Hello Guernsey

[jerseymike]

Hope you don't mind me poppin in. This is my first time on Deeperblue and I don't know what the heck I'm doing !

I am am spearo from Jersey. I have dived Guensey a few times and found it very good. Jersey also has some good fishing.

Are any of you guys up for a bit of inter island social diving?

Maybe even an annual Guernsey v Jersey get together?

 

[Old Man Dave]

Welcome Mike. Glad to see you made it onto DB. This is our current Guernsey thread. http://forums.deeperblue.com/guernsey/81477-guernsey-2009-a.html .Quite a lot to read plus of course there have been prevoius years threads as well. Also check out the link in my name - Hall of Fame (HOF).

It's good to have some crapaud imput .

Dave.

 

[foxfish]

Hi Mike, welcome to db.
you can find a few other Jersey guys around but please feel free to join in on our Guernsey thread as the Jersey thread is very quiet this year.

 

[Magpie]

Hello Mike, welcome to DB. Do you know anything about some Jacks that I heard were speared over there this year?

 

[Jonny250]

Hi jerseymike, welcome

 

[jerseymike]

Thanks for the welcome,


So far, my post doesn't seem to have have raised any interest in an inter island comp-do Guensey have any spearfishing comps?

 

[Old Man Dave]

Mike the brief history of competitive spearing in Guernsey is thus.

Guernseys only dive club is called the Blue Dolphins. It is a very old club (about 50 years) and was vety much a spearo club in the early days. It still exists but is a shadow of its former self and now is just a scuba club.

There was for many years (1960-1990's) spearo comps run by the Blue Dolphins. There were local comps, UK national events and even open interbnational comps. There were FOM's, annual awards and prizes. There were records, trophies, social events etc. Guernsey had a team that took part in some international comps. At one point we were banned from holding British records as we held so many. There always was an annual Jersy/Guernsey comp. It was a very big deal.

As time has gone on, spearo comps have fallen from favour (true in the Uk/world as well). For 20 years now there have been no local (Guernsey) spearo comps. There are still some ex-comp spearo's around. I was Dlue Dolphins, spearfishing officer, club secretary etc and local spearo champ as well.

Jersey have still got some comps I believe and an open invite has been given to Guernsey spearo's. I think there was some interest but no one has gone in the last few years. The Jrsey spearo club website seems to have gone last year and I don't know what has happened to the club. Some of the jersy spearo club members are DB members but they are not very active. In recent years they used to visit our Guernsey waters occasionally in a RIB (a yellow one?) I seem to recall.

Maybe you can tell us what's happening in Jersey?

Anyway keep posting and asking and I'm sure others will chip in.

Dave.

 

[Jonny250]

I find the history of the CI spearfishing is very interesting; are there any records of competitions, press clips etc anywhere - did they make the press?
seems strange to think that there were comps here, when it seems unusual to see someone going spearfishing now.
how did the comps get organised with regard to weather conditions, vis, etc? lots of cancellations?

 

[Old Man Dave]

It's a very long story Jonny. At times there was much media reporting. The FOM was in the Press monthly along with competition reports including many photo's. it would be a great project for someone (not me) to write a history of the Blue Dolphins club. There must be masses of archive info. There were many very fine trophies and I have no idea where they now are. I would love the silver "Terry Bidou" lobster cup that I once won 3 years running but who knows where that is? One annual dinner/prizegiving at the Wayside cheer had 200 members and wives sitting down to eat.

Competitions were run with alternative venues and were seldom cancelled. Some catches were spectacular despite high min weights. Min conger was 5kg (11lb)and wrasse 2kg (4.4lb) but even so I won the annual herm competition several times with catches of these fish so large I had to make 3 trips up the beach just to carry my catch to the weigh in. i remember only taking the 20lb+ congers as there was no time to catch and land the 10 to 20 lb-ers and shooting wrasse 2 and even 3 at a time with one shot from crowded holes in the reef. Other fish were also abundant at times. Individual 20+ catches of flats and large numbers of bass and mullet would be caught.

By the way sorry if this offends anyone but that's the way it was back then. We didn't know any better - nobody did. Also saddly many fish ended up as pot bait or often just dumped. That's one reason I no longer am in favour of comps. It is a somewhat complex issue though and as some would point out I had my fun. Still I don't force my views on others but as we are discussing it...!

Dave.

 

[foxfish]

I guess we were lucky to live in such times of abundant fish!
I have only ever entered one spearfishing comp & that was part of the Rocquaine regatta about 20 years ago.
However I did witness many blue dolphin weight ins & it was just as Dave describes = certainly plenty of fish around in the 70s & 80s.

 

[derek foxen]

I was a Blue Dolphins member too....was secretary for a while.
Was never tempted to enter competitions...had my work cut out competing against myself...speared a 2 oz roselet (smelt)once!
Here's a B D cert from all those years ago...historical document!

