Guernsey summer fishing

[portinfer]

Adrian ... I am afraid it will be here in 'Italian' time .... 6 weeks is not uncommon Just in time for winter.

Well had a couple of nice dives too, the one on Sunday stands out and will be memorable for some time to come I feel.

Met up with Dave, Marco and Lora and Matt Holt and headed to the spot that Matt had seen. Nice place out from the Mirus Battery at Pleinmont (Harpin rock is the end of the line of rocks going out to sea.)

A nice stroll down the edge of the cliffs to some flat rocks and we found an easy spot to get into the water and put fins on. None of us had been there before so it was all a bit new.

The depth was about 8m onto sandy patches and kelp and this dropped off to 9m and then beyond that in excess of 15m (I didn't take my dive watch). Saw alot of mullet once the ligthening had stopped forking overhead and some light came back to the day Extreme....

Anyway there was a slight current pushing east through the line of rocks and I went for a few dives in it with Marco. Down below there was sand and plenty of mullet... hundreds and I got circled on the way back up and on the surface. Saw a pair of bass at about 12m+ but ran out of air and the current had increased.

Alot....

Quite a struggle to get out and back to the rocks and I think another 10 minutes and it would have been a very long walk home.

Anyway a light stroll back up the vertical cliffs and one or two breathers on the way and then home while Marco and Matt tried another place.

Great spot (if you have a boat !)

(Oh Marco saw a massive shark fin too but it turned out to be Dave The fast Italian soon gave way to a more relaxed English when he realised this ...)

 

[Namron]

Adrian ... I am afraid it will be here in 'Italian' time .... 6 weeks is not uncommon Just in time for winter.

Ed - It can takes 6 weeks from when they say it was dispatched? How is going to get here - is that bloke in the speedos going to swim it over to Guernsey! Anyway water is nice and warm at the moment, managed a two hour swim no probs on Sunday so can't really complain for now!

Going in later on in week but then again what about the cricket.........

Adrian

 

[beardy241]

Maybe you guys saw "Deep Blue" on BBC1 tonight. Maybe I wasn't alone in thinking that is was a waste of airtime.

It seemed to me like someone was given the keys to BBC film library and some CDs of dramatic music and told to get on with it.

Real Shame.

 

[Namron]

Beardy - I totally agree, I watched about twenty mins of it and whilst some of the footage I saw was impressive (albeit cribbed from many other previous programmes) the stupid sound effects and music that they overdubbed on it put me off completely. I turned the thing off after that.

I watched a bit of that programme on sharks over on ITV aswell, it was mostly the normal over dramatic ITV clap trap but the interview with the Australian spearo that got munched by a shark made me glad that there aren't too many things out there in CI waters that can munch us!

 

[portinfer]

water temp : 17 C
max depth : 11.6m
max dive time : 1.13mins
no of dives : 16
----------------------------

Nice dive with Marco and partly with Fishboy (aka Charlie).... quite nice to get glimpses of land between the rolling fog and sea mist but somewhat scary too...

I landed a nice 3 or 4 pound bass on a shortish aspetto on the edge of the kelp/reef and sand border - my favourite place for aspetto - seems to work out nice when you can find these conditions - I saw a nice shoal of bass with all the little ones at the front and then a couple of larger ones at the back and coming straight at me - I picked off the nearest one and came up to find a potter in a super dinghy treating us like we weren't there... I guess having a float doesn't mean much to some people = might have been his sea after all...

Anyway a more friendly potter gave me the biggest crab I've seen for a while - so thanks to Chris and to Dave for encouraging me to donate bass skeletons to the potters - cheers
Ed

 

[gbo200]

Hi Guys,

Just got off the phone with my old friend Mandy Cruickshank, who lives in Vancouver with another old friend Kirk Krack. You may have heard these names before. Kirk is probably the most highly regarded freediving instructor in the world, and Mandy, his girlfriend and protege has had many freediving world records.

I miss these guys like crazy and would love to get them over here. Next year the freediving world championships are in Sharm and Krik and Mandy will likely be flying through London.

Do you guys have any interest in having Kirk and Mandy put on a freediving clinic here? I understand you may not see the relevance to spearing but believe me when I say Kirk's clinics can seriously improve your diving and better diving surely = more fish?

