also one of the reasons why I was asking in the first place. I'm sure experience makes dealing with those situations easier, but there's no denying it changes things.

I've been out scallop diving in pretty much 0m vis, I was only diving in about 6-8m and it was very disorientating. Saying that, once I reached the bottom there was about half meter off the bottom that had 3-4m vis so I was fine once I was there.

What are your experiences, does the water tend to clear as you get down deeper?

I find it hard diving down in poor vis, always makes me jump when I finally see something (rock, seaweed etc) suddenly appear! Not really the relaxing state one would wish to be in

 

[John B Griffith Jr]

I owe you guys a bit of an apology...I am spoiled by good vis here in South Florida...15m is considered average. I also appreciate that One Up, One Down only works when you can see each other Best wishes and safe diving...come visit Florida and we'll go dive some crystal clear, warm water

 

[steviehype]

...come visit Florida and we'll go dive some crystal clear, warm water

Sounds great!

 

[foxfish]

It can be difficult to find previous threads on such a long standing forum but there are some extensive post covering this question out there somewhere!
In short there is no defined distance or depth that UK spearos apply to.
Some guys use fast boats to get them miles off shore to dive deep water reefs or, shallow water dives around off shore pinnacles etc.

Some guys (most I expect) dive from the shore but some still swim out a long way to find deep water drop offs or sand banks.
Then we have night diving that is very popular in the UK, most night diving is carried out in shallow water close to the shore.

If I were to make a few guesses I would say the average UK spearo - shore dives within half a mile from the shore & up to around 30' deep.

Personally, over the years I have concentrated with catching bass in the string weed beds. This means no diving as such as I spear from the surface!
However that could mean a long swim or a boat trip to an off shore reef but generally I spear over the low tide in very shallow water & close to shore.

 

[halfandy]

I owe you guys a bit of an apology...I am spoiled by good vis here in South Florida...15m is considered average. I also appreciate that One Up, One Down only works when you can see each other Best wishes and safe diving...come visit Florida and we'll go dive some crystal clear, warm water

No need an apology!

One day I'll see 15m in the the UK and it'll be so beautiful I'll cry!

 

[halfandy]

Ok, so I just found the 'measure distance' feature on Google maps. Turns out I'm shit at guessing long distances and that diving is within 250m of the shore.

 

[Pinniped72]

I fish two very different places, one is a sand bank .8 meters above sea level on a very low tide that stays like that for 100m out and another that is 6m deep about 20m from the shore on a low tide and keeps going to 20/25m. My dad is getting a kayak this year ( it will be good for him) so my plan is to both go out to find mackerel and then for me to jump out and spearfish whilst my dad stops my kayak from speeding away. When on my own by the time I anchored securely, the shoal would be long gone

 

[Stoned em]

Do you guys in UK ever see lobsters in <30m? Here in NZ we get crayfish but they don't have claws, would love to try grab a big lobster or spider crab. My tip for you guys Would be only dive as deep as your buddy can dive as he/she will be the one that saves you in a Swb scenario.

 

[foxfish]

We get lobsters at all depths even above water on a big low tide!
Crays are normally found in deeper water but I have seen them in 7m before, they grow really big too!
Unfortunately I cant take crays by diving where I live, but I do get given the odd one from my potting friends....

 

[steviehype]

Ok, so I just found the 'measure distance' feature on Google maps

I didn't know about that. Really useful.

Personally, over the years I have concentrated with catching bass in the string weed beds. This means no diving as such as I spear from the surface!
However that could mean a long swim or a boat trip to an off shore reef but generally I spear over the low tide in very shallow water & close to shore.

This is what I've found I'm doing as well. I'm already having more luck this year than last year. I just began to wonder if I was really getting it that wrong!

I'm taking the kayak out more this year. I'm determined to discover some more marks that are dived less often. This will probably mean varying depth and distance.

I'm booked into a 2day freediving course on the 16th July. I'm sure that will help open up possibilities as well.

 

[Stoned em]

We get lobsters at all depths even above water on a big low tide!
Crays are normally found in deeper water but I have seen them in 7m before, they grow really big too!
Unfortunately I cant take crays by diving where I live, but I do get given the odd one from my potting friends....

That's awesome fox fish, where about a do you live? Are the crayfish only taken by commercial fishermen? And do you ever see spider crabs I remember seeing them washed up on beaches in Gurnsey along with much bigger crabs.

 

[foxfish]

Well crayfish were once a very common sight but with the development of the aqualung many thousands were harvested by a new generation of underwater hunters!
It was assumed that the divers were largely responsible for overfishing the crayfish stocks during the 1950s. So our local government enforced new laws to protect them but the laws include all forms of diving with ot without an aqualung.

However the fishermen simply developed different ways to catch the crays namely in the form of muti strand tangle nets. The nets were even more effient than the divers & by the late 70s crays were no Ionger a viable commercial catch!

Spiders are netted off shore in the winter and allthough they are still a comon sight they are not abundant like they were 20 years ago and the average size is far smaller..... All doom and gloom I am afraid ....

Crayfish were once so abundant that is was said the sandy bays would appear red at certain times of year.

I grew up after the "great crayfish rush" but as a teenager we would gather large male spider crabs by the dozen & sell them on the steet corners. This was around the mid 1970s, at the time there was no commercial value for spiders and they were not targeted by the professional fishermen. It was not until around the early 1990s that a market was
developed and the potters began targeting spiders for export to Spain.


At one time I worked a 23' potting boat, setting 300 pots for spiders but I had missed the boat as they say.
So back to the present time... There are one or two potters who target crayfish, they use much larger neck opening on the pots, with the neck on top. The big pots are set over gravel in the strong tide and they do catch the odd one!
The point is, the odd one is still viable because the sell for huge money. A big bull will fetch £120.
I will see if I can find a few old pictures for you to look at later today.