Dorset Spear Fishing 2011

[Fro-in-shorts]

I just read the sun article and pissed myself laughing. Great catch, putting in the time, effort and skill seems to have paid off big. I'd take a tuna over a dustbin lid of a turbot any day of the week. I'm currently doing a masters degree and one of my environmental management based assignments was on Northern Atlantic tuna stock management. NABFT as a stock are up shit creek at the moment, the ridiculous commercial quotas and illegal fishing in and around the med of more mature breeding stock which are plundered by as many countries as possible is clearly not the big issue.

However what is the issue is that entire one tuna you shot, going on what that 'fine' publication the Sun has reported you are deffo a bad person and hell bound. Its a shame when a few selfish individuals make a species extinct by shooting the odd one and ruin the fun for everyonne, think of those poor commercial fisherman, what are they going to under report/illegally fish when you've had your wicked way..........

Keep up the reports and the pics guys, epic fish

 

[misterlizard]

Got in last night for a quick swim at my new favourite local spot. Viz was 2-3m but lots of fish around. Came home with a bass, a mullet, and my first lobster!

At one point during the dive I realised my float had somehow come unclipped from my gun and had drifted off across the bay and on my way back from retrieving it I saw what I thought was some kind of large fish on the sandy seabed. Swam down and realised it was a good sized lobster (although with only one claw). Picked it up by the claw, swam up to get my bag from the float, and was reminded that lobsters shed their claws when under threat! I was left holding a still-moving claw and the lobster floated back down to the seabed where it patiently waited for me to come and retrieve it. Excellent.

As I was swimming back in I was surrounded by a huge shoal of horse-mackerel. I didn't know whether to take one or not as I couldn't remember if they are good to eat. Should I have taken a shot?

On my return to the beach a fisherman came over to me, pointed at his line (which was stretched tight out to sea) and asked me if I could give him a hand with this one. I assumed he meant to land a large fish, so I swam out along his line, only to realise that on the other end was a large seagull! So I brought the bird back to the shore where we untangled its wings and feet from the line and then threw it up into the air to fly off again.

What an eventful evening! Lobster for lunch now...

 

[misterlizard]

Turns out the lobster's a 3 pounder! It's on the boil now...

 

[podge]

Nice one Tom and your first one, that’ll taste fantastic mate

 

[Spiderman]

Swam down and realised it was a good sized lobster (although with only one claw). Picked it up by the claw, swam up to get my bag from the float, and was reminded that lobsters shed their claws when under threat! I was left holding a still-moving claw and the lobster floated back down to the seabed where it patiently waited for me to come and retrieve it. Excellent.

Great that it waited for you!

When that happened to me it was near rocks and I searched for ages without finding it :head (still enjoyed 3lb of lobster claw though )

 

[Trelawney]

Excellent. There is nothing tastier than your first lobster. Looks like you might have some competition for it too!

 

[Fro-in-shorts]

thats a cracking lobbie, nice one

 

[misterlizard]

It was a tasty lobster, in fact there was too much of it to have all of it at lunchtime. So I'm about to grill the rest with some chilli butter I made. There was a slightly bitter aftertaste to the meat - does anybody know why this might be?

Looking forward to finding another one now. What's the best way to get one out of a hole if you see one? This one was really easy as it was just sauntering along the seabed so I simply picked it up and grabbed its one and only claw. So how do you get them out of holes, and how do you pick the buggers up when they are correctly adorned with both claws?!

 

[foxfish]

Misterlizard, you could try the search button as there are many hundreds of words about catching & cooking lobsters...

 

[Trelawney]

How do you pick the buggers up when they are correctly adorned with both claws?!

Answer= Carefully!

See here...http://forums.deeperblue.com/uk-ireland/78665-lobster-thoughts-tactics.html

A nice pair of lobsters tickled out of thier holes using the spear barb as a hook. Be gentle but firm and don't bully them too much. They will either retreat deep into thier lair, or they will flee. Having the reactions of a cat help too if the viz is bad and they make a run for it.

 

[Fro-in-shorts]

Read lobster thoughts and tactics. Learn to recognise where they live, then really its about patience and trial and error. One thing to watch out for is sea anemonees, not in finding lobsters though. Very often to look into holes or under objects you have to put your head on its side on the floor. Sea anemonees live on the small rocks and boulders in the same areas as lobsters, hence yesterday I got stung on the chin, the little boggers are the bane of my life. happy hunting

 

[Scoobaru]

I feel your pain with sea anemones. A couple of days ago i was diving a shallow local spot. I dived down to the bottom and moved some seaweed to peer through. When i resurfaced i put my snorkel back in my mouth and didnt see the sea anemone attatched to my finger (gloved). Consequently the sea anemone attatched itself to the inside of my upper lip. It has now swollen to about 4 x normal size and has blisterred very badly. Not happy............ But on the plus side i shot a nice 3.5lb mullet (christening my new rob allen gun) : )

 

[BarnacleBoy]

New guy...

