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Dorset 2017

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Pointandhope said:
I too have found that, and find staying down shallower than about 4-5m difficult without being overweighted/swamped at the surface. I would say I'm neutral around 6m.
Click to expand...

Which isn't too bad for people who head for that kind of depth most dives. For someone like myself who stays pretty shallow all of the time, it's a pain.

This summer I'm going to experiment with having an additional hand weight (kettlebell style) to hold on to on the sea bed. Would be interested in hearing if this has been successful for anybody else.
 
Hello everyone!
At lastI have started my UK spearfishing season! Last night I went to Newtons Cove and after two hours in the water got 8 flat fishes. Saw many more. Viz was from 3 up to 5m and temp. of the water 10deg.
 
Reactions: SJBatts, Brett Garrett and foxfish

If you anchored up your SMB you could use the anchor as the additional weight, just a thought, killing two birds with one anchor!
 
Reactions: Brett Garrett and Woohoo
Hi everyone
I was out on second dive of the year today, along with new 5mm wetsuit and additional 2 kgs of weight. Great to be back in the water. East of Portland with no swell but low tide. A little activity with a shadow of 4 sizeable fish swimming by (outlines looked like it could be mullet) and 2 wrasse swimming right up to the tip of my spear point. Vis 5-7 mts, very clear but cold as water was somehow getting in my hood. In for 1 1/2 hrs. A few brown crabs around but on the smaller size so decided to leave them. All in all an enjoyable day.
 
Reactions: Selenium and foxfish


I was visiting family near the bill and viz looked awesome yesterday. Had a night dive on Friday on the mid purbecks, but the clarity was much lower at 2-4m. Some school bass seen and a couple of mullet taken. And yes it felt cold, more so than a couple of weeks ago with the sun on my back.
 
Reactions: Selenium and Brett Garrett
Nice to hear that things are getting better!

I'm hoping to have a rummage around Swanage today... will see what's around
 
As I mentioned, I spent the morning snorkelling around swanage.

Mind you this is just my second dip with diving gear and my first with the gun.

Lesson learned nr.1 : Load your gun before you start swimming....
Missed on a flattie ( flounder I think ) because as I was aiming I realised my gun is not loaded lol !

Lesson learned nr.2 : Always pull the safety off when you see a fish!
Missed on a mullet shoal because the gun didn't fire... should of pulled the safety off !

Spent from 11 till 1.45 in the water and met someone that had the same thoughts as me.. obviously a lot more experienced hence his 2 mullets hanging on his belt spike.

I saw loads of bait fish and plenty of wrasse... some pushing 2-3 lb but I would rather not shoot them if I can choose so I didn't!
Felt great to be in the water although I had a couple of deeper dives 5-7 meters that left me with a bit of a "hangover "
Dos anyone else gets that ?
 
Reactions: djbarratt
Was hoping to get out tomorrow but I can't figure out a place with decent vis... might just have a swim around double dikes ...
 
Was not really sure about today but I decided that even a swim is better than spending whole day in front Of the computer. If anything I just tried my gear out ....

May bloom was full on around studland and no matter how far I went I could not get more than 1m vis at the surface and maybe 1.5m at the bottom...

Not much seen... nothing shot...
 
Had a little blast on Monday... Bournemouth area... the bloom was there but not so bad once you got a few hundred yards off the shore.. met a bank of schoolies that stayed around for a bit... they are quite inquisitive when they are small !

I had a couple of dives when I stuck to the bottom and they came right next to me to check me out

Really enjoyed it !

Waiting for gramma bass or gramma mullet to show up so I can finally test the gun
 
Reactions: foxfish
I went for a quick dip around boscombe pier trying to find the artificial reef.
Saw lots of small bass.. some of them as small as my index finger hahah.. needles to say they where not worth the effort of reloading the gun so the shaft never left the rail.
Good vis generally...4-5 meters 50 yards out.

Brett, I would congratulate you on the catch but personally I believe that the bass ban should apply to spearos as well so I will wait to congratulate you on your bass catches done after the first of July.

