Guernsey 2006

[Mr. X]

... Arriving at his house with a mixed bag including: two types of mullet a bass a ray & two sole, I think he may of felt a little daunted? Anyhow after the filleting I prepared a selection of goujons in the frying pan in anticipation of some blind tasting for my friend.
Undoubted winner, Golden Grey second Thick Lip third Bass & last Sole!

PS dont forget to watch spearo Dave on the F word tonight 9pm

We'll have to start calling you Dirty Harry with that Mamba! Love the idea of getting a variety of fish in a single session - from an cooking/eating perspective. Especially as Sole came last - I had an incredibly delicious lemon sole cooked in butter last year - so that bodes well for the other fish!

Don't know if you are interested in fish prices. I got a chance to visit the fishmongers stall at a local weekly market today... they didn't have much of a selection really. Small bass fillets £2.50...which was cheaper than I expected. We got some mackeral* but noticed they also had fresh herring at the same price - will try that next time for a change. Most of the other fish was about 4.75lb (sole, smoked haddock, cod, monk fish, big brown shrimp). They had rainbow trout & salmon that looked pretty natural (not bright orange!) too. I think the mackeral/herring was about 1.70lb. They also had shrink wrapped whole red snapper for about 2.50 ... the packet had Chinese characters on it, which made me wonder where it might have come from!

Is Spearo Dave really on TV tonight? Or was it last night?:duh Oh well...

Re. flatties, does OMD have unusually good eye sight (/eat a lot of carrots)?

*Just ate the mackeral. The best I have tasted in years. Plump, oily with a very strong taste. Delicious!

 

[loops]

spearo dave was on last night

 

[foxfish]

I found some locale fish prices, although I did not realise guernsey had salmon or lemon sole?
There is a thread about the F Word (very funny Ed)

 

[beardy241]

Just had a scout around some of your pics Dave (and others). Great stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Out with Draenog tomorrow night.
Hoping to get out with George on Saturday for a dawn raid.

Last time I got out I came home with a nice wrasse and for the first time, I skinned it. Been meaning to have a go at that for a while. The skin (and scales) came of pretty easily which leaves you with some nice clean meat to get a fillet out of. Really enjoyed eating it — stirred in with some fried onions and some Boursin Garlic and Herb Creme. mm mmm!

Hoping to have a go a kebabing some on the barbie on Saturday.
[m]

 

[foxfish]

Here are a few pics of our smaller Islands that I took today when out in Dave's boat. We took some archaeologist to Jethou & while they were busy we dug up a few clams. The Black Watch was moored up outside St Peter Port.
Can any non Guernsey members name the famous people who own & live on the small Islands?

O well I will tell you anyway! Sir David & Sir Frederick Barclay live in their castle on Brecquhou. Sir Peter Ogden lives in his more humble house on Jethou.

 

[Mr. X]

I found some locale fish prices, although I did not realise guernsey had salmon or lemon sole?

Unsurprisingly, looks like you have a more interesting selection and considerably better prices. Shark steaks look like a bargain - and a novelty. Do you ever buy fish though? Didn't realise Lemon sole was so expensive -- I guess its all relative. In Looe I paid £10 in a restaurant for a delicious lemon sole last year, however the year before I saw Lemon sole on the menu of several Padstow restaurants (Rick Stein's?) for a shocking £20 (and that was in October!).

 

[Sarnian]

Hi

I've just joined and I see there are some fellow Guernsey spearfishers. I started last year with a little Beuchat pneumatic gun, and have had moderate success with the ever present mullet, but haven't yet managed to get a bass. I have at least sussed out when and where to find them, and how to keep quiet to ambush them etc. Have had a few shots now at Amarreurs, but they've been too far away and too quick for me!
I think I may need a bigger/better gun and I do prefer the pneumatics for ease of use. I notice Foxfish has got a Mamba ( are you still a Koi-penter?) they seem to be recommended for being quieter and of course are longer than my 60 cm one. Where did you get it? I note Spearo now do them, but am loath to buy online if anything goes wrong. I think "Squeaker" by the Castle only sells Mares or Beuchat but don't know if he would be interested in ordering one.
Also any further tips on where/when/how to get bass, or flatties, or anything apart from mullet or rockies in Guernsey would be appreciated ( without giving away too many secrets of course!)

