Guernsey 2006

[portinfer]

Italy 1 : Guernsey 0
____________________________

Didn't go diving today as had family meal etc... and was in the water a fair amount yesterday

Fabio was over for the weekend so came round at 5am to drag me kicking and screaming to the water.

Cracking morning... sun rising red over Vazon as I looked back and no cars about (in fact I wish there were more England games on Saturdays - no traffic all day ). Drove down the west coast to a spot I first went to with Fabio about this time last year.

Suited up and thought this is nice and early... but the water was so calm and looked clear too. A short walk along a reef and then in off the side. Immediately I was watching a pair of pitch black pollack darting at small shoals of sandeels that were circling like mini barracudas on the edge of the current. Those pollack were really moving - just a lightening quick dart from the bottom and a all that was left was a few shards of silver floating slowlyto the bottom.

Over the kelp and out onto patchy sand and a bit of a current. We both had a few aspettos here and there but nothing but pollack. Further out on a reef we had slightly more luck - not sure if this had much to do with the amount of crouching going on but perhaps it was a contributory factor - I blame my crouching style on the charred pork sausages from an earlier bbq.... I don't know what Fabio's excuse was

I was working hard on shallow aspettos in the bootlace and also stalking on the bottom over the boulders but Fabio's technique was superior and I soon saw a large bass on his stringer - maybe 8 plus pounds (pictures to come hopefully) - quite alot of swell and a bit of rough water so around the rocks was quite exciting and the anticipation was high after seeing Fabio's fish.

Rounding more rocky bays and outcrops with a good covering of bootlace and then a sharp drop off onto kelp and then sand at 12m... alot of surface swimming mullet and in the depths pollack. As you dropped they came up for an inspection - took one home but by then Fabio had got another 8/9 pounder. Apparently the first one was in the shallows and came to an aspetto but the second one was deeper and hunting.

Round the corner and into a really wild stretch of coast with alot of current and rocks, broken boat parts and I even found what I think was an aircraft engine... not sure. At any rate it was dark inside the opening and I had no torch ... also with a current I thought I might get pushed against it and wasn't sure how snaggy it was.

Fabio's third bass .... another shallow aspetto with a bit of a crawl at the end apparently. By this time I had seen pollack, wrasse, garfish, mullet, a chancre... but no bass some days all the luck lies on the other side

A harsh swim back as the current had risen and then more shallow reefing in the jap weed and bootlace.

Just before getting out.. maybe 5 seconds... I saw a bass. It was very curious and must have weighed a few ounces ! Good to see close up though.

Gutted them, took a few pictures and went for breakfast - must have been in over three hours so had a fine feed and realised how hot the day had grown.

After a late lunch of 'linguine con cozzas' and some bbq'd bass (got my own theory on bbq's but fish is ok...) it was decided that another dive was in order.

Charlie called which was good as I hadn't seen him this year and also it turns out that he hasn't been inthe water yet this year eaither.

Three of us went looking for some flatfish but didn't see any. Off at the outer reef we had slightly more luck with Charlie catching a decent bass pretty quickly. I tried in the shallows... some longish aspettos on the reef edge.... some crouching... but all to no avail. Charlie went back and Fabio decided that it was time to go too.

I thought that I might find a bass over the shallowest boulders I could find as that's where all the mullet were so stealthed across rocks I could barely swim over that had metre deep pockets of water the other side... sure enough I saw a decent bass pretty soon but it arrived on my righ hand side.... I managed to change hands and ended up taking a left handed shot facing forwards while aiming behind me.... result ? Rocks 1 : Me 0

At the end of this boulder section the current cuts through and the terrain tumbles down through bootlace / kelp and onto sand with a raging stream.

I was on the edge and saw a good bass nosing around on the bottom. Half a lung of air... a stealthy drop ... gliding down diagonally... aim and shot it just right First bass of the day !

Met Charlie back at the carpark as he had got the wrong headland and had to walk a while but he was carrying a different bass... broken stringer.

Pretty good three hour dive again.

Had a quick cup of tea then off for a short night dive. Never seen so many sole marks.. literally everywhere. All small sole and I must have seen a good handful of sole but only took a couple as the smaller ones are hard to fillet/cook ... and besides a couple a week is fine. Fabio had rather more luck finding a large sole and a pair of bass.

Got home at midnight. A good day's dive.

 

[ADM]

Sounds better than my experiences so far.

Went in again today off Port Grat, 3 other spearos about, any of them you lot?

Saw plenty of Mullet and tested the new gun on them, hit one but it came off when he jumped out of the water and got a belly shot on another which got away, neither of them huge but they were fish. So there's 2 mullet with spear shaped holes in em off Port Grat if you spot them.

Saw lots of rockies, a few bigger ones, nothing worth taking though (not that I'd have got them...).

Think I saw 2 bass but they went past pretty quick and I have not mastered turning round fast, any advice on that guys?

I think I need some weight on my legs and also elsewhere (I know I have loads but mine all floats...). What are the cheap suggestions seeing as my spearing to date has cost less than £50 with suit and gun. I could also do with some neoprene socks of some sort to protect my feet from the flippers which seem quite hard. I do have some but couldn't get the flippers and them on at the same time, do I need to get bigger flippers or better socks?

