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Guernsey 2019

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

little sarge

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2014
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Not sure I’ll be doing lots of diving this year but no Guernsey thread in April! What’s going on? I know people have been diving.

Also I heard that a local spearo had to be rescued from Vivian area a couple of weeks back! Anybody we know? Highlights that spearfishing can be a dangerous sport/hobbie/pastime/obsession and its best to take precautions. Either buddy up or let family and friends know your plans and approx times of entry and exit and use safety devices etc.... hope whoever it was is well and it hasn’t put them off.

Bit late but happy new year everyone and I hope you have a good but most importantly safe season of diving.
 
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Wow, second post this year. And I'm from landlocked Arizona.

Hello. It's been a while. Too long. And suddenly after an excessive time away, I find my password, log in, and find that the only post to the Guernsey 2019 thread happened yesterday. (I see there is at least one other 2019 Guernsey-Related thread.). I hope you could answer a couple more questions. 1) I see Guernsey has sea gulls. No surprise there. Are they aggressive in trying to snatch food from boats or from people on shore. I can tell you from my youth, Southern California sea gulls were vey aggressive. 2). I'm sure this is dependent on where they are speared and what size the fish are, but typically how quickly after a fit fish speared does it die? Cookoo wrasse and cod would probably be the fish I'd most like the information about. Sorry for the sudden appearance and morbid questioning. Despite my asking about death, I hope life is treating all of you well.
 
We have. Quite a few species of gull but the main two are the Herring gull and the greater black backed gull.
The smaller herring gull is by far the most common, although we do get the odd report of aggression, up until now this has never been a big issue.
However just a few weeks back our landfill site has been closed to food waste, meaning that the main food supply for the majority of our gulls has been removed!
So far, regardless of all the hype, the gulls are still being well behaved but I think the summer months might see some gulls taking advantage of ice cream eating tourists.....
The much larger and naturally aggressive black back gull is a killer of anything it can kill!
There are large, noisy creatures but spectacular as well.
Cod are not a common fish around our coast, they are found in colder water but we do get them.
We do get a fish called pollock, they are a cod like species that are far more likely to be found around our shores.
Cuckoo wrasse are quite common but only small, 2lb would be a nice one, they are not a fish we would spear.
Some fish are killed instantly “ stoned” but that normally requires a shot that hits the backbone.
Most fish hit in the centre and need to be despatched with a knife in the gills but some folk take more care and try to hit the fish in the head.
Some fish can be extremely hard to kill , and only appear to die once the spine is severed .
Some fish go crazy when shot, sole are one and some fish appear to give in like wrasse.
Cod tend to be quite sluggish compared to bass for instance, so I suspect that although they can be very large, they would be the type of fish to “give in” on the spear.
And yes you are right about the Guernsey thread not being used like it was 10 years ago.
It seems to be a worldwide trend, people left forums to post on Facebook and now Facebook has lost its hold but folk seem to have forgotten about forums.
 
Not sure I’ll be doing lots of diving this year but no Guernsey thread in April! What’s going on? I know people have been diving.

Also I heard that a local spearo had to be rescued from Vivian area a couple of weeks back! Anybody we know? Highlights that spearfishing can be a dangerous sport/hobbie/pastime/obsession and its best to take precautions. Either buddy up or let family and friends know your plans and approx times of entry and exit and use safety devices etc.... hope whoever it was is well and it hasn’t put them off.

Bit late but happy new yand I hope you have a good but most importantly safe season of diving.

Happy new year to you too Little Sarge, sorry to hear you don't expect to much spearing this year mate, how come?(brush me off its personal, no offence).
I've been in 3 times so far this year 2 day dives and one at night, both day dives were around the Wells checking on the crab situation and the night dive was a Plaice inspection, quite ironically the Spider dive yielded one small female and the night dive for Plaice the Spiders were present but with only one of size, lots of small Plaice and a few Reds and Bass but nothing that made me want to bring it home. I'm hoping things will be improving steadily over next couple of months.
 
So are there any birds (gulls or otherwise) that you have to worry about stealing your fish from a boat or dock if you don't protect against them? Are there any that would go after a single fish, and are there any that would only go for a large catch?
 
Yes all sea gulls could potentially steal an unattended fish or food.

The greater black backed gulls are top dog in those stakes , they are fierce birds that kill other birds, namely puffins, by drowning them but are well know for attacking any vulnerable creature that it can swallow.

We do have cormorants and shags both could theoretically steal dead fish from a diver (or mermaid) but I have never heard of that happening.
Then we have gannets they could theoretically steal a dead fish from a diver by diving down from sky at high speed.
It is not uncommon to see a shag casing a hooked fish or indeed catching a shag on a rod.
In a fictional story I would think the evil bird would be a black back gull and the cunning ... ambush style .. bird would be a cormorant.
 
Happy new year to you too Little Sarge, sorry to hear you don't expect to much spearing this year mate, how come?(brush me off its personal, no offence).
I've been in 3 times so far this year 2 day dives and one at night, both day dives were around the Wells checking on the crab situation and the night dive was a Plaice inspection, quite ironically the Spider dive yielded one small female and the night dive for Plaice the Spiders were present but with only one of size, lots of small Plaice and a few Reds and Bass but nothing that made me want to bring it home. I'm hoping things will be improving steadily over next couple of months.

You’re a keen bean Pierre, I usually wait a little later as I find there are more fish around.

