hunting in black sea

[trux]

Born in Bulgaria, but came to the USA when I was like 3 years old. So I really have no memory of life there. But I do speak the language. However, I cannot read or write in Bulgarian.rofl Since I did not go to school there. Learned the language from my parents though.

That's a pity, the Bulgarian coast is really beautiful. You should definitely take a trip to your homeland and check it out.

And as for reading Bulgarian - if you speak the language, it shouldn't be that difficult to learn it. In cyrilic, there is only about a dozen of characters that are different than in Latin alphabet, so you should be able to learn it during an evening Well, for efficient reading of longer texts you will need to drill it little bit more, but you should try it, you'll see it is not that hard.

 

[vali]

if u can go and dive in black sea
if you are a hunter and you like turbot...you must go....
in april-may is the season...

 

[getawayFK]

That's a pity, the Bulgarian coast is really beautiful. You should definitely take a trip to your homeland and check it out.

And as for reading Bulgarian - if you speak the language, it shouldn't be that difficult to learn it. In cyrilic, there is only about a dozen of characters that are different than in Latin alphabet, so you should be able to learn it during an evening Well, for efficient reading of longer texts you will need to drill it little bit more, but you should try it, you'll see it is not that hard.

I dont want to steer off topic, but just quickly; how different is bulgarian from macedonian? and is it true that bulgars consider macedonian as similar to their own language whereas macedonians reject such association. The thing is that last summer in a trip to Macedonia, I had no problems in understanding most of Macedonian language (from my spoken Serbo-Croatian language) although they have some funny sounding words...

 

[Polystigma]

My grandfather (from my mothers side) is Macedonian. However, I really do not know anything about that.
BTW trux, I am going to do it! I am going to at least learn how to read and write basic Bulgarian. I would no doubt like to go back there someday. Visit some cool places and definitely do some spearing.

 

[Dobs]

Hehehe
Finally a good thread about my home waters.
First of all I must tell you that diving in the Black Sea is good, but diving in Mediterranean is much much better. I hate to admit it, but it is true.
The visibility as already said is far worse than in Med Sea, let alone the oceans. If we have 10 m of visibility is unusually good day. On the other hand, the fact that the water is less salty makes the fish taste better than Mediterranean fish. At least in my opinion
Apart from turbot, which here in Bulgaria is almost banned for spearfishing (we can legally spear only one fish with diameter of at least 45 cm, which is around 2 kilo), we also have lots of mullets, some sea bass (even huge ones up to ten kilos), some corvinas (brown meager), bonitos, blue fish and lots of other species. Spearfishing can be very challenging and often we come out of the water empty-handed, but sometimes the sea is very good to us.
Turbot fishing could be interesting in a way, but for me is not thrilling at all… It is like picking mushrooms only that the mushrooms are camouflaged The only thing that makes it difficult is the water temperature. Right now it is 8 degrees and starts to warm up gradually.
I can’t wait for the water to warm up to 12-14 degrees. It is the time when mullets (and other species) start returning to the Black Sea and the real hunting begins.
As for Bulgarian language it is very similar to Serbian and a little to Russian.
The Macedonian issue is another story. Most of the Bulgarian linguistics experts believe that Macedonian language is just a dialect of Bulgarian. After all, the dialects in large part of Bulgaria (almost entire south-western Bulgaria) are absolutely identical to the official Macedonian language. Of course, according to the Macedonian experts this is bogus. Like every newly established nation they are very sensitive about their identity, language, history, customs etc. But this is getting very much political and I have lots of very good Macedonian friends, so I’ll leave it there. In my opinion anyone can decide for themselves what language they speak and what is the name of the country they live in.

I am very curious about spearfishing at the Romanian coast though. The Bulgarian coastline differs very much from north to south (I live in the southern parts). The southern parts are deeper with mostly rocky bottoms, while the northern coast is sandier with not that many deep spots. I guess the Romanian coast will be similar to the northern Bulgarian coast.
I will be following this thread closely and if you guys have any more questions about our sea I’ll be happy to answer

 

[Dobs]

Here are some pics with my catches from the Black Sea

 

[vali]

hallo there
a very good capture indeed
in romania spearing turbot is out of the question [legally speaking]
in fact in romania those who make law have no clue about what underwater hunting is....i really hope that one day the laws concerning underwater hunting in romania will be made by those who know what language we talk here...
in romania the waters are not so clear as in bulgarian sea [because of the danube proximity...]...so the turbot hunting is somehow more difficult....my best was 12 kg of turbot in 2:30 hours of diving....but as my bulgarian friend told you....sometime i go out of the waters with empty hands....
the fun is what does matter!!!

 

[wet]

I was surprised to read this:

"It is the time when mullets (and other species) start returning to the Black Sea and the real hunting begins."

Where do the fish stay if not in the Black Sea? in the rivers or in the Medit. or where? I thought all the fish were just always in the Black all the time.
Can clams, molluscs be eaten from the Black?

DDeden

 

[vali]

in the winter, the mullet migrates form the romanian shores to the turkish shores.....[all black sea, but the southern zone]
when spring comes, they return...

 

[Polystigma]

How do you prepare the mullets?

 

[vali]

you can make it bouillabesse....[fish soup with lot of vegetables]
you can boil him in olive oil or you can coock him in the owen...

