Dorset Spearfishing 2013

[21raven21]

Anyone fancy a little dip tonight pm me

 

[speerolee]

mike.....I parked in pub carpark 1 mile west of the place where I speared 2 mullet simultaneously with Chris and yourself. got in the water opposite pub carpark and went west until we ended up opposite almost Greg's place.
hope that's not to kryptic?
text me...I've lost all my numbers on my phone

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[speerolee]

went on a double figure bass hunt last night with Alan. new spot that looked untouched from 6pm till midnight. vis was 5m and more in places.
within seconds of entering the water I saw two mullet of 5-6lb and somw schoolie bass; left them be and moved on. there were vast amounts of massive mullet blocking our vis for the bass; so Alan kindly shot a few to clear the way for me ...then I see a nice 7lb bass and add it to my stringer. then another imeadeatly after of just under 8lb....then another and yet another and so on. Alan missed his double!! didn't get a shot off, I see one!! hit it clean and it races off spins and unscrews my speartip and disappears . anyways we swam in ignoring bass under 3lb and donkey mullet; just picking off the better sized bass. we could have took 30+ bass each, but took only what we needed.

top line of fish is alans and the bottom line (with all the big bass) is mine lol....


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[Highlander]

went on a double figure bass hunt last night with Alan. new spot that looked untouched from 6pm till midnight. vis was 5m and more in places.
within seconds of entering the water I saw two mullet of 5-6lb and somw schoolie bass; left them be and moved on. there were vast amounts of massive mullet blocking our vis for the bass; so Alan kindly shot a few to clear the way for me ...then I see a nice 7lb bass and add it to my stringer. then another imeadeatly after of just under 8lb....then another and yet another and so on. Alan missed his double!! didn't get a shot off, I see one!! hit it clean and it races off spins and unscrews my speartip and disappears . anyways we swam in ignoring bass under 3lb and donkey mullet; just picking off the better sized bass. we could have took 30+ bass each, but took only what we needed.

top line of fish is alans and the bottom line (with all the big bass) is mine lol....


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Feck me, another positive dive there, not going to ask where you got those bad boys. I had my second blank of the year 2 nights ago, although I could have come a way with a massooove squid, It was about the size of my arm & I am not vertically challenged either. It was all shimmering like the aliens in the Abyss. I did have a bass tear off as well, seen a few takeable pollock, but left them.

Well done.

 

[speerolee]

believe me, these fish took alot of effort. if you go to the extremes, then it will pay off.
look on Google maps for inacesssible places that are near impossible to get to, look for close in mixed ground; ideal spots are lots of small rocks and larger boulders over sand or shingle, steep shingle shelves hitting flat sand or the above mentioned. stay mostly knee deep to 2m and cover ground slowly in a zig zag in a stealthily manner. cover miles of isolated shoreline and they are there.
I think a chance of another double before January could be on the cards. a trio fir me this year will me nice .

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[21raven21]

Nice hall there matey. Good job.

 

[Kuya]

Great fishing there Lee. Going from your description of the environment you are fishing in is there a lot of sea weed/kelp around you in the shallows?

If so was wondering if you got many tangles with a float line when out there at night?

 

[speerolee]

no..just clean rocks n boulders etc.. generally bass don't like the kelp or weed at night as they use the cover of darkness to ambush prey fish in the shallows they also use the sand shallows to rid themselves of parasites by flashing against the sand. they like a few boulders or rocks as the bait fish use them for tidal shelter.
at night bass will hunt shallow shorelines; especially the high tide line, luckily for us this also 'funnels' the fish into a more specific area, a bit like a wreck or reef that is preferable when day diving.
open sand can be very productive too, but the fish will be more sporadic and thus you will need to cover mire ground by zig zagging.

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[21raven21]

Changing the topic slightly. Anyone fancy a dip around Weymouth/Portland this evening ? Nice one on the bass buddy.

 

[Kuya]

no..just clean rocks n boulders etc.. generally bass don't like the kelp or weed at night as they use the cover of darkness to ambush prey fish in the shallows they also use the sand shallows to rid themselves of parasites by flashing against the sand. they like a few boulders or rocks as the bait fish use them for tidal shelter.
at night bass will hunt shallow shorelines; especially the high tide line, luckily for us this also 'funnels' the fish into a more specific area, a bit like a wreck or reef that is preferable when day diving.
open sand can be very productive too, but the fish will be more sporadic and thus you will need to cover mire ground by zig zagging.

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Thanks for sharing that... very useful tips.

 

[Rubber Duckie]

Hats off Lee hell of a haul!

Was planning to get a new torch the D06 but noticed there is also the D26 U3 at 1000 lumens. Ebay £69.99 http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=151098644915 unfortunately HK. Anyone on here tried D26? Struggling to decide if its worth getting over the D06. Any feedback appreciated.