Cheers

 

[Old Man Dave]

Welcome Sarnian

You have a great opportunity over here at the moment to tap into local experience and try before you buy. Between our little group we have all sorts of guns and other gear. Suggest you try to meet up with some of us and then you can try out some guns etc before you part with your hard earned cash.

Magpie is a good guy to talk to as he is a newbie this year. If you PM (private message) a few people i'm sure we can help you.

Dave

 

[portinfer]

Greetings Sarnian - got a name ?! I'm Ed...

Les Am. is where I started a couple of years ago - plenty of smallish bass just off the pole that leads round to Chouet (or Ladies bay if you prefer ). Further over there is a reef in the middle and then beyond that some boats and then the mound where they fly model planes - all good around there off the ends of the reef and not too deep - 4m to 6m depending on tide (go at low )... plenty plenty plenty more spots but am still discovering them.

----------------

Had a good night dive last night with Adam and Marcel - met up in the car park and heckled some other night divers getting out - I think the guy must have been a bit shocked to see three strapping lads striding down the beach to see him as he got out ! But we weren't too intimidating (after the rock throwing was sorted out ).

Slipped in at 9:45pm or so and started seeing pouting / pollack / cuttlefish / red mullet / bass / sole / squid / chancre / yellow fin tuna / porbeagles etc ... just yer average dive

Came out a while later. Stats said 47 dives / 6.5m and the stringers said 7 sole and two red mullet - not bad considering we had 3 people - one gun (Marcel) a vegetarian (Adam) and a spike (me).... enough stats !

Saw a heap of sole and LOADS of red mullet - was kind of regretting not having a gun ... but I managed to wrestle a red mullet off Marcel so VERY happy with that ! cheers Marcel ....

In summary a really really good dive seeing all of the species apart from the yellows and the porgies. Excellent to not have a gun for a change as I got up close and personal with the red mullet - they seem to push their dorsal fin up and skip around you when disturbed - interesting behaviour and they look gorgeous underwater (and not bad in a pan ). I think Adam was converted to night diving but see what he makes of it if he posts here

Fun fun fun !

 

[beardy241]

Yep, a FAB night out. Cheers guys.

The diver we accosted, goes by the name "Pete" - I've told him about the forum... and if you're reading this Pete, WELCOME! Get yourself registered and join in the chat - would be great to see you!

Had a nice trip out this morning with George. I'll let him tell his story.

Red Mullet for lunch! mm mmmm.

[m]

 

[Draenog]

Wow!

That was absolutely incredible, thanks Guys - i'm definitely going to have to persuade someone back home to come night diving with me.

My particular highlights were the squid (which I've never seen before) and the cuttlefish (which I've never seen quite so happy to get close up before- mind you that one that was eating a flatfish got very cross with me).

The red mullet were great too - only seen them once in Wales before.

I'm completely converted - couldn't believe how close the wildlife would let us get .

Maybe getting in tommorrow or monday with Foxfish, but with a forecast force 7 blowing (and a hangover from a night out with my brother and sister tonight) we might not make it.

I'd really love to get in at the knife before I go on wednesday, and another night dive would be great , but I'll just have to see if I can sort out childcare (would be a bit cheeky to come and see the family and dissapear all week!).

 

[Mr. X]

... In Looe I paid £10 in a restaurant for a delicious lemon sole last year, however the year before I saw Lemon sole on the menu of several Padstow restaurants (Rick Stein's?) for a shocking £20 (and that was in October!).

Coincidently, P9 of today's Sunday Times, there is a big picture of said Rick Stein holding up 2 monster lobsters under the heading "Tourists tell Britain: you're a rip-off"!rofl

 

[Sarnian]

Hi again
I'm ploughing through 56 pages of this thread catching up with this stuff. Mart ( I think you know who I am now) interesting you favour the camouflage approach. You may have seen the article in The Jersey Spearfishing website where they seem to conclude it doesn't make much difference - in fact that bass may actually approach you if you stand out as an unusual object ( unless you look like a seal!) However I have to bow to your superior experience - didn't know you'd been doing it for so long.
Based on this, and the advice of a Crapaud from the Jersey club I used to work with ( I have to admit there are a few decent ones!) I bought an Imersion 2 piece black and silver 5mm suit from Apnea, who I must say I find excellent. Is there any paint that you can use on wetsuits??!!! One Jersey bloke even tried glueing bits of weed on his suit! One problem I've also had is putting on the zipless jacket with hood. I've had trouble with putting my neck and shoulder out, and the first time I tried I had to go to the physio afterwards! They've also posted an article on the Jersey site about the correct way to put on one of these, so I might try it, but do you know if it's possible to adapt them with a zip or velcro, as I've already forked out 150 quid and I can't justify any more spending to the wife until I start catching some bass and flatties! For now I've been just wearing the longjohns plus a rash vest, but it's no substitute for 5-10 mil of neoprene!
Weather seems to rough today to go out, plus neap tides, so I'm posting here instead!
Cheers for now
Colin

