Went to the east purbecks today, not ideal conditions with the spring tide and recent winds, but it was the last chance I was gonna get for a while. Water was pretty much flat calm with the N wind, slight swell. Had the plan to drop in just before the double high tide, so I could drift west with the ebb for maybe an hour and a half,and then come back with the flood and/or slack. After work and some errands I was running a touch late, so was met with a full ebb at Mach 1 I reckon! Carried on with the plan, but was too late to make the most of my time west, as there is no exit for another mile plus. Found some new ground to me and a few chunky, super skittish bass. However a combination of poor viz and me seemingly looking the wrong way all the time, all I saw was lots bass's arses! Headed back east into a cove out of the now flooding tide and nailed a couple of pollock, and missed a lone gg mullet. All in all a little bit quiet, but a nice reef or two found for later on. Viz was a changeable 1.5-3m, over slack it was maybe 4m. Total catch was 2 pollock and 1 small ish bass for 3hrs, had I had my mojo I could have shot another 4 nice bass.
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Dorset Spearfishing 2015
- Thread starterRoss McFarlane
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Dorset spearfishing thread last year 49 pages this year just touched 5. Cornwall thread last year 10 pages this year 1. Seems like those critics don't post or don't fish. Looks likes it's been the death of what was a thriving and enjoyable community.
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What you find is a very small number of posters contribute a large number of posts especially in very specific regions or topics. In this case a small number of trolls spoiled it for the rest of the group. There are still people interested in contributing about Dorset on this forum so let's concentrate on everyone who wants to be here instead of those who don't IMHO.
I love night sessions. You can see species which you never see in daytime. It's easy to spot flatties, rays, lobsters, crabs and many others.
Last Sunday night I went to Lulworth Cove with my small inflatable and sailed eastwards. During two hours of late Sunday night I caught 3 Sea Bass (from 50 to 75cm) and two lobsters. Then I moved to Worbarrow bay and in early Monday morning again got three Bass and two lobsters plus one 3kg Mullet and one 0,75kg Pollack. Saw much more fish - lots of smaller Bass, lots of Flounders and Soles and several rays. At the end of session, in L.C. I took one ray - usually I do not touch them but that time I had order from my wife. She likes ray's wings.
Last Sunday night I went to Lulworth Cove with my small inflatable and sailed eastwards. During two hours of late Sunday night I caught 3 Sea Bass (from 50 to 75cm) and two lobsters. Then I moved to Worbarrow bay and in early Monday morning again got three Bass and two lobsters plus one 3kg Mullet and one 0,75kg Pollack. Saw much more fish - lots of smaller Bass, lots of Flounders and Soles and several rays. At the end of session, in L.C. I took one ray - usually I do not touch them but that time I had order from my wife. She likes ray's wings.
I say this politely and respectfully ......Although strictly correct under the law you can catch 3 bass in one day 00 hours to 23 59 hours ( Does it mean catch or land ? ) I would be interested to know how it can be proven / dis-proven , also any one seeing such a catch being landed may well feel it is not in the spirit of the rules and would provide excellent propaganda to the anti night fishing cause ........ just like to add I am NOT anti night diving ,,,, just not my thing ...
Mirror I see what you mean, it would be a pain in the backside but I would land my pre 00:00 fish and then return to carry on with the second half of the dive. I don't think it's about when you catch them but about when you land them. Might be wrong though...
What would you do JPP?
There is a picture of a spear fisherman with 6 bass on his stringer.
The accompanying text suggest he caught them on separate days but for many people watching, it could look like a picture of someone breaking the law.
Paul, comes across as a nice chap who loves his spearfishing, I have no reason to doubt his words but that picture could easily be mistaken for a spearo taking more bass than the law allows?
There is no threat or even a suggestion that Paul would be banned but I would be interested in your opinion about the photo?
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Thanks, Foxfish!
That was the purpose of my last post. To find what would other people say about fishing around midnight. And to put some life into this treat.
I could say anything about that image - we were two persons on the board that night. But the true was that Hubert (my friend) finned along huge builders and in deeper waters. He met only 1 Bass but massive one, shoot him and lost him. I went into shallow waters and all the fish were there.
As the Mupe Rocks and Mupe Bay are not very big areas (just enough for two hunters for two hours) we had to move to the other site. At midnight we sailed to Worbarrow Bay.
All our catch we always keep in the coolebox with icecubes (exept the Ray - was too big), to keep the fish fresh. I put all fish together on one fish stringer just to make one photo but they were taken as I said in the first post.
By the way, visibility was perfect, up to 20m over the stony bottom, thanks to the northerly winds. Like Mediterranian Sea! Only the water's temperature was like in North Sea - 15deg.
That was the purpose of my last post. To find what would other people say about fishing around midnight. And to put some life into this treat.
I could say anything about that image - we were two persons on the board that night. But the true was that Hubert (my friend) finned along huge builders and in deeper waters. He met only 1 Bass but massive one, shoot him and lost him. I went into shallow waters and all the fish were there.
As the Mupe Rocks and Mupe Bay are not very big areas (just enough for two hunters for two hours) we had to move to the other site. At midnight we sailed to Worbarrow Bay.
All our catch we always keep in the coolebox with icecubes (exept the Ray - was too big), to keep the fish fresh. I put all fish together on one fish stringer just to make one photo but they were taken as I said in the first post.
