Guernsey 2006

[beardy241]

Foxy, that sounds great. If you're still on, I'm in. Might be on my own but if I can get wifey along I will. George is interested too. (out of island today)

Pilchard Oil? Porbeagles LOVE Pilchard Oil

(Hoping to get a night dive in tonight)

[m]

 

[Old Man Dave]

Provisionally pen me in for the night dive tomorrow boys. Was going after work on the low tide today but life got in the way.

Should be there on Saturday Mart.

Welcome Rob, Guern and Trip. Hi Ben.

Rob, might be able to help you on the flatfish .

Guern, go get them soles. They're out there.

Trip, love the gear. Float - that's a barrage balloon.

Marcel, looking forward to meeting up with you and George again.

Dave

 

[foxfish]

OK chaps looks like we will have a get together Although it is a little weather dependant? So far we have

Sarnian
Magpie
Beardy & hopefully
George
Foxy & hopefully my two brothers
Derek
Dave

I was thinking about cooking a bit of fish + whatever which will depend on final numbers ?
How about 7pm start, 10.30ish finish?
If anyone would like to take home some smoked fish (or meat) you will need to deliver your own in the morning so I can smoke during the day. Frozen (defrosted) protein is fine for smoking but not for refreezing. Cold smoked food is good for about one week in the fridge.

Any one else? All welcome.

 

[Magpie]

I may be a +1 too as long as there are some other members of the fairer sex there to keep her company

Any fish smoke better than any other mate? Do you need fillets or are whole fish fine?

Here's a few final pics of the now completely finished nightgun. Features you'll notice:

Carbon fibre muzzle extension; gotta have a bit of flash!
20mm 90cm gun bands; easy to load as I can reach them easily with the butt in my chest but still got some oomph
Proper length spear!
Neoprene wrap near handle; helps with buoyancy and gets balance spot on, and covers nasty bolt which could catch line.

Yes Dave, I know its still got a wrap of line. I'm hoping to use it for major weed bass stalking too so need a bit more range than just the spear length. Had no problems with that line the other day when I was out with Ed.
Pretty happy with the way it turned out!

 

[foxfish]

Nice job mate.
Of course partners are more than welcome however the bottom of my garden is 40mts from the house ie toilet, of course the bushes are fine for us lads! I think it might be fairly male orientated though?
Chicken, sausages & bacon smoke well, never smoked a flat fish? but all round fish smoke well. Rock fish, bass, mackerel, sand ells, Pollock & mullet have all been successful. Having said that smoking is not an exact science! I cant guaranty the end result. I would also stress that home smoked products are not for every ones taste. I personally think Rockies & mullet are a culinary delight not to be missed. Incidentally, although there may be some smoked pruducts on the menu I was not planning to serve these as a main course.

 

[Sarnian]

You guys might be interested in the attached aerial photo. I have pretty much the whole island. I started work on a website a while ago using these pictures as guide for walking right around the island on the beach (another unfinished project!) fyo the pictures were taken afternoon of 28 september 1990.

OK magpie when do you want to go? Tides look better toward the end of week. Thursday is good for me. OMD? anyone else?

Andy

Hi Andy. Nice photo - and very useful. I noticed on a chart the other day that the Knife Rock appears to be just the rock at the top, whereas I thought it was thw whole area.
I've got a friend who decided to walk around 50 islands in the CI to mark his 50th year - if you think about it there are quite a lot which are technically islands.

Colin

 

[Sarnian]

In case anyones interested (or their Mrs has locked the bathroom cabinet!) I've just been into Boots and picked up a 500ml bottle of their basic conditioner for only 28p.
Best thing is it doesn't have much of smell to it, some of the others I've tried have made me feel queezy!

I used Simple as it's supposed to be hypo-allergenic etc - also sorts out your split ends if you put it in your hood! not as cheap as yours though!

 

[portinfer]

Mart - would love to come but am tied up Friday and Saturday night in a rare show of sociability.... but I can let those who have not been before know that it is a good place and a fine host (The washing machine burner is very cool - ).

