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Guernsey summer fishing
- Thread starterportinfer
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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Well, ive been here nearly a week now and had excellent fishing. There seem to be a lot more large fish 8lbs+ than back home. Virtually swam into the two largest bass I have ever seen on my first dive, didnt get a shot off though. Ive only been in on the west coast on the advice of locals and the vis has been pretty good (compared to Gower) even when a decent size swell was running on Tuesday. Surfed decent 3-4ft waves in one bay then went fishing in the next! Going in later today probably west coast again if any local spearos are interested? (Im staying at the Duke of Richmond in St Peter Port).
Latest news is a potential british spearfishing record golden grey mullet. Aparently weighed 3lb 4oz gutted. Always difficult to get a definite I.D. but looks good as in gold spot, long pectoral and in the right ball park for fin ray count. Not sure if the guy is going to claim. Not even sure if it beats the existing but speaking as a previous record holder it's the biggest I've ever heard of.
Dave
PS Great name M.Holt. Brings back memories. Mike Holt was a great channel Islands spearo of the 70's, (actually he was from Jersey but nobody's perfect). Several times CI champ. Wonder if he's still around?
Dave
PS Great name M.Holt. Brings back memories. Mike Holt was a great channel Islands spearo of the 70's, (actually he was from Jersey but nobody's perfect). Several times CI champ. Wonder if he's still around?
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Pete's first dive... Pete's first bass...
Quite a good day yesterday !
With the tutelage of Dave I'm making a new 80cm teak gun with a guy called Pete too. Anyway, Pete was keen to have a dive - he has never been spearfishing but has some scuba experience in warmer climes.
He borrowed a gun and we went down to the shore in search of a bass or two.
I thought that we might see a few but that Pete might not catch one as I remember it took me bloody ages to work out how to catch them. Anyway I told Pete a few things like relaxing - not tracking too fast - moving slowly - how to load and unload the gun etc...
It was a pretty warm day with a bit of wind but the swell was alot more than yesterday so I thought the viz would be very poor but as we were there it might be worth getting wet.
A short paddle out to the end of a reef and I started to see the occasional mullet in the murk and then a lovely pack of about seven bass between 3 to 4 pounds. I had a shot but it was too long and was from the surface ...
Round the point and back towards the shore and the sandy shallows. Pete seemed to be getting the hang of firing and loading - think he had a few pops at mullet on the way out and on the point. Seemed pretty happy in the water and loving it !
I tried a few aspettos at about 5m while Pete headed for the shallows - on the three dives I saw bass on every one. Some in with mullet and some in packs by themselves - mostly around the 3 to 4 pound mark.
I came up from a dive and heard Pete yelling - sheeeet I thought he's speared himself or something - sounded like desperate yelling - I saw him and swam over and discovered that he was in fact desperate... but for a knife to seal the deal on a nice six pound bass !
Perfect shot too - right on the lateral just behind the gill plate !
He finished it off and strung it and to be honest was still grinning about four hours later ! I left him later after a curry still reliving the moment lining up shots while his girlfriend just shook her head.
After that we took to the land and scrambled across the reef. A short walk round another point and another bay. The tops of the bootlace were just in the water and the bottom was about 2m down with the sun making strange vertical patterns of light through the water off the edge in to a drop off down to about 8m I guess and kelp.
We drifted and sat in the bootlace and saw pack after pack of bass go past - a seriously large amount of traffic ! Pete couldn't believe it either - so many fish - some in the 6 to 7 pound class but mostly they were around 3 to 4 pounds. I landed the smaller one on a shallow drift when a pack of about six arrived and gave me a bit of time to pick one out and the larger one was the smallest one trailing a pack that I caught on a shallow 3m aspetto after about a minute or so. Water was about 13C.
Really nice to see so many and looked great in the bootlace, every 30 secs or so you would see three in a group or more in a pack. Great purple silver backs passing on the edge of the drop off.
A good day.
Quite a good day yesterday !
With the tutelage of Dave I'm making a new 80cm teak gun with a guy called Pete too. Anyway, Pete was keen to have a dive - he has never been spearfishing but has some scuba experience in warmer climes.
He borrowed a gun and we went down to the shore in search of a bass or two.
I thought that we might see a few but that Pete might not catch one as I remember it took me bloody ages to work out how to catch them. Anyway I told Pete a few things like relaxing - not tracking too fast - moving slowly - how to load and unload the gun etc...
It was a pretty warm day with a bit of wind but the swell was alot more than yesterday so I thought the viz would be very poor but as we were there it might be worth getting wet.
A short paddle out to the end of a reef and I started to see the occasional mullet in the murk and then a lovely pack of about seven bass between 3 to 4 pounds. I had a shot but it was too long and was from the surface ...
Round the point and back towards the shore and the sandy shallows. Pete seemed to be getting the hang of firing and loading - think he had a few pops at mullet on the way out and on the point. Seemed pretty happy in the water and loving it !
I tried a few aspettos at about 5m while Pete headed for the shallows - on the three dives I saw bass on every one. Some in with mullet and some in packs by themselves - mostly around the 3 to 4 pound mark.
I came up from a dive and heard Pete yelling - sheeeet I thought he's speared himself or something - sounded like desperate yelling - I saw him and swam over and discovered that he was in fact desperate... but for a knife to seal the deal on a nice six pound bass !
