Yet another interesting thread!
spaghetti said:
Good post, Old Man: going deep is not necessary to spear good fish, and may be even dangerous....I can have fun as well in a few meters of water.
...
PS: I've had a "vision" of you, Foxfish, Mr X and me sitting by the fireplace, while outside it's raining, with you telling us about your records. Who knows? I've never been in England, maybe some day...;-)
That does sound good Spaghetti -- a long weekend in Guernsey perhaps? I have been toying with the idea lately. (You are welcome to visit here too -- although I am not so close to the sea. Did I mention we have 6X?).
Old Man Dave said:
... Most of that time I've never needed to dive deeper than 10 metres and probably couldn't have. Most of my fishing was done in less than 20 foot (6M) and quite a lot in less than 1 metre. Despite this I have been a local champion, caught thousands of fish and held endless records...
I love OMD's honesty & directness! I rarely dive deep, although lately I found myself a couple of times taking longer to ascend than in the past (I now have my weight belt weighted just as I want it). Thinking about it now (estimating by multiples of my height + fins), it seemed like maybe 20 feet (6m) on descent and it sometimes seemed like maybe 30-36 feet (10-13m-ish) on ascent! Can't say which is most accurate. I dislike gadgets but AlmostAFish suggested getting a dive computer (Sunnto D3?) -- maybe I am now at the point where than might be worthwhile? That was looking for flatties. I haven't seen any fish deep though. Almost all of the fish (and crab) I have seen are in shallow water upto maybe 10 - 15 feet (0.3-5m) though.
I admire those who go deep -- but feel no need to myself.
foxfish said:
...The main quarry that requires the most strenuous diving routine are flatfish. Unfortunately flatfish are no longer common in our seas.
...
Spaghetti I also have similar visions but I see us four sitting alongside my outdoor open fire in the evening sun awaiting the smoker to return our catch of the day.
Sounds good to me. May be I should bring the family & car (spare room for 2!) for a week.
Perhaps I should forget about flat fish for while though. I notice that I am staying down longer now (never pushing it though). Depth means danger to me ... and I can see now how easy it might be to inadvertantly go deeper & longer than you expect or want to.
panosb said:
...I prefer going fishing at dusk. around 18:00-21:00 in the summer are great hrs for spearing almost all species here in greece. I ve spent almost all my diving years( 20 yrs) betweem 1-10m of depth due to medical problems, although as i mentioned in previous posts now i can safely dive at 25m(with 15 secs bottom time). The key for spearfishing for me is to be silent and have great bottom times....
Sounds like a good philosophy. I was surprised how few fish I saw at dawn last week -- for some reason I thought dawn & dusk would be good (I did see a small bass though:hmm).
spaghetti said:
...We have a saying here: "Spearos are not killed by boats. Spearos are killed by goupers"....
Interesting. Looking round boulders last week, I was careful not to get into caves or under shelves ... I can see how you could get stuck somewhere, caught up in the efforts & excitement to get the fish.
dave said:
In the UK, agachon has always been the term, it is only through Deeper Blue that I became aware of aspetto as another name.
I've been using Italian terminology rather than French (& will probably stick with it), picked up mainly from DeeperBlue. I have always had trouble with French (perhaps because I learnt German at school ...& come from a former Roman occupied Saxon area, Wessex
).
spaghetti said:
These are the italian terms for the 5 techniques:
Aspetto= Waiting (ambush the fish from a static position)
Agguato = Ambush (with dynamic action seizing the fish around)
Tana = Cave/hole (seizing fish investigating in the rocks)
Caduta= Falling down (localize fish from above, dive straight down and shoot while descending)
Razzolo= Stratching about (a mix of all the previous techniques performed in shallow waters)
Maybe I can use those, especially Razzolo!
Spaniard said:
I think in French, Agguato is something like peche a L'Indien (stalking like Native Americans ??)
I've seen Guernsey spearos, esp. Old Man Dave, write about using Indian technique. I assumed it means stalking (as in deer stalking). That is probably the technique I have used most so far - although I am working on some shallow, short aspettos
. (I think somebody, perhaps Spearo Dave, mentioned in an earlier thread that the French
agachon roughly means
ambush -- perhaps either/both Daves could help clarify that?).
Oldsarge said:
Jay Riffe said to me at a Neptunes' meeting "There are plenty of fish in the top 20' of the ocean. There's no need to go deeper." I like that philosophy, but then, I'm one of the more senior old farts on this board . . . and Jay is older than me!
Sounds good to me!
portinfer said:
... If you are only spending a minute on the surface I think that may be too short... My dive times for 11m (aspetto) are about 1:30 (total dive time) and I spend at least 3 minutes on the surface....
Having read some of Portinfers earlier posts, I generally force myself to take longer rests than I am naturally inclined to take (I often want to dive again after one or two breaths).
Fondueset said:
... Because I frequently dive alone I pretty much surface shortly after I start to feel uncomfortable. The biggest help with my dives lately has been just relaxing on the surface - completely letting go - even forgetting about breathing. My interest has been more in extending the comfort range than applying will to the urge. ....
Last winter I may have approached 20 meters - it was so freakishly clear I kept underestimating the depth.
Consciously relaxing between dives seems helpful -- something I am working on currently. Yes, estimating depth can be surprisingly tricky.
[Sorry for the long post, I was just tipped off about his great thread]