Wow ! Alot of fresh input .... nice ... looking forward to reading more trip reports.

Here is a bit more to add to recent diverly trips.

Last Saturday went out with a guy from work who pots in Rocquaine - he had lost half a string of pots...somewhere in the bay....at an unknown depth...

But Team Zissou (Dave, Pete and myself all in matching bobble hats of course - ref: 'The Life Acquatic') .... set out in the Blue Boy to rescue said lost pots.

He dropped us after 'finding' the reef - this navigational skill consisted of ramming the reef at a fair rate of knots ... 'yup, there she is... this is the reef...' I guess he knows the sound of every rock in the bay ... Anyway Pete found the yellow string that turned out to be black and the red foot rope that turned out to be blue or something like. Personally I reckon we did a good job at half inching someone elses pots ! Just kidding - they were definitely his.

Anyway, out reward was to spend about 3 hours scouting out a horse shoe shaped reef. Dave headed for flatties and sand - me for deeper aspettos and Pete had a close conversation with a conger.

Over the three hours I saw a mullet and little else - pretty clear below and pretty calm above. Lovely dive but would have been good to see more life. Dave and Pete fared little better.

Got dragged kicking and screaming to town and that wrote off the next day's diving until later.

Dropped in on the largest high I have seen for a while at a small bay with Pete and Mary for a night dive.... saw a whole bunch of ray of different sizes and denominations. Saw bass, red mullet and plaice and alot of small sole. What did I spear ? Nothing ! Having too much fun trying to keep the bile down and besides Pete was being more than ferocious enough for all of us. Mostly towards the plaice...

Short dive in deep water close in - weird as we had been down to a close area earlier and seen Dave waaaay out on a limb and a whole heap of other orange bouys out there... the sand we had seen along that stretch was now 8m under.

_________________________
Edward

 

[Sarnian]

OK chaps looks like we will have a get together Although it is a little weather dependant? So far we have

Sarnian
Magpie
Beardy & hopefully
George
Foxy & hopefully my two brothers
Derek
Dave

I was thinking about cooking a bit of fish + whatever which will depend on final numbers ?
How about 7pm start, 10.30ish finish?
If anyone would like to take home some smoked fish (or meat) you will need to deliver your own in the morning so I can smoke during the day. Frozen (defrosted) protein is fine for smoking but not for refreezing. Cold smoked food is good for about one week in the fridge.

Any one else? All welcome.

Sounds great Mart - anything you'd like us to bring - apart from fresh fish of course? No doubt the odd bottle of wine would get drunk?:hungover Pouilly Fume perhaps? Had trouble convincing my teenagers that in this case it's OK to go to a party with people I've met on the net ( apart from Mart and OMD of course!) As for weather, looks like you might be lucky with a window on Saturday. Looking forward to it.
Colin

 

[Sarnian]

I may be a +1 too as long as there are some other members of the fairer sex there to keep her company

Any fish smoke better than any other mate? Do you need fillets or are whole fish fine?

Here's a few final pics of the now completely finished nightgun. Features you'll notice:

Carbon fibre muzzle extension; gotta have a bit of flash!
20mm 90cm gun bands; easy to load as I can reach them easily with the butt in my chest but still got some oomph
Proper length spear!
Neoprene wrap near handle; helps with buoyancy and gets balance spot on, and covers nasty bolt which could catch line.

Yes Dave, I know its still got a wrap of line. I'm hoping to use it for major weed bass stalking too so need a bit more range than just the spear length. Had no problems with that line the other day when I was out with Ed.
Pretty happy with the way it turned out!

Tom, gun looks brilliant - what did you finish it with - yacht varnish? You weren't tempted by laser sights then? My worse half would have been happy to come along to keep the other Spearo widows company, but unfortunately away this weekend. You never know, we may even be able to show off our new Italian toys!

 

[ADM]

Hi All,

Not sure if you all frequent the other forums to see the post re the Guernsey sea fisheries 2005 report being released. i know there are really onservation minded individuals in spearing so please see below quote from something I posed elsewhere...