Perfect shot too - right on the lateral just behind the gill plate !
He finished it off and strung it and to be honest was still grinning about four hours later ! I left him later after a curry still reliving the moment lining up shots while his girlfriend just shook her head.
After that we took to the land and scrambled across the reef. A short walk round another point and another bay. The tops of the bootlace were just in the water and the bottom was about 2m down with the sun making strange vertical patterns of light through the water off the edge in to a drop off down to about 8m I guess and kelp.
We drifted and sat in the bootlace and saw pack after pack of bass go past - a seriously large amount of traffic ! Pete couldn't believe it either - so many fish - some in the 6 to 7 pound class but mostly they were around 3 to 4 pounds. I landed the smaller one on a shallow drift when a pack of about six arrived and gave me a bit of time to pick one out and the larger one was the smallest one trailing a pack that I caught on a shallow 3m aspetto after about a minute or so. Water was about 13C.
Really nice to see so many and looked great in the bootlace, every 30 secs or so you would see three in a group or more in a pack. Great purple silver backs passing on the edge of the drop off.
A good day.
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First tank dive of the year. Went in a mates boat as mine is not down yet (later this week - fingers crossed). Just the one dive for scallops. 40 minutes at 60 ft, resulted in a shy 7 dozen large. Big fat rows at the moment. Vis was 20 ft ish. Lots of dogfish about as they're inshore to lay eggs (purses). Mate saw a very large blonde ray, but left it - very sensible - horrible slimy things. Ed wants to try freediving my scallop patch at low tide when it will be 14/15 metres. I suggested weightbelt "bombing" technique using the scallop sack. We'll see.
Still quite a few bass around but tides are neaping and fish are definitely going off.
Here a claim has been made for that golden grey mullet, so wait to hear.
Dave
Still quite a few bass around but tides are neaping and fish are definitely going off.
Here a claim has been made for that golden grey mullet, so wait to hear.
Dave
Another fantastic day diving in Guernsey.
I went out today with my cousin from about 5:30 or 6pm until about 8pm - pretty poor tides for bassing so decided to leave the bass stick at home and head out with a camera instead.
Ran out of film so just me and a mask looking around.
We went out to a spot that has alot of bootlace weed and a nice drop off down onto sand.
My cousin is normally a scuba bod so she is slowly gettting into the idea of breath hold diving - anyway she has mares quattros which tend to splash a bit so I was hoping to see one or two bass only.
She spotted a nice pair of pipefish - a chancre - a spider - etc I saw thgse and a whole bunch of wrasse too. So many around in the slack tide.
There is a channel that pushes a pretty fast current along the reef from one end in a opening between rocks. There are a couple of rocks on the othr side of the current stream and as I didn't have much to carry i thought I'd have an exploratory dive or two and see how far over towards the rocks I could get without being swept offshore.
Really nice u/w scenery. Alot of sand but also some nice outcrops of bootlace covered weed. I dropped down to about 8m and checked out some nice fat pollack sitting in the edge of the current - nosing into it and not phased that I was there at all. Loads of them and still more murky shapes in the distance.
Back on the surface I looked down and could make out the bottom just about - I saw about 5 or so twitchy shapes - all torpedo shaped with thin tails - I am guessing that they were mackerel but not too sure as when I went down quitely to check them out they scarpered.
Anyway I kept heading out cross current and it was really picking up some - another drop and drift. THis time I just went with the current along the reef with the aim of cutting back on the surface towards my cousin who was getting a bit panicky in the flow.
Dropped to about 8m and then started watching the gauge as it dropped quickly from 8m to 9m and then about 10m before I thought that it was deep enough and slowly drifted back up.
A couple of mates came out for a spear - one guy loaded and the bands snapped - must be those mothballs - the other guy (Charlie) looked up to say hi to us - looked down then looked up again saying 'I've got a bass !'. It was under him when he stopped and turned out to be a nice middle body shot on a 2 or 3 pound bass.
I didn't see any today but when I got home Dave dropped round some very nice scallops that he had grabbed from the depths that day off on a boat 'somewhere secret'... needless to say a good shucking lesson later and I'll be enjoying them tomorrow.
Well maybe a few more dives in the days to come...
Cheers
Ed
I went out today with my cousin from about 5:30 or 6pm until about 8pm - pretty poor tides for bassing so decided to leave the bass stick at home and head out with a camera instead.
Ran out of film so just me and a mask looking around.
We went out to a spot that has alot of bootlace weed and a nice drop off down onto sand.
My cousin is normally a scuba bod so she is slowly gettting into the idea of breath hold diving - anyway she has mares quattros which tend to splash a bit so I was hoping to see one or two bass only.
She spotted a nice pair of pipefish - a chancre - a spider - etc I saw thgse and a whole bunch of wrasse too. So many around in the slack tide.
There is a channel that pushes a pretty fast current along the reef from one end in a opening between rocks. There are a couple of rocks on the othr side of the current stream and as I didn't have much to carry i thought I'd have an exploratory dive or two and see how far over towards the rocks I could get without being swept offshore.
Really nice u/w scenery. Alot of sand but also some nice outcrops of bootlace covered weed. I dropped down to about 8m and checked out some nice fat pollack sitting in the edge of the current - nosing into it and not phased that I was there at all. Loads of them and still more murky shapes in the distance.
