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Guernsey 2006

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 90 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Draenog said:
Thanks Mart

i'm currently deciding to birthday treat myself to either a digital camera with underwater housing (probably the fuji F10) for snorkeling in the summer (winter's no good here), or getting myself a shortboard as I'm ready to move down from a longboard now.

I'm pretty skint so I'm going to have to live with the decision for quite a while.


Hhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm..................

Anybody recommend anything better than the Fuji F10 for less than £300? (with housing)
Hi probably not the quality you want, but I've got a Pentax WP which is now less than £200 and has served me well - see elsewhere on this thread. Also very slim as no special casing.

Cheers Colin
 
Cor La Colin youve been busy....good stuff.

Dave sorry tuesday nights are no good for me for diving (or surfing) rofl

What a weekend I had!!! No diving, in fact diving was banned in th ewhole area!!

For anyone with a passing interest in boats I was at the start of the 'route du rhum' in St Malo. 60,000 people watching the start on land and 20,000 on the water!!!

My mate was chartered by the french company Foncia, here are a couple of the pics.

Andy

BTW Alain Gautier is a sailing demi god :D :D

Dave any other night would be fine
 

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Magpie said:
Great stuff Colin! Great shot too, maybe you should close your eyes and take shots blind in the future, your mamba has clearly got you using "the force"!

This weekend I have spent a total of 24hrs fishing, and caught a massive total of 2 bream, cumulative weight, 8oz.
Gonna stick to casting and spearing in future I think!

Come to think of it, I did hear Alec Guinness's voice saying, " Use the Force, Col" ...
 
BAH! I'm booked for functional endoscopic sinus surgery 17 Nov. I was temped to do it myself at home with a dremel and a vacuum cleaner but I couldn't see what I was doing and the wife didn't want any part of it. Looking forward to having it done and getting back in the water and equalising like the good old days.

g.
 
Last night 40 knots of wind meant definitely needed to look for some shelter. Good old Guernsey, always some corner somewhere even if the vis wasn't perfect. Usual fun dive though. Ended with a few fish, plaice, soles, red mullet etc. Nothing any size but a good feed. Saw a nice john dory and 2 big crabs with big claws (no bag :( ). Only free swimmer I saw was a mullet (not counting pout, smelt ect) ie no bass.

Well at least I tried and fish for tea - AGAIN!

Dave

PS Good luck with the op George.
 
Yeah good luck gbo.
Do any of you guys want to make any input on the holiday thread about setting dates?
[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=68289"]Holiday Guernsey 2007[/ame]
 
In again tonight for my second night dive of the week. Tuesday when the wind was strong west I had to go east, tonight with a strong easterly had to go west. The usual northern bay (Pembroke) was blown out both days.

Vis was great tonight although as it was high spring tide I expected to have to go out a bit deeper. So it proved. Found a nice few smallish plaice in 15 to 20 foot and a nice brill out in the 25 foot mark. Nice full moon and a fun dive . Left some other small plaice for another day but was sole less and red mullet less. There seems to be plenty of plaice lately but the numbers of sole that I was seeing in summer are no longer about. Saw a few sole of 6 inches but none even near legal. No squid yet either. Lots of reds of finger size but although I had a couple last Tuesday didn't see any size ones tonight. They should be coming on strong now. Maybe it's still too warm.

Speaking of warm, the water's fine but the air temp is beginning to make it uncomfortable to change "on site". Think next time will be a drive there and back in my suit and a hot shower on arriving home.

Out in the boat tommorrow to have a go with the tanks and see if I can improve on last weekends very meager catch. Might snorkel sunday (if allowed).

Dave
 
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Nice catch Dave. I've personally always found it easier to put on at least the long johns at home, and take a bottle of nice hot water+conditioner for the top. Also take a towel to put on the seat for the return, although haven't worked out how to stop the seatbelt getting wet and salty yet!:duh

I need to get meself some new fins, as my cheapo ones have snapped for the second time, and would like a pair with straps, rather than shoe type, so I can wear hard soled boots. I know there's a thread with loads of recommendations somewhere else, but I seem to recall someone on this thread ( Magpie? Portinfer?) had a selection and kindly offered trying the different ones on to see which are comfortable. It seems like Squeaker has the only decent ones in the island, and I don't want to spend a fortune buying some off the net which don't suit.

