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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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Guffer

Member
Sep 2, 2015
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Happy New Year!

I thought I would kick off the Dorset thread and consign the 2016 thread to the archives.

Is anyone thinking of braving the water this weekend. Apart from the temperature, conditions are pretty good but I am not convinced that there will be any fish to make the effort worthwhile. Does anyone have any experience of spearing Dorset in January and where would be good to try?
 
Happy New Year!

I thought I would kick off the Dorset thread and consign the 2016 thread to the archives.

Is anyone thinking of braving the water this weekend. Apart from the temperature, conditions are pretty good but I am not convinced that there will be any fish to make the effort worthwhile. Does anyone have any experience of spearing Dorset in January and where would be good to try?


Yep, two of us went for a night dive last week of January to an exposed sandy beach. Unfortunately even after a week of perfect settled weather, there was absolutely no viz greater than 2m! It sure was cold too. We stayed in around an hour and called it quits. I did see a decent mullet, several school bass and loads of herring. I certainly will be keen to get in early April. ATB
 
Hi guys,

Im a newbee with no experience under water but i have been spending my last 5 years on the S coast shores with my trusty rods so i have a clue or 2 about locations.
My gear should be delivered soon and ill be keen to give it a try so if anyone fancies showing the ropes to a newbee... id be happy to join.
Im based in Bournemouth and at the moment i just ordered a suit belt gloves socks and fins.
I am planning to try those first before i go further :)
I drive and i am willing to help with a lift where needed,
 
Travelled down to Dorset at the weekend to pick-up some things and decided to take an early dip as Weymouth was nearby. Decent weather. I was hoping to dive at Bowleaze Cove but 4 jetskis frantically riding round in circles churning things up dissuaded me. So visited Portland Harbour. Not terribly exciting, the areas I explored (in front of the old castle & east of that) were monotonously shallow and lifeless, I did eventually come across a weedbed with a few wrasse in it & a 3 inch crab. It gave me an opportunity to adjust my ballast lead & try out a few tweaks that I made to my gear last year. Bit chilly after a time (although local kayakers said it never got really cold this winter), no fish but felt quite invigorated afterwards. Vis. varied, a bit cloudy but perhaps 12 feet or more, decent for Dorset - the harbour is quite sheltered.
 
Bloody jet skiers! It's nice that around here they all observe the max 10 knot rule, half a mile out. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::mad:
 
Had my first swim today! Left the gun at home as it's not rigged yet, I don't have a float line and to be honest I just wanted to test my gear.
Firstly I must say a big thank you to all that are writing on the forum, I learned a lot from you all and my gear has been bought based on your recommendations... all works well and the only issue I have is with the gloves that seem to be getting a bit too much water in ... I am considering some elastic bands to keep them shut a bit better.
With regards to the actual sesh ... I chose a shallow and sheltered bay so I can practice safely.... I had a decent size body board a resting float. Found out I could do with a bit more weight to just sit on the bottom in the shallows.

Catch wise we found quite a few spider crabs and my friend < who is a more experienced diver > also mentioned seeing a couple of fish... not too big .. that I think where mullet ... or bass .

The whole session lasted 1h 15 min and was thoroughly enjoyable!

I am looking forward for my next time out ... and I am considering something with a bit more depth to put my breath hold to the test properly.

I would like to ask for a bit of help with regards to rigging my gun.

I have purchased a Mares Phantom FV 75 that was bough for £75 delivered... I thought it was a deal but it came without any rigging components , just the gun and the shaft.
I would like to buy the parts to rig it but I am not sure what is the best method to do so...
I have read about "double wrap " and to be honest I do not understand why would someone use any different method... it has plenty of line and it's all neatly kept close to the barrel...
Can someone enlighten me a bit with regards to the rigging methods ? I can find videos on how to do it just need to choose one method that is good for me... I plan to be spearing aroun the Purbecks mainly

Thanks for reading and please pm if you need a dive buddy, I certainly need someone more experienced to show me around
 
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Most UK guys use nylon for the line, I use one wrap on my 75cm gun because I use it in the weed for short range fishing.
I use two wraps on bigger guns because I use them in open water for longer range shots.
One wrap is much easier to re load with and less likely to tangle but two wraps will allow you more line to play a fish or let it run into the weed without ripping off a short line.
Half a wrap is good for night diving!
Reels have a use in deeper water.
Have you read this one..... https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/dummies-guide-to-rigging-a-speargun.64504/
 
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Found out I could do with a bit more weight to just sit on the bottom in the shallows.