Please let me know if you are interested. If we get a number of guys I am sure we can work something out.

L8er,
g.

 

[beardy241]

Top idea G!
[m]

 

[portinfer]

Sounds interesting but I am a bit ignorant about these things ...What is a freediving clinic ? How many days does it last ? What do you do ? How many people normally go on one ? Oh and what is the normal cost ?

Cheers
Ed

 

[glowworm]

Would be very intrested in coming over if the Guernsey lads don't mind some Dorset spearo's on the hallowed turf rofl rofl More details would be good as the more notice the more chance of getting there.

 

[portinfer]

Fabio and Marco have left the bass in peace now and have returned to their respective homes...

 

[MattHolt]

Seems like I might get a full afternoon off tomorrow (Sunday) and wondered if anyone is heading out? Would be great to meet up with you guys again.

Got a cheeky one in today and had a bit of a scare. Was on the west quite a way off shore doing aspetos when I saw a something large swimming through the weed. Turned out to be a seal and a friedly one at that. Seemed quite curious about and hung around for a while cautiously coming within about 1m of me. Not the best of spearfishing buddies though, seemed to scare the fish away.

 

[portinfer]

Sorry Matt I have some work to do on the house and family meals too .... would normally say yes .... Have a good one - Ed

 

[Old Man Dave]

Hi! I'm back.
Been off line for 2 weeks as I had a disaster trying to connect my computer to broadband via a LAN. Back on dial up. Oh well more expensive phone charges.
After I got back from hols in sunny CA I suffered 3 days of jet lag. Boy that's some sh*t. However I still had a week of hols left at home so 7 days straight, spent diving. 5 full days boat diving and 2 days snorkelling with the Italian visitors.
Boat diving was great. Dived for a few fish as well as drowning a few worms inbetween tanks and also set a few mono trots (monofiliment long lines). Caught some flats diving (turbot, brill, soles and plaice), plus some pollack, gurnards, bream etc, on the bait. Oh and a few doz scallops as well. Even went to the gravel bank in porbeagle alley. Took 3 large brill and a small turbot on half a tank before getting my SMB line tangled in a pot marker bouy. Had to surface (from 70ft) with my fish but no sign of Mr Shark, unless it was him pulling on my line not the pot bobber. Oh sh*t, don't go there!
Every days diving is a good day but this was an excellent week by any standard. No mega catches but a box of fish a day and good company with that good to be alive feeling.
So the Italian brothers. First off lets get this straight. These boys are great spearo's and damn nice people to boot.
I took them out for flats. Ed had taken them for bass - fancy that! First off they speared an electric ray. I'd warned one of them but not the other. Luckily we got it off the spear unshocked. So I find a 4.5 lb plaice and let them practice on it. That was a mistake as once shown what to do, Fabio catches a 5.5lb plaice 10 minutes later. He follows up with 2 more smaller ones. Marco catches a large gurnard. So then I show them a spot just off the flatty spot which is good for pollack and bass. I spear 3 decent pollack up to 4lb. Fabio shoots 2 bass and marco curses some near misses. They were pleased and so was I.
So the second trip was to a spot I had told them about and they had gone to the day before when I was in the boat. This was where they had made a big catch of bass plus the bream, lobster and crab. They steamed off and Ed, armed with his camera, and me with my gun, mildly follow in their wake. We cruised around while excited Italian voices echo back from way out. Eventually I meet up with Fabio who has taken a nice bass. Just to prove a point I make a deep dive (for me) and take a nice pollack. We seperate and I try some deep flattying. I take a medium blonde ray. Score another one for the old guy. I was last back and another good day came to a close.

