Dorset Spearfishing 2006

[glowworm]

Tried my local beach agian this morning on the high tide but the vis was shocking and after about an hour of dives and seeing nothing i gave up:head Plus i had to pay for the car park £4 to park and a crap dive ouch....

Jurrasic i used 2 x 12lb kidney weights on my belt last year but i have switched to D-weights this year and spread them over the length of my weight belt.I will be looking at a weight vest soon hopefully..

Naiad very shallow to me is about 1 meter..It would be nice to meet up as i need all the help and advice i can get to get to the bottom..

 

[naiad]

Very shallow to me is staying on the surface!

I have decided that I probably won't be doing any diving in Portland for several reasons. I will probably still go, and would be glad to help if I can.

 

[podge]

I had a little more success glowworm, swam down to look at a huge wrasse that went under a rock and found this

Flyflicker that a cracker
Have you still got all yer digits in the right places??
How deep was that one?

 

[flyflicker]

Lobster was only in 3m and fingers are fine 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 er where's that one gone

This is all I saw at 5:30 am today

 

[podge]

Lobster was only in 3m and fingers are fine 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 er where's that one gone

This is all I saw at 5:30 am today

Looks very nice but not sure I’d want to be in the water when that lot gets rolling.
Down there tomorrow with almostafish how’s the vis?

 

[foxfish]

This is all I saw at 5:30 am today

Amazing photo mate, superb depth of field & light quality.

 

[flyflicker]

Vis is fine for spearing, shame the fish didn't think so!

Cheers Fox, all I did was get the camera out and click!

 

[UK Spearo]

Flyflicker - I'm taking #1 son there tomorrow see if he can get his first Bass.... so you didn't see anything? maybe I'll try somewhere else for him?

Almostafish, what did you see/get this w/e? (I didn't dive today on account of not getting in from my gig till nearly 3am and I slept most of the day!)...

Vis is fine for spearing, shame the fish didn't think so!

Cheers Fox, all I did was get the camera out and click!

 

[Almostafish]

Aloa! Podge Jim and myself saw very little today. More spiders than you could shake a stick at though and lots of bait fish and pollock but nothing worth noting. I did see some sea trout the other day but they were gone in a flash!

Good day and Podge and Jim did very well and got down to 7m in newtons cove before kit problems and ears halted the fun.

 

[glowworm]

Went in at Ringstead today with 1 shot.Vis was ok but no fish plus i lost my new knife :head :head

 

[Mr. X]

Was out today too.

Viz: excellent (mainly 10m+)
Weather: warm but not too sunny (good!) - cloud cover kept things pleasant, no wind.
Tide: around high tide (a couple hours before & after)
Conditions: flat, calm, fishy, perfect (except for distinct lack of large bass!)
Road kill seen: 3 badgers, 2 fox cubs, 4+ rabbits, 1 deer -- must be spring, over winter it was mainly pheasant.

Similar report to previous lots of spider crabs; took 3 of the bigger ones with decent claws to try a recently posted recipe. Lots of small pollock, large numbers of wrasse of different colours & sizes; one looked completely black, some yellow/green, small & large ballan upto maybe 3lb-ish for 2 or 3 of them, & 2 quite big fish -- might not have been wrasse, only saw them for a few seconds from front / above -- but didn't seem sleek enough to be bass. I saw several fish that I took to be small bass too - nothing worth eating or even close though.

Quite a few sand eels & quite a few bigger fish, a bit like a sandeel but much bigger - more like the size of a big fat cigar (or dace?) - but shiney & blue like a giant sand eel... or big rapala lure. Never seen one before -pretty cool.

Took the kayak, so did many others as there was no wind to speak of (so much for the BBC forecast) & conditions were like a mill pond. Caught a small pollack on a lure dragged behind the kayak (released).

 

[Old Man Dave]

The Greater sandeel or Launce grows to an impressive 30cm and weighs 3/4 lb. They eat small fish including the lesser sandeel. You can catch them on sandbanks when fishing with mackerel feathers. We catch loads and often use them for bait for turbot, brill and bass. However they are more green coloured than the common lesser sandeel which is a redish colour. Not much blue colour although they are silver on the flanks.

Dave.

 

[UK Spearo]

Mr X - 10m+ viz - where where you? sounds good....

 

[podge]

Aloa! Podge Jim and myself saw very little today. More spiders than you could shake a stick at though and lots of bait fish and pollock but nothing worth noting. I did see some sea trout the other day but they were gone in a flash!

Good day and Podge and Jim did very well and got down to 7m in newtons cove before kit problems and ears halted the fun.

Great day yesterday only 7 meters but it felt great and the aspetto method is spot on.
Almostafish that was the longest dive myself and Jim have ever done and I ache from head to foot even my bloody eye brows hurt shame about the lack of fish but that’s all part of the game (next time gadget).
Looking forward to the 2nd and thanks for your help.

 

[fearthespear]

Willpower and I jumped in on the East Side yesterday morn. There was a fierce tide running so we drifted the same area a few times over, swimming back up the slack up-tide. Saw a fair bit including a couple of spearable bass of around 3-4lbs. One bolted before I could swing the gun around (up tide!!). The other apeared whilst I was in the kelp at around 6-8metres. I was facing down tide, waiting for the fish to swim towards me. Glancing to my left, there was the tail of a fish right next to mask. Sure enough as I moved the fish bolted. Saw a group of schoolies playing over a sand patch. They didn't seem bothered by my presence (as i drifted by). Typical eh? All within range but not large enough to take...Saw the usual suspects as well including a pipe fish!

After around two and a half hours I started to feel sick, and almost chundered whilst bobbing around. Called it a day and made my way in. When I got out of the water I could hardly stand up, staggering all over the shop (just like a friday night!:friday ). Will was still on his way back so I laid down to try and regain my composure. When he arrived I sat up and promptly fell over! I couldn't even sit up the world was spinning so fast! It was really wierd. Short story is I made it back up the cliff, chundered about 5 times and rested for the rest of the day (thanks for driving Will). Saw the doc today and I have some tablets, something to do with the labarynth between the ears (there's not a lot else between these ears!) No spearing for four weeks min:head I think this is a common problem with freedivivg. Anybody else suffered? It could have been worse so take care out there everybody and, as Almostafish says, never dive alone (Flyflicker). I should say here that I still have not speared a good fish yet this season!!! Doh!!!

 

[fearthespear]

Almostafish

Forgot to say that I too saw a Sea Trout the other day. Hung around long enough to shoot but is it illegal to shoot them or did I dream it?

 

[flyflicker]

4 B****Y weeks I hate to mention it and make you feel worse than you already do, but that’s a big chunk of the summer – tough do-do’s fear or should I say “Boatman Ben”!

OK, OK I get the message; I thought I was meant to be the old sage or is it I just look like one!

MR X – that’s amazing vis; it looked good off Chesil Cove yesterday, as I sat sipping a beer

 

[fearthespear]

Thats Captain Ben...

 

[flyflicker]

I can't keep up with it, you seem to change your occupation "As if by magic" every time you visit that shop!!!!!

 

[fearthespear]

Eh? Its all good for you, I'll be driving the Burglar while you catch loads of doubles (grrr!)