What general area had great vis like that ? I am considering getting out of the house tomorrow as well
 
Had another dive yesterday, unfortunately due to different things I had to do I got out of the house late and only managed to get to the dive spot after mid day.
Saw a 2-3 lb bass in the first 5 mins so I was hoping to see some mullet to shoot as well... unfortunately that was not the case...
Had a lovely relaxed dive for the first hour but then my sinuses started to hurt (probably from last week's cold) and that's when things went a bit bad... I had a couple of shots after some smallish pollock but kept missing... he led the spear shaft and sure enough it looked like the thick bands have overpowered the shaft and bent it slightly at the notch...tried to straighten it by hand and .....SNAP !
I was trying to get some Rob Allen shafts as backup... I guess they'll have to become primary now.
Ended the dive by collecting 6 spider crabs and seeing about 6 bass.. 2-4 lb range including a couple that was doing the naughty thing in a hole lol.

Can I please ask the more experienced guys... what do you find best to deal with sinus inflammations ?

Also a question about new shaft...

I own a Mares Phantom fv75 19mm band 115mm long 6mm thick shaft.
I only started spearfishing this year but from what I gather I believe that the rubber is a loath thicker than what people use... maybe bad quality so they put a thicker one for more power?
I would like to replace my Brocken shaft with a Rob Allen one that I hear are a lot stronger...

My question... if I would buy a Rob Allen shaft 110 mm lenght and 6.6mm thick would it affect the gun accuracy? I hope that being shorter but thicker it will keep similar weight so accuracy should not suffer... also I am a bit weary about notched spears now... where would I find RA with shark fins?

And ultimately...if I would need to change the band for the new spear... what exact model/make would you recommend?

I hope it's not to much to ask...
 
Google Rob Allen UK. RA usually seem to have one UK distributer/reseller at a time but there seem to have been 3 different ones so far. I believe the current one has a nice website but I think they moved location in recent years, at least once.

I had an RA Sparid with 6.6mm spear, that is more than adequate for UK spearing - quite heavy (esp. with that big, heavy duty RA flopper/barb). I currently use 6.3mm Omer spears with 3/4"/19mm bulk rubber* and, although slim, seem to manage OK (my Omer XXV came with 6.3mm spear with lightweight, low profile flopper/barb & 18mm screw-in Omer rubbers* ).

6.3mm seems to me to be about as thin as you should go - 6mm with notches, not surprised it broke! 6.6mm is more than enough. So anything in the range 6.3mm - 6.6mm diameter should be ok.

Bear in mind that fish look bigger underwater. Best to leave the small fish alone (e.g. small pollock & bass) so that they have a chance to grow bigger

NOTE: * Bulk rubber is much thicker than most screw-in rubbers , the hole in the middle is smaller. They tend to be significantly harder to load and more powerful, and cheaper
 
Reactions: Selenium
I decided on the 6.6 mm one, i figured that I feel more confident about the notched spear if it's a bit thicker and the fact that it's recommended to be used with 18 mm rubbers.. that's pretty close to the 19 bulk I have.
Also that 10 lb bass doesn't stand a chance now hahahaha.

For all the readers... if anyone needs a buddy I am willing to try and make some time... I'm a newbie but I can handle most of the situations I come across.
 
Reactions: bombadil and Mr. X
I don't but heard about it on the news, haven't heard anything since. Fingers crossed for him.
 
Had a couple of dives last week and one this Monday.. I keep seeing los of fish ... lots of checkers and small pollock , small wrasse... and a few very skittish mullet but nothing really worth shooting, if anyone reads, the RA spear that I got does feel a bit heavy in the gun... a bit of strain on my wrist so if you would ever consider a RA shaft for a 75 gun I would recommend the 6.3 mm one.. should be perfect.
Monday just gone I tried Chesil Cove but my buddy was not very well and we had to cut it short... saw 1 bass in the 2 lb region but he was underneath me and it never exposed a flank...
Underneath the pipe in front of the stairs I saw some massive shades... not sure what it was but at a closer look there are at least 2 massive Ballan wrasse doing the naughty thing in there... I would say in the 4-6 lb region... I wouldn't shoot them because they are beautiful and I wouldn't eat them anyway.

I hope to read from your adventures too...
 
Reactions: foxfish
Hi All,
Thinking of going somewhere near around Lulworth with a friend over the WE. Will be travelling a bit, just wondering if its like a washing machine atm with this weather or if its worth a go?
Any info much appreciated!
 
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