Dorset Spearfishing 2006

[glowworm]

What are the rules with reference to wrasse at the BSA competitions.I have checked the rules on their web site but they don't seem to be mentioned.I shot one once when i was a teenager just starting spearfishing and it was so easy i have never shot one since.It felt like shooting my dog :naughty :naughty just my opinion.

 

[glowworm]

OK so i've just read the rules properly this time and wrasse are mentioned and a points allocation given to them.

I will now get down off my soap box and shut the f#*k up.....:martial

 

[Mr. X]

Is it true Mackeral get extra points? Had a shoal swim in front of my face once once but decided to wait & see if there were bass behind!

A family friend that sea fishes had much the same attitude to Wrasse but reading my fishermans tide timetable they mention good places to catch Wrasse several times! e.g. January: "Fish Portland rocks marks for Ballan wrasse." Having shot a Ballan Wrasse last year (meal for 4, tastes fine & is not boney), I would tend to give them a miss for the reason you mention.

 

[KWM]

Each club that hold a comp has the right to apply specific rules as to which fish are 'in or out' whilst the rule book does not state that wrasse are banned most comps have it that wrasse should not be shot. All comps last year for instance had wrasse out. It is also the case that for many comps dog fish are out. In sussex we have agreed that conger should not be shot throughtout the year, but we are allowed to shot them one day a year in a comp. The reality of bognor is that there are very few congor and I have not seen one shot in a comp there. THe BSA is very careful and understands many peoples objections to the shooting of wrasse. In the same vain the BSA does not want people to shoot undersize fish, and is also carefull to help maintain stocks, one of the reason for the 45cm rule for bass in sussex waters. The fish size and those that can be shot rules have all been agreed on a voluntary basis. So that peole are aware, members of the Sussex spearfishing club (I am a memebr) have also agreed to a ten fish rule (no more than ten fish of any species in a single day when diving in sussex waters) This does not mean that you can shoot ten bass and ten other fish of another species this is ten fish in total. Again this agreement is waived for one comp a year.

 

[Spaniard]

Does anyone know what colour float flag the BSA require for their competitions? There seem to be two designs available, the red with diagonal white stripe and the half blue half white one. Are they interchangeable or is one an international/european one? Thought i'd ask before i bought the wrong one!

Make sure you have the right one because your score will not count on the day if the float is wrong. I had to make one on the day of a comp so my score would count and Blue Peter skills abandoned me

 

[fearthespear]

Each club that hold a comp has the right to apply specific rules as to which fish are 'in or out' whilst the rule book does not state that wrasse are banned most comps have it that wrasse should not be shot. All comps last year for instance had wrasse out. It is also the case that for many comps dog fish are out. In sussex we have agreed that conger should not be shot throughtout the year, but we are allowed to shot them one day a year in a comp. The reality of bognor is that there are very few congor and I have not seen one shot in a comp there. THe BSA is very careful and understands many peoples objections to the shooting of wrasse. In the same vain the BSA does not want people to shoot undersize fish, and is also carefull to help maintain stocks, one of the reason for the 45cm rule for bass in sussex waters. The fish size and those that can be shot rules have all been agreed on a voluntary basis. So that peole are aware, members of the Sussex spearfishing club (I am a memebr) have also agreed to a ten fish rule (no more than ten fish of any species in a single day when diving in sussex waters) This does not mean that you can shoot ten bass and ten other fish of another species this is ten fish in total. Again this agreement is waived for one comp a year.

10 bass in a day...that is some serious shooting!

 

[foxfish]

Just a question guys, but how many Bass "would" it take to win a Dorset competition, on a good day?

 

[glowworm]

First year for competing Foxfish ....so based on last year about five times more than i managed in a single session last year rofl rofl rofl

 

[foxfish]

I am not a competitive spearo myself. Any how there are no longer any comp's in Guernsey. Had a few multiple Bass catches over the years though.

 

[glowworm]

I never thought of myself as a competative spearo either but the chance of rubbing shoulders with some of the best spearo's in the UK is too good to miss.Spearfishing is all about experience so being around these guy's will be a good way of picking up advise.

It's not the winning it's the tacking part that count's....rofl rofl rofl

 

[portinfer]

It's the eating that counts ...

 

[KWM]

I never thought of myself as a competative spearo either but the chance of rubbing shoulders with some of the best spearo's in the UK is too good to miss.Spearfishing is all about experience so being around these guy's will be a good way of picking up advise.