 

[foxfish]

Andy I know you are budgeting on your kit & it is good to hear you are in the water but I think you sould buy a decent gun if you are going to shoot fish. You can join me on a dive anytime if you want to see my see the equipment I use.
Good report Ed.

 

[spaghetti]

Italy 1 : Guernsey 0

he he :t
I don't know fabio, but I'm happy he's waving the flag.

--Please, forgive my curiosity, but how many basses do you have in Guernsey? Here in my country, in this season they're very hard to find near the shore: here they're easy to find from semptember to may, but then in summer, when water temp raises, they go deep off shore. This happens in Italy. What about there? I presume that water is a bit cooler in the UK: do you meet basses 12 months a year?

 

[foxfish]

Yes we get bass all year but the sea can be cold in the winter 8 or 9c. 15c at the moment.

 

[spaghetti]

I rarely dive with those temps (9°C), but sometimes I do: 5mm wetsuit plus the undersuit (neoprene shirt and "shorts") is the thickest I have. But also this way I don't resist more than one hour or less.
Thx Foxfish: I would have thousand of questions about your hunting habits, but don't want to flood your topic. (and btw, OMD's catches are fantastic).
Be proud.

 

[ADM]

Andy I know you are budgeting on your kit & it is good to hear you are in the water but I think you sould buy a decent gun if you are going to shoot fish. You can join me on a dive anytime if you want to see my see the equipment I use.

Won't say no to that. I want to give it a go for a while first and see how I get on plus how busy I get with the fishing, I don't want to spend a fortune if I don't get to use things so much. I will have to find me a bass to try and shoot and see how it gets on

 

[Magpie]

Been in twice this weekend.
Friday went north and had some fun in the tide. No decent fish spotted but did have my first experience of the bass coming in on aspetto. After 40-50 seconds they'd appear out of the murk. Only small ones so I left them alone but its the first I've seen whilst sat on the bottom and was fun to watch them clearly coming to see what I was.

Yesterday went mid west and within 1min of being in the water I'd disturbed 2 average bass. 10 mins later I must have seen 20, all 1-3lbs, but left them alone thinking they'd still be there on my return if I didn't get anything bigger. Went further out into the kelpy bay seeing not a lot. Missed as easy a shot at a mackeral as you're likely to get whilst on aspetto, then went back to the original bed thinking I'd get me one of them earlier ones and call it a day. The tide was at the same height as it was 2 hour previously (albeit rising rather than dropping) but the fish were gone. Well most, saw a few glimpses but no clear shots.
Lesson learnt, take the shot if you get the chance!

So fishless, but more out of choice, all good fun though.

Andy, for cheap ankle weights do it the OMD way, get some strips of builders lead and wrap it round your ankles, job done. Do you have boots or socks? Boot have soles, socks don't. The soles may be to big for the fins with boots, you can get fairly cheap socks from Quayside. I should be able to show you some small bass (and bigger if we get lucky) if you want a trip out. Oh and there is no way to turn quick, you've got to turn verrrry slowly and hope the fish comes back, they often do as long as you didn't spook them badly.

Sounds like you had a fun weekend Ed, good work.

 

[ADM]

Andy, for cheap ankle weights do it the OMD way, get some strips of builders lead and wrap it round your ankles, job done. Do you have boots or socks? Boot have soles, socks don't. The soles may be to big for the fins with boots, you can get fairly cheap socks from Quayside. I should be able to show you some small bass (and bigger if we get lucky) if you want a trip out. Oh and there is no way to turn quick, you've got to turn verrrry slowly and hope the fish comes back, they often do as long as you didn't spook them badly.

I got tons of lead hanging about, mostly in the form of 6oz bombs and lumps of various stuff I found in skips recently... for some reason the really bad stuff they throw away, once you burn the paint off (lovelly fumes...) it melts down fine, so I might even try and make something with my blowtorch if I get bored and desperate to not spend money.

I have boots rather than socks from the surfer days, will pop down quayside and look for some socks on the weekend, my toes and back of my heel have requested me to today after the weekend of rubbing fins...

 

[Andy.R]

Have been in a few times over the weekend. Good viz but surprising amount of groundswell particularly on sat pm. Did a tank off albecq/cobo and swell was with me all the way at 12m. 1 smallish plaice caught saw 2 small rays of 30cm wingspan.

Found a propellor from an outboard at the moorings at douit du moulin on sunday, not sure how to cook it? Had ear clearing probs and one ear is still not 100% so will lay off till weekend.

New gun seems good although not used it in anger yet, I've managed to resist small pollack and rockies. Just picked off the odd floating seaweed.

Its great to back in the water

 

[podge]

Andy.R
Know what you mean about the ears, I’m considering having mine removed.

 

[portinfer]

Probably one of the most important things when you start off is to not screw your ears up.