All this was 10 days + ago. Since then it's been back to work and guess what? Yep, diving after work. Did 4 days spearing split 2 days east and 2 days west. West was rubbish with almost nothing seen. By contrast east coast had lots of fish life. Total bass catch was 4 fish up to a modest 4lb. Had a few other specimens though, like a 5lb 12oz mullet and a 7lb 2oz wrasse. Good fun.
Almost up to date now. Last sunday went in the boat and had an excellent day. Dived some shallowish inshore spots (50ft) and found some nice flats. As well as catching said brill, sole and plaice also saw lots of other sea life and just had a great all round drift dive. Nice to have a greater number of plaice as this bodes well for the next month. Snorkelling for plaice etc. in Sept/Oct is definitely order of the day.
This weekend sees one of the biggest predicted tide for nearly 100 years. That's got to be worth something special.
Phew, that's it. Not sure if anyone reads this but for what it's worth - Happy Huntin'.
Dave

 

[portinfer]

water temp : 16 C
max depth : 8.2m
max dive time : 1.45mins
no of dives : 54
----------------------------

Well another fine day in Guernsey but this time with a definite autumnal twinge to the air. Autumn is here. Leaves are turning and the sea is still warm.

Had a short dive with Dave that turned out to be the usual couple of hours. We went in on the north coast and went with the aimn of getting a flatfish or two and maybe something else.

All pretty shallow to start with so I was happy looking at little shoaling mullet and the occasional mullet. Nice clear sandy beds with a bit of neptune grass and some clumps of tago giving out onto gravel and deeper water on the edge of a current.

The first proper dive I took landed me ontop of this plaice - weighed in later at 6 and a half pounds.

I must admit that it was uncovered and I am definitely a novice at prodding for plaice. Dave had better luck and prodded about three plaice in the end.

We carried on working away with short 30 / 40 sec dives and 30 / 45 second recovery following a grid like pattern on the edge of the tide. Well that was the plan but I went free style just wandering all over the place and ending up at a reef heading parrallel to the shore.

A few aspettos along the edge of the sand/kelp and alot of large pollack began to shoal me.
As I worked away dropping down more and more pollack came along for the ride. Then the mullet in between and finally after about 1:10 down the bass came in.

I shot the larger one first (five pounds) - not a great shot but the wave of little ones spooked and fled so I was about to come up when a head points towards me and this larger one cruises in, turns and gets put on the stringer. The littler one was on another aspetto in about 8m of water - really nice spot on the edge of the current and not an area I had explored before.... think I might go back

Anyway on the swim back I saw several chancre crabs buried in little holes and also a beautiful cuttlefish. I spotted it at the end of a dive and so made sure I had a very good breathe up for a bit of observation. I got very close and watched it for a while, it started to pulsate and ripple with colours before a vertical take off and a shooting away like a spaceship - man they are very very cool !

Just another dive over here... Ed

 

[Almostafish]

Do you guys have any interest in having Kirk and Mandy put on a freediving clinic here? I understand you may not see the relevance to spearing but believe me when I say Kirk's clinics can seriously improve your diving and better diving surely = more fish?

Great idea and I am sure that it would be good but we have some great home grown talent in the UK, not as nice to behold as Mandy-rae but...

AIDA freediving courses run in Dorset, Bristol, London, Scotland, Wales etc

If you would like any more info about UK freedive courses or training please get in touch with me on the BFA ( British freediving ) website.

www.britishfreediving.org

Bryn Spencer
AIDA instructor
BFA Clubs officer
Tea boy Portland spearo academy.

 

[Old Man Dave]

So I says to Ed “We’ll go to my plaice spot and if you’re good we’ll look for some bass and pollack at my outside spot”. I did not say “Have one dive and land on an uncovered 6 and a half pounder”.
Well done anyway, Ed. If I were you I’d give up now. Your first 3 ever plaice for a 13.5lb total must be some kind of record.
Must admit I wasn’t on form today. Just couldn’t get a good rhythm going, poor bottom time and squeaky ears. However, feeble excuses aside, I managed 3 smallish (compared to Ed’s monster) plaice, plus a couple of pollack and a crab. Let 4 smallish blonde rays live another day as well. All bar one flatfish was literally buried up to their eyeballs. Spotted one buried ray and one plaice was uncovered but all the other flatfish were discovered by prodding suspicious lumps. I think if we had stayed on the inside mark we’d have had a few more but promised Ed his bass, so we tried outside as well.
Despite my “not on form” feelings, every day diving is a good day and this one was no exception. Interesting to read Ed’s thoughts on cuttlefish as despite thousands of dives I find that I am still fascinated by the little things. If it wasn’t for the little pollack using their amazing colour to disappear against the kelp or the sight of a shoal of sandeels shining silver as they wheel in unison, then for me diving wouldn’t be what it is. The hunt and capture of beautiful wild fish is a primeval urge that runs strong in my veins but if it was only that I don’t know if it would be enough. Sometimes for me it’s just the sunlight through the bootlace weed as I slip into the shallows or a snakelocks anemone waving in the swell that’s enough to make the dive worthwhile and that’s in the first minute with anything else a bonus.
Enjoy.
Poetic Old Man Dave.