 

[Sarnian]

Thanks for the welcomes people. I will take you up on the offer to meet up. Attached (I hope) is a mullet I caught in June - can anyone confirm what type it is? Went down well anyway after barbie-ing stuffed with rosemary and lemon. Sounds like Dave would have liked it! I now don't feel so bad about only having caught mullet ( well..and rockies for target practice and catfood!)

Also in the picture is my excellent blue tang knife, sadly now on the sea bed somewhere. Lost off the North side of L'ancresse in July after I didn't click it back in its holster properly. Only cost £35! Anyone know of any cheaper ones which are as good? Waiting for the September low tides to look for it, but probably not much hope unless it stuck in a crick somewhere! Will also investigate the weed bed around there, as when I've gone before it was a bit deep, although I did see the occasional flash of bass disappearing through the vraic. Perhaps more chance when it's only covered by a few feet of water ( anyone tried there?)

Cheers

Colin

 

[Magpie]

Hello mate.

Not sure what the crapaud site says but the Elios site has a good guide to getting a freediving suit on: http://www.eliossub.com/html/en_mute.html it gets a lot easier with practise. You are lubricating it eh? It needs a dowsing with a water/hair conditioner mix which lets it slip on a lot easier.

This night diving sounds too good to miss out on! Ed, going to have to take you up on that offer mate, let me know when I can come

 

[Mr. X]

... the Elios site has a good guide to getting a freediving suit on: http://www.eliossub.com/html/en_mute.html it gets a lot easier with practise. ...

http://www.eliossub.com/html/en_vestizione.html ... & as Magpie says, lube it. [I used about a 100ml of cheap Tesco apple shampoo, 42p a litre, mixed with about 10 or 20 parts water in a spray bottle...it has lasted more than a year! A\I also carry a flask of warm water from the tap to splash on. Organic hair conditioner might be a healthier solution. There are several existing threads on the options available.]

There are several threads on knives, cheap & otherwise. Econo spearo knife works for me. Kitchen Devil was suggested by another! Silver & black spearo suit...perhaps that is semi camo already - do you have a picture? Did you read Foxfish's classic silver camo story?

 

[Magpie]

What he said ^^^

(Cheers mate )

Oh, and that mullet MIGHT be a thin lip, which are rarer than the normal thick lips. You'd have to do stuff like count the fin rays to be sure unless you've got a picture of it head on. I think the crapaud site has a good mullet ID page)

 

[crazyman]

hi
havent been able to go for a dive for the last couple of weeks because the zip on my surf suit broke but iv managed to get it fixed so bring on the bass!!
im looking into buying a new suit and some fins but have got no idea what to go for, any sugestions would be a great help
thanx sam

 

[foxfish]

Hi Colin, yes I still do a bit of Koipentry. If you have read all this thread I am sure you have picked up plenty of info that will help you? You are welcome to join me on a dive, I will PM you when I next plan a suitable venue for you to try & catch that elusive Bass. To be honest if you managed to shoot that mullet with a 600 air gun you are probably a better shot than I am! You need a new gun mate! A 900 band gun will work wonders for you success rate & you can buy one locally, about £60-70. Your 5mm suit sounds like a good one, use a 1lt bottle mixed with water & hair conditioner, sould slip on & off easily.
I tell you these bream are stating to bug me, I came across four of the rascals this morning. I even managed to "almost" prod one with my spear tip, unfortunately they were only small ones this time. I must of seen ten or so this year with most of them being spotted in that grass weed stuff. At least I am learning a bit about their habits, surly it is only a matter of time

 

[foxfish]

Sam you can buy online from Scubaland. A new suit the same as mine is on offer for less than £100.00!