Plenty on equalising here and should understand it fully... any pain at all and head for the surface... any blood and you are pushing it way too much (speaking from experience )

Ed

 

[Draenog]

Hello Spearo Guerns

Great thread - it's made me homesick

I'm from Guernsey but have lived in Wales since 92. I'm a keen snorkeller and always look forward to coming home for the crystal clear waters (the life here off the Gower {near Swansea} is amazing, but the viz is rarely good enough to see it).

Last summer when I was over I got in at Moulin Huet - which was OK, though the viz wasn't brilliant. On my brother's recomendation I went to Petit Bot which was great.

This year my Brother may not be on the island when I'm there (August) so I was wondering if someone might recommend a spot or two, or even join me for a snorkel. I don't spear - just look at the wildlife.

I'll be staying with my dad for a couple of days near Cobo so I'll probably get in there at least once, but can anyone recommend anywhere a bit special to go (the rest of the week I'll be with my Mum who lives near the airport - but I should be able to get transport anywhere ..it's not like it's a big place eh?).

As i don't spear I won't be any competition, and I'm only in the island once a year at most so I wont be bringing crowds to any quiet spots.

 

[beardy241]

Hi Draenog, welcome to the thread.

I'm a Cobo dweller so it would be easy to hook up and jump in. Give us a shout when you're on your way.

Marcel

 

[Andy.R]

Don't worry i know about ears. i burst one when I was 16, pushing it when I had a cold. Funny thing is though the one I bust now clears very easily whilst the other one 'sticks' from time to time.

 

[beardy241]

Looks to be a very interesting feature article in this month's National Geographic (Panda on cover) about endangered sea life and threatened marine environments.

Also, very good website at http://shiftingbaselines.org — especially their comedy videos!

[m]

 

[beardy241]

Finally had a chance to take dive round the 'Knife' tonight. Some real beautiful places, varied terrain and plant life. Loved the tidal run around the back! Viz was great. Great to get out with George again too.

Saw a nice Chancre but it was his lucky night 'cause i didn't have my bag with me! (first chancre of size I've seen)

As we were making the u-turn to come back in a shoal of notably large sand-eels shot in from my left, stopped, and the darted behind me. My first thought was 'coo they're nice ones'. Then, 'what was chasing them?'
I hung for a moment, looking the direction they came from and a few seconds later I saw the faintest of faint grey shapes appear and then turn.
I was in clear water, about 3-4m, over sand, with the sun setting behind me. The fish was over kelp.
I hung on a bit and started to regulate my breathing. Sure enough, maybe 20 seconds later the same grey figure appeared and disappeared. This happened a couple more times before TWO figures appeared, very faintly visible but each time getting a little bit closer.
Motionless I planned a half-breath drop to the bottom. I'm running very heavily weighted at the moment so as I exhale I start dropping. Just as I was getting my breath sorted out I exhaled too much and the end of my snorkel submerged. It was now or never! With no fish in sight, hanging about a foot below the surface, I wondered if they'd already scarpered.
As I waited the two grey figures made a bold pass by in front of me but just out of range. I had started sinking but just had to watch them swim by. Two nice Bass, maybe 4lb and 3lb. At that moment of disappointment a third Bass makes an entrance from my right, meeting my eye-level as I touched the bottom. This one was smaller and was on a path about two feet past the end of my gun... ... ... TWANG.... a nice shot to the middle of his head. The spear went right through leaving him helpless on the string.
I didn't see the other two again.

Came back through some lovely terrain and tall japweed. Noted the squillions of shellfish shells on the bottom... something's eating them me'thinks! Saw a couple a Mullet and a Bass but didn't get the chance at them.

All round, a great dive. George didn't catch, which was a shame.

Another bonus tonight was meeting a new pair of spearos on the headland. We suggested they take a look at the deeperblue forums so we hope to welcome them into the posse soon. Look out for a Nick[?] and Dave.

Next time I'd either like to go earlier in the day to get some more light on the subject or make it a night dive. That'd be interesting!

[m]

 

[foxfish]

Thanks beardy, nice report. The knife is a cool area, did you notice the razor fish, only visible as shinny silver spots on the sand. I was so fascinated to see what these silver spots were I dug one out the sand, razerfish!

 

[beardy241]

yeah, Razorshells everywhere! I didn't see the silver spots yesterday but have seen them before. Funnily enough I had recently been wondering where to find Razors over here - I've only ever seen them in Herm before - you know, squirting water at low tide. I'd like to try them some time, and now I know where to look.

Lots of Cockle shells and other bivalves there too.

What to you think is hunting them down there? Flatties? I know some dog-whelks prey on other shellfish so it could be them.

[m]

 

[Spaniard]

yeah, Razorshells everywhere! I didn't see the silver spots yesterday but have seen them before. Funnily enough I had recently been wondering where to find Razors over here - I've only ever seen them in Herm before - you know, squirting water at low tide. I'd like to try them some time, and now I know where to look.

Lots of Cockle shells and other bivalves there too.

What to you think is hunting them down there? Flatties? I know some dog-whelks prey on other shellfish so it could be them.

[m]

Razor fish make for great eating if you like your shellfish. Be careful though, they need very little cooking as they can turn really tough.