Guernsey 2007

[Sarnian]

As you said Jonny it is a whole new world at night.

Nice idea with the lattern. I've not had a problem myself but some members on here have got themselves lost at night....

You having a go again Tom?:t
(Dave kindly explained the torch technology).

I had thought of sticking a glo stick on a pier or something, not quite such a loss if it did happen to get nicked.

Nice fish from the Flatfish King.:king

Glad to see you've joined the dark side Jonny!

 

[foxfish]

Jonny has joined the dark side?

 

[Sarnian]

Um .. as in night diving.. not THE Dark Side ... not yet ...

 

[Sarnian]

Wifey's on a girlie shopping weekend in Southampton :naughty:friday:banduh:waterwork
- don't worry, I've already reported all the credit cards as stolen!:naughty

Anyone know any dive shops where she could buy me a torch around there or Winchester? Preferably in the main centre.

Podge, Scottie etc?

 

[Magpie]

Lived in Winchester for 3 years and there was no dive shop there then. Was a few years ago now but it would be an odd place to put one.

BUT, you'll get it cheaper mailorder as the VAT removal will be more than the postage.

 

[Sarnian]

Cheers mate - good point. Plus I suppose I'm bad enough at understanding torch specifications without adding to the chance of getting it wrong! Not being sexist but she'd probably choose one because it was a nice dark colour to go with my wetsuit!rofl

 

[Jonny250]

Ha, i haven't joined THE dark side yet, but certainly enjoying the darkness. . I think i need a bit more practice with the existing kit before i make any moves towards THE dark side; lost a sole off the spear last night, not pleased with myself, i dont like killing a fish if I'm not eating it :rcard.
As Dave said, vis was good and there was plenty to see. Nice catch Dave!
Colin, i thought about a glow stick too, it's a good idea and probably better long-term, I guess it's only a matter of time before the lantern gets snaffled, the lantern is really bright compared to other lighting around, so an easy reference marker.

 

[Magpie]

As taught by OMD you must remember when pushing the spear through flatfish to then grab it on the underside of the fish or it can come off because the sand below the fish stops the barb from engaging.

 

[foxfish]

Col one reason LED light works so well under water is because of the colour temperature described as Kevlin degrees. LEDs admit a clear white light described as 6500k this is the same colour as mid day daylight. The higher up the scale IE 7500k the more blue the light becomes or lower IE 3500k would be more orange.
In theory a 10000k light source would penetrate the water far more than 6500k but every thing would look blue & our eyes would have problems relating to this unnatural colour. So 6500k is the way to go but you will notice with your little LED torch that out of water it would not appear to be strong enough to see any thing under water. However they work surprisingly well compared to a conventional 3500k bulb torch. You can now see why the guys with big powerful LEDs are so impressed.
PS I write about this kind of stuff all he time on other forums relating to tropical marine fish keeping the importance of getting the right light source to to penetrate as strongly as possible & remain pleasingly natural to the eye.

 

[foxfish]

As taught by OMD you must remember when pushing the spear through flatfish to then grab it on the underside of the fish or it can come off because the sand below the fish stops the barb from engaging.

I am surprised you guys have not perfected a more suitable spear head? To start with a twin barb would be better, I can remember years ago all spears were twin barb & even had little bits of rubber to stop the bards from fully closing. Surly a standard air gun would be a better tool for night diving?

 

[sunfish]

Foxfish, this is a bit off the subject of spearfishing but since you know a bit about marine aquaria, how difficult would it be to set up a coldwater tank with some native species? Maybe a couple of anemones, a crab, a couple of pipefish, a butterfish, gobies, that sort of thing. Could it be done with water from the sea then topped up with fresh to replace evaporation?
I think there's a thread on fishkeeping but I'm not sure where it is.

 

[foxfish]

Sure you can keep local cold water marines but you would need to restrict yourself to collecting from the 1/2 tide up zone unless you want to use a cooler. There is a difference from keeping fish alive for a month or two & keeping a thriving tank full of healthy creatures.
I would say that a locale set up is every way as attractive as a tropical marine tank but both need commitment if you want to succeed.

 

[Sarnian]

I am surprised you guys have not perfected a more suitable spear head? To start with a twin barb would be better, I can remember years ago all spears were twin barb & even had little bits of rubber to stop the bards from fully closing. Surly a standard air gun would be a better tool for night diving?