Back on the surface I looked down and could make out the bottom just about - I saw about 5 or so twitchy shapes - all torpedo shaped with thin tails - I am guessing that they were mackerel but not too sure as when I went down quitely to check them out they scarpered.
Anyway I kept heading out cross current and it was really picking up some - another drop and drift. THis time I just went with the current along the reef with the aim of cutting back on the surface towards my cousin who was getting a bit panicky in the flow.
Dropped to about 8m and then started watching the gauge as it dropped quickly from 8m to 9m and then about 10m before I thought that it was deep enough and slowly drifted back up.
A couple of mates came out for a spear - one guy loaded and the bands snapped - must be those mothballs - the other guy (Charlie) looked up to say hi to us - looked down then looked up again saying 'I've got a bass !'. It was under him when he stopped and turned out to be a nice middle body shot on a 2 or 3 pound bass.
I didn't see any today but when I got home Dave dropped round some very nice scallops that he had grabbed from the depths that day off on a boat 'somewhere secret'... needless to say a good shucking lesson later and I'll be enjoying them tomorrow.
Well maybe a few more dives in the days to come...
Cheers
Ed
Funny old day today. I’m on holiday but the tides are dead neaps, with low being 8 o’clock.
Got up at 7am as per usual and on the spur of the moment decided to try a west coast spot that’s good on neaps.
Haven’t been there for years but heard of a catch of bass thereabouts and that brought back memories.
Passed Ed’s house at 7.30 am and felt a bit guilty, but he needs his beauty sleep more than me.
In at 8 am, low tide. Flat calm and 25ft vis. This spot comprises 2 large bootlace weed beds. Found first one and started a slow outside sweep in about 6-8 ft. Nothing for 10 minutes then suddenly a large bass about 8 lb was right in front of me. Talk about slow (me not the bass), didn’t even get off a shot. Well that was the story for the next hour. Saw loads of bass mainly 2-5 lbs and fired 2 shots. Missed both. Just couldn’t get it together. A half decent spearo would have had a field day. Eventually scared off all the fish and decided to move on to bed number 2. Couldn’t find it. After aimlessly swimming around I eventually stumbled across it. Fairly dead, just the odd mullet and wrasse. Decided to plug a wrasse which I thought that even I could do. Picked out a beauty, 6 ¼ lb. Maybe my luck would change. Nope. Next shot was at a sitter of a bass. Missed a head shot from 2-3 ft. Still kept on trying and eventually a 4lb bass committed suicide on my speartip. Got the next one as well, a 3 pounder. The next one was a bit smaller and an easy shot but for some reason I decided not to shoot and to let it go. Somehow 2 bass and a wrasse seemed enough, especially for someone who was so useless (today anyway).
As I said – “Funny Day”.
Dave :hmm
Got up at 7am as per usual and on the spur of the moment decided to try a west coast spot that’s good on neaps.
Haven’t been there for years but heard of a catch of bass thereabouts and that brought back memories.
Passed Ed’s house at 7.30 am and felt a bit guilty, but he needs his beauty sleep more than me.
In at 8 am, low tide. Flat calm and 25ft vis. This spot comprises 2 large bootlace weed beds. Found first one and started a slow outside sweep in about 6-8 ft. Nothing for 10 minutes then suddenly a large bass about 8 lb was right in front of me. Talk about slow (me not the bass), didn’t even get off a shot. Well that was the story for the next hour. Saw loads of bass mainly 2-5 lbs and fired 2 shots. Missed both. Just couldn’t get it together. A half decent spearo would have had a field day. Eventually scared off all the fish and decided to move on to bed number 2. Couldn’t find it. After aimlessly swimming around I eventually stumbled across it. Fairly dead, just the odd mullet and wrasse. Decided to plug a wrasse which I thought that even I could do. Picked out a beauty, 6 ¼ lb. Maybe my luck would change. Nope. Next shot was at a sitter of a bass. Missed a head shot from 2-3 ft. Still kept on trying and eventually a 4lb bass committed suicide on my speartip. Got the next one as well, a 3 pounder. The next one was a bit smaller and an easy shot but for some reason I decided not to shoot and to let it go. Somehow 2 bass and a wrasse seemed enough, especially for someone who was so useless (today anyway).
As I said – “Funny Day”.
Dave :hmm
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In this morning on the east coast. Ed picked me up so that we could be in by the 9am low tide. We were going to look around the reef where Ed has been successful recently and where Pete caught his first bass.
Vis was disappointing at 10-15 ft with low light from a leaden sky. There was also a slight swell. After half an hour Ed had seen 1 mullet and I’d seen 3. Not good.
We headed off to cut around some offshore reefs. I knew a shortcut through the reefs. As I entered the narrow channel just ahead of Ed I met a bass going the other way. A quick snap shot secured a 2 pounder.
Out the other side we looked on the sand for a flat but nothing. Vis had improved to 20 foot plus. A strong tide flows between 2 reefs and Ed had spotted some pollack here last time. Sure enough they were still there. Unfortunately they were just too far in the tide but a couple of speedy dives saw 2 fall to my gun. A long half-mile drift down tide saw another 3 pollack strung by yours truly. Saw about a zillion wrasse and missed 3 large pollack, but soon it was back out of the tide into the bay and the long swim home.
