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F.O.M./F.O.Y. discussion thread for 2012

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.
Mike, can you share your ideas on how or whether the speccie hunt aspect will influence your diving? for example, what will you target for March and April - presumably different species compared to what might be around later in the year? do you think its a case of enter a mullet now, and hope for something less common later in the year?
Do other people have any plans or thoughts? or is it more a case of just go see what's lucky...?
Anyone up for this? :)

With March to October [inclusive] there are 8 months to find entries from 18 species; is anyone going to get 8 out of 8 entries...?

Here's the speccie list again:
Bass, Bream – Black, Bream – White, Bream – Gilthead, Brill, Cod, Dab, Flounder, Grey Mullet - Common thick or thin lip, Grey Mullet - Golden Grey, Gurnard – Red, Gurnard – Tub, Plaice, Pollack, Red Mullet, Sole –Dover, Triggerfish, Turbot.
 
Hi Jonny,

I am really up for this.

The specimen hunt is a great idea and I think it will be a real test of a divers overall fishing fishing skills.

No doubt a bit of good luck will help too!


There are a few species on the list that I don't expect to encounter in Jsy waters, that I think may be found more commonly in the UK and visa versa. eg cod, I know they turn up here, but I haven't seen one.

For me March /April is flatty time, although there aren't as many around JSY these days,l will be seriously looking a for plaice as soon as the water settles ( I have already been in having a few sneaky peeks but not found one)

Bass have been around all winter, I just haven't found them yet either! This week a friend caught 20 on the rod up to 5lb over two night sessiosns (most released). I hope to see them appearing in good numbers again once the water temp hits 13, and even better from 16. Sometimes Jsy has some nice fish inshore early season ( I have had most of my doubles in April/May/June). I have already been in (daytime), in Jan and Feb, but no fish taken. Seen a few rockies, wrasse topnot and pollack. I find my bottom times are poor, particularly when I get cold, so looking fwd to warmer water

The black bream will be around gravel and shallow rock marks in April, I am not sure of UK behaviour but I know a few local inshore spots that should produce a fish.

This year I am going to try hard for another white bream, last year I saw some nice fish and I feel there is still potential to reclaim my British record from Cobus , so Cobus, watch this space.


Gnsy boys should clean up on the mullet. I have seen some crackers when I've been trespassing in your waters. Thick lips turn up here in Jsy as early as April, but early season I find them mainly in holes. Thin lips appear July/August, u can come accross big shoals in open water. Gold spot should be in the shallows for most of the summer. I saw a few whoppers last year.

I think Turbot and brill will be a challenge for everyone. They are really hard ro find, much like sole, even big fish can dissappear in the sand, so you can swim over them very easily. Turbot wise, I have found we get an early run of fish into shallow water in April/May and again in September /October. Last season I tried really hard to get a decent one, but I failed! Will try again this year.

I am going to enjoy this specimen hunt and I hope other spearos join in too.

I am also keen to try and win one of those lovely FOM trophys. Very envious of yours!

I will enjoy the added challenges, but at the end of the day, same as most spearos the best thing about spearfishing for me is just being in the water.
 
A quick question on the rules. If a diver has 2 entries for FOM and puts forward one of the entries, can the other entry still count for the species hunt?
 
A quick question on the rules. If a diver has 2 entries for FOM and puts forward one of the entries, can the other entry still count for the species hunt?

Its a good question; the original intention was for just the actual fish entered in the fom poll to count for the speccie hunt, hopefully this would encourage people to enter more varied species over the year.

However, if people prefer that all fish entered into the fom can be counted towards the speccie hunt then we can do that? The rules do allow multiple entries into the fom, but just one fish per person is then put forward for the fom poll.

Once again, i put it back to y'all to ask what you prefer?
 
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A quick question on the rules. If a diver has 2 entries for FOM and puts forward one of the entries, can the other entry still count for the species hunt?

Sunfish has raised a very good point.

I like the idea of all ur monthy FOM entries counting toward the species hunt, with the best of ur fish going fwd for voting for FOM.

That way, if u catch more than one of the eligible species in a month, eg two or more species, they wld all count for the species hunt.

If you are lucky enough to catch a big bass, and a 2lb sole in one month, even if you have entered a bass before before, u cld still enter the bass for FOM and also enter the 2lb sole for species, rather than have to choose.



What do others think?
 
Its a good question; the original intention was for just the actual fish entered in the fom poll to count for the speccie hunt, hopefully this would encourage people to enter more varied species over the year.

However, if people prefer that all fish entered into the fom can be counted towards the speccie hunt then we can do that? The rules do allow multiple entries into the fom, but just one fish per person is then put forward for the fom poll.

Once again, i put it back to y'all to ask what you prefer?

Hi Johnny, thanks for the PM. The reason I asked was that I could see a situation where you might have, for instance, a specimen mullet but then catch a bass which you thought would win FOM. If you already had a better bass from a previous month you'd have to choose to try for FOM (bass) or species hunt, (mullet).
Does that make sense? It does to me. One fish could stand the best chance at FOM while the other was a better choice for the species hunt.
I did like the idea of only one species per month but i'm not sure how combine the two.
 