Do you not find that with that extra weight you are way too heavy at the surface? I always do when I try to achieve neutral buoyancy at fairly shallow depths.
 
Most UK guys use nylon for the line, I use one wrap on my 75cm gun because I use in in the weed for short range fishing.
I use two wraps on bigger guns because I use them in open water for longer range shots.
One wrap is much easier to re load with and less likely to tangle but two wraps will allow you more line to play a fish or let it run into the weed without ripping off a short line.
Half a wrap is good for night diving!
Reels have a use in deeper water.
Have you read this one..... https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/dummies-guide-to-rigging-a-speargun.64504/

Hi Foxfish and thanks for the fast reply.

I had read that thread ... first 2 pages.. 2 weeks ago and found it great but there are plenty of videos on YouTube hence I said I can handle the rigging itself.

I was considering mono for rigging and the bungee of course... the only dilemma I still have is with regards to the type of rigging like I mentioned before.

I believe it is all down to experience in the area where I am most likely to be hunting hence I gave some details.

Your reply does make sense about using single wrap for fast/easy loading and that would suit me as a beginner but my worry is not to restrict the effectiveness/range of the gun.
 
Do you not find that with that extra weight you are way too heavy at the surface? I always do when I try to achieve neutral buoyancy at fairly shallow depths.

I am 87-90 kg weight using a 5 mm brand new suit and I was diving in 2m deep water. I don't remember exactly now but I believe I had 9.5 kg of weight on my belt today and I found out that once on the bottom I was slowly surfacing.

It was hard to test as there was no deep water close by but I was considering adding 1-2 kg more to see where it takes me.

I have found it rather hard to relax on the surface but keep in mind that I am at my first dive so I am still learning about how to :)

In time my suit will compress a bit and I will be diving deeper so I won't need so much weight :)
 
What bit of the rigging do you need to make a decision about?
One end is attached to the rear of the spear using a 50mm loop and crimped, the other end is attached to the speargun muzzle with a bungee & swivel threaded in line.
Use 1.5mm strimmer nylon from B&Q, buy some 1.5mm crimps from a fishing tackle shop and a few swivels.
You will need a bungee from a dive shop or you might be able to buy everything from a dive shop as a kit.
The range of your spear gun will be limited by lots of factors other than the length of your running line.
A 75cm gun might have an accurate range of 3 m from the spear tip, so that would be 4.5 -5 m from your eyes with the gun extended out in front of your body.
trying to hit a 3lb mullet at five mt is never going to be easy even if you had five mt vis in the water!
The key to success is about getting close to the fish, even a single wrap will give you 3 x the spear length + the gun + your arm length = around 4mt.
Anyway, ask away any specific questions .......
 
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Do you not find that with that extra weight you are way too heavy at the surface? I always do when I try to achieve neutral buoyancy at fairly shallow depths.

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.
 
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Had a first dip of the season this weekend on a very remote purbeck mark. Conditions were stunning, with flat calm and a tiny swell and viz of 4-5m, maybe more, but the low spring sun reflected off every particle in the water creating glare. We went to a known mark for mullet and weren't disappointed! They were about in good numbers of all sizes and were as skittish as ever. I must admit I was a little rusty with aiming, but after a few misses started to connect. My buddy and I took a few each and then enjoyed the long hike back. Water felt warmer than a year ago, but a bit of sun on your back makes a difference I'm sure, we were in about 2 hrs which was plenty in 10deg water!
 
