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Dorset Spearfishing 2013

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 90 days.
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#521
foxfish said:
What conflicting informasion?
Conger are susceptible to overfishing by spear fishermen because they are territorial.
It is all relative of course as the damage has already been done by commercial methods.
Offshore congers are caught by long lines, we still have one visiting Spanish long liner that comes to port every now & again just to make sure the congers dont really get a chance to recover :duh
Now that the potter's dont use the buoyant pot neck flaps, that so effectively caught the congers, they actually use mackerel to bait the pots.
Mackerel was never a suitable bait in the past because it attracted the congers who would get in the pot eat the bait & swim out again!
It was not until the potters started useing the flap system that they realised just how many conger were out there! So now they can use mackerel simply because there are so few conger left, they are no longer an issue!
The relatively small amount of inshore conger that are left can easily be thinned out by spearfishing the reefs, in times gone by you could take a conger from a prime hole & see another resident the next day but now there might only be a few of the hundreds of holes occupied on a whole reef.
Conger were in fact a prime eating fish during the early days of long sea travel. salted conger was in fact a staple diet of many sailors to such an extent there were numerous industries revolving around the capture, salting & barreling up the end product. Salt cod became more popular later in history.
I have watched many epic conger captures, there is a very effective technique used to spear, remove from hole & kill the fish on one breath.
The principal idea would be to first find a suitable fish then with a fresh breath dive down & spear the fish just behind the head, a good double barb 8mm spear is best fired from an air gun. The fish is removed & if it is a big one (over 30lb) then the feet are braces either side of the hole & the fish extracted in one deft motion.
Next the conger is passed under the divers legs so he straddles the fish between his thighs & then cuts the fish deep behind the neck to sever the spine, in fact it seems you just need to touch the spinal cord to immobilise the poor creature!
Of course most fish were killed for fun rather than food & a real big one over 50lb was a very impressive catch for many people!!
My elder brother Derek was well known for taking congers with a hand spear & I watched him take a 25lb fish once in pretty deep water on one occasion, I can remember this very well because I was only young, (maybe 12-13) as was made to carry the thing around for the rest of the dive! It seemed to come alive every now and again & scarred the s..t out of me LOL.
My mother was the chief fish filleter & cooker in our family & the conger was prepared in many ways ranging from delicious fried tiny pieces to disgusting steaks cooked in mike in the oven :yack
Probably the most vivid memories were the internationale spearfishing compertisions when you could see dozens of stinky, slimy, mutilated & very sad looking dead congers.
Anyhow I admit to shooting a few in my teens & killing a few more that were caught on rods but when my mum died there was no one else who would prepare & cook the things so I never killed another one.
I do see them quite often when hunting for lobsters, I see them in the same holes that we hunted them in 35 years ago.
Click to expand...

It seems that there is a general view that the European conger eel is in decline and no views specifically pointing to spear fishing as having an effect?
 
#523
Cheers guys,
Lee yup had to hold my breath for that one! As for where I was not far from Falmouth. Hopefully in a couple of times this week to get something for dinner. Report will of course follow! As for congers yup I took one in my early days of spearing. Was the first good size one and had heard they are good eating. Well it was but not worth the hassle or the potential environmental impacts as I now (better) understand them. That said I would never take offence to another spearo taking one, same with 'most' things really assuming its taken for the right reasons and put to good use. Would probably take offence to someone taking the pee but that's always the way lol. Funny how as I grow up or the community changes I find some things less acceptable than I did. I think it's a good thing along with the debate it generates.
 
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#524
Someone once said that it was decline in sewerage out falls which was a magnet for Mullet ! the conger loved them . Once the mullet had moved away and in decline so too did the conger ! in the good old days was quite common for 60 pound plus congers to be caught around cheynne and other areas around Portland. But sadly now they are rare I shot 2 one over 5o which sadly got the better of me and dragged me under a ledge :) lost spear and all my gear and I pulled one out that was approx 30 which I ate , a friend said it would taste like scampi ! yea I think not . He was the same guy that said " go down spear it just behind the head , grab the spear and JUST drag it out the hole . The look on his face as I shot the conger then went feet first under that ledge was priceless . But then again my good friend and Mentor Ray Harms found it fun to play with congers and pull them out of holes with his hands ,
 
#525
Everyone has and is entitled to an opinion as reagards to which fish are aceptable to take.

If we were to base ones opinions on the 'sustainability' or fish that are on the 'decline' then I guess we would be pretty much shooting just grey mullet?? But even these prolific buggers are on the decline.

So my 'opinion' on the matter is: if it's legal, safe to do so, you are going to eat it and it sits ok with your conscience; then take it.

One thing that I feel I can safley say is that Uk Spearfishing at present does not make any impact upon the sustainability of target fish species.

People need to make a living and thus commercial fishing has made a huge impact upon the decline of fish stocks.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
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#528
Sadly there is no way of telling the actual fish stocks of congers, but there has been a yearly decline in quantities caught by long liners. However, that may also be due to the fact that there has been a great decline in the number of registered UK fishing vessels. So it's a complex situation to quantify!

I see no problem in taking an occasional conger for the table. It's no different than purchasing the same from a fishmonger!
 
#529
spearo nobby said:
Cheers for sharing with us all foxfish. Your mum sounded like an awsome lady to do all that stuff with congors.
Click to expand...

Oh yes mate she was indeed!
My mum would be 97 if she were still alive, a true Guernsey girl who did not learn to speak English until she was a teenagers & my dad had to explain the facts of life before they got married.
Mum was brought up in a tiny cottage with no electric or running water alongside her numerous brothers & sisters but she learnt so many things about being resourceful like skinning, cleaning & cooking anything warm or cold blooded!
She was so strong it used to scare all my mates LOL but everyone loved my pretty, tough, french speaking mum.
Her name was Lily Flo.
 
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#539
Well had a dip last night which is proving a bad idea this morning on 4 hours sleep! Anyway got in to cold cold water guessing 7/8 degrees but my computer needs a new battery, vis was a mixed bag really anything up to 3m but cloudy with it and quite a bit of loose matter in the water, started seeing small flounder as soon as I was in but none big enough to take. Swam behind a small reef and spotted a bass cruising the weed guess at 5/6lb so a nice fish but no monster but still my favourite size so carefully lined up and... Missed! Damn it loaned my gun out last weekend and safety was on causing me to fluff the shot, oh well onwards... Saw nothing silver for the next hour despite covering a lot of ground did see the usual smelt, small pollack a weever fish and a very grumpy scorpion fish, vis was pretty bad where I had ended up and I was getting fed up with the constant suicidal gar fish that seemed to be hitting me on a regular basis, the first one scared the sh*t out of me! So headed back in, took one last look in the same spot I saw the bass earlier and low and behold hiding in a thick bit of weed I spotted a tail, head done munching I crept above him checked the safety (lol) and bang he was on and stoned. Really healthy fish very thick across the back and came in at 5lb 6 which surprised me a bit we had bet on 4-5 in the water.

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