I dont see it as a major problem, for last year's flattie of the year and mullet of the year all you needed to do was register an entry into the FOM with the fish. It didn't matter what entry you ultimately decided to run with... whatever entered was what counted.

Lets say at the end of the year, sunfish has entered 10 FOM with has 8 bass, 14 mullet, and 28 bream and 6 plaice. Nice going ;)
Well the organiser can pick the top from each species, or better yet, Sunfish can place "an application" at the year end in a Species thread with a link to their "best" which they entered in a FOM???
Its easy enough to make a thread and template at the year end... for now I suggest just entering the best catch for each species in every FOM. So if you have a nice bass and nice sole enter both, if you need to put the bass forward to win, the sole will still count towards the species hunt as its already in the fom.
These rules worked for the mullet of year and flattie of the year so lets eep them the same.
 
ok, that's fine, I will try and clarify this in the fom speecie hunt rules.

so for this year, the speccie hunt will allow all species that are entered in the fom, whether or not they are entered in the final poll, to count in the speccie hunt.

Bob it is a good idea that people should nominate their own fish at the end of the year - it could be quite a challenge otherwise :)

I'm looking forward to see what carieties of fish come in...

:)
 
I dont see it as a major problem, for last year's flattie of the year and mullet of the year all you needed to do was register an entry into the FOM with the fish. It didn't matter what entry you ultimately decided to run with... whatever entered was what counted.

Lets say at the end of the year, sunfish has entered 10 FOM with has 8 bass, 14 mullet, and 28 bream and 6 plaice. Nice going ;)
Well the organiser can pick the top from each species, or better yet, Sunfish can place "an application" at the year end in a Species thread with a link to their "best" which they entered in a FOM???
Its easy enough to make a thread and template at the year end... for now I suggest just entering the best catch for each species in every FOM. So if you have a nice bass and nice sole enter both, if you need to put the bass forward to win, the sole will still count towards the species hunt as its already in the fom.
These rules worked for the mullet of year and flattie of the year so lets eep them the same.

OK, I'd go with that if everyone agrees. Just one thing though Rob. Where can I find these 28 bream? You'd better PM the location or it'll be overun with spearos.;)
 
37 votes and a big Well Done to Baldyfish who is our first winner of the 2012 FOM competition.

Well done to JerseyMike too, for making a race of it and a close-ish second place
icon7.gif


Baldyfish I will send you a PM ref your trophy, congratulations!

I will post a starting list of the current runners in the Speccie hunt later on...
 
Thanks jonny. And I wasn't even going to put the fish in for the comp! Delighted with the win.
I think a White bream is a winner too. Well done jerseymike. Great fish!!
 
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Thanks jonny. And I wasn't even going to put the fish in for the comp! Delighted with the win.
I think a White bream is a winner too. Well done jerseymike. Great fish!!

Well done mate, I agree with the White Bream too! I think the Species hunt comp will be a good one to follow this year.

Congrats again mate.
 
Well done to Johnny (AKA Baldyfish). I'd like to say well done to Spearolee too as I think a 7lb mullet is a superb fish. I'd urge anyone who gets a decent mullet to enter it. The biggest I've seen is just over 9lb and I've seen bass way bigger than that so I personally rate mullet over an equally sized bass.
Of course the white bream was a great catch. I've never even seen one of those.
 
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hats off baldy... was wondering how long it would take you to finally win a FOM ;)
 
Thanks lads. I've only ever entered once with a 9.5 bass. Had plenty of 8s before but never bothered. Going to try for more variety this year. The bass spearing is getting me lazy. Too easy. Need a challenge:)
 
Good idea mate, it would be nice to see the specimen hunt catch on so we can perfect the idea.
Perhaps next year we can offer the specimen hunt a higher profile with prizes too.
 
Maybe its early days so far, but here's the current Speccie Hunt Leaderboard:

6914268058_d8ef0d326c_z.jpg


Just a reminder, you can enter more than one fish into the FOM each month, to count for the speccie hunt. You just have to decide which one would be entered into the poll for the fom. [does that make sense?] :)
 
There have been some super fish entered in the fom this month, well done guys!

May i just offer a gentle reminder that the purpose of the newspaper is to identify the date of the catch, so please when you take the picture with a paper - make sure the date is clear. thanks :)

I have clarified this in the rules for future :)
 
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Here is the current speccie hunt fish list; Jersey Mike and Sunfish taking an early lead...:
7005528846_f40eb69c56_b.jpg
 
Congratulations to SpearoNobby in the April FOM!! well clear of the field with 17 votes for that hugemungoustastic Cuttle elephant :)

The May FOM is open for entries so dont be shy :)

Lee and Nobby, lets see a bass from you for the speccie hunt eh :) but watch out because JerseyMike has a couple more speccie entries on their way.... Sunfish, no more blanking reports please :)
Gaz, Tunny & Johnny, get yourselves a Mullet in there...
The speccie hunt will be pretty interesting by late summer methinks...

Good luck Chaps!
 
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