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What bit of the rigging do you need to make a decision about?
One end is attached to the rear of the spear using a 50mm loop and crimped, the other end is attached to the speargun muzzle with a bungee & swivel threaded in line.
Use 1.5mm strimmer nylon from B&Q, buy some 1.5mm crimps from a fishing tackle shop and a few swivels.
You will need a bungee from a dive shop or you might be able to buy everything from a dive shop as a kit.
The range of your spear gun will be limited by lots of factors other than the length of your running line.
A 75cm gun might have an accurate range of 3 m from the spear tip, so that would be 4.5 -5 m from your eyes with the gun extended out in front of your body.
trying to hit a 3lb mullet at five mt is never going to be easy even if you had five mt vis in the water!
The key to success is about getting close to the fish, even a single wrap will give you 3 x the spear length + the gun + your arm length = around 4mt.
Anyway, ask away any specific questions .......

That about gives me all the information I need... My biggest worry was that with a single wrap I only have the range of 3 x weapon length and for me that would be 2.25 meters it seems potty to halve the effectiveness of the speargun. But this is all theory and as we know theory and practice are not always the same thing.
What bit of the rigging do you need to make a decision about?
One end is attached to the rear of the spear using a 50mm loop and crimped, the other end is attached to the speargun muzzle with a bungee & swivel threaded in line.
Use 1.5mm strimmer nylon from B&Q, buy some 1.5mm crimps from a fishing tackle shop and a few swivels.
You will need a bungee from a dive shop or you might be able to buy everything from a dive shop as a kit.
The range of your spear gun will be limited by lots of factors other than the length of your running line.
A 75cm gun might have an accurate range of 3 m from the spear tip, so that would be 4.5 -5 m from your eyes with the gun extended out in front of your body.
trying to hit a 3lb mullet at five mt is never going to be easy even if you had five mt vis in the water!
The key to success is about getting close to the fish, even a single wrap will give you 3 x the spear length + the gun + your arm length = around 4mt.
Anyway, ask away any specific questions .......


Thanks a lot foxfish your reply is exactly what I needed... it might be obvious for you but I have no clue how hard it is to shoot a 3 lb mullet at 5 m... it doesn't sound that difficult and all the spearfishing videos you see make them look easy peasy... it's easy to get tricked because we always watch the edited version of the GoPro movies... I was actually considering the other day to try and find out some raw versions of uk spearfishing so I can study body positions on surface and understand more about how a veteran does things.
 
and that's what you get if you start replying from your phone and finish from your tablet lol !
 
Well a spear gun is hardly a target riffle and it is often very difficult to hold it still in the sea.
Then we are up against the British weather that oh so often reduces underwater visibility to 3m or less!
Anyhow, the thing is you can just fit one, two, three or four wraps, you will soon find out what works best for you and it is really easy to change things around.
You may well discover that all the fish you see are either stuck on the bottom or hiding in the weed, finding open water bass is not that likely. I would guess that 95% of the bass I have shot have been taken at less than one meter range from my spear tip.
The main disadvantage with lots of line is the inevitable tangles that result after shooting a fish.
I would suggest that you start off with two wraps because you obviously want to try that, and that is fine :)
 
Well a spear gun is hardly a target riffle and it is often very difficult to hold it still in the sea.
Then we are up against the British weather that oh so often reduces underwater visibility to 3m or less!
Anyhow, the thing is you can just fit one, two, three or four wraps, you will soon find out what works best for you and it is really easy to change things around.
You may well discover that all the fish you see are either stuck on the bottom or hiding in the weed, finding open water bass is not that likely. I would guess that 95% of the bass I have shot have been taken at less than one meter range from my spear tip.
The main disadvantage with lots of line is the inevitable tangles that result after shooting a fish.
I would suggest that you start off with two wraps because you obviously want to try that, and that is fine :)

i have actually decided to follow the advice you gave me .. single wrap... hopefully should be sorted on Thursday :)
 
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