Went in for a 1-hour night dive tonight. Not much to report, certainly catch wise, but for the benefit of you armchair divers out there here’s my report.
It’s bloody cold. No gauge, so no nerdy figures, but it is still fishable in a 5mm wetsuit, provided, like me, you have a minimum 1-inch blubber layer.
Days are drawing out that’s for sure. Intended to go 5.00 for 5.30 but had to wait ‘til nearly 6.00 for true darkness.
Vis was okay, fishable but not brilliant, at about 15 foot. Quite a bit of stirred up sand from the recent strong N and NE winds. Swell was only a foot or so.
Took the new UK C8 torch. It’s got 13 amp spot and 13 amp flood bulbs fitted. The spot gives a real strong beam, ideal for illuminating the bottom from the surface, while the flood is ideal for searching around when you’re down on a dive.
The crap in the water gave a lot of backscatter, which limited my surface searching to about 10 foot deep.
Still recovering from the flu so sinuses were a bit stiff but still managed a good look around down to 20 foot or so. Tide was 1/2 to ¾ up so couldn’t get as far offshore as I planned. Also the dreaded rod anglers were at work off the headland so had to pull up short of there. Much shining of torches in my direction got their message across.
Very little fish in evidence. Saw about 6 squid and that was it. No sole, red mullet or anything else edible. No free swimmers, be they bass mullet or even the scad that I had been seeing.
Well it could have been me, or maybe just an off day for the fish or maybe, perish the thought, the fish have retreated for the winter. Let you know ‘cause I will be going again soon. Maybe Friday or perhaps the weekend if the weather holds.
Dave
