Guernsey 2019

[westcoaster]

It feels like its been a very very loooooooong winter.....Amazing fish Kerin, will be something if that fish gets beaten this year! Been in 4 times so far,
3 of those in the last few days
and its so good to get back in the water, you forget how good diving is for your sanity..., so totally feeling the dive jet lag now though! went in for my first dive a couple of weeks ago, viz was pretty rubbish but good enough to hunt in, only saw two bass, one was just sat in some slimy green weed chilling out, but by the time I turned my gun the fish had shot off, managed 2 hours in the water at 12 degrees and was freezing by the time I saw my 2nd bass, the fish started swimming right to me, all I could see was the fishes head so decided to wait a little rather than going for the kebab shot, anyhow it then shot off!!! lesson learned for another time! Saw some massive mullet, but our freezer is already quite mulletty so left them alone. Every year I see bigger rockies, amazing what size some of them can get to!. Some spiders around but nothing worth taking. Took last Thursday/Friday off so I could get some jobs done on the house, and get in the sea. Went West with Ed (Portinfer) to a spot I hadn't been to, very promising area and saw a 5lb fish as soon as I got in the water, unfortunately saw very little else after that, Ed got a nice bass. Went out Friday, within half an hour managed to miss a fish of around 3lb, continued on and was in thick bootlace at no more than 3 meters when I came to a small clearing, saw a massive tale behind a clump of bootlace - i could then just make out the size of the fish and it was clearly a very large bass - biggest I've seen, started to very slowly lift my gun up but then the fish cruised off....gutted!. was on my way back in and in and at around 2-3 meters found a bass sat right under me, managed to get my gun down to take a shot and got my first bass of 2019, was just over 4lb once gutted. Out again at 5.15am on Saturday, body told me I shouldn't be doing this, head said don't be daft lets dive, came across a lovely shoal of 4 large bass, they were probably slightly out of range for my gun but took a hopeful shot on the largest fish, needless to say i missed, I was then hovering around looms of jap weed when I saw a huge head cruising towards me, one of those moments where making no noise is critical, the fish must have heard something and swam off......I've called the fish the beast as its fricken massive and no idea if this is the same fish as the day before, but I know where it sleeps and I know where it hangs out .

 

[Fro-in-shorts]

As mentioned by little Sarge, unfortunately our dive didn’t coincide with good viz or lack of swell, but it was very productive and bass were everywhere. One of those days where the weathers less than perfect but the sea is alive.
As LS let on I did have nice fish about 45min in. I was in 3m of water on the surface swimming over jap weed and hesitated as I had that feeling I was being watched, after a moment I twigged as a flash of gold caught my eye and the first gilty of the season started to turn and dart off. I had to rush a shot which fortunately given how close I was took the fish through the shoulder and out the gills.
Of course first thing I did was swim over to LS and rub it in . Half an hour later though he got his own back ....... hard. Crisp high fives were exchanged and we eventually headed in. Great dive. Weighed my “minnow” and although not a dinosaur was 4lb8oz gutted so a new pb for me.

 

[foxfish]

Fantastic guys, very well done and thanks for all the post in general.

 

[Kodama]

Nice reports. Would love to make it out there one day. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tipticiter]

As mentioned by little Sarge, unfortunately our dive didn’t coincide with good viz or lack of swell, but it was very productive and bass were everywhere. One of those days where the weathers less than perfect but the sea is alive.
As LS let on I did have nice fish about 45min in. I was in 3m of water on the surface swimming over jap weed and hesitated as I had that feeling I was being watched, after a moment I twigged as a flash of gold caught my eye and the first gilty of the season started to turn and dart off. I had to rush a shot which fortunately given how close I was took the fish through the shoulder and out the gills.
Of course first thing I did was swim over to LS and rub it in . Half an hour later though he got his own back ....... hard. Crisp high fives were exchanged and we eventually headed in. Great dive. Weighed my “minnow” and although not a dinosaur was 4lb8oz gutted so a new pb for me.