Back on the foreshore Ed confirmed a lack of bass, mine being the only one he’d seen. Nearly 2 ½ hours and with much ground covered it wasn’t our most successful day but it’s not all about the catch. Ed had taken his camera as well as his gun and a net bag. Pic’s to follow Ed?
Until the next time, good huntin’ to all.
Dave
Vis was disappointing at 10-15 ft with low light from a leaden sky. There was also a slight swell. After half an hour Ed had seen 1 mullet and I’d seen 3. Not good.
We headed off to cut around some offshore reefs. I knew a shortcut through the reefs. As I entered the narrow channel just ahead of Ed I met a bass going the other way. A quick snap shot secured a 2 pounder.
Out the other side we looked on the sand for a flat but nothing. Vis had improved to 20 foot plus. A strong tide flows between 2 reefs and Ed had spotted some pollack here last time. Sure enough they were still there. Unfortunately they were just too far in the tide but a couple of speedy dives saw 2 fall to my gun. A long half-mile drift down tide saw another 3 pollack strung by yours truly. Saw about a zillion wrasse and missed 3 large pollack, but soon it was back out of the tide into the bay and the long swim home.
Back on the foreshore Ed confirmed a lack of bass, mine being the only one he’d seen. Nearly 2 ½ hours and with much ground covered it wasn’t our most successful day but it’s not all about the catch. Ed had taken his camera as well as his gun and a net bag. Pic’s to follow Ed?
Until the next time, good huntin’ to all.
Dave
Got to tell you about Monday night - one of the best sessions ive ever had 
On the west coast in bootlace weed, really clear (perhaps too clear)could see way past the range of a 90 gun. It was slack water low tide and about 8pm. Went in really slow, just floating around really and startled a few decent Bass within seconds of entering the water, within 20mins had 2 decent size fish strung up so just enjoyed the rest of the dive. Was doing some shallow dives to about 5m on the edge of the weed and watching a school of 100+ bass swimming up to my lure and then racing off to deeper water. They would come back maybe 30 seconds later and this went on for for or five dives. The fish seemed to really notice the sound of contractions on some of the longer dives. The smaller fish were coming to within 1m of me and there were defintely some much larger shadows lurking further back. I could not see through the school there were that many fish. A random shot into them would probably have speared two or even three fish!
Also some quite "aggressive" solitary Bass maybe upto about 5lbs were swimming strainght at the lure and just staring at it from about a foot away. Too easy and I had my dinner already. Ive seen this behavior before and it seems almost territorial. Anyone got any ideas?
Went in on the East coast without the gun just for a swim tonight and ended up seeing a few small Bass and loads of Mullet. I could see the mullet from the beach as I was puting my suit on.
Sadly I think that might be my last dive here thanks to work. Hope to be back again though, what a place.
On the west coast in bootlace weed, really clear (perhaps too clear)could see way past the range of a 90 gun. It was slack water low tide and about 8pm. Went in really slow, just floating around really and startled a few decent Bass within seconds of entering the water, within 20mins had 2 decent size fish strung up so just enjoyed the rest of the dive. Was doing some shallow dives to about 5m on the edge of the weed and watching a school of 100+ bass swimming up to my lure and then racing off to deeper water. They would come back maybe 30 seconds later and this went on for for or five dives. The fish seemed to really notice the sound of contractions on some of the longer dives. The smaller fish were coming to within 1m of me and there were defintely some much larger shadows lurking further back. I could not see through the school there were that many fish. A random shot into them would probably have speared two or even three fish!
Also some quite "aggressive" solitary Bass maybe upto about 5lbs were swimming strainght at the lure and just staring at it from about a foot away. Too easy and I had my dinner already. Ive seen this behavior before and it seems almost territorial. Anyone got any ideas?
Went in on the East coast without the gun just for a swim tonight and ended up seeing a few small Bass and loads of Mullet. I could see the mullet from the beach as I was puting my suit on.
Sadly I think that might be my last dive here thanks to work. Hope to be back again though, what a place.
Thursday 2 June, in again today. Down west in the bootlace at low tide to +2 hours up. Good vis , maybe 20 ft average, slight swell. Very overcast sky gave low light conditions (June - summer?). Saw quite a few bass up to 5lb plus a shed load of wrasse and a few mullet. Shot 1 bass about 4lbs. Not putting my whole heart into slaughtering bass at present so was happy enough with just the one fish.
Dave
Dave
Friday 10 June
Went in after a long day at work. Stayed in the shallows 'cos they were registering about 16C to 17C and that felt really nice - felt pretty chilled and was happy to float over the weed beds a few yards offshore.
Which is why I missed a nice bass that came from the blue. Just nosing around and I thought I had shot it pretty well but no, it shook and I realised that the line must have gone across it's back. Off it shot and all I saw for the rest of the hour was mullet.
Still - very nice to go in and I was hoping to get some practice in before Fabio got here - I've been off island for most of the week with one thing or another.
Very good to bump into Matt Holt on the plane - good to chat to you Matt - let me know if you are over again - I'd like to see how your spinner thing works.
Saturday 11 June
Fabio called me late last night. "Hey Ed, fancy an early start" - sure I said and was surprised this morning that the sun is indeed up at about 4:30 (am...), but we had a traffic free run down the west coast and were in the water at 5:30(am).
