Dorset Spearfishing 2006

[stuckinsurrey]

Got in at man o war cove for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and managed to shoot a couple of mullet. Other than the mullet only saw one small bass and a small edible crab, heaps of sandeels (and some huge launce) about though.

Really enjoyable dip, great way to escape the heat! Although the walk back up the hill to the car park was pretty harsh! Quite a lot of swell out beyond the rocks, so stayed a bit closer to them where the visibility was better. It varied between about 2m - 6m.

Had half the mullet last night with my girlfriend, i thought it was pretty darn tasty and she gave it the thumbs up, at last she is starting to stop taking the mickey out of my lack of success! Wahoo!

Jim

 

[Old Man Dave]

Well done Jim.

There's far too much snobbery over which fish you catch. Personally I think mullet taste as good as bass and wrasse was one of the best fish I ate last year. Give me plaice over sole, turbot and brill any day, despite the fact that in monetary terms it's worth a fifth of the price. Small pollack filleted and fried are delicious.

Some people would have you believe the only a bass and double figure ones at that, are worth eating. Bullshit! Rather eat a 5lb wrasse any day.

Do your own thing and enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Dave

 

[stuckinsurrey]

Cheers Dave,

It was great and none of the small fiddily bones - really easy to eat, not too much fussing about.

Jim

 

[Andy Davies]

How do you cook your wrasse Dave?

 

[Mr. X]

What times are the weigh ins for the spearing comps. - 4pm? Might drop by if I'm in the area.

Wind 6mph W. Sat. & 12mph-17mph W-SW Sunday - should be interesting:hmm. (Couldn't compete even if I wanted to, lost the flag base off my float last year -- and my new spare float turned up with an American-style flag ...different make & model to the one pictured in the ad!:head . Open to offers!).

Other required equipment: Whistle & compass?

Good luck all. Be careful out there (10ft portbeagle 'n all).

 

[UK Spearo]

Portland weigh in approx 4:00ish, Ringstead weigh in approx 5:00ish.

Loads of guys make their flags out of old ice cream tub lids and blue tape and garden cane! Cost £00:50 for the tape!

Compass/whistle not in rules but so is up to you if you carry them or not.

 

[Old Man Dave]

How do you cook your wrasse Dave?

First off I don't like bones so I usually take 2 "J" fillets off a 5lb-ish wrasse. I leave the skin and scales on the fish and then remove the skin from the fillets with a knife (scales and all). You only get about 1.5lb of meat from a 5lb wrasse but it's nice, chunky, boneless and fine textured. If I'm gonna fry it I thin the fillets down as they are rather thick and hard to cook right through. Flash frying in hot fat produces nice white small flaked fish pieces that are crispy out side. Wrasse is not strong flavoured like say mackerel but has a delicate not too fishy flavour. The meat is good for most fish recipes. However my favourite dish is smoked wrasse, courtesy of my brother. For this you need to leave the skin on but remove the scales before filleting. Barbecued smoked wrasse is absolutely the BIZ .

Dave

 

[Mr. X]

Went out this morning. Ringstead. Good viz mainly 15+ feet (down to perhaps 5ft in places) -- always a little milky though. Looked like the water cleared somewhat this afternoon but then became choppy. Several boats, numerous kayaks & a jetski active in the area during the day.

Lots of wrasse all sorts of colours, a few medium size ballans (one covered in green gunk), launce & a couple of small pollock. Saw a fairly big fish with smaller fish of same type, dark green with two broad, light vertical bands -- assume it was some kind of wrasse(?/Nemo?!).

A big fish swam close by me quickly, through the weed, while I was on the bottom. Hunted around but could not find it again. Checked out the area several times, eventually saw a 3lb-ish ballan -- perhaps that was all it was (or perhaps 2 together?).

Only saw 4 or 5 spider crabs today (lots of weed cover & lobster pots?), of which only two were of any size. Returned one as a little small and the kept the other, good size with long legs & big claws (crab cakes?).

Was hoping to make the weigh-in at Portland but was a little late leaving the beach & wanted to avoid traffic.