It's not the winning it's the tacking part that count's....rofl rofl rofl

Good to see lots of interst. firstly the point system is orginsed so that different fish are worth different amount of points. Roughly, Round fish, bass, mackeral ect ( harder to catch) and so more points, flat fish easier to catch
( they say) and so fewer points. You also get points per species so the more species you catch the more bonus points you get, congers slightly different because of their sometimes large size are 5000 points each if over 5kg (i think) so a 5kg conger is worth as much as a 20kg.
To answer fox fish's question, it would be unusual for a comp to be one with only one species,it just not that easy, but also if someone catches 4 different species lots of bonus points. I have fished comps were 4 or 5 fish have won and also taken part were 20 fish have won. It very much depends on the venue and conditions. Dont forget that with individual clubs organising the comps, some divers might have home avantage, whilst others might never have fished a venue before. Example, Spearo Dave not being able to find the reef at bognor. Had to get that in. It is also good to how other people are setting their gear up, and learning to fish other venues, thats were the experience comes in handy. kev

 

[glowworm]

You are right Portinfer it is the eating that counts i can't beleive i forgot my stomach rofl rofl but i need to learn more about techniques and equipment set ups so i can put a feed on the table.

Is it me or does fish taste better when you've had to work hard to get it.....

 

[Mr. X]

...Is it me or does fish taste better when you've had to work hard to get it.....

A 100x better.

 

[Mr. X]

I am thinking of snorkeling/spearing, either this weekend or next.

TIDE?
Tide-wise, I am thinking this Sunday looks better than Saturday and next week looks better than this week (I am thinking the best, & perhaps safest, time to go in might be 2-4 hours before high tide - sound reasonable?).

WIND?
Any viz? Current weather prediction show the wind blow from land -- which I believe is next best to no wind. 6mph. Wind predictions seem to change daily, often significantly, though.

LOCATION?
I am not sure where or what to try next - any suggestions:
- give Chesil another go (inspired by comments on this thread) -- maybe go much further & longer towards the Bill.
- go off the Bill near Pulpit rock?
- go off the back of the Isle (I'm told it is calmer & safer)
- Newtons Cove & Outside the Harbour walls (pretty murkey last few times & sickening swells)
- Durdle Dor(-ish)/Lulworth
- Ringstead/Osmand

CRAB?
Is it worth looking for crab this time of year? I spotted a few larger spiders last year & was thinking of paying them a visit sometime -- but I think very good viz will be required.

[If anybody would like meet up & dive, let me know]

 

[Flattie basher]

Tide; you might find that at this time tide will be very strong. You need to think about diving after high tide, letting outgoing current take you out, and then fishing at low tide (slack water). Unless that is you have a specific venue in mind which can only be fished at high tide.

 

[Mr. X]

Tide; you might find that at this time tide will be very strong. You need to think about diving after high tide, letting outgoing current take you out, and then fishing at low tide (slack water). Unless that is you have a specific venue in mind which can only be fished at high tide.

Thanks for that -- I needed some clarification . Is the idea to make the most of the free ride ...drifting with the tide, or because that's the best time to see fish?

My own limited experience has been seeing Bass around high tide, may be an hour or two before (heading out to sea, against the tide) -- which seems like the opposite end of the tide cycle. Although that was in a bay; I heard/read somewhere that, as a crude rule of thumb, fish swim into bays on the in tide & out to the headlands on the out-tide [perhaps bass go out a little earlier early to swim against the flow to feed on incoming fish*?] (Have also seen them hiding under rocks & wreckage & in gulleys around high tide).

Is the water any clearer at slack water (never noticed this in Cornwall -- but water has appeared clearer to me in Dorset at low tide...might be an optical illusion looking from the shore though).

 

[Spaniard]

Good luck finding bass at this time of year, try mediterranean instead or deep in the Western approaches rofl rofl

 

[Mr. X]

Good luck finding bass at this time of year, try mediterranean instead or deep in the Western approaches rofl rofl

Sounds like you know where they go! Would west Cornwall be worth a look or would, say, Gibralter, be a better bet?
I'd settle for other fish. Flatties? (Had a wonderful lemon sole in a restaurant in Cornwall last year).

 

[Flattie basher]

Because you are going to be swimming of the beech (Is that right) you need to think about what you are going to be doing. Depending on where I am fishing I would be getting into the water a couple of hours after high, swimming out with the tide, and then fishing up to and through low tide slack and maybe for a couple of hours after. When you swim back in the tide is going in the same direction. If you are diving at depths of (say 10m) obviously you want to be there when water is at its shallow'est. That said on certain marks like piers you need a depth of water under you, so fish at high tide, but your not doing to much swimming and the pier/obstruction will shelter you to some extent. There are slack water periods at both ends of a tide (usually) low water slack tending to last the longest. However in some venues you cannot count on much slack water at all.