Guernsey 2007

[Predator]

Dudes, i'm thinking of selling the MAMBA 90cm, brand new used literally only a few times, bought from spearo Dave. Comes with spare seals, loader, mono rigged, manual etc.

I'm too into my worm dangling stlye of fishing and just dont use it enough, would feel much better if it was being used and abused by someone who would appreciate this awsome fish slayer.

££ OTSO or interesting angling part ex's

Cheers Tanky

PS: Those interested should buy before tomorrow night incase I change my mind after going for my 1st disco dive with Magpie ;-) (report to follow)

 

[ADM]

Can't spend any more money tanky, supposed to be the other way round I think, ie. spend less than earn or something like that...

Planning on a dusk/night dive tomorrow myself if I manage to find the time and somewhere which doesn't look too scary. freezer has no fish in it at the moment and i'm feeling the need to eat something fresh out of the sea, not some manky old frozen thing or something off the "fresh" fish counter.

 

[Magpie]

I was in tonight hunting cuttles but didn't see one.

Did see a 4lbs bass and a takeable sole though. Loads of small sole, a couple of decent red mullet which were left for another day, and hundreds of tiny bass in the shallows.

By tiny I mean 1-2 inches, but perfectly formed little things. Watched a couple even bury themselves in the sand, and look most perturbed when I dug them out again!

No ray or cuttles though, pic to follow, it won't let me at the moment.

 

[Sarnian]

... whereas Dave and I saw cuttles ( one munching on a crab) but not many decent fish, in the same spot Foxy went yesterday.

Dave had kindly offered to guide me on my first night dive, having kitted myself out with a cheap Beuchat Krypton torch from Micks ( thanks Foxy and Andy for the tip).

Dave pointed out some red mullet and quite a few sole and plaice ( the first I had seen in the water), unfortunately most too small or near the limit. He did take a sole and a plaice ( small by his recent standards) and in the shallows pointed out a sole which I took - my first flattie ever! Dealing with despatching and stringing fish in the dark is not easy! Dave also called me over as a decent sized mullet was curiously swimming around him. I took a shot but I realise now how good the Mamba is compared with my old Beuchat 60 pneumatic. Dave saw a smallish bass on the way in, and I saw some small sole - the first I've managed to spot on my own!

So all in all a very interesting first night dive, with lots of creatures I hadn't seen before. I don't think I'd have seen much on my own though. Thanks again to Dave for sparing time to help me out again, and for kindly donating his catch to make enough for a decent feed.

 

[azapa]

nice catch! this Dave chap sounds like a bit of a star, donating catch and all. if i bought him a plane ticket would he come over to Chile to show me how to night fish here?

 

[Magpie]

Lets see if my top quality pic will upload now...yep.

The bass was very lean and on gutting it it had absolutely nothing in its stomach . For its length I would have expected it to be about 5lbs.

This was in Vaaaaaarrrrrzon by the way.

Well done for getting in Colin, its a whole different world when the bright blobs gone eh!

 

[Predator]

Dudes, i'm thinking of selling the MAMBA 90cm, brand new used literally only a few times, bought from spearo Dave. Comes with spare seals, loader, mono rigged, manual etc.

I'm too into my worm dangling stlye of fishing and just dont use it enough, would feel much better if it was being used and abused by someone who would appreciate this awsome fish slayer.

££ OTSO or interesting angling part ex's

Cheers Tanky

PS: Those interested should buy before tomorrow night incase I change my mind after going for my 1st disco dive with Magpie ;-) (report to follow)

SOLD to Sam [aka Crazyman]

:waterwork May the..... :waterwork.....force.... :waterwork be with you..... Sam. 'sniff snivvel'

 

[Magpie]

Ouch! :head

 

[Sarnian]

Lets see if my top quality pic will upload now...yep.

The bass was very lean and on gutting it it had absolutely nothing in its stomach . For its length I would have expected it to be about 5lbs.

This was in Vaaaaaarrrrrzon by the way.

Well done for getting in Colin, its a whole different world when the bright blobs gone eh!

The similar size one I caught last year was full of peeler crabs, which probably accounted for at least 1/2 lb! I suppose some have more muscle than others - just like humans!

p.s. an interesting fact I mentioned to OMD yesterday, on discussing measuring flatties with your handspan before taking them ( 9 in.) : apparently, I have been told, in almost all cases it is in fact 8 3/4 in., which by coincidence is the distance between everyone's nipples ( male and female). Try it if you don't believe me - it's also a good icebreaker at parties !

 

[Sarnian]

Nice one(s) Derek! Keeping abreast of the latest posts as usual!rofl

Seems we've lowered the tone again. I tried to find a picture of a man's nipples to balance things up and show we're not politically incorrect, but all the ones on the net seem to be women's !

 

[Andy.R]

All quiet last night? Have been ordered to the proms on the pier tonight, but am going to sneak in a low water at lunchtime. Might try up NE for a change

Andy

 

[Old Man Dave]

Popped in for a quick night dive last night. Third night in a row. As someone said to me the other day "You're behaving more like a teenager than an old man - out all night" I took it as a compliment.

Short dive turned into a bit of a marathon. Went to Perelle but as it was half tide going down we entered the water by the slip. By the time we got to the pole we'd been swimming for ever. Passed the pole and ever onwards, then the current started. Fished for a while but then it started getting silly. Lots of sea life as usaual but not much in the large enough to spear catergory. Left a few plaice, sole and reds that were size but small. Ed then got a better sole and I ended up as bass man. Aparently Ed had switched his bass radar off and forgotten to reset it.

Final butchers bill was a sole, 3 bass and a nice pollack. Enough for a good feed. Dive time crept up to 2+ hours.

