Guernsey 2006

[Magpie]

Its not recommended to pull on the beaver tail, Elios say don't anyway. The best way I find to get the jacket off is to fold it up then reach round either side and get your elbows in the fold, you can then use them to lever it off.

Not a great explanantion but the elios site has a pictoral guide.

Yeh, never any really big ones Dave, nearl8 8 pounds......tiny :head

Nice clip of VOMD!

Nice sole Dave, I've tried there a couple of times and the viz was always a bit pants. I think it would be a good night dive at low tide though.

 

[Andy.R]

I caught my big plaice in 1975, I remember taking it down to Froomie who told me it was a british record!!!! I can still remember how I felt as a British Record Holder aged 16

OK so I was lucky

On taking off suits, I had to use a piece of rope tied around the jock strap and tied to the tailgate of the car and walk backwards pull it up over my head the other evening. I tried the elbows in the fold, but got stuck and thought I may have to ask a passing walker to 'pull me off'

I see there is a big swell again today, so prob not any good for tonight?

Andy

 

[foxfish]

7.30 ITV (103 sky) looks good?

 

[Andy.R]

Thought I'd better go in for a quick swim since I had the afternoon off. Started at Rocquaine and drove all up west coast, all looked pretty crappy, ended up way north.

Went in just after 4 till 5:30. Viz OK, certainly fishable. Not a good spot for mullet or Bass so clipped the gun to my float and used the hand spear. I worked the patches of sand between the eel grass in the 5-7m range. Came across a HUGE rockie - asleep. I nearly speared it, he must have a sore side!

Eventually came across a nice plaice (buried - head showing) Got beaten by the time. Weight? A shade under 5lbs, so nice catch.

Andy

ps The plaice looks like its been mauled by something, however not so apparent on the bottom of the fish though.

pps Scary picture Martyn

 

[beardy241]

nice fish Andy!

I'm envious of all the flatties you guys are haulin' — i've been too tied up to get out. Hopefully soon though!

[m]

 

[foxfish]

Very good fish Andy Looks like you have had a hair cut rofl
PS How did you know how to spell my name?

 

[portinfer]

Good plaice stories Derek - do you know of any good places for turbot ?! Good plaice pictures Andy - looks like a big one.

Adam - I met your sister last week :inlove ... didn't realise that she is a mate of Miles and that her boyfriend works with Pete... small world. Rather be in Crete at the moment - bit rainy.

Dave - nice plaiceeesss and sole - your invisble cloche fins are working well then

Mart - scary avatar .....you have truly joined the dark side.

Popped in recently and found 3 sole - one quite large and the others all over 14 inches so not sure how fat but probably over a pound and the largest about two and a quarter. Saw a nice tub gurnard with wings outstretched in squadron mode - very colourful. A few small bass .... and not much else.

Dave saw three plaice and a couple of red mullet - funny as we were in the same place and I only saw sole... Dave saw no sole .... weird. Must be my suit odour or something

Ed

 

[Sarnian]

Magpie - I know Elios say it weakens the stitching, but I know that certain people on this forum have always done it, and take the view that the suits won't last for ever anyway. I still couldn't see how the Elios technique works - I'll try your suggestion, but that was how I put my shoulder out last time!:crutch
Andy - interesting technique! The other alternative if you're not with a buddy is to put a towel on your car seat, drive home with it on and get partner/child whoever to pull it off Nice fish. You must have flattie sensors like OMD!

Foxfish - Use the Force, Mart!

 

[Magpie]

Fish everywhere it seems! Top plaice Andy! And here's me moving house so everythings packed up, might have to dig the gear out this evening though.

Colin, I'll show you the Elios technique some time, its pretty easy once you know how.

The question is, who is Marts son? The man who will eventually lead him away from the Darkside and back to the bands....

 

[foxfish]

The question is, who is Marts son? The man who will eventually lead him away from the Darkside and back to the bands....

I shot him

 

[derek foxen]

Good plaice stories Derek - do you know of any good places for turbot ?!
You're asking at the right time of year Ed.I managed to find a few turbot and the best were in late October { I was on half-term} Look for areas of gravel.This species has amazing camouflage and is usually covered,though brill,usually not buried,are equally hard to spot on gravel. I found double figure tubbies in October in Vazon [ out beyond the surfing zone ],Cobo [outside of where most of the boats are moored and Port Grat [ outside of the tide-stream]. Good luck!

