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Diving Italy ???

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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gman080788

Great White Spearo
Jun 3, 2007
57
6
0
Hey my name is Garry i have never spearfished or dove anywhere in Europe I am Going to be spending the next Year in Genova Italy(near the southern france Border) and I hope to do a ton of spear fishing. if anyone Has any information on diving Greece Italy or france, but mainly Italy or any other places near by that would be worth while please let me know.
Thank you very Much,
Garry Marsh
 
Welcome to the sunny side, Garry.
Genoa is not my neck of the woods (I'm 3 hours drive, though) but I can try to help somehow.
In one year you will certainly find some good spot around Genoa (they're mostly in the east from the city: places called Riva Trigoso, Moneglia, Punta Manara, check them on your map, you can hunt with no need of a boat in 10/15meters deep water). Try to make friends among local spearos, and to get in contact with local clubs who have a very strong tradition (I'll look out for some mail address for you, but it's much easier if you speak some italian).
Basically, that sea is not particularily fishy, but very challenging for spearos because every fish is hard earned.
Catch you later.
 
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Well Hey thanks alot you are only three hours away id there a train or metro or something around there that I could take to meet up. .. IF your around 3 hours away you must be around sorrento or positano ..yeah or are you to the north.... well if you dont mind i would like to know a dew things...are there many reefs? how cold is the water?(wet suit needed?) If so how thick? what kinds of fish are around are there? lobsters? In those cities you listed whats happening? thanks you so much for the info
 
Here again to answer your questions.
-The places I listed (Riva Trigoso, Moneglia, Punta Manara) are not exactly cities, but coastal smalltowns in the province of Genoa which are among the favourites of local spearfishers. Every sunday morning at Riva Trigoso you will surely meet some spearos to make friends with, and that will be a good strarting point- Best thing to do when in Genoa: go to a dive gear store called "Top Sub" (one of the best stores in Italy), tell them that you're an american spearo (canadian? english? aussie? where are you from?), that you'll be living there for one year and that you're looking for buddies or clubs to spear with. I'm quite sure they will help.
-environment and fish: the typical winter/midseason hunt is on easy reef/sand/kelp bottom they hunt 10/15 meters for bass, gilthead, bream, mullet, wrasse, dentex, best gun a 90cm euro, or rockfish like moray eel, conger, grouper (rare nowadays) and scorpionfish. In summer you maybe lucky enough to meet edible barracudas (no ciguatera here yet), amberjack, leerfish (similar to cobia) and bluefish.
-wetsuit: yes. A 5mm in winter and a 3mm in summer will do fine.
-reefs: sort of. The bottom is made of rock/coralligenous spots mixed with sand and kelp (Poseydonia). In Genoa city they also hunt along the artificial offshore dams built a couple miles off the port, but you need a boat to get there.
Let's keep in touch!
 
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hey again yes i am american. well you see my mothers Family is Roman and Baraise and my fathers is from London and since my father retired we are all going to move to Italy. we picked Genoa because the American school ther for me and my sister and I can attend college there and I personally am a very avid spearo as well as my Father so i figure once I get there i can find a job and travel around europe ..so there is the story of how I am gonna go to Italy but any ways with more Questions for you.. whta are the rules for spearing aroun there? ... should I just ask the dive shop?.... I heard octopus AT night is alot of fun?... where exactly are you... any good spearing by you ?... are you Italian ? I have a 70cm Cressi Sub pnuematic gun will that be good enough? does the "top Sub" service cressi sub and can I get spears through them? is there any particular place in Italy you have dove that was really exceptional? Have you eer dove any where els e besides Italy? me personally All that I have done was hunt reefs in florida.. Last time i was there a few weeks a go I got into some Big snook founder and trigger fish we saw a ton of mackrel they were very spooky though. what do you do for a living there ... what is the job Market like .. I speak some Italian but mainly understand It .. I speak spanish fluently But I dont know how much that may or may not help me... But any ways we should definitly keep in touch and when I get there I will definitly like to meet you in person and I when I find good spot ill take you out ...
thanks again and keep the Catch Bag Full
Garry
p.s. what is your real name (spaghetti?)
 
