Had a great night dive last night and a fair catch, plaice, bass, sole and turbot. Will post a story later.
Dave
Report
Well at last the weather has sorted itself out. I like to try to dive every week at least ‘til the end of January but the weather has been so shit for the last few months it’s been impossible. The last 2 dives before last night the vis has been too bad although the fact that I still caught showed the fish were there. The last 2 weeks the lack of wind has seen the sea flatten right off and the vis improve. Unfortunately this coincided with me getting a nasty cold that is still dragging on. Oh! And there was some festive occurrence recently that curtailed free time somewhat.
So last night, cold or no cold, I was determined to get some fish….. please no more turkey aarrghhh! Went in 5.30 ish on a low spring tide in Grande Havre bay. Nice moonlight and a calm sea with just a 1-foot swell rolling in. Vis was okay but the swell went out a surprisingly long way.
Swam out a couple of hundred yards but as the seabed is flat at low tide only had 6 foot depth. Started a slow sweep parallel to the shore for 50 yards or so, then cut out 10 foot and made another pass 50 yards back. Carried on making these parallel to shore runs, back and forth, each one a bit further out. Eventually after nearly an hour I had covered a large area and was 400 yards out in 10/12 foot. At this point vis was too hazy to be certain of seeing a fish on the bottom from the surface. Started to get cold but partly through lack of success as well as actual temperature.
So far I hadn’t seen any flatties or red mullet not even tiny ones. I had seen a small bass, some bigg-ish squid, lots of crabs and the usual million smelt. The bottom was still surging so started to make my drops and headed out rather than parallel to the shore. The further out I went the harder it was to relate to the shoreline so had to rely on following the seabed sand waves which run parallel to the shore.
Ten minutes later in 12/15 foot I spotted a buried plaice. Wouldn’t have seen that from far away but it was a definite relief to get one “in the bag” so to speak. Hunted around for a while but no more fish so headed on back out. Another 10 minutes and I spotted a small blonde ray, which distracted me enough to nearly miss the uncovered plaice right under my nose. Things were looking up. Two dives later just as I was going up I spotted a BIG oval shape next to a bed of sea grass. From the surface I could just see the grass bed 18/20 foot below. Going down the oval materialised into a beut of a sole. Handspeared it with the loaded gun as I had with the two plaice.
It was getting on a bit so turned for home, which seemed to be vaguely that way, I think. Diving my way back, I was down again when I saw up ahead a slightly different patch of sand/gravel. Moving closer, 2 eyes became visible and as I headed up to the surface I had a nice little turbot wriggling on the spear. Was tired and cold but elated. This was turning into a good dive. Still enough is enough so headed in a bit quicker. In 8/10 foot a grey shape swam beneath me and angled off to my left. Knew it was a bass and a nice one. I followed and although it wasn’t spooked it kept on going. Twice it stopped and I almost got a bead on it but not quite. Just as I thought I’d lose it, I got a chance. My hand was shaking but I closed enough to get off a shot from the surface, straight down. Successful back of headshot taken from the surface and that was that.
Walking back up the beach toward the car, my torch started to die, a sure sign of a long dive. The ten-minute drive home seemed longer as the cold started to bite. One hot shower in which I stripped off the suit and I was back in the world of the living.
Sole went 4+lb, bass just 4lb, turbot 2+lb and the plaice 1+lb each. Very nice catch at any time but particularly pleasing just now and I think that’s my best sole freediving this year.
Dave