Guernsey 2006

[spicer]

..... (and they come free with a red bandana and bowie knife)... - Ed

I could have used those yesterday. Went out with Beardy and saw some of the biggest bass ever. A shoal of four but when they glimpsed my neon green aparel between the bootlace they shot off. Took a shot at a mullet and had another bass give me the eye from about three foot. The damn thing just kept ahead of my gun trying to track him. Had onother two foot shot at a large mullet(shoal of three in about three feet of water) but missed :duh Beardy was saying something of Old Man Dave syndrome. A short while later my one rubber tore out of its socket connecting it to the wishbone and that was the end of my hunting.

In retrospect I think that when I replaced my wishbone a while ago the wishbone has not been seating correctly on the spear and sort of slipping to the side which will obviously have a significant effect on the accuracy of the spear. Thanks for the tip on the filing.

The positive is that at least I am getting close to some large fish and hopefully I will be able to get the accuracy going.

Will have another look at the wooden guns as well Ed.

 

[foxfish]

I went for a dive this afternoon with my good friend George fish, hopefully he will be posting on our thread soon as he joined up with DB today.
George is a interesting chap who spends most of his time traveling due to his work. However his first bass pulled the scales down to 11.5lb! So although he might not have much spearing experience he has my respect. Anyhow we went in today for a pleasant swim, saw a few bass & I shot my first Golden grey of the year. The vis was patchy at best & the fish few & far between. I fired at one bass but I still haven't mastered the mambas sight line & missed.
While in the shallows, on the way in, I fired a few practice shots without looking down the barrel. I was able to see the spear flying a very flat & fast trajectory, if I can only work out how to aim the thing I will be on to a winner.

 

[Old Man Dave]

Out in the boat this morning, just for a couple of hours over the high tide. Not diving today as I was booked in for babysitting duty later on. However, up early enough to go down "The Point" looking for some mackerel. They are moving in and managed just over 2 dozen (between 4 of us).

This coming week, tides are good for after work/evening dives (low tide). So weather permitting will probably try to improve my bass tally. Rumour has it Ed's improved his today.

Following week tides look good for after work/evening mackerel sessions (high tide).Anyone who's up for some mackerel fishing (weather and work meetings permitting) can contact me for details.

Dave - Old Man Mackerel .

 

[portinfer]

Thought I'd take a break from blocking and hit the sea ... but with a larger float ! Yup took my 'red' kayak out for a spin. Was darn hot at the back of my house blocking and couldn't wait to get in the sea but needed to get through a fair bit o' mortar first...

Anyway was low at 2:20pm and I was aiming to get in for 1:30 so I had some slack water to play with before full bore time. Sadly my blocking is not getting faster so I ended up getting down to the slip at about 2:30 or maybe later.

I haven't been out inthe kayak fishing before and noticed that the added weight made her sit in the water a bit deeper and paddling was a flick harder... but not significantly.

Stashed everything in the the rear hold and the good bits like phones and spare glasses in the little hatch behind the seat. What is normally a 30 min at least swim out to the back of the reef took alot less

Initial thoughts ? Well a kayak is the ideal thing for aspetto style diving - you can paddle out to a spot, dive it for half an hour then paddle to the next reef point and do the same.

I went into a small bay behind the reef and got changed in the shallows - pretty easy and meant that I didn't have to paddle with a suit on - thought it might be hard but actuall paddled back in full suit and it was fine too.

Started in the shallows and found that the kayak can be used just like a float - hardly any resistance and certainly not as heavy as I expected - but did conjure up images of the 'African Queen' !

Stalking out over 3 foot bootlace hoping for a bass but not seeing any - just the occasional mullet. Jumped back in and practiced that a bit - then paddled out to a spot I like for aspetto - tide was starting to kick a bit as the side reef was covering over - 8.6m tide so a good test I thought....

Was just getting out on a point and starting to gear up for a few kicks out to the reef point when I saw a largish bass beneath me just chilling ... this is a situation I often find... A large bass sitting in the kelp directly beneath me in about 6m of water.... hmmm always the dilema whether to back peddla and then dive down and try for a creeping approach or for a 'pesca en caduta' style drop.... just out of range (but this should change when project 'dentex' starts....).

I have missed larger bass like this about three times before and always felt really annoyed by it I normally go for the drop shot but fail.... THis time I went for the drop shot again (habits) - ... exhaled ... dropped as quite as can be directly over it and lined up the Mamba as quickly as possible and fired ... small puff of air from the mamba as it breathed a solid shaft of steel and then a flash of purple and gold over the kelp as the bass swam under me.

I kicked for the surface thinking another one lost but then felt the line tighten and saw the bass with a vertical shot quite a long way off the seet spot but still a keeper

Tried a fair few other aspettos out there and lined up another bass (smaller) on aspetto out a bit deeper but saw the mamba shot drop in an arc ... must have mis loaded it ... can sometimes happen and always at the worst moments.

Lined up a mackerel and was about to shoot when it left as soon as it came.

So on the next dive I shot something for the cats and parents - a pollack. Seem to be alot around out there but left it at one - got to show some restraint

Felt the current really tugging and was being swept along so hopped back in and decided to call it a day. On the paddle back hopped out in a promising bay and stalked the bootlace for a bit before finding a rock and ditching the gear into the rear hatch for the paddle home.

Nice first paddle/dive ... verdict ? ALOT of fun !

Cheers
Ed

 

[foxfish]

Nice story Ed, nice "red" kayak!
Have you checked the O rings. I have had to replace mine already!