Pretty clear but not alot of light in the water - just finning over 3m or so out across a reef and looking around for anything. Found a nice gill net and another later on - carefully avoided it and I reckon that's the worst way for a fish to go (nudged a wrasse away from a slow death - not as heroic as rescuing turtles but it's a start).
Hit the point and decided to head further offshore to another reef. Quite a swim with a cross current on the way back but we figured that half an hour would be nice to check it out.
The bottom drops off and level out at about 6m at low water. Drops onto sand and the odd aspetto of a minute or so. Lots of pollack around but not much else.
Suddenly I get that shoaling feeling !
Lots of 'mini-me' bass all pointing my way as I lie on the sand and kelp. All a bit small so they stayed in the sea.
I was engrossed with this scene for a few dives (3mins topside and a minut eto t amin and a half down) so Fabio was quite a way away and waiting for me with speargun upright (a useful signal for 'where the feck are you ?' Normally answered with a waving upright from me so we both know where we are and the other person knows that you are on track).
Anyway as I was getting closer I saw Fabio surface with a large sole.
Looked nice and fat but was tricky to kill (flatfish in general are I have found - any tips ?).
We were about half way to the reef and getting closer with sandy kelp breaking up and giving way to barnacle encrusted rocks, bassweed and green covered boulders.
Started seeing alot of mullet and the occasional wrasse.
Fabio struck lucky again with a 6 or 7 pound bass - all that time in London and me with loads of time to practice and even then I don't do as well I was thinking !
ON the reef I nosed around in the shallows tight in to the rocks and the sun was cutting shafts through the water and dappling the rocks with enough light to give the true visibility. A short pause to wonder at this and a large purple silver shape appears on my right. A large bass is ignoring me. I don't move a muscle but wonder how I can swing slowly and anticipate where it will go while my heart tries to beat a hasty exit through the 5mm Elios.
It is really shallow and I know that bass are quite flighty in the shallows here so I bide my time and float in the water trying to decide whether to go for an aspetto approach in 3m of water or to take a surface shot...the bass dissapears behind some weed in front of me - about 3m away and 3m down. I glare at the weed and try to work out where it is going to appear.
Damn - it's gone.
Only to reappear under me. Directly under me and doing it's best to blend with the kelp. Now this has happened to me before and I missed with a vertical shot and it bugged me for about 5 weeks ! So the dilemma is raised again.
I slowly exhaled and dropped like stealth was my middle name - which for humans in an aquatic world is not really the case - anyway it stayed put and I could make out the tail and a patch of head about as large as a cork. Sometimes you just have to go for it so I guessed the top of the head and had a shot... alot of kicking and I had the bass in my hand. Looked a decent size too.
Fabio pronounced it a 'fine fish' so I knew it had reached the higher echelons of European consent. A minute after that I saw about five more bass of slightly smaller size flick through a gap in the rocks and pass me by. I had singled out the penultimate one but changed my mind and when I tracked the last one it went too ! Oh well one bass a day is good for me....
One long swim home and back by the car we realised that we had spent three and a half hours in the sea !
My bass weighed in at 8 pounds Fabio has some pics which I'm sure he will post at some point.
A good morning session and maybe an evening one too.
Ed
Went in after a long day at work. Stayed in the shallows 'cos they were registering about 16C to 17C and that felt really nice - felt pretty chilled and was happy to float over the weed beds a few yards offshore.
Which is why I missed a nice bass that came from the blue. Just nosing around and I thought I had shot it pretty well but no, it shook and I realised that the line must have gone across it's back. Off it shot and all I saw for the rest of the hour was mullet.
Still - very nice to go in and I was hoping to get some practice in before Fabio got here - I've been off island for most of the week with one thing or another.
Very good to bump into Matt Holt on the plane - good to chat to you Matt - let me know if you are over again - I'd like to see how your spinner thing works.
Saturday 11 June
Fabio called me late last night. "Hey Ed, fancy an early start" - sure I said and was surprised this morning that the sun is indeed up at about 4:30 (am...), but we had a traffic free run down the west coast and were in the water at 5:30(am).
Pretty clear but not alot of light in the water - just finning over 3m or so out across a reef and looking around for anything. Found a nice gill net and another later on - carefully avoided it and I reckon that's the worst way for a fish to go (nudged a wrasse away from a slow death - not as heroic as rescuing turtles but it's a start).
Hit the point and decided to head further offshore to another reef. Quite a swim with a cross current on the way back but we figured that half an hour would be nice to check it out.
The bottom drops off and level out at about 6m at low water. Drops onto sand and the odd aspetto of a minute or so. Lots of pollack around but not much else.
Suddenly I get that shoaling feeling !
Lots of 'mini-me' bass all pointing my way as I lie on the sand and kelp. All a bit small so they stayed in the sea.
I was engrossed with this scene for a few dives (3mins topside and a minut eto t amin and a half down) so Fabio was quite a way away and waiting for me with speargun upright (a useful signal for 'where the feck are you ?' Normally answered with a waving upright from me so we both know where we are and the other person knows that you are on track).
Anyway as I was getting closer I saw Fabio surface with a large sole.
