Dorset Spear Fishing 2012

[ickledevil]

Hey all,
Just arrived back from a week in Cornwall (after a week landlocked in Birmingham) delightful family holiday at a house right on the beach.. Obviouslh my dive gear was taken along with the kayak. Well arrived midnight on Friday, Saturday morning greeted me with flat calm seas and 4-6m vis, after the obligatory family duties I had an exploratory afternoon dip, thoughts of exploring the area for a night dive and to make plans for the rest of the week. As I got in I spooked a very large flounder and a moderate mullet so signs were good, however after two hours of exploring the falling tide I saw nothing else other than a cuttle fish who was a bit small for the taking. Beautiful area and a million starfish on every rock. Having scouted a while I picked some marks to try again on a rising tide and some further afield spots to kayak to.
The plans of night diving that night were undone by the temptation of Cornish Cider.. whoops, awaking the next morning saw me greeted with the expected hangover and the unexpected strong winds and zero vis. Sadly it stayed this way till I left this morning. So no more dives. It wasn't a complete wash out as I took the kayak out for a few paddles and got a nice haul of mackerel and was joined on two trips by pods of Dolphins. The first time they stayed and played for a while, although this might have had something to do with them arriving as I released an under sized Pollock from the line.. unfortunately he met a Dolphin based demise!
Have the area well plotted now so no doubt will go back when the weather improves!

Looking back on the last few posts looks like you guys have had a better time than me so itching to put things right I am planning on heading out tomorrow, possibly on the kayak.. any one care to share an up to date vis report? I am considering either Chesil Cove, Balaclava Bay, Portland Harbour or perhaps West Bay..

Cheers
Joe

 

[foxfish]

Sounds like a nice catch but what are these gold spot mullets?
Are you guys meaning Golden grey mullet?

Why do you want to kill a conger, they are not very good eating for most Englishman's taste, they are horrendously slimy & absolutely stink when they are dead!
However you can skin the things & there is a relatively small amount of boneless meat...

 

[liutaina81]

Wind looks not to bad. I'm going to Durdle door or Lulworth cove inn somewhere nearby this area. maybe somebody like to go there for spearo or free diving my Skype id is - antanas810808
Thanks and good luck for every one!!!

 

[speerolee]

Yes he means golden greys.

As fir conger.....well they can stay in the sea.

The bass were in shoals of over 200!! And i'm deadly serious. All over 3lb...awsome sight!!



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[foxfish]

Lee you need a camera....

 

[speerolee]

Joe.. church ope cove had 5 meters plus.

Sandsfoot was 3 but better in sone places .

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[Spacemonkey]

Anyone know any more about this:

BBC News - Studland to Portland reefs to get special protection

Studland to Portland reefs to get special protection

Pink seafans, a protected species of soft coral, are found at the site



Reefs off the Dorset coast are to be given special protection.
The 330 sq km area from Studland to Portland will become the 37th Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in English territorial waters.
The protection means its reefs will be protected from damaging human activities and its marine life conserved.
The announcement was made by the Natural Environment Minister Richard Benyon.
He said: "This is a major step towards fulfilling our promise to create a network of marine protected areas where marine life can thrive."
Rare features The site is between Studland and Portland along the coast from where the Olympic sailing events recently took place. It is more than half the size of the New Forest National Park.
Volunteer divers from the Seasearch programme have highlighted the importance of the site recording seabed species and habitats through a seabed mapping project.
The work revealed the reefs were in very good condition with brightly coloured sponges, pink sea fans, cup corals and reef-building mussels.
The project was co-ordinated by the Dorset Wildlife Trust.
Peter Tinsley, the trust's living seas manager said: "We are delighted by this long-awaited announcement.
"This is official recognition of the high, indeed international, value of reef habitats on Dorset's seabed."

 

[Spacemonkey]

As far as I can make out this area will come under this regulation: Habitat Regulations

Particulary:
Protection of Species

The Regulations make it an offence (subject to exceptions) to deliberately capture, kill, disturb, or trade in the animals listed in Schedule 2, or pick, collect, cut, uproot, destroy, or trade in the plants listed in Schedule 4. However, these actions can be made lawful through the granting of licenses by the appropriate authorities. Licenses may be granted for a number of purposes (such as science and education, conservation, preserving public health and safety), but only after the appropriate authority is satisfied that there are no satisfactory alternatives and that such actions will have no detrimental effect on wild population of the species concerned.










Is this as worrying as it looks or will it not affect us? Surely they can't stop fishing and spearing in the Dorset coastal seas...????

 

[ickledevil]

What little I have heard on this, and having not had chance to trawl through the available docs yet but I believe its intended to restrict the amount of netting/dredging in the area and reduce the sea bed damage that it can do. As such shouldn't effect us, in fact it would likely be beneficial to us. That said there is definitely potential for some of it to impinge on us depending on how its finally managed and any legislation wording that might be passed to accompany it.
I'll do some more digging but think its something that we should all be aware of and keep an eye on.