Your dinner looked blooming amazing mate, was that the Gilty? No Lobs this time?

 

[Magpie]

Out last night with Ed(d)s . We planned to hit a distant sand patch which required a transition through a rock garden. What looked flat actually turned out to have a decent swell on the outside so it ended up being a bit hairy, and turned out to be pretty pointless as apart from a vicious pack of mini assault bass there wasn't much out there.

Still, we found enough to make it worthwhile on the inside. Here's some cobbled together footage.

 

[foxfish]

Nice weather at Boudreaux yesterday...

 

[JoshGSY]

Afternoon All,

Just a few questions as I'm about as green as they come. Got in the water 3 times last year but caught naff all..

1 - Have there been any changes in law from last summer? landing limits etc still the same?

2 - I'd been going around the small bay approx 50M NE of the Cartlines by Lancresse. Is this still an okay area for a novice, I found conditions comfy here last year but any recommendations would be welcome.

3 - Are there any tips to gauge visibility before actually going out?

Cheers
Josh

 

[Magpie]

Welcome to the forum Josh.

1) There have been no changes to local fishing laws for years. The "bag limits" for shore fishing/spearing had no basis in law.

2) Just try loads of places, there's nowhere around our coast that doesn't have fish of some sort worth finding. Best place for learning is probably the west coast weed beds at low tide. All the bays have them, pick one that looks calm and go explore.

3) Get polarized glasses, makes a big difference when looking at water clarity. Keep an eye on the weather in the preceding days, and look at swell forecasts like Magic Seaweed.

 

[JoshGSY]

Welcome to the forum Josh.

1) There have been no changes to local fishing laws for years. The "bag limits" for shore fishing/spearing had no basis in law.

2) Just try loads of places, there's nowhere around our coast that doesn't have fish of some sort worth finding. Best place for learning is probably the west coast weed beds at low tide. All the bays have them, pick one that looks calm and go explore.

3) Get polarized glasses, makes a big difference when looking at water clarity. Keep an eye on the weather in the preceding days, and look at swell forecasts like Magic Seaweed.

Thanks for coming back so quickly Magpie. Really appreciate it. Will hopefully post some updates on how I get on soonish.

 

[foxfish]

Hi Josh, you might be interested in this as we still have room for 3 more!

The Guernsey specimen hunt and social 2019

The event will take place over the weekend of August the 10th and 11th. Schedule of events. Friday 6pm at the Terrace Cafe to meet and discuss the venues. Saturday 7am meet at venue. Competition starts at 8am weigh in at 1pm. Saturday 6pm - 6.30 at the Catch. Sunday 7,30am meet at venue...

forums.deeperblue.com

 

[westcoaster]

2 recent dives, one was pretty quiet, but towards the end of the dive was doing drops in a japweed/sandy area, a couple of bass came in for a look, they weren't massive so was looking around and in the distance thought I saw a much larger bass, turned out to be a guilthead and a reasonable sized one, took a shot but missed.
Went out yesterday on a red eye dive, up at 4.30am and in the sea just after 5am, sun was up and was looking set for an amazing day. Missed a bass in the first 5 minutes, was stalking through some very thick bootlace area's and suddenly a grey head appeared of a bass giving me a good beady stare, then shot down but managed to get a shot through the body and fish of 4lb on the stringer. Continued on, amazing clear water, loads of mullet, rockies, and pregnant spiders, loads of bait fish, one of those mornings worth getting up for. Had a good swim for about 2.5 hours, was swimming across some thick bootlace and came out into a very shallow rocky bladder rack area, - straight into the path of a 6lb bass, it was an easy shot and another fish on the stringer. Saw more bass on the way in but by this stage was shivering and tired. A great mornings dive.