Good fun.

Dave

 

[Magpie]

Took Tanky out for his first disco dive last night. Here's a couple of pics of the results, I'll let him write it up though.

 

[derek foxen]

The little 'STAR LIGHTS" from 'MICKS' at 65p each taped to the top of your snorkels are excellent for keeping in sight of your night-diving partners or even for anxious relatives on shore.
The lobsters are an interesting bonus catch.

 

[Predator]

ok here goes....

Tom offered to take me for a disco dive as he was after some cuttles and I was after a sole or a redmullet to stock up my fridge which is looking alarmingly empty of fish.

We went to a popular spearo area where I had been to lots of time before so I couldnt wait to see what it was like at night. While getting changed tom was giving me the do's and donts of night diving and going through the dive plan.

When we got in it was clear that my beauchat torch was pathetic compared to my dive buddies but we we in the shallows so it wasnt too bad but as the torch only had a beam rather then a glow it meant i could only see where I pointed it and most of the time this was a patch of about 1sq foot at the best of times, so I stuck close to tom and he kinda lit the way for me and waved me over when there was something cool to have a look at. So, we got in and straight away we came head on into a shoal of 3-4 mullet of about 2lb which seemed completely oblivious to us and passed between the both of us as we paddled out about 3 feet apart - cool!

Further out we started to see lots of small sole, some small - borderline sized red mullet and some baby ray (sorry I'm not sure which species they were so I'll hazard a guess that they were blondes). It was great to just whatch them or dive down and poke them to see what they would do but funnily they didnt seem to be bothered by us either and usualy just moved a couple of feet in a kinda "bugger off I'm busy" kinda way.

Only saw one cuttle which is what Tom was after so it wasnt long before it was in his catch bag, making a huge mess of the surrounding area with a HUGE cloud of ink in the process! Was like an undewater smoke screen. I can see how this is one means of defense against predators of the cuttle, very effective indeed.

Out of view of Toms beam of light I spotted a sole of 2lbs moving slowly over the sea bed near a patch of 'grass'. Yippe time for some action! As per Toms guildlines I went down holding my gun by the barrel and thrust the spear through todays dinner.

Problem was that I had lost my stringer somewhere along the way and I had one of those slightly paniky moments of confusion as I fumbled around trying to find a stringer on my weigth belt which actually wasnt there. Tom who had been whatching the comotion came over and recused me giving me his stringer to hang the fish on - cheers dude!

We carried on mooching around and annoying the under water world when Tom ushered me over with his torch. I snorkelled up to him and as I got closer and closer I noticed he had something on the end of his spear - a friggin lobster! He spotted it crawling about on the open sand, well away from cover (and crab pots). He fumbled with it for a while as he had never had one before and was trying to figure out how to deal with it. He got it in the bag eventually and we carried on mooching around for a few more minuites before heading back to dry land.

If i've missed anything I'm sorry, there was so much to see and I cant remember all of it at the moment, it was an awsome experiance and I cant wait to do my next disco dive - hopefully with a better torch next time.

Cheers again Maggers - top bloke.

 

[Magpie]

No problem mate, you did well considering how little you could see a lot of the time.

Yeh, the lobster was a new experience for me, saw it out on the sand travelling somewhere so went down and at first tried to grab him by the shell...funnily enough he wasn't too happy with this and these huge claws that looked easily capable of leaving me with less than the usual number of digits come failing up and the tail kicks so I return to the surface to regroup.

Down I go again, having decided to take a no messing approach this time, and shoot him through the top of the head! So now I've got this angry armoured clawed thing thrashing around...and I'm attached to it. After some more faffing and some liberal use of the gun muzzle on shell its finally given up and I can get it in the bag.

Cor damme me but that was hard work! Any tips on an easier way to deal with them Dave?

All in all a good dive, lots of just too small red mullet and sole, only one small bass seen. Great fluoresence too.

 

[atomichaggis]

Use a red light for lobsters.
When You spot one through Your white light, switch of then light it up with the red... it won't see you.

 

[Andy.R]

Went for a 3.5 hour mega session up NE Played in the tide around some of the islands for a while then onto the sand.

Came across this sole of just under 5lbs a cuttle and a flounder. Great viz. Saw a BIG conger, the size you get in the boilers on the Brisies. I thought about shooting it ...... for a nano second! Not my idea of fun, a mate shot a biggy years ago and it nearly drowned him.

Quite a few boats around and its funny how people seem to like showing off by cutting close to shore, and me!

Hope everyone else having success
Andy

Lobsters. In my experience if they are out in the open then you have to be quick and firm, just grab by the carapice FIRMLY. They can't get you with their claws. If in a hole you can either stir up the sand outside the hole then they come out to see what is going on, grab em quick. Or you can use your spear push it in the hole twist it round so the barb drops down and use it like a hook to pull them out.

 

[ADM]

Nice work all you night diving types, huge sole there Andy. didn't have time to go in last night and not feeling up for it tonight. Maybe tomorrow...

 

[Old Man Dave]

Tried somethig different today. Went on the high tide something I rarely do. Apart from one high tide spot I have seldom had any luck and certainly it's no comparison with low water in terms of fish seen or caught. However I was keen to try an idea for visiting some reefs that are somewhat offshore,through some strong tide. I had worked out that I could swim to them by working my way from some other reefs.

As I am back home typing this then it goes without saying that the hard part, the swim back to shore again worked out okay. I managed a couple of medium bass and saw a few more but I have to confess it was a bit nerve racking looking shoreward through a river of raging current and I was having a job concentrating on the bass.

Still you don't know if you don't go.

Dave

PS Andy a 5lb sole is a huge fish :friday