Guernsey 2006

[foxfish]

I went for a dive last evening, quite a special dive at that. Thought I would try the inside of the knife, somewhere I hadn't been to for several years.
The small bay contains much weed, in fact some columns of japweed are two feet in diameter & twenty feet tall! Coupled with the amazing visibility they offered some of the most beautiful underwater scenery I have ever seen.
If you swim out a bit onto the sand the columns become trees of the sea, casting shadows that move on sand. Back towards the shore the combination of boot lace, japweed & a myriad of other colourful algae form the heart of the forest. On the surface, the fonds lay flat proving almost impenetrable but you can dive down & swim through & amongst the columns.
Of course the forest is stuffed with fish, wrasse mullet & bass. Sand eels & other small fry, anemones, florescent seaweeds & crabs. I lost count of the "to close to shoot" encounters with sizable bass. Truly a great dive, I would recommend the spot to anyone. I went in one hour before low, the tide was 2.5.
Interestingly I met two other divers who had been fishing the sand, they had two plaice. I introduced myself & told them of the site, hopefully they will join the fun.

 

[Magpie]

That sounds wonderful Foxy, that was one spot of the many on my list to try out, looks like it'll have to be bumped up a bit!

 

[crazyman]

hi
just wondering, were is the knife???

 

[foxfish]

Go to Rousse headland behind the peninsular hotel. There is a causeway that separates Grand Havre & Port Grats. Enter on the port Garts side, the knife is the reef that forms the lagoon.

 

[ADM]

I went plugging down Moulin Huet yesterday which was pointless except for the exercise and the views
The water though was absolutely crystal clear, I reckon from above surface, even without my polaroids, there was 30ft+ visability.
Saw some BIG mullet rolling further out and the weed coming off the back of the reef looks interesting, tide wasn't low enough to get out on the far one without chesties so I gave it a miss, I have drowned 2 mobiles so far by taking a chance...
Has anyone snorkelled there? Much to see? I know it's a HOT bass mark with the rod after dusk.

 

[spicer]

Took a swim to some of the reefs off lihou. Beautiful out there. Spotted some big mullet that moved off when they saw me. Went into hiding between some bootlace and they came back. Headshot to the lead one at two and a half meters - bit over six pounds. Only saw one 4lb+ bass on the way in.

 

[portinfer]

Ahhh the weekend !
Nice gentle run out of the harbour on Saturday and down to St Martins Point for some mackrelling - a couple of hours chatting and winding and we had about a dozen macks... then Dave rang to confirm that he had a few hundred that morning ... still enough for the barbie.

Off around the back of Herm and taking in the beaches and waterskiers.

A shortish dive behind one of the reefs. Really beutiful. Quite shallow at about 6m and no current although on both sides there was a ripping river of a current. We had a 'live' boat as this is an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous area (currents/waveskiers/waterskiers).

I saw a nice bass in the distance and then a short while later shot a nice 4 or 5 pound bass on a shallow aspetto in about 2m of water. It did the classic head on approach and then turned.

Tried another dive in the Rockery. Beeeeautiful Neptune grass like I have never seen. Really beautiful. I was in the boat this time - so I dropped a float line off the back and tried my luck on some scallop frills - no idea how to fish but it seemed like a decent way of fishing inthe shallows ... just set the line to drift out. No bites ! Anyway very relaxing.

The others came back and I went for a solo short session. Great scenery.... no fish.

Back to Guernsey. A good day.

 

[loops]

Hi Dave the C4 is mega bucks but a very good gun.Trying to get a weekend up in GSY going to have to wait until missus goes on holiday. I have had a very good time lately had decent white beam, loads of big bass biggest 9lb10oz.

 

[Old Man Dave]

Sounds like a great day Ed. I went with Mart in his boat to similar locations last year. Think we even posted a few pics. I just had the one bass too but what an amazing day it was. Some of the scenery both above and below the water was just out of this world.
Found the link [ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showpost.php?p=577729&postcount=14"]DeeperBlue Forums - View Single Post - Guernsey 2006[/ame]

Yes I was down the point Saturday but at the right state of tide and in just the right place. The mackerel shoals were THICK. Couldn't get your line through them. Caught maybe 150 but put all the undamaged smalls and mediums back. Just kept about 50 for a feed for myself, family, relatives and friends, including a few damaged smalls for bait. Once I had enough I packed it in. Today heard tales of some people taking up to 400 small ones. Bit disgusting really.

Went in my boat with the tanks with mate John on Sunday. Had a fantastic day although didn't catch a lot. Got some really huge scallops which were so full I reckon they had meats and rows that went 4 to the lb. Had a few plaice and sole but no brill/turbot. Fishing was quite poor considering the good vis and neap tides. Good fun though and plenty enough fish for a feed.