Hello Everyone,

I'm new on the forum and have come to say hello.

I've done little spearfishing (a few days in warmer waters - hardly counts though) and am very keen to start in the UK. I'm interested in spearfishing and crab/scallop/lobby hunting. My wife's parents have recently moved to Dorset (Nr Wareham) and so I'm looking forward to plenty of missions ahead! I'm based in Sussex at the moment (wanting to move to Dorset) but will be coming down a lot hopefully (and so looking for some buddies at some stage - the whole SWB has concerned me!!!!).

I've got fins & mask from previous diving (I've done some Scuba) and just bought myself my first wetsuit (yay!)...which I tried this weekend just gone. No gun or SMB yet but reading the forums for good advice and an understanding of how it all works (reel vs floatline etc).

I went in at Kimmeridge on Thursday, (in the rain) down the slipway - I was dead keen to give the wetsuit a first go! Viz was about an outstretched arm!! Picked up a scallop there from the shallows...assuming it fell from a sack from an incoming boat or something as I thought they were generally in deeper water? Not sure on legal sizes, so after showing the kids, popped it back.

Went to Ringstead on Friday...viz was good (5+ meters) and saw some wrasse and the blur of a crab scuttling away.

On Saturday went to man-of-war which really appealed. Brilliant viz to start with (8+ meters), then turned slightly milky. I think that's possibly the place I might start?

Anyhow...just wanted to say who I was and hello at the same time.

Looking forward to joining in and meeting some of you hopefully in the near-ish future.


David

 

[Paul M]

Last Friday I've got into very fishy site - around St. Alban's Head. It was worth to visit though very strong currents and much worse visibility than in Worbarrow Bay. Seen lots of decent size Bass and Mullets but managed to spear only one of each of them although I shot about 20 times. The current disturbed my aiming and I missed even 4-5kg fish!

And what have I done?:duh
Last Saturday when me and my buddy arrived to St. Alban's Head it appeared that 4 boats whith spearos there were already in full process. After a while another 2 came in.
But anyway, there were not a lot fish seen. We visited that site a day before with very poor result.
After 2 hours we moved to Gad Cliff. Visibility up to 20m! But no many fish. I think the fish moved to some warmer places because the temperature of the water undre cliffs decreased to 15 deg. A week before was 17 deg.
Later I decided to do night session in LC. One 3.7kg Sea Bass was found and one nice lobster.

 

[Andyhaths77]

Who was it around swanage on Sunday? (obviously 75m out from the pier...)
The pickings were looking good from where I was blowing bubbles.

 

[SurfnSpear]

And what have I done?:duh
Last Saturday when me and my buddy arrived to St. Alban's Head it appeared that 4 boats whith spearos there were already in full process. After a while another 2 came in.
But anyway, there were not a lot fish seen. We visited that site a day before with very poor result.
After 2 hours we moved to Gad Cliff. Visibility up to 20m! But no many fish. I think the fish moved to some warmer places because the temperature of the water undre cliffs decreased to 15 deg. A week before was 17 deg.
Later I decided to do night session in LC. One 3.7kg Sea Bass was found and one nice lobster.

You did not do anything...
You happened to run into most of the LIC Club doing a social Purbecks boating weekend planned long in advance

 

[misterlizard]

Nice little session early this morning with Speerolee and his brother. Got up in the dark at 3.30am and arrived at my local spot in the dark at 4am. On with my new Mini Q40 light and into the water. Viz of between 2m and 4m. Saw several bass, one particularly large, but couldn't get a decent shot off. After sunrise managed to take three bass and a pollack before heading home for breakfast at 7.30am. A good start to the day!

 

[-Paddy-]

Misterlizard, is a Mini Q40 light brigth enough for you? I've juste tested my new Peli 8C, it gives a nice focuse stream with a bit of width glow, perfect for nigth hunting.

 

[misterlizard]

Misterlizard, is a Mini Q40 light brigth enough for you? I've juste tested my new Peli 8C, it gives a nice focuse stream with a bit of width glow, perfect for nigth hunting.

It was bright enough for the hour until sunrise, but I reckon if I was going to go in for a proper night hunt I'd want a bit more breadth of beam. It is very bright but very narrow, so you really have to sweep the beam around to search for fish. However, it's perfect for what I wanted, which is a sub-£20 torch for extending my dive-time until a little after sunset or before sunrise.

 

[speerolee]

After leaving misterlizard with a ray, bass and pollack on my stringer, and with a dodgy eardrum, I decided to hunt the shallows of portland harbour for some mullet.

No mullet, but did see and photograph some seahorses.

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