Weather
It was cloudy this morning (which I quite like) & there was some light rain a couple of times while I was out (made little difference to viz). It cleared up this afternoon & was warm with a pleasant cool breeze. Further north, on the way home, there was a sudden, heavy rainstorm which flooded the road quite badly in maybe 8 places (saw a soaked moped rider & cyclist, caught out in lightweight, hot weather gear). Water over a foot deep & covering the entire road in a couple of places.

 

[flyflicker]

I missed weigh in as well, I was diving down round Kimmeridge. Heard from UK Spearo that winning weight was 17 fish including a cod!

Dived from Bass Burglar with Fear The Spear & WillPower. Will bagged a nice fish and missed a better one (sorry Will had to mention it!). Fear saw a missed several.

I started out with the boys but had a sneezing fit and then blocked nose, so I headed into the shallows. First piece of jap weed and a very nice tail was showing aimed at where I had to guess the rest of the fish was and got a nice bass.

Nose now cleared so out again, it was amazing ground and one we will I'm sure revisit.

Noticed Will & Fear were back in the boat so whizzed back to them, good tide running now. They were just moving the boat out of the tide, so I swam back round to have a sniff around the jap weed and there was another just hanging in the water - so I ended the day with a nice brace for Sunday tea

I will head down to Ringstead later to see what they get..

Will & Flyflicker on the Bass Burglar

 

[Buster Lung]

Just spent four days working in the dive shop hearing lots of spearfishermen moaning about the lack of bass around Portland at the moment. Finally got chance to pop out after work tonight for an hour or so.

Found these....... does anybody recognise them????!

View attachment 9894

 

[fearthespear]

I think i've seen the one on the left before, very familiar face although it had no hole in its side...

 

[Robbo66]

I really don't want to antagonise anyone on the thread, but the size of the Bass in the last 2 photos, apart from the guy holding the single, is a bit near the limit isn't it ??

 

[flyflicker]

No worries Robbo - I will see you outside in 5 mins!!!! I feel happy that mine where well over 45m; yes I would have loved them to be bigger, but it's the best I could do..

 

[Spaniard]

No worries Robbo - I will see you outside in 5 mins!!!! I feel happy that mine where well over 45m; yes I would have loved them to be bigger, but it's the best I could do..

45m? Bloody hell, I'd better buy a Maorisub 180cm bazooka for one of those puppies rofl rofl rofl

 

[Mr. X]

The min. sizes sheet on the Portland Oceaneering site says min. size 36cm - has the limit changed? (Academic interest only, have barely seen a bass this year so far).

Anybody got info. on the Sunday's competition (or more on Saturdays)? Curious to know what fish were caught & conditions (depth, viz,...).

 

[flyflicker]

whoops -- of course I meant 45mm, that's the BSA size limit..

Not much was caught Sunday, I went down to watch them come in, I saw one nice bass of around 12lb and a couple of nice plaice - scenery made up for it though...

 

[dave]

I saw one nice bass of around 12lb

way off It was bang on 9lb
Viz was awful for most of the day after the wind overnight, although it did clear a bit towards the end. The catch was about what would be expected, as Ringstead is not the fishiest of spots
The catch on Saturday was the best and most varied I have ever seen come out on a UK competition, off the top of my head, species were; bass, mullet, red mullet, black bream, cod, pollack, pout, conger and triggerfish.
Lee's winning catch of 17 fish included 6 bass from 4-8lb, a cod and some bream.I think he had 5 or 6 different species in total.All were taken in a relatively small area on the drop off . 2nd place was 15 big mullet.It is amazing how spots can change. 2 years ago I won a comp at the same venue at about the same time of year with 8 mullet
cheers
dave
www.spearo.co.uk

 

[Andy Davies]

Even though the minimum size maybe 36cm, it seems ludicrous to me to take such young fish that have probably not had a chance to spawn. I try and take fish that are over 3lb and leave the smaller ones to grow bigger. Try weighing your catch rather than measure its length. You will then get an idea of the size of a >3lb fish.

 

[Buster Lung]

I really don't want to antagonise anyone on the thread, but the size of the Bass in the last 2 photos, apart from the guy holding the single, is a bit near the limit isn't it ??

Mine were legal.

 

[1 shot 1 kill]

I really don't want to antagonise anyone on the thread,

Probably should have stopped there then!

I personally don't catch anything under 500lbs and that is why i haven't caught anything this year!