No offence taken mate, I am currently working on my new boat so that’s going to keep me busy and also my little girl starts school in September so I’d like to have a decent summer of family time. I’ll still be diving just not as much as previous years! I find there’s no such thing as a quick dive either.
 
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I've been in once with Portinfer, might even have been new years day, sometime round then anyway. Nothing much doing, and that's also the amount of diving I'll be doing until it warms up a bit more!
 
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Anyone know who might be willing to service my Penn 525 GS on the island? Not really sure where I can get it done. Thanks.
 
Do it yourself, they're very simple things. Just take bits off and lay them out in order so they go back on the same way when you've cleaned and oiled it. Do one side at a time.
 
Thanks for the quick response, Tom. I also need to replace the handle as I stepped on the rod while it was in a boat. I'll order the parts and give it a go. There are instructional videos for the much more popular mag version, but should hopefully be pretty much the same.
 
I've got both and yes, they're pretty much identical other than the mags missing and added centrifugal blocks and carrier. You'll be fine. Can't you straighten the handle?
 
I don't think so, no. I remember trying and didn't get very far. The bend is unfortunately right where the rubber handle fits in to the metal arm. It still works OK once you get the hang of it, if it is a bit annoying, but if I'm going to work on it I may as well just replace it.
 
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Thank you, it has been a great day, lots of music and eating.
75 years next year.
 
No season posts yet, what a shame as I know some guys on the forum have been hitting it hard for quite a while now.

We’ve been mental busy at work so I’ve done no diving over the winter and I only managed my first dive last Sunday.


Went out West and the weather was super still and warm but there had been a small swell running and you could still see some white water breaking over the outer reefs. Massive walk to the point of entry and forgot my crocs! Not nice on the feet. The water didn’t feel warm and the viz was mixed, saw lots of schoolie bass but only about 6 which were just legal so just tracked and watched them. Left empty handed after just over 2 hrs but nice to get in and see some activity.

Escaped early from work Wednesday and was super eager to get in again. Different coast this time and wanted a fish for dinner. Viz was patchy again and after about an hour I was desperate for the toilet and felt a little cold. Had seen plenty of just legal bass but nothing bigger when on my way in I spotted one around 3.5lb so took him for dinner. First fish in 2 dives that was worth shooting.

In again yesterday with Fro and the viz wasn’t great with a westerly 4-5 blowing. Saw quite a few bass and took a 5lber. After about 45 mins we stopped for a natter. Fro showed me the lovely fish he had shot and we got back to it. I was slowly moving when I saw a massive tail scoot off, couldn’t identify the fish as I only saw the tail in the snotty viz but whatever it was it must of been huge!
Carried on in some patchy weed when I saw a glimpse of gold. Fish saw me and I let off a shot and missed, I was gutted and thought I had ruined my chance of my first guilthead of the year. Carried on some more and once again saw some gold in the distance, took my time but the fish saw me and as it turned I had a solid shot straight through the gillplate. Raced over to grab it and thought to myself wow this fella is a monster. Line release on my gun jammed so Fro kindly lent me his spare and after another 20 mins I was freezing and made for the shore. The guilty was a p.b for me and weighed 8lb1oz I was and still am chuffed to bits as my previous best was around 6lb
The fillets are massive and I’m looking forward to my dinner this evening.

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No season posts yet, what a shame as I know some guys on the forum have been hitting it hard for quite a while now.

We’ve been mental busy at work so I’ve done no diving over the winter and I only managed my first dive last Sunday.


Went out West and the weather was super still and warm but there had been a small swell running and you could still see some white water breaking over the outer reefs. Massive walk to the point of entry and forgot my crocs! Not nice on the feet. The water didn’t feel warm and the viz was mixed, saw lots of schoolie bass but only about 6 which were just legal so just tracked and watched them. Left empty handed after just over 2 hrs but nice to get in and see some activity.

Escaped early from work Wednesday and was super eager to get in again. Different coast this time and wanted a fish for dinner. Viz was patchy again and after about an hour I was desperate for the toilet and felt a little cold. Had seen plenty of just legal bass but nothing bigger when on my way in I spotted one around 3.5lb so took him for dinner. First fish in 2 dives that was worth shooting.

In again yesterday with Fro and the viz wasn’t great with a westerly 4-5 blowing. Saw quite a few bass and took a 5lber. After about 45 mins we stopped for a natter. Fro showed me the lovely fish he had shot and we got back to it. I was slowly moving when I saw a massive tail scoot off, couldn’t identify the fish as I only saw the tail in the snotty viz but whatever it was it must of been huge!
Carried on in some patchy weed when I saw a glimpse of gold. Fish saw me and I let off a shot and missed, I was gutted and thought I had ruined my chance of my first guilthead of the year. Carried on some more and once again saw some gold in the distance, took my time but the fish saw me and as it turned I had a solid shot straight through the gillplate. Raced over to grab it and thought to myself wow this fella is a monster. Line release on my gun jammed so Fro kindly lent me his spare and after another 20 mins I was freezing and made for the shore. The guilty was a p.b for me and weighed 8lb1oz I was and still am chuffed to bits as my previous best was around 6lb
The fillets are massive and I’m looking forward to my dinner this evening.

View attachment 54106View attachment 54108View attachment 54109
What a start to 2019 Kerrin, that's amazing!! good shot placement too.
 
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