 

[ickledevil]

Ok having just read 'schedule 2 and 4' (animal sections only) the only thing mentioned in there that is liable to cause any questions what so ever is the scad. Which I expect most wont mind about one bit.. the rest is things like otters, seals etc. and as such not liable to impact us. Will read some more euro babble later. Must garden now!

 

[misterlizard]

Ok having just read 'schedule 2 and 4' (animal sections only) the only thing mentioned in there that is liable to cause any questions what so ever is the scad. Which I expect most wont mind about one bit.. the rest is things like otters, seals etc. and as such not liable to impact us. Will read some more euro babble later. Must garden now!

What? No more otter curry?

 

[ickledevil]

Well I didn't like to mention it but no more seal clubbing either!

 

[Spacemonkey]

Not from what I've seen in Bournemouth town centre last night....

 

[tyeboy]

yaa sorry I ment golden greys. ya the school of bass was amazing. and the conger well we eat every thing and any thing up on the mendips, but I don't think it will be as great tasting as the john dory last week.

 

[Sean Keenan]

Anyone up for a night dive tonight. Went out off Chessil this morning and nailed two Pollock which are going on the Braai tomorrow. Damn those bass were quick this morning. Water temp 18 degrees. Viz: 4 meters.

Looking at Sandbanks but could be pursuaded to Portland. Have all the gear.

Sean

 

[misterlizard]

Hi Sean, you're welcome to join me and Nic if you like - just give me a call, I've sent you a PM with my number...

 

[Scoobaru]

Went for a night dive last night with will, i shot my first squid around the 2lb mark right through the head. Well happy I thought I was in for a good night but it didn't pan ou the way I wanted. I saw lots of small bass eels, flatties and a few other species but I'll let will elaborate.

Then went on a big swim earlier with joe (ickledevil) from sandsfoot to the outside of the middle arm on breakwater (about 1.7miles each way) on the dive hunter to reach the dive spot. Diving down we were surrounded by huge shoals of mullet, most of them quite small. I took a larger one out the shoal but left the others as I wasn't interested in eating more than one. So we carried on swimming for a bit and dived down to around 12m, I waited for all the pollack an mullet to come in with the hope a bass will follow. Suddenly a shall of whitebait suddenly scatter and two bass emerge. Unfortunately they are just a bit too small so I continued to watch them before resurfacing. Dropping down again a shoal of big mullet come cruising past before a shoal of scad come in to investigate me on the bottom. A few dives later whilst peering through the wall off pollack around the 2lb mark I see a different rounded shape come in for a look. Recognising it as a trigger fish I nailed it through the fleshy part on the back behind the eyes.

After this we decided to start headin back in and maybe dive a but along the way, but when we got in a bit closer the wind had picked up and I was quite tired so we called it a day and took the scenic (even longer) route back home. Was a great day diving with another new species caught. Also great to meet another spearo.....spearoclarke (I think, sorry of its wrong, I had ear plugs in and couldn't quite hear properly) great to meet you buddy.

The trigger came in at 2.42lb in the end so well chuffed

 

[Spacemonkey]

Great catch and report!

Took my brother back to Dorset Dive Services ( Dorset Diving Services Shop, Dorsets friendliest dive shop! ) in Kinson area today as the mask that fitted in the shop didn't fit in the water with his hood on... They trimmed back the face on the suit- luckily the owner used to make suits so knew what he was doing- and then went through the masks til we found one that seemed to fit and put his head in the dunk tank. Finger's crossed. Excellent service from them as usual- they really went the extra mile to help and even ended up selling him a cheaper mask, but they have won teo loyal customers in the process. Taking him back to Sandsfoot Tuesday afternoon to try again.

Scoob- how do you get on with equalisation with the ear plugs? I thought we had to have water in the hoods to get in the ears to remove all air?

 

[watermandrew]

Wow, if somebody told me they were going to cut my suit to make a mask fit I would run out the shop! The mask seal should go under the hood, with the strap on top.

I'm interested in the ear plugs equalisation point as thinking of getting some ear plugs, but can't see that it would be an issue seeing as the ear drum separates the Eustachian tubes from the outside world? Would be funny if we all blew bubbles out our ears when equalising haha

 

[Spacemonkey]

No, you don't understand.... It's an Oceanos Custom made suit and unlike mine, the face 'hole' is way too small which is puckering up his already fat face so mask's just can't seal. I wanted to do the same thing but was worried about the seems coming undone, but as I said, the guy used to make suits so he trimmed it and then finished the seams and edges properly. Now, his face is not so bunched up as the face hole is the perfect size for him and we found a mask that fits. They allowed us to return a 'used' mask and then found a cheaper mask that fits better and made up the difference with other free stuff. All in, a very good dose of customer service! (Just don't get him talking about Ladyboys if you go in.. )