The Mamba of course has a twin barb head, and an O Ring around them. Unfortunately, when I went in for a night dive off the usual pier tonight, this time I took my Mamba, but noticed air escaping. I had a pollack in my sights, pulled the trigger and .. nothing. So I ended up with just a rather large hand spear. ( haven't got that replacement ball bearing yet Dave ...) Luckily I didn't see the monster bass I was sure would appear sitting waiting to be shot... I only saw a few small sole, but didn't go out very deep as I'm still getting the hang of the night diving.

At least I managed to find the pier this time without lights, radar, waterproof GPS, etc.

Sunfish, I did once try keeping a small salt water aquarium, when our kids were smaller, with moderate success. It does seem you need to keep changing the water quite often, which I did by lugging buckets of water from the closest pier, into a bin in the car. Quite a hassle, and made the floor of the wife's MPV rusty, which went down well ...:ko It was fun seeing caboos, shrimps, and even sea urchins, in their natural environment. It was difficult keeping the water from going cloudy in the end, probably needed more aeration. I think you can only have so many inches of fish per cu ft of water. Foxfish may well know more about this.

 

[ADM]

Cold water marine aquariums can et expemsive. It's bad enough trying to keep crabs and sandeels alive for bait!! Just a single filter can get the water hitting a toasty 24c with no attempts to get the temp back down I have tried all the cheap ways and found out there's no point!! Need to make an investment when cash allows.

 

[Old Man Dave]

Speaking of cold water, went in again tonight. Ed and I tried the North East corner hoping for a bass or two, plus any flats or reds that wanted to surrender.

Very calm conditions but a strengthening South East wind was bitter. We were both cold before we even got wet. Good vis looked to bode well for catching a few fish but it was definitely cold. Saw a few reasonable reds but in the end just took the one. Also saw a size sole but left it to grow a bit. Took a very nice bass with a clean, close up head shot and that was about it. Only in an hour but to be honest I don't think we fished very well for much of that. Did I mention it was cold?

Dave

 

[Sarnian]

Dave I was only in for an hour as well - I was starting to find it cold in the NW corner also. The east looked a bit choppy earlier. How was the temperature for you?

 

[Jonny250]

Hey Dave, Cold did you say? yeah jolly chilly! I went in at dusk and was shivering immediately, i stayed in for an hour but came out with uncontrollable shivering, did you mention it was cold... ;-) . several small sole around but I didn't see many bigger fish.
Well done on the bass Dave.
What depth do you normally find the bigger flatties - or does it not work like that?

 

[Old Man Dave]

You find flatfish at all depths but generally during the day I work 15 to 30 foot. At night they come in closer and I usually fish from 5 to 20 foot deep. A lot depends on the vis. If it's clear I can spot most flatfish from the surface in 15 foot with my torch and an experienced eye. However we usually dive down and swim a few feet off the bottom, mainly as this is what we do in the daytime where it is often necessary to prod the bottom for buried fish. Night diving is relatively new and I am constantly refining my technique. At night when most fish are uncovered (especially soles) I have been having some luck staying shallow and swimming on the surface. Quite hard to resist the temptation to blast off out into the deep though. At the end of the day it's probably a "how long is a piece of string?" type question. The only advice I would give is it's no point swimming in deep water if you can't see the bottom and you can't repeatedly dive and stay down. Fish within your capacity.

Dave

 

[Sarnian]

Speaking of cold water, went in again tonight. Ed and I tried the North East corner hoping for a bass or two, plus any flats or reds that wanted to surrender.

Dave

"It is the East and Juliet is the sun! Arise fair sun and kill the envious bass." (how cold was it Dave?)

I think we just managed to get in during the eye of the storm - gale force 8 and very rough seas forecast today, plus tides not ideal anyway.

Oh well, I have some gun repairing and pumping up to do. Also it may be time to start thinking about giving gear a good clean to store it for the winter. Anyone got any tips? I think my suit needs a proper clean, rather than the usual rinse it gets. Also, my gun rigging is getting rusty - can you get stainless steel swivels etc? Although even stainless seems to get rusty after prolonged salt water dunking, even if you rinse it straight afterwards - e.g. my knife.

Also time to start thinking of gear to go on Xmas lists. My torch will be on order soon ...

 

[Jonny250]

Thanks Dave, that's good advice.
Back to gales and lumpy sea again now, so maybe a few days off...