Remember those small damaged mackerel from Saturday? They had been duly reduced to 50 baits for my set lines (trots). In between tanks we laid my two 25 hook long lines with their anchors and marker buoys. Two hours later picked them up. Last weekend we managed a turbot (+ 31 dogfish - yuk!). This time we only managed 12 dogs but Hooray! we got 3 bass and 2 gurnards. Two bass were 5-6lb and one was about 1 1/2 lb. The little un went back. It was really exciting seeing those purple backs appearing 30ft down and feeling the tug of a hooked bass. "Trotting" as I said to John is like opening Christmas presents. It's not about what you get more about the anticipation.

Anyway another great day and a nice little catch of prime seafood. As long as I try to forget that I had to put 40 gallons of diesel in on Saturday and that whoever said "Boats ain't cheap" gets the award for understatment of the year, then I'm happy.

Actually I am happy .

Dave

 

[Old Man Dave]

Hey Loops. If you're catching fish like that maybe we should be visiting you not the other way round. Actually well done. Any pic's?

Haven't been trying too hard myself but have been half heartedly looking for some decent bass, however, 7 +lb is my best so far. We got plenty of bass but as you'd expect they are mostly 3-4 lb-ish.

How about Dave and Co.? They been catching. Still night diving? Many flats down your way?

Dave.

 

[foxfish]

Hi Dave the C4 is mega bucks but a very good gun.Trying to get a weekend up in GSY going to have to wait until missus goes on holiday. I have had a very good time lately had decent white beam, loads of big bass biggest 9lb10oz.

That is a nice catch mate, good luck with the bream record.
Didn't you catch a really big bass once? 15lb+ or was that another Jersey man.

 

[daviesd]

Hi Dave

Good to see you guys are catching well over there. Like Andy said during the daytime its been pretty quiet over here with things getting better during the night. We have some pictures over on our website http://www.jerseyspearfishing.com/image_index.asp
The pictures of the bass are under Big Bass ( surprise surprise ) - I haven't had a chance to put up many pictures from this year yet.

The C4 gun is really nice but it was expensive. I got my Rabitech's ( 120 , 90 and special make 70 ) direct from Durban several years ago when they were cheap - the prices seem to have risen a lot since then.

When we bring the boat up for a dive we'll be fully tooled up so you guys are welcome to try some of them.

Foxfish, how is the boat going?

cheers

David

 

[loops]

Nah wasn`t me foxfish that was my mate chris who had the 15lb bass. Dave got a 13lb a couple of years ago. lucky buggers

 

[loops]

Hi Dave haven`t had many plaice this year, but plenty of sole. Quite a few rays around.Also we haven`t got much mullet over here......

 

[foxfish]

Hi Dave

When we bring the boat up for a dive we'll be fully tooled up so you guys are welcome to try some of them.

Foxfish, how is the boat going?

cheers

David

Well David my boat has been in the water & out again. At the moment she is in the final stages of further mods.
Should be finished soon. Looking forward to meeting you guys.

 

[daviesd]

What are you planning to do to her now??? It would be really good to meet you guys up there in your warmer water...... Do you know of any wetsuit friendly guest houses over there that could put a few of us up for a night or two?

cheers

 

[foxfish]

Guest houses!! what are they? It seems there used to be guest houses on every corner but now they are as rare as mullet in Jersey. L Ancresse hotel (tell 246664) & Vazon bay hotel ( 257568) are good bets though.
You can pm me for my number if you want more info.

 

[spicer]

Went for a good swim around Rocquanne this afternoon. Only some decent mullet around and couple of small sole. Shot one mullet. Did not even see a bass. Viz was reasonable.

 

[Magpie]

Foxy and myself went out to have a mooch around Foxy's Forest today, and he's not wrong about the place, truely beautiful amongst the weed, light and dark patches, lots of channels to swim down, stuffed full of roselet and sandeel bait fish.

On the way out Foxy nailed a bass and saw a few others, I saw none.

We headed out of the forest and into the desert in search of flatties. Not long out one of my random prods at the sand moved! Oooh, whats that! Could tell it was sole from the outline that was now revealed, but I was running out of breath, thought about going up and coming abck down but there was no way I was going to do that and risk not finding the thing again. So I shot it. Fortunately the spear penetrated far enough and got a good hold just behind the head. My first flattie on the spear 2lbs 10oz.

Strung it up and we headed on. 15 mins later Foxfish called me over and I saw him wrestling with a massive plaice! Big old slab that went 5lbs 3oz!

Another 2-3lber later and we were out in the main current. Foxy saw and had no shot at a massive bass and saw and missed a bream and I saw, prodded then left alone a big rockie.

Fighting back against the tide into the weed where foxy saw a few bass but had no clear shots, I continued not to see anything much at all, must get them eyes tested again!

Hey ho, here's some pics.

 

[spaghetti]

Wow, the sea paid for the day! I'm jealous. But happy to see you're happy.