 

[Jonny250]

Well done Derek, some fish! now tell us the stories...

 

[jerseymike]

Dave,

There are two small clubs in Jersey. One being Club apnea which is purely
a social dive,the other is Jersey Spearcfishing Club which is both social and competitive.

You can find the latter on Jersey Spearfishing Club

I am a member of both but will pobably be doing more social diving in 2010. I am no spring chicken but still enjoy the hunt and benefit from the the excercise.

Jersey have two main annual comps which are open to all comers. A silver fish (bass,mullet and bream) and a British Open (all normal species). We try to hold both over one weekend ,usually in August. These are worth coming over for and it would be good to see a few Gurnsey spearos.

The former is orgamised by Niel Haworth of Apnea dive shop. Prizes are awarded for the biggest bass,mullet and bream.There are also prizes for the heaviest catch of mullet and bass (maximum of 5 fish weighed in).

The British Open is run by JSC and usually attracts competiton form UK,sometimes France and even Denmark! There are usually between 20-30 divers, but sometimes a lot more. The BSA often use this as one of their comps, so we get the british team showing us how it should be done!

The subject of the absence of Guernsey spearos (or any other CI divers) came up during a meeting of the JSC and following on from that,, on behalf of the JSC, I decided to make contact to try and kindle some interset in social ,or even competitive diving.

Most of JSC have dived Guernsey and know that you have some good fishing up there,but we also have some good diving to be had here and if you guys wanted a weekend visit, I am sure you would be made most welcome.

Compettition diving is not everybodies cup of tea, but I still think it would be good to try and resurrect some friendly inter island rivalry, perhaps an annual Guernsey v Jersey . It could become a good social event and no doubt a few beers would be sunk. Perhaps Jersey one year and Guernsey the next?

Hopefully,this will will be food for thought.

Most impressed with the huge sole- do you still get fish like that?

In the meantime I will dig out a couple of pics of some nice ones that didn't get away

I have already sent a picture of the British record white bream on Guernsey 2009.

cheers


Mike

 

[foxfish]

Hi Mike, I have tried to drum up some Jersey interest on db in the past, have a look here
http://forums.deeperblue.com/uk-ireland/76654-jersey-2008-a.html
We have a Guernsey "fish-in" every year primarily for db members but this has been more of a social event in recent years due to either bad weather or bad vis!!
I am not interested in participating in any competition myself but we would welcome any of you guys to next years fish-in & of course we have our fish of the month (FOM) db competition that you can enter.

 

[Jonny250]

Hi Mike, i like the idea behind your suggestions and personally i'm always keen to meet up with other spearos as its such a good way to learn new stuff - and its nice to share the interest too
i am interested to come over for the jersey comps - purely out of interest as i wouldnt have a clue! the Jersey club webiste is pretty out of date - last entry was May 09? so is there any more info on dates etc available?
can you tell us what the format is? not sure i care for big hauls of fish.. hard to see how it works?

What do other Guerns think of the idea of a few local 'meets' during the year?

Mart makes a fantastic effort for the Guernsey fish-in and its great to have uk DB visitors (although i missed most of it last year!). looking forward to the next one... any dates?

 

[foxfish]

I will set the fish-in date in the next week or two

 

[st ouen]

Jerseymike

Aren't you doing any comps this year then?

 

[jerseymike]

Hi Jonny 250.


JSC generally follow BSA rules. In a nut shell. points are awarded for each fish caught, based upon species, difficulty of catching it and it's weight. A max of 10 fish of each species can be weighed in. There are strict sze limits (set well above the legal requirement). The diver with the most points wins on the day and gets 100 points towards their annual total. All other divers are are awarded points based upon a percentage of the winning catch.

In Meerkat speak-SIMPLES?


JSC usually only have about 8-9 divers. The dive committee set six club comps venues and dates.


There are two other comps which are the CI Open and Siver fish.Both are held on the same weekend, usually in August. These are open to all divers, and usually attract comptetitors from the UK,France and sometimes elsewhere.

The CI Open is usually run on BSA rules and held in St Ouens bay

I particularly like the Siver Fish Comp because it encourages divers to be even more selective, and also caters for divers of all skill levels.A novice can win if they are lucky enough to stumble upon the the bigggest bass of the day. It is held in the shallower south coast waters at La Rocque.There are some lovely lagoons and jap weed beds as well as deeper water for those that prefer it. This comp is purely for bass,mullet and bream with only a max of 5 of each species weighed in by any diver. The main prize is for the biggest bass, but there are prizes for the heaviest catches and biggest individual bream and mullet.

Both these comps are very good social events and like you say, a very good place to pick up tips and learn new tricks.It would be great if Guensey divers joined in.

cheers

Mike

 

[jerseymike]

Hello St Ouen, who the heck are you? Could it be the missing PB?

 

[jerseymike]

Foxfish, what is the Fish in about?