RD

 

[Jaca]

1000 lumens?!? U gonna fry the fish before u shoot it!

 

[Kuya]

Hats off Lee hell of a haul!

Was planning to get a new torch the D06 but noticed there is also the D26 U3 at 1000 lumens. Ebay £69.99 http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=151098644915 unfortunately HK. Anyone on here tried D26? Struggling to decide if its worth getting over the D06. Any feedback appreciated.

RD

Does there come a point at which a torch can be too bright? My D06 is sometimes on a lower setting in the shallows or if there are many particles in the water.

 

[Rubber Duckie]

Does there come a point at which a torch can be too bright? My D06 is sometimes on a lower setting in the shallows or if there are many particles in the water.

Was more attracted by battery life. Its got 4 settings turbo 1000l gives 1.8hrs, high 600l 3.6, med 200l 11 hrs.

....guess you'd only need the turbo if u were feeling peckish and fancied fried bass or alternatively if ur buddy was outfishing u!! Hehe. 1000 lumens might take

 

[21raven21]

Went for another little dip last night. After swimming around for an hour only seeing schools of pollock and a few tiny bass. Seen a good 4/5lb bass. Shot booooom. Ohh no it ripped off gutted. Only to be then shouted at from two guys on shore shining torches.

Me " what do you want. "
Two men " were the police. Had repots of two guys in suits with guns. ".
Me " just a speargun. "
Police " can you get out "
Me " no. ". Want me to swim all the way back. Be a proper pointless dive. Would be to cold to get back in "
Police " umm alright go about what you were doing. "
Me " I will "

Swam around a bit more nothing seen got out.

 

[Kuya]

Was more attracted by battery life. Its got 4 settings turbo 1000l gives 1.8hrs, high 600l 3.6, med 200l 11 hrs.

....guess you'd only need the turbo if u were feeling peckish and fancied fried bass or alternatively if ur buddy was outfishing u!! Hehe. 1000 lumens might take

That looks like a D06 on steroids.

 

[21raven21]

Cheers for this Scott. Just watched the video. Was going to get myself a new torch for chrimbo. I might just get me another xtar d06. . No problems with it at all. .

 

[Highlander]

RD, just had a look on Youtube for the D26 Whale & first impressions look ok, until the last vid where a guy has issues with the press switch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkb9u80wMOw - in Russian.
- Illumination test on land.

Unless you speak the language, not really that useful, but you can see the difference between battery types & a magazine for D06 type batteries we use. The D26 battery is fat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYOLLiE9x5I - in English.
Ok review, no real illumination test apart from a couple of comparisons, which do not really mean much, indicated a potential dive glove switch on issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSkScORmRZs - Has a press switch issue.
This was very interesting, as the guys does spearfishing himself, as he pressed the button at depth & had issues with the light coming on. What he shows in the vid is without diving at depth & you can see air expelling from beneth the switch/button. He did this a few times & basically the housing beneath the switch filled with water, so eventually stopping him from operating the switch. He does this at depth, where he dived down, turns the torch on; then off when he comes to the surface.

The circumstances in which he used this, I do not think it will be a problem for the majority of us night divers as we are mainly at the surface & we do not really turn the torch off, unless switching between a mask mounted torch & your hand torch for the dispatching of the fish. What issue I do have with this is the fact that salt water will enter the switch housing & to me that could potentially be the major flaw in this as how will we flush out the sea water & what effect does it have on the internal mechanism. Will it eventually corrode? You would think bringing out a dive torch like this would have been checked & tested, but we do not really know this. With the cost of this torch amounting to £69.99, plus the costs of import tax & VAT, it all adds up(dont forget the taxes when buying out of the EU).

EDIT - A reply to the switch issue has been made on the last video:
- "Unscrew the ring around the switch and remove the push button. Remove the o-ring around the push button - it is not needed and the problem will go away"

I am still not convinced that it is not an issue without knowing the internaal workings & susceptability to salt water corrosion, plus do you want to be flushing this out each day after a dive. I am not sure.

I think a move back to the slide switch would be good, but not sure how they would overcome the multi illuminosity varations, as we all know the current D06 is either on full or on low/dim.

Anyway, just my observations after carrying out some Youtube reviews.

Happy hunting.

Scott

 

[mikehale83]

So am going to try and get in on saturday night. not sure where as yet though where Lee suggested might be a winner thogh might park walk over and then swim back. anyone out?

 

[Rubber Duckie]

Scott thanks for your thoughts. Hadnt really thought about potential corrosion issues in the switch, fair point. Seems a good torch if they sort switch issues, though it is more costly. Think I might stick with initial cheaper plan of a D06 U2 with spare batteries as they seem to do the job well. Who needs 1000 lumens anyway?!! No chance of shooting bass at 20 yards even if we did have the viz!!
Cheers
RD