Alternatively, if anyone local would like to sell anything second hand size 8-9?

Conditions look good this weekend so far ...
 
Nice catch DaveJust back from a mammoth (fishless) swim. Anyone thinking of going in this weekend ...... do it. the viz is superb. I could see my float behind me when I was swimming as clear as clear and thats 11 m away!!!

Andy
 
Hi Andy

I also just tried again at Amarreurs, hoping for another big bass, but only saw a couple of small ones in the distance swimming in open water - big tide I suppose. Viz was better than recently though still not as good as you had because of a bit of swell. Saw another big rockie hiding in a hole which I thought I might as well shoot. more for the freezer! (nearly 8lb I think - ran out of weights with our kitchen scales!

Is it worth it tomorrow with such a big tide?
 

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My friend Steve is over for the weekend so we went & caught a few plaice this afternoon.
That is a big fish Col, I also saw a few giant wrasse but I cant bring myself to shoot them anymore, they just appear so placid & friendly (like me)
I think it is because the weed is dying back that we are seeing more big wrasse? Also saw one big bass in the shallows.
 

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That's one big rockie Sarnian. what do you do with them? Eating I mean? Never fancied them myself and always returned those i catch on the rod alive as they're old boys, older than me something that size (that makes me sound young eh!)
 
Hi Mart

You're getting soft in your old age - couldn't you bring yourself to shoot that big bass also!!:D

ADM / Spearheads (nice to hear from someone new) - the big ones can be skinned and chunked, as Derek showed a little while ago on this thread, also with some interesting recipes. I've also done them as goujons, in flour and Guernsey butter ( meuniere) and finally it's worth freezing some, for e.g. when Foxfish does his next batch of smoking, as that's particularly tasty. Someone else did tell me that at this size they're 20+ years old - but I suppose you could also take the view that at least they've had a long life!
 
Apologies Dave - of course it was. I was confusing it with Derek's post about plaice etc recipes.Actually, that saves me looking for your post to guide me when I cut this one up - I think I slightly cocked up the last one. I've heard they should be skinned as the skin can build up toxins - anyone else heard that?

Also re fish age - I did a bit of research and bass can also reach 20 years, although the ones we catch near to shore are more likely to be a maximum of 8. Anyone else have any reliable info on this?
 
Bit more action at last. Colin, better weigh your wrasse more carefully next time as the British spearfishing record is exactly 8lbs give or take the odd dram.

http://www.underwaterfishing.co.uk/records/National Fish Records.htm

Mart, you poaching my plaice? Steve, at last you make your debut appearance on DB. How's the mamba and was that a debut plaice? I know you're a bass and golden grey mullet man normally.

Spearheads how do you cook your puppies. I like them roasted :yack .

Out in the boat yesterday and what a fantastic time I had. Flat calm, sunny and good vis. Went to the deeper inshore gravel banks to see if that's where the big flatties had been hiding out from me last weekend. Don't know if it was the deeper water (80 to 100 ft) or maybe the big tide but I found them. No record catch but half a box of brill, turbot and plaice was plenty enough for me and John. The days being shorter and the tide being huge meant we only did 2 tanks each. I couldn't have done any more anyway as the second tank in the deep left me decompressing for 15 minutes. Normally I only do up to my "no stop" time but I was greedy and stayed down for that one last brill, although by then I was 80ft down and travelling about 3 knots in the tide.

Talking of tide as I came back punching the not yet full flood tide close inshore outside of Bordeaux harbour my GPS plotter gave my speed over the ground as 15 knots when the boat was going 20 knots through the water. That's a true full 5 knots of tide. Definitely wouldn't want to be caught in that while spearing off the shore.

Today I really, really would have like to have gone spearing but spent the morning babysitting and the afternoon working on the house, gel coating my newly repaired fibreglass roof. Tonight is boudello (sp?) night so family party. Weather looks good for a few days so early night dives will be the order of the day, provided life doesn't get in the way.

Someone must have gone today. What's the bad news (for me), crystal vis and loads of fish?

Dave
 
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