 

[Almostafish]

Well said.

 

[Namron]

Hey chaps, glad you have had a good couple of dives. I had an interesting weekend on the water. Saturday was spent sorting the crab/lobster pots that Jamie and I have had in my garden for all of the summer - should have got them sorted months ago! So baited them with some old bass bits that I had in my freezer and dropped them in the briny and then took off in the RHIB for a slap up supper in Herm.

Cut to today - went diving on low low tide and checked the pots......first drop of the pots ever and one nice lobster! A couple of med size chancres that we put back but boy was that lobster nice, ate it tonight ummmm! So I checked the others when spearing and baited them up with a half mullet each - looking forward to checking them tomorrow!

Happy hunting,
Adrian

 

[Old Man Dave]

Monday (yesterday) after work went to look at one of my east coast spots with a view of seeing if it would be worth going there today (Tuesday). Saw a shore angler fishing the spot I fish for bass. This is not an uncommon occurance as not many good spots are that secret. As I watched he packed in and walked back up the beach. I could see he had fish so I waited to see what kind. I offered to weigh them for him as they were rather special. Two gilthead bream, both about 4lb. Beautiful fish. I was jealous. Told Ed who was even more fired up than me.
Went to said spot today. Major disappointment - crap vis. Went flatfishing as the vis was better in the deep. Found a big flounder which is rare in Guernsey. Must have been over 3lb, perhaps 4lb. I've caught a few and unlike the small manky ones in the UK these fish are large, clean and deliciously tasty. However, lucky for this one while I thought about its fate it f*cked off. I didn't chase it. I've got loads of flatfish fillets in the freezer and well as I said, flounders are rare.
Moved to a small reef than can give the odd bass. Vis was still a pain. As I rested on the surface in 15 foot of water with only 6 foot vis two bass passed underneath me. Missed a vertical snap shot at the biggest one, about 5lbs.
Moved offshore to a reef breaking surface on the edge of the tide run in 30ft of water. Much better vis, maybe 20 foot but misty. Worked the uptide and took a big mullet from surface ambush. No bass. Moved down the outside tidal edge. Was schooled by big mullet as I practised aspetto about half depth down the reef edge. Held out for any bass but no luck so took another big mullet. Moved to the down tide reef edge. Massive shoal of small to medium pollack. Hung in amongst them at 15ft down. Half a dozen dives saw no bass so picked off 2 pollack and headed back.
On the way tried a few dives onto sand in 30ft resulted in one large scallop.
As I walked up the beach an army of wet suited warriors carrying a small arsenal of spearguns was going the other way. Ed had called in reinforcements for the great gilthead bream hunt. Ed, Charlie, Pete and Miles.
I haven't heard how they did so either it was a bust or they're all too drunk celebrating to phone me.
Whatever, there's always tomorrow.
Dave

 

[portinfer]

Yes - the great Gilthead hunt was on ... there we were at the edge of the sea, hands on hips, contemplating our navels and scratching beards.... First in was me and Charlie closely followed by Pete and Miles the brother and brother deadly combo... The murk was bad and rather soupish but within minutes Charlie was into something large - yes another nice bass - maybe 5 to 6 pounds.

I was dopping off the reef edge where all the massive giltheads were (in my mind)... but despite 8m to 9m aspettos for 1:30 odd there was nothing but bass/ mullet / pollack and I'm sure I saw the deep impression of a flounder but like I say, just the impression

Well no giltheads for any of us but I think I will be hammering that coast when my house plans are done... (so Spring then )

A fun dive and nice to try somewhere different.
Ed