Questions for you.. whta are the rules for spearing aroun there? ... should I just ask the dive shop?.... I heard octopus AT night is alot of fun?... where exactly are you... any good spearing by you ?... are you Italian ? I have a 70cm Cressi Sub pnuematic gun will that be good enough? does the "top Sub" service cressi sub and can I get spears through them? is there any particular place in Italy you have dove that was really exceptional? Have you eer dove any where els e besides Italy?

So you're here to stay! I wish you all the best.
Now questions.
-Jobs: it's just like anywhere else in Western Europe. Finding a job can be a matter of a few hours, but finding a good job is not easy: it takes specific abilities and specific...friends in the right places.
-Rules: no scuba hunting, no night hunting, no lobstering no scalloping, a float or buoy is mandatory.
-Me: I am a Tuscan now working in the north (Tuscany is just below Genoa's region on the Thyrrenic Sea, central western Italy).
-the Cressi 70 airgun is very useful for hole hunting (pesca in tana) which is a fundamental tecnhnique for hunting these waters. I always bring on a Mares 70 airgun: it's a "must have" in the Mediterranean.
-Top Sub: they have all the best brands and also make their own wooden guns, carbon fins and fantastic custom wetsuits. The owner, mister Silvano Agostini, has been for 20 years a first category competitive spearo. He and his mates are good company if you want to learn and find good spots around Genoa.
-places: Just come and see. in general, as I told you, our waters are not very fishy due to HARD net fisheries. And in the last seven years many, too many of the really exceptional places to spearfish have become Marine Parks where spearfishing is forbidden. Among the best three places I've been, two of them (Cinque Terre near Genoa and Lampedusa way south) became Marine Parks) and the third best place Giglio Island off the Tuscan coast, will become a Marine Park next year. However, there are officially 83 thousands active spearos in the country: we all do have fun and do get some fish.
 
I will, no secrets. But I want to be "spaghetti" on this board.
But now study and jobs. What do you plan to study in college? You know that many of the world's biggest dive gear companies have their plants in Genoa or there about: Cressi, Mares, Sporasub, Seac Sub, Technisub are all based in the Genoa area. So if you're some kind of mechanic engineer.....or industrial designer.....that could be a dream for a young avid diver.
 
well you see in america I restore classic american muscle cars but in Italy i wish to first learn Italian then find some sort of job to cover the bills and travel around europe learn and expirience as much as i can ... but you know i will definitey look into that when i go to the consult at the school ....so spaghetti here's another question for you hows the spearing in corsica.
 
....so spaghetti here's another question for you hows the spearing in corsica.

Fantastic, in one word fantastic both in Corsica and north of Sardinia (just a night ride on the ferry from genoa).
Just take note that in Corsica you need a license to spearfish, and beware of Marine Parks. The northern, southern and western coast of Corsica are great. More fish than almost anywhere else in Italy, and really clear waters. I took some very big giltheads (very good fish) in particular. The eastern coast is nice but mostly sandy and flat, with much more building than anywhere else on the Island. I've been there three times and keep great memories.
Nature rules as it's quite a wild place. I remember driving from Ile Rousse way down southwest without seeing a single building for 70 kilometers, and it was the coastal "Route Nationale" main road!
 
Reactions: Spaniard
hey i was just reading about your lost stringer that sucks ... personally i use the same rig as you do so i really dont know what to tell you i have a friend who attaches a catch bag to his bouy and i guess that works for him but he also uses a boat so he doesnt really have to worry about drag and swimming long distances ... well i guess corsica is some where i will definitly have to fish then .. where about would I buy a license to fish there .. or is that a another top sub Question ... have you heard anyhting about greece and sicily spearfishing wise
 
hey again... i read about your lost stringer bad luck i guess... i use the same set as you so dont really have any advice or ideas for you.. i was wonderin if you've dove sicily and how that was .. whats the word about stingrays and octopi over there... you definitly need to try the south florida and caribean waters out when you get a chance...
well ciao
 
I've dived Rapallo, where Mares/Sporasub are based. Nice ground but fished by some very world class athletes!!! Excellent food, wine and shoes though
 
oh yeah ? did you get into an good fish there? what kind of structure/ ground s were there
 
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