Looked nice and fat but was tricky to kill (flatfish in general are I have found - any tips ?).
We were about half way to the reef and getting closer with sandy kelp breaking up and giving way to barnacle encrusted rocks, bassweed and green covered boulders.
Started seeing alot of mullet and the occasional wrasse.
Fabio struck lucky again with a 6 or 7 pound bass - all that time in London and me with loads of time to practice and even then I don't do as well I was thinking !
ON the reef I nosed around in the shallows tight in to the rocks and the sun was cutting shafts through the water and dappling the rocks with enough light to give the true visibility. A short pause to wonder at this and a large purple silver shape appears on my right. A large bass is ignoring me. I don't move a muscle but wonder how I can swing slowly and anticipate where it will go while my heart tries to beat a hasty exit through the 5mm Elios.
It is really shallow and I know that bass are quite flighty in the shallows here so I bide my time and float in the water trying to decide whether to go for an aspetto approach in 3m of water or to take a surface shot...the bass dissapears behind some weed in front of me - about 3m away and 3m down. I glare at the weed and try to work out where it is going to appear.
Damn - it's gone.
Only to reappear under me. Directly under me and doing it's best to blend with the kelp. Now this has happened to me before and I missed with a vertical shot and it bugged me for about 5 weeks ! So the dilemma is raised again.
I slowly exhaled and dropped like stealth was my middle name - which for humans in an aquatic world is not really the case - anyway it stayed put and I could make out the tail and a patch of head about as large as a cork. Sometimes you just have to go for it so I guessed the top of the head and had a shot... alot of kicking and I had the bass in my hand. Looked a decent size too.
Fabio pronounced it a 'fine fish' so I knew it had reached the higher echelons of European consent. A minute after that I saw about five more bass of slightly smaller size flick through a gap in the rocks and pass me by. I had singled out the penultimate one but changed my mind and when I tracked the last one it went too ! Oh well one bass a day is good for me....
One long swim home and back by the car we realised that we had spent three and a half hours in the sea !
My bass weighed in at 8 pounds
Fabio has some pics which I'm sure he will post at some point.A good morning session and maybe an evening one too.
Ed
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Been a busy work slave this week but at last the weekend :friday . So like Ed I haven't been able to dive :vangry .
Arranged to go tanking for scallops with my mate in his boat as mine is still not down yet :waterwork . Went to secret spot and did 2 tanks in 60ft. Only managed 3 doz large scollies on my first one but got a 4lb plaice with the knife and also picked up a large male crab, so okay-ish. Next tank was better as I caught the low tide slack and with vis at least 25ft I got just shy of 8 doz, all large. Mate did okay too. Ended up with just about 20 doz and with full roes probably made 25lb of meat. Also caught one mackarel on the rod - Sunday breakfast - yum .
Saw Ed and Fabio tonight after their second dive of the day. Suffice to say Fabio will be paying excess bagage on his flight back to the UK. Not quite as big as Kevs English Channel "fish" (UK season is it ........ thread) but probably more total weight of "fish" and that's not counting his sole, pollack etc. I enjoyed seeing Fabios mega catches as at least it made a change from looking at Eds fish. Not only that but he poached them from one of my spots. Must mention that to Ed :ko .
Hopefully snorkelling tomorrow so watch out Kev and Dave, I can cut and paste photo's too you know .
Old rambler Dave
PS Sorry, think I went a bit mad with the Smilies.
Arranged to go tanking for scallops with my mate in his boat as mine is still not down yet :waterwork . Went to secret spot and did 2 tanks in 60ft. Only managed 3 doz large scollies on my first one but got a 4lb plaice with the knife and also picked up a large male crab, so okay-ish. Next tank was better as I caught the low tide slack and with vis at least 25ft I got just shy of 8 doz, all large. Mate did okay too. Ended up with just about 20 doz and with full roes probably made 25lb of meat. Also caught one mackarel on the rod - Sunday breakfast - yum
. Saw Ed and Fabio tonight after their second dive of the day. Suffice to say Fabio will be paying excess bagage on his flight back to the UK. Not quite as big as Kevs English Channel "fish" (UK season is it ........ thread) but probably more total weight of "fish" and that's not counting his sole, pollack etc. I enjoyed seeing Fabios mega catches as at least it made a change from looking at Eds fish. Not only that but he poached them from one of my spots. Must mention that to Ed :ko .
Hopefully snorkelling tomorrow so watch out Kev and Dave, I can cut and paste photo's too you know
.Old rambler Dave
PS Sorry, think I went a bit mad with the Smilies.
In yesterday (Sunday 12/6/05) with Ed and a crowd of his friends. Four of us with guns and two (females) for company. As Old man “I know when I’m a gooseberry” Dave, I went one way and left the others to it. We were down west on a small neap tide an hour before low water. Vis was excellent at up to 30ft. Fired up by Fabio’s bass catching and keen as mustard after my week of work enforced non-diving I was hopeful. Two hour for one smallish bass and a mullet and mine were the only fish. I’m not gonna mention this day again except to say that I’m of the Ferengi persuasion when it comes to females.