 

[Old Man Dave]

Just finished filleting my plaice from last nights dive with Ed. My wife is moaning that the freezer is too full of fish .

Certainly was weird last night as I could only catch red mullet and plaice and Ed could only find soles. Same area (side by side at times), same sort of torches, same sort of technique - different fish.

Nice to see the tub gurnard as they, like most fish, are more spectacular at night. Some big cuttles about now and they are, ditto, more colourful at night. As well I saw a small bream and also a small bass. The scad shoals have gone but a few lone stragglers are left. Ed spotted some small squid but missed them myself.

Another good night dive, (sorry Andy), which was a bit of a last minute "Never mind the crap conditions lets go night diving" thing but with good vis and a few fish it turned out to be good fun.

Asked Ed for some nerdy stats from his computer; max depth 26ft and he did 39 dives. Thinking of joining the nerdy club by buying a D3, maybe Christmas, if not before.

Later

Dave

 

[Sarnian]

Thought I'd better go in for a quick swim since I had the afternoon off. Started at Rocquaine and drove all up west coast, all looked pretty crappy, ended up way north.

Went in just after 4 till 5:30. Viz OK, certainly fishable. Not a good spot for mullet or Bass so clipped the gun to my float and used the hand spear. I worked the patches of sand between the eel grass in the 5-7m range. Came across a HUGE rockie - asleep. I nearly speared it, he must have a sore side!

Eventually came across a nice plaice (buried - head showing) Got beaten by the time. Weight? A shade under 5lbs, so nice catch.

Andy

ps The plaice looks like its been mauled by something, however not so apparent on the bottom of the fish though.

pps Scary picture Martyn

Hi Andy
How did you make your hand spear? Anyone else got any designs / pics?

Cheers
Colin

 

[foxfish]

Crumbs Colin you need more Patience, your gun will be here soon rofl

 

[Andy.R]

Went in for a quickie at chouet to look for flatties @4:30. Nothing, quite a bit of groundswell. Had a stalk around the reef in my cammo. The fish obviously didn't see me. Nailed a nice 3.5 lb bass and a big mullet which sadly tore itself off the spear, bugger. :waterwork

Hand spear? I have an old spear cut down rammed into a piece of broomhandle with a piece of string, pretty simple really.

Andy

ps I knew I wouldn't be asked to night dive again:waterwork :waterwork

 

[portinfer]

@Derek : cheers - will bear those places in mind - have tried two out of three of them and know one pretty well but Vazon is a mystery to me - I guess the central reef is a good spot or do you try the arms (ie Richmond and the other side... erm think I need to get out of parish a bit more - forgetting what Vazon looks like Guess the house will be finished sooner or later.). Definitely looking for a double tubby ? A King Tubby special I think...

@Andy: Nice bass - looks like it will cook up well

@Dave: "Asked Ed for some nerdy stats from his computer; max depth 26ft and he did 39 dives...." Def. join the nerdy club ! Good bit of kit and once the initial thing of checking ALL the stats works itself out then you can simply rely on it for safety. Particularly good for deep dives as you have a clear indication of dive time and then surface recovery.... Has temperature on it too etc... THink Tom found a cheaper alternative too which might suit - I think it is a Swatch.... An alternative to the D3 is the Mosquito (I went for this after research showed that the D3's crapped out after a year - not sure if this has been fixed now...) Or if you get a Christmas bonus then the F1 from Eric Fattah at liquidvision.ca

Ed

 

[Sarnian]

Crumbs Colin you need more Patience, your gun will be here soon rofl

And, to coin a phrase, so will Christmas! No but taking a hand spear along as well sounds like a good idea

 

[Old Man Dave]

Went and looked at the sea in Lancresse. Big swell coming in from way out. That and the wind whistling around my roof seems to indicate not very promising conditions for a night dive. Think I'll give it a miss tonight. No room in the freezer for any more fish anyway .

Dave

 

[Andy.R]

Was supposed to go out sailing this morning, but too rough. Had a peek on the way home, but youre right big swell, forcast looks better for next week.

Andy

 

[Andy.R]

Hi All

Meant to say that there is an unnattached parlour pot on the southern side of the small reef in the middle of the northern part of chouet, which has my name on it!!! (Its been there a while looking at it)

I get my new boat in the next couple weeks and this will go some way to replacing the 6 pots I had nicked out of perelle last year!!

Andy