Boy are these stats showing a big problem with the bass...

Statistic report has just appeared on their website. It's a bit large at over 5MB but I don't have the software to shrink it a bit. have copied it to be hosted by me. Link below. You will need broadband.

Of interest is the fact that bass landings increased from 127tonnes to 173 tonnes. I make that a 36% increase. no wonder they want bag limits to try and save some of the fish. problem is that these figures are 100% commercials from logbooks.

Note also the Boue Blondel langings have increased from 55 to 85 tonnes. Not a small increase!!!!! All fish from this mark are breeders.

This as gone way to far but they say it is sustainable as the tagged fish have not been caught and catches continue to increase...

http://www.fishing-guernsey.co.uk/SACN/2005report.pdf

Comments??

Andy

Think we need to start a new campaign through the papers eh?!

 

[Bigrob]

Cheers Dave, spill me some beans on the secret of flattie bashing.Ive spent hours over the sand at Pezeries,Rocquaine and La Capelle with only a plaice and lecky ray (by mistake) to show.I know the areas produce but is there a knack to getting your eye in, are edges (reef/sand) best or the wide open spaces? Help!,Rob.

 

[Mr. X]

Not sure if you all frequent the other forums to see the post re the Guernsey sea fisheries 2005 report being released. ...

Started flicking through a fishing paper in Cornwall, it turned out to be aimed at commericial fishermen rather than anglers. Can't recall the title, I think it was a broadsheet, cost about 1.50. All the stories seemed to be doom & gloom about fish stocks, etc. though. Not good.

 

[beardy241]

'Wifey', Karen, is scheduled to join us on Saturday evening Foxy. A few other ladies would be nice for some spearo-widow-talk.

Is you fairer half going to be with us Foxy? What do we call her..? Foxy Lady?

Smoking some fish sounds like a great offer, thanks. Will see what jumps out the ocean at me in the next couple of days! Am looking forward to seeing your smoker. Sounds great.

Please let us know what you'd like us to bring. (And tell us where we're coming!!)

Cheers

[m]
-(didn't get out tonight in the end, but there's always tomorrow... tomorrow...)

 

[Magpie]

Yeh, 3 coats of yatch varnish. Will need sanding down every now and then but couldn't be bothered mixing up epoxy and try to stop it running!

The better half is a yes. Where you to Mart?

So is that 3 of us in for the night tonight? Me, AndyR and OMD. Anyone else?
Any ideas where to go? Windguru says fairly large westerly swell. I need to get me something for the smoker!

Still no news from Italy

 

[Andy.R]

ADM

Those Bass figures are frightening!! 49 tonnes in 2003 to 173 tonnes in 2005!!! They are mad mad mad (IMHO) these fish are breeding who knows what will happen in the future? For sea fisheries to say its sustainable is barmy, they don't know.

Rant over.

Magpie/OMD

Tonight? Latest from Jersymet "West to northwest light force 3 increasing to moderate force 4, veering northwest to north, increasing to fresh force 5 this evening."

South coast? Saints Harbour? I'm open to suggestions

Andy

 

[Magpie]

Saints sounds good to me. Dave?

 

[Old Man Dave]

Tom, Andy, like to have a look first. Winds been south for last few days and might be a swell. Have your mobile number Tom and Andy I'll Pm you mine. Think Ed might be be up for it too. personally prefer somewhere nearer home ie north or north west but could do saints if you like and conditions allow.

Dave

 

[Andy.R]

I'll settle for where the fish are!

Seriously I have no preference as long as its sheltered.

Andy

 

[Magpie]

Lunchtime SWI at Saints, swell, okish, would be alright when the tide was lower. Viz, useless, mooring ropes disappeared 2ft under the surface, sea looked like milk.
Don't see anywhere south being any better. That big cable layer was at the entrance to the bay down there too, not that thats of any relevance!

So Dave, name us somewhere on your home patch then.

PS. I've got hockey 6-7.30 but you can leave a message on me mobile.