So to today. Best dive this year. Not the most or biggest fish but an excellent day. Had a meeting at work and so was not ready for the water ‘til 6.30pm. Decided to go East coast near to home. One hour after low on a dead neap tide. Flat calm with 25 ft plus vis in the deep and about 15 ft in the shallows. Started shallow and ignored a few mullet until I was tempted by a 5lb jumbo. Dead centre from 4ft and then a brief struggle before knife work and stringing. Moved out into a strong tide heading for a reef just offshore. The reef usually shows but I was late and with the neap it was 2-4 ft under. Could see the rip and could just stem the tide by much finning if necessary. The reef drops into 20-25ft over kelp and has very long bootlace weed from top to bottom. I dropped into the weed from on top the reef and worked my way down to peer into open water from the base. A shoal of bass hung in the lee, some level, some even above me. There were fish from 1 to maybe 7 lb all mixed together plus a few mullet. I picked off a 4 1/2 pounder and took it behind the head from 3 ft. The shoal exploded in every direction. I swam against the surface tide and secured the fish. Moving down the reef I found the fish hadn’t gone too far. So it went, shoot, scatter, move, reform, dive, shoot again. In half an hour I pursued the shoal down the reef, managing to take two 5 pounders and losing a bigger one. After the first 2 I concentrated on bigger fish and so limited my catch. Two and three pounders were two a penny. Eventually reached the end of the reef and had to fight the current back to shore.
Great dive.
Dave
So to today. Best dive this year. Not the most or biggest fish but an excellent day. Had a meeting at work and so was not ready for the water ‘til 6.30pm. Decided to go East coast near to home. One hour after low on a dead neap tide. Flat calm with 25 ft plus vis in the deep and about 15 ft in the shallows. Started shallow and ignored a few mullet until I was tempted by a 5lb jumbo. Dead centre from 4ft and then a brief struggle before knife work and stringing. Moved out into a strong tide heading for a reef just offshore. The reef usually shows but I was late and with the neap it was 2-4 ft under. Could see the rip and could just stem the tide by much finning if necessary. The reef drops into 20-25ft over kelp and has very long bootlace weed from top to bottom. I dropped into the weed from on top the reef and worked my way down to peer into open water from the base. A shoal of bass hung in the lee, some level, some even above me. There were fish from 1 to maybe 7 lb all mixed together plus a few mullet. I picked off a 4 1/2 pounder and took it behind the head from 3 ft. The shoal exploded in every direction. I swam against the surface tide and secured the fish. Moving down the reef I found the fish hadn’t gone too far. So it went, shoot, scatter, move, reform, dive, shoot again. In half an hour I pursued the shoal down the reef, managing to take two 5 pounders and losing a bigger one. After the first 2 I concentrated on bigger fish and so limited my catch. Two and three pounders were two a penny. Eventually reached the end of the reef and had to fight the current back to shore.
Great dive.
Dave
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My intuition was right !
Damn.
I went in with Adrian - west coast but was thinking of east coast (all good in hind sight).
Saw about 5 bass - all a long way off and very flighty. One big one of about 5 pounds and the rest little ones to be left....
Nice dive but not as nice as the east sounds.
Might give it a rest until the weekend....maybe my bass karma will be replenished by then.
Ed
Damn.
I went in with Adrian - west coast but was thinking of east coast (all good in hind sight).
Saw about 5 bass - all a long way off and very flighty. One big one of about 5 pounds and the rest little ones to be left....
Nice dive but not as nice as the east sounds.
Might give it a rest until the weekend....maybe my bass karma will be replenished by then.
Ed
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Thursday 16 June
Went in on the west coast with Pete - saw about 3 large bass in the kelp and about 15 small bass - a pair of 2 pounders came home with me but Pete's beginners luck has dried up a bit.
Late dive on a neap tide falling but still saw alot of bass !
Nice spot too with plenty of kelp and bootlace.
Water was about 12C....
Went in on the west coast with Pete - saw about 3 large bass in the kelp and about 15 small bass - a pair of 2 pounders came home with me but Pete's beginners luck has dried up a bit.
Late dive on a neap tide falling but still saw alot of bass !
Nice spot too with plenty of kelp and bootlace.
Water was about 12C....
Ed, Dave,
I have finally found you!! I am really crap but, unless the "Guernsey summer fishing" appears straightaway, I am not able to find it on the website (that's really bad...).
Anyway, just want to say that everytime I come to Guernsey, I have the time of my life... It was so unique getting up so early on Saturday and going fishing with Ed...
Also, it was a very nice surprise to see you, Dave (want to thank you again for being so kind to me: I had a fantastic dinner with scallops and crab... ).
Next time, we should try to go fishing together!!
On sunday, I went where you recommended (just before Lihlou island). Very good spot. I found some bass and a nice lobster but every time I try to catch a lobster I end un shooting it (very carefully, not to damage it).
Dave, do you know any technique to catch it with your hands??
Anyway, it will be a while before I come over again (hopefully, by the end of august for a long weekend) and am afraid I am going to miss it (I am so crazy about Guernsey that I am seriously considering to move there, if I find a job).
So, go fishing on my behalf as well..
Take care
Ciao
Fabio
I have finally found you!! I am really crap but, unless the "Guernsey summer fishing" appears straightaway, I am not able to find it on the website (that's really bad...).
Anyway, just want to say that everytime I come to Guernsey, I have the time of my life... It was so unique getting up so early on Saturday and going fishing with Ed...