By the way, visibility was perfect, up to 20m over the stony bottom, thanks to the northerly winds. Like Mediterranian Sea! Only the water's temperature was like in North Sea - 15deg.
I like the photo and would not ban it. My point is about Paul catching them at night not the amount as I am believe he caught three in one day and three in the next.
Spearfishing at night is not illegal but Stephan has decided that there should not be posts about night spearfishing as people complained about it. My point is that people complained, it was banned and consequently the Dorset page especially has had much less posts because of it (6 pages so far this year, last year a total of 49). Those that complained do not seem to post but have stopped those that did..
Why was Paul's post not banned?
Sorry Paul to drag you in on this as I do miss the posts about night spearing and the forum, particularly the Dorset and Cornwall pages inspired me. It is a shame to see it go downhill.
The argument about night spearfishing is the same as when hunting was legal and people used to complain about running dogs at night to catch rabbits and hare. Each has there challenge and it takes some guts to get in the sea at night, swimming long distances. The problem with field sports, and this is one, is that people do not stick together and defend their choices. This will lead to them eventually being picked off one by one.
This forum is about spearing fish and I do not see how people can complain about that. Now there is a three bass limit I can see no objection as to why posts should not be accepted on here about night spearfishing.
Paul m that was a brilliant post by the way.
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Spearfishing at night is not illegal but Stephan has decided that there should not be posts about night spearfishing as people complained about it. My point is that people complained, it was banned and consequently the Dorset page especially has had much less posts because of it (6 pages so far this year, last year a total of 49). Those that complained do not seem to post but have stopped those that did..
Why was Paul's post not banned?
Sorry Paul to drag you in on this as I do miss the posts about night spearing and the forum, particularly the Dorset and Cornwall pages inspired me. It is a shame to see it go downhill.
The argument about night spearfishing is the same as when hunting was legal and people used to complain about running dogs at night to catch rabbits and hare. Each has there challenge and it takes some guts to get in the sea at night, swimming long distances. The problem with field sports, and this is one, is that people do not stick together and defend their choices. This will lead to them eventually being picked off one by one.
This forum is about spearing fish and I do not see how people can complain about that. Now there is a three bass limit I can see no objection as to why posts should not be accepted on here about night spearfishing.
Paul m that was a brilliant post by the way.
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Shouldn't really pipe up being a noob and all, but surely the simple answer is to ban the members causing the arguments and not the discussion of the perfectly legal activity of night fishing?? Stephan himself referred to them as trolls, so it's clear to see who caused the problem.
@ Paul M - I'm going to do a couple of nights camping at the Durdle Door holiday park next half term, is the diving any good from Man 'O War beach and St Oswald's bay? You seem to prefer to go the other way more often than not. Just wondered if it was worth driving to other parts of the coast rather than just walking down to that part near the campsite.
Woohoo, diving there is very good but all depends on winds and swells. When it's blowing strong from south, south-west those sites are badly stirred. Then it is better to go to Studland Bay or Swanage Bay. Sometimes to Durlston Bay.
I dove many times around Durdle Door (when the seas were calm) and sometimes got nice fish from there. Days and nights. Just the walk back was killing me and now I prefer to visit those sites by boat. And having my boat afloat I prefer to go to Mupe Rocks, St. Albans Head, ledges between Chapman's Poole and Kimmeridge Bay, Gad Cliff, Worbarrow Bay, Pondfield Cove and few others.
If you have no boat so try to get into the water thru Stair Hole and swim westwards. Very nice sites. Return back to Lulworth Cove and easy walk to car park.
It's worth to pay a visit to Seacombe - access by foot from Worth Matravers - long walk but easier then to Durdle Door and visibility under water is better.
A bit more difficult is walk to Chapmans Poole. Water in there is almost always milky with no visibility but short finning off the cove and you will find very productive sites on your left.
I hope I've been helpful.
Immensely so, thank you very much. Hopefully the weather will be kind to me and I can just walk down from the campsite. If not I'll have to try and find time to explore further afield.
Cheers mate, appreciate your time.
Jpp, the problems we had were more about certain individuals rather than the actual night diving.
It was no fun being on the recieving end of abusive pms and dealing with endless complaints about theses individuals.
Nobody was ever banned, in fact in the 10 years or so I have been helping out the forum, I cant remember anyone being banned.
I will have a word with Stephan about where we stand regarding night diving at this time but we do fear the same people will just return and start the whole episode over again!
It was no fun being on the recieving end of abusive pms and dealing with endless complaints about theses individuals.
Nobody was ever banned, in fact in the 10 years or so I have been helping out the forum, I cant remember anyone being banned.
I will have a word with Stephan about where we stand regarding night diving at this time but we do fear the same people will just return and start the whole episode over again!
My understanding was that up until there were complaints about those individuals night fishing there was not a problem. The complaints were about the quantity of fish shot and that it was considered unsporting.
Stephan has said posts about night spearing are banned but they are still appearing on here. It seems like night fishing was banned to appease those complainers but those people do not seem to post on here. Consequently this and the Cornwall page has gone downhill.
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Jpp, yes you are right but there were also complains from every angle as well.
Please understand that we don't want to loose any members but it is very hard to please everybody.
At the end of the day Stephan owns the forum however, I will put forward any suggestion you have to make the forum a better place.
Please understand that we don't want to loose any members but it is very hard to please everybody.
At the end of the day Stephan owns the forum however, I will put forward any suggestion you have to make the forum a better place.