 

[Magpie]

Nicely done Ed.

So is it easy enough to get back into it from the water? Presumed it would be hard to stop it tipping over, especially once you've dumped a weightbelt into it.

Did you get into your suit in the yak!? Its enough to a struggle on dry land!

 

[spicer]

Ed - you have just perfected the camo thing with that Kayak. The bass must be saying to themselves anyone going on one of those must be completely harmless:inlove . Well you proved them wrong.:martial Nice bass.
Do you find loading your pelagos a bit difficult? I have been looking at the 90 but wondered how the line accross the shaft works - that was one of beardy's main complaints.

I got a response from Elios today but their anticipated delivery date is September . I am looking at the other suggestions now Marea sub looks quite good and am waiting for turnaround time and price.

 

[Old Man Dave]

Went in tonight to try to improve the bass tally. Already mentioned in my last post that tides were good this week for after work. Luckily the weather is still okay so had to go.

Went in L'Ancresse by the Cartline and swam right around the Le Marchant headland into Fontenelle. Swell, deep water, tide and no fish, well actually saw one small bass a long way off. Some good ground but maybe too early yet or maybe it just looks good.

Anyhow after a very good swim I crept into Fontenelle as the tide was pouring in. Almost immediately I stealthed a shoal of mullet so successfully that I got to a 6 inch eye to eye with one of them. Good job (for them) mullet wasn't on the menu. Few minutes later I rounded a boulder in about 2 foot of water, only 10 foot from dry land and came face to face with 2 nice bass. My reflex is definitely getting better 'cause as they panicked and turned I hit the lead fish in the head from 1 foot range. Didn't quite stone it but a sure shot and finished it with the knife.

Another 10 minutes and I'd sighted a couple of mega wrasse and a few more mullet but no more bass. Took it to my brothers for the glory shot with his digital. He's gonna post it for me, I hope.

Dave .

PS Tom you're right about the Fontenelle - it's rubbish - wouldn't go there if I was you. :t .

 

[foxfish]

Well I also went in this afternoon, down "Foxys" spot. Managed to get in just on low water, plenty of fish seen & one bass shot, about 2,5lb. What I think is more interesting is, the golden grey I shot yesterday shared my dinner plate with the bass I shot today. Now I realise that different people have different taste but for my "delicate" palate golden grey are superb, not particularly strong in flavor but noticeably tastier than bass!

Nice fish Dave

 

[Magpie]

PS Tom you're right about the Fontenelle - it's rubbish - wouldn't go there if I was you. :t .

Grrrrrr :vangry

Only joking, good work mate, and good to see this one only needed the half arm extension to make it look a decent size, unlike the last one which needed the full arms and the fake hand arm extensions to thrust it right into the camera lens :t

Sounds like I'm going to have to try a golden grey next time I catch one, never have done before.

 

[Old Man Dave]

You got me there. The first one would've struggled to make 3lb but this one doubled that. When you see one I can't hold at arms length for the camera then you'll know it's a biggy.
Dave.

 

[foxfish]

Here is a little bass I shot with the mamba this afternoon (a few more details on my air gun thread)

 

[Old Man Dave]

Went in today with Mart for a quick, after work "special celebration" dive. Didn't catch much just a few nice pollack and a big wrasse. Mart saw a nice bass at 30 seconds in and missed it (Mamba Blues) and I saw 2 in the deep drop off which gave me no chance.

What I can report though is the increase in fish life. Saw so many wrasse it even surpassed a normal summers day tally. Pollack were everywhere and sandeels were shimmering in shiny shoals (try saying that after 3 glasses of wine). Okay bass and mullet weren't numerous but they can be like that and we weren't in a "premier" spot.

As well as the wrasse etc I saw 2 mackerel and a longnose. One mackerel and the longnose zoomed by in the deep tide but the second mackerel did a close pass, still quick but near enough to see the superb green stripy markings and definitely shoot-able if I hadn't been staring stupidly at it without any thought of firing my gun. Talking of failure I also cocked up on a very fine pollack that might have gone 5lb if I hadn't missed it :vangry .

So a very encouraging change to the fishy situation on a day when the local paper fishing report was saying there's nothing about. Pays to go down and look for yourself (if you can). Bad forcast for the next few days with up to gale force 8 winds but keen to go after today. Well actually doesn;t make that much of a change 'cause i've been every day I could anyway .

Another year older Dave :king .

[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showpost.php?p=595703&postcount=10"]DeeperBlue Forums - View Single Post - Happy Birthday Old Man Dave[/ame]

 

[beardy241]

Happy Birthday Dave!

 

[spicer]

Happy Birthday (yesterday) Dave. May the bass be only elusive enough to keep it interesting.:friday

 

[Magpie]

Happy Birthday for yesterday Dave.

 

[foxfish]

"A" Magpie arent you meant to be n hospital? :crutch

 

[Magpie]

Was chopped up yesterday morning, let out safty. Feel like me guts have been pulled out, knitted into a nice jumper, then stuffed back in at the moment, but apparently it all went ok.

Going to be mostly lying in bed moaning to myself for the next few days though! :blackeye

 

[foxfish]

It sound like you suffered the same fate as the last bass I shotrofl

 

[spicer]

Hey Magpie,

Hope you start feeling a lot better soon. :crutch It appears as if you are a talented but very unsporting fellow in that firstly when others want to dive in your spot you pop the viz pills that ruin any chance :naughty and now that you are laid up you manage to get the wind to blow all chances of a dive out of the water. :ban

Well I had to blame someone Looks like a diveless week from the weather.:vangry