 

[Dobs]

I was surprised to read this:

"It is the time when mullets (and other species) start returning to the Black Sea and the real hunting begins."

Where do the fish stay if not in the Black Sea? in the rivers or in the Medit. or where? I thought all the fish were just always in the Black all the time.
Can clams, molluscs be eaten from the Black?

DDeden

Hi there
As far as I know most of the mullets migrate to the southern-most parts of Black Sea and some even to the Marmara Sea through the Bosphorus Strait. Some remain in the rivers and lakes that are connected to the sea. There are such lakes near the biggest Bulgarian coastal cities, Burgas (where I live) and Varna. Some mullets also stay in the Burgas harbour. However there is a huge migration of mullets twice a year when the water gets to around 15 degrees. At that time of the year (usually May and November) all you need to do is choose a nice rock protruding from the water and stay there waiting for the fish to swim by you.
As for the other question, almost everything from the sea is eatable. The black mussels are delicious. We also have some crabs and a sort of shellfish we call rapan (Rapana venosa), which is originally from the Japanese seas but was brought to the Black Sea only in the 20th century by the ships. It is a real pest and kills almost all black mussels. It is a delicacy in Japan, but in Bulgaria only now is becoming popular to eat. I hope more people will start eating them and reduce the population
An actual industry to pick those rapans has developed in the last 15 years, but it has brought more damage to the sea than anything. At first people started scuba diving for them, but then they discovered the trawling for rapans was much more lucrative. Even now there are many boats that trawl for those shellfish with bottom trawls although it is banned by the law.

 

[Dobs]

Guys, please do not hijack the thread! I am also very much interested in cosmology and your discussion is indeed interesting, but it needs a new thread probably in the 'Beach Bar'.
Thanks!

 

[Polystigma]

Ok I deleted my post as well. Do not want to derail this thread any.

Dobs, have you heard of Giant Bluefin Tuna entering the Black Sea?
I did some research and reportedly they do enter...sometimes. Have you heard of any catches? What kind of pelagics are in the Black Sea?

 

[roban]

Guys, please do not hijack the thread! I am also very much interested in cosmology and your discussion is indeed interesting, but it needs a new thread probably in the 'Beach Bar'.
Thanks!

Sorry, you are correct. Carry on. I will delete my post, and I will not continue this discussion anywhere on deeper blue.

 

[Dobs]

Thanks guys

Hi Polystigmata,
I also heard that a few decades ago giant bluefins were caught in Bulgarian waters. I have even seen a picture of one from the early 20th century (probably around 1910-1912). But now it is more like an urban legend
I even heard of a swordfish sighting near Burgas, but it could have been just a dolphin.
As for pelagic species, I guess the only true pelagic specie we have is the bonito. Some consider the blue fish (Pomatomus saltatrix) pelagic, but I am not sure. Anyway with global warming we could soon have all Mediterranean and ocean species swimming at our doorsteps...
Cheers!

 

[wet]

Thanks guys for this information, good to know. I thought that there wasn't much shellfish there, because of the salty deeper waters but I guess that's not a problem in the shallower benthic substrate.

Has anyone speared or dived in both the Black and Caspian seas? Any comparison about fish or water there? I only heard that the Caspian is polluted from oil drilling, but I'm sure some areas are still good for fishing.

DDeden

 

[Polystigma]

Thanks guys

Hi Polystigmata,
I also heard that a few decades ago giant bluefins were caught in Bulgarian waters. I have even seen a picture of one from the early 20th century (probably around 1910-1912). But now it is more like an urban legend
I even heard of a swordfish sighting near Burgas, but it could have been just a dolphin.
As for pelagic species, I guess the only true pelagic specie we have is the bonito. Some consider the blue fish (Pomatomus saltatrix) pelagic, but I am not sure. Anyway with global warming we could soon have all Mediterranean and ocean species swimming at our doorsteps...
Cheers!

I remember my father telling me some years back. That the reason there are no big fish (and dwindling fish populations) in the Black Sea was because the Turkish net most of them before they can enter. How accurate is this information? I am sure things have changed since he was young.
In addition, let me ask you this. Are there any large sharks caught in the Black Sea? Because if there are, it could indicate they are there feeding on some type or large fish.

BTW, Dobs.... start chopping and burning that fire wood! I too want to be catching exotic species right where I live.

 

[Dobs]

I remember my father telling me some years back. That the reason there are no big fish (and dwindling fish populations) in the Black Sea was because the Turkish net most of them before they can enter. How accurate is this information? I am sure things have changed since he was young.

Hi Poly,
Given the fact that the only connection between Black Sea and the rest of the world ocean is the Bosphorus Strait, which is relatively shallow and with huge ship traffic and pollution, I doubt that big pelagic species could enter from there. Probably in the past when the traffic wasn't that big and there were lots of bait fish in Black Sea, big pelagics like tunas or even swordfish could have enterred the southern parts. However I doubt that they can spend lots of time in the Black Sea due to the low salinity. For them it will be like swimming in fresh water.
I would also love to learn more about that...

 

[Vankata]

I am Bulgarian and we call them Kalkan too. The only time I caught one was when I was around 8 and I had just gotten a new fishing rod and reel. I did not eat any of it because I hated fish, but now I really want to catch one.