 

[ep_haury]

Hello. For those who don;t now, I'm this person ( https://forums.deeperblue.com/threa...bout-mermaids-not-a-mermaid-who-writes.77768/ ). At his point, this thread might only be frequented by people who know this, but based on the question I'm asking, it's best to give an explanation why I'm asking this. (And good grief, that post was over a decade ago. I did have to stop writing this story to work on something else instead, only to come back later. But wow.)

I want to ask about the rocks around Sark. Without going into why or how, I'm at a point in my story where human beings (18th century equivalent) and merfolk have stuck a deal that involves the humans taking a cluster of rocks around the Sark-like fictional island and building a new home for the merfolk. Basically, carving larger caves with multiple chambers in the rocks, putting up a few breakwaters and fences in the water with gates that can be opened and closed by the merfolk. The colony would prefer that entrances be built well under the low tide line to keep human beings form having access. The group that made this deal doesn't like living in a very uncomfortable cave and wants something better. (I'm separately researching 18th century underwater architecture techniques. This is doable, so no problem there.) Also, the group of menfolk I'm dealing with is around thirty individuals.

I've looked at a few Sark rocks (https://c8.alamy.com/comp/BDC0XP/boat-near-the-rocks-of-sark-island-channel-islands-BDC0XP.jpg , https://l7.alamy.com/zooms/304c9517...oulin-sark-island-man-made-passage-be9y0h.jpg , http://www.oldukphotos.com/graphics...ands, Sark, Creux Harbour and Buron Rocks.jpg , https://gryllosblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/img_1374-rocks-off-sark-w.jpg?w=500&h=333 , and a few others ) A common trend I see is very steep rocky inclines (even the term incline seems pushing it) with no beaches. I'm guessing the extreme tides are responsible for both of those things, but I admit I could be mistaken. Specifically, I guess that only the near vertical rock faces are above the waterline, though I'm **especially** well aware that could be a mistake on my part. I recall seeing some small beaches on Sark and nearby smaller islands during my brief visit, but they looked like they could easily be sallowed up at high tide, too. Tell me if I'm wrong. Having a part of the beach of the main Sark-equivalent island is possible for my needs, but it would be a harder sell for the merfolk. Those who are working with humans are still wary of humans and so would not want their home to be easily accessible by them, which a home on them main Island would tend to be. (That's one reason I'm not just copying the Gouliot Caves, by the way. Even a brief window of access would be a problem, as would the ability for people to row in using small boats.)

Basically, I'm asking, can you imagine a good example of a rock or set of rocks that would fit for being reshaped in the way I describe? This is a fictional setting based on the Channel Islands and Sark in particular, so I can alter any real examples to fit my needs, as long as the alterations are reasonable. Such a rock need not even need to be around Sark. It could be around Guernsey, or Alderney, or Jersey, or even Haute Normandy, for that matter, as long as I would fit being around Sark.

 

[foxfish]

There is a small rocky island call L’ Etac opposite the Venus pool , that might do but it is difficult to find pictures.

 

[Spirit]

 

[ep_haury]

Thank you both. Would that lower picture of Spirit's be L'Etac be about at low tide, or would the waterline go significantly lower?

 

[foxfish]

Looks like low tide about a 30’ drop .

 

[Spirit]

That photo is of the South West side of L'Etac at low water. A very good dive site with a low water slack. There is a shallow area where you can see a few rocks breaking the surface, dropping down a wall to 50m.

 

[Spirit]

I have dug out my speargun for next weekend and found that the rubbers have perished. Does anyone know where I can get rubbers and string for a Riffe gun from? I have looked at the YouTube videos on how to do the replacement, but non the wiser, can anyone show me how to tie the string onto the rubbers?

Many thanks
Andy

 

[little sarge]

Nice to get back in the water yesterday, it’s been a while. Me and @Fro-in-shorts tried a place I have been eyeing up for a couple of seasons know. Viz was ok and the ground was absolutely beautiful, there was just a serious lack of fish around. Managed a bass just over 5lb at a guess. Will defo be trying the spot again when I get the time!
Looks like the weather is getting better towards the end of the week so possibly get another trip in at the weekend.