Also, it was a very nice surprise to see you, Dave (want to thank you again for being so kind to me: I had a fantastic dinner with scallops and crab... ).
Next time, we should try to go fishing together!!
On sunday, I went where you recommended (just before Lihlou island). Very good spot. I found some bass and a nice lobster but every time I try to catch a lobster I end un shooting it (very carefully, not to damage it).
Dave, do you know any technique to catch it with your hands??
Anyway, it will be a while before I come over again (hopefully, by the end of august for a long weekend) and am afraid I am going to miss it (I am so crazy about Guernsey that I am seriously considering to move there, if I find a job).
So, go fishing on my behalf as well..
Take care
Ciao
Fabio
Fabio
We aim to please.
Ed is doing his very best to live up to your example and is now knee deep in bass. Prehaps that's his secret, he eats so many bass he's beginning to think like one. Come to think of it can you get bass BSE?
I've never shot a lobster. I have caught many hundreds and all by hand. However success rate is less in terms of numbers seen to numbers caught is less by hand than by shooting. If you're gonna eat them then shooting's okay. I used to sell a lot and needed them undamaged, also it's a macho thing with me - I like to grab them. This could be a thread in itself so rather than ramble on and bore everyone, I'll give you the basic idea when we meet up next time.
See you soon
Dave
We aim to please.
Ed is doing his very best to live up to your example and is now knee deep in bass. Prehaps that's his secret, he eats so many bass he's beginning to think like one. Come to think of it can you get bass BSE?
I've never shot a lobster. I have caught many hundreds and all by hand. However success rate is less in terms of numbers seen to numbers caught is less by hand than by shooting. If you're gonna eat them then shooting's okay. I used to sell a lot and needed them undamaged, also it's a macho thing with me - I like to grab them. This could be a thread in itself so rather than ramble on and bore everyone, I'll give you the basic idea when we meet up next time.
See you soon
Dave
Another diary entry!
First day on the flatfish (with the tanks). Saturday 18 June 05, supposed to go scalloping in mates boat. However, due to a 4 hour delay (don't ask) we missed the tide. Ended up trying for flats in 50ft of water at high tide (3.0m neap) at one of Old Man Dave's secret spots. Didn't hold out much hope but low and behold one and a half tanks later I'd put 8 Dover soles, 4 plaice, 1 brill, 10 scallops and a large male spider crab in my fish box. Not exactly a record catch and I definitely would no longer like be trying to make a living out of that but a pretty good start to the season. My usual is 3 tanks in about an 8 hour day but due to the late start and no more no-stop time (hence 1/2 tank), I called it a day. A nice slow trip back to port in very warm evening sunshine while messing about gutting fish. My idea of heaven.
This is a mellow, if rather fishy smelling, Old Man Dave saying best wishes to all my readers.
First day on the flatfish (with the tanks). Saturday 18 June 05, supposed to go scalloping in mates boat. However, due to a 4 hour delay (don't ask) we missed the tide. Ended up trying for flats in 50ft of water at high tide (3.0m neap) at one of Old Man Dave's secret spots. Didn't hold out much hope but low and behold one and a half tanks later I'd put 8 Dover soles, 4 plaice, 1 brill, 10 scallops and a large male spider crab in my fish box. Not exactly a record catch and I definitely would no longer like be trying to make a living out of that but a pretty good start to the season. My usual is 3 tanks in about an 8 hour day but due to the late start and no more no-stop time (hence 1/2 tank), I called it a day. A nice slow trip back to port in very warm evening sunshine while messing about gutting fish. My idea of heaven.
This is a mellow, if rather fishy smelling, Old Man Dave saying best wishes to all my readers.
Saturday 18 June 2005
Went in from about 8:30 to 11am.
Very calm day and no swell but even then the visibility was a bit murky. Still I was seeing alot of bass so I wasn't too upset. I stealthed out 3 bass all around 2pounds to 2.5 pounds. Mostly they were sitting in the bootlace in about 2 foot to 8 foot of water - I didn't see any big ones today - just these little fellas - good eating tho'...
Water was about 14C to 15C and most of the bass were in the shallows where it was 15C - I was down and in the water an hour before low water til an hour and a half above.
As I was getting out Adrian was hauling in a nice 7 pound bass ! His biggest so far I think - looked lovely - I guess I took the wrong side of the bay again !
Pete and Tim apparently were down in the bay too but I didn't see them.
Anyway a fine morning and I spent the afternoon having my first paddle in a kayak - good fun.
Cheers
Ed
Went in from about 8:30 to 11am.
Very calm day and no swell but even then the visibility was a bit murky. Still I was seeing alot of bass so I wasn't too upset. I stealthed out 3 bass all around 2pounds to 2.5 pounds. Mostly they were sitting in the bootlace in about 2 foot to 8 foot of water - I didn't see any big ones today - just these little fellas - good eating tho'...
Water was about 14C to 15C and most of the bass were in the shallows where it was 15C - I was down and in the water an hour before low water til an hour and a half above.
As I was getting out Adrian was hauling in a nice 7 pound bass ! His biggest so far I think - looked lovely - I guess I took the wrong side of the bay again !
Pete and Tim apparently were down in the bay too but I didn't see them.
Anyway a fine morning and I spent the afternoon having my first paddle in a kayak - good fun.
Cheers
Ed
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