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Ireland 2015

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
I got out last Saturday for a dive on that spot again, I went out 800m along a reef and covered a fair bit of ground all around it in a 3.5 hour period. The cover and conditions were ideal for Bass but no Bass or Mullet were to be seen, a few big wrasse and a dozen or so dogfish and that was it.
Very sad. I hope next year may be better but I suspect you'll mostly only be seeing schoolies.
I never thought about the mullet before as they're so common here but I guess they'll be killed by netters alongside the bass.
 
Very sad. I hope next year may be better but I suspect you'll mostly only be seeing schoolies.
I never thought about the mullet before as they're so common here but I guess they'll be killed by netters alongside the bass.
Two years ago I seen around 50 dead mullet washed up on a nearby beach and thought it might have been caused by a toxic spill or other environmental factor but I guess they were unwanted by-catch. The more I have said to people about the netting the more I hear about it being widespread around here, it's easy money for those wanting a quick killing...literally.
 
Did u make it out Craig?
Had my firstvdive hear and was thinking of ye guys. 45' on land. Top of water channel was 34' and at 10m was a noticeably cooler 25' (strange doing statics for the sole purpose of cooling)

Amazing sealife with unreal species, season doesn't start for 2 months but saw plenty of trevelly, bream and grouper.
Sniped this guy from a ledge at 9m in deeper water.
11892175_10207028521568800_498218063746193500_n.jpg


Seems that the viz is at last clearing up, was out for the first time this year in my regular haunts and viz ranged from 1mtr to 4mtr.
Quite alot of the red bloom on the surface but pretty clear once you dived past it, was quite patchy aswell.

Arrived at high tide and took a couple of decent flatfish, no Bass around for the first hour, then started to see a few in amongst the Mullet, ended taking one and pulling out of another...

Reckon I might even try a night dive tonight, may even try the Turbot spot Rob...
 
Looks very tasty :hungry:. Was out last night but conditions were terrible and vis was less than 1 metre. Could see some mullet that came right up to investigate and a few small shoals of Garfish in the warm murky shallows. I couldn't stick it more than 1.5 hours as it got very choppy and the spring tide was pushing me along too fast. Tragically, a small boat went down near where I was hunting, an elderly man died and nine others were rescued after 5 hours in the water.
 
That's a shame.

Can u link me to where u got your roller from. Was thinking bout a bigger gun over here but a mate suggested a roller. Same power and distance for smaller gun
 
Got it from Apnea.co.UK, he was the cheapest by a long stretch and had the guns in stock. Don't know how he'll fair now tho with the current exchange rate.
 
Nice fish Bob! I did not realise you had moved but I am guessing somewhere like Aus/NZ?
 
hi Boys , looks like group is very quite ??? everyone is emigrated ... :(
 
Hey Daniel...I'm still here, but the weather has been terrible for spearfishing this year in the south east. Very few days with good vis and the winds have been quite strong all summer, not to mention some of my favourite spots being cleaned out. I managed 2 fish two weeks ago in your favourite spot down here but was out a few times after that and couldn't see the end of the spear. How are things with you?
 
havent been on here in yonks lads...cant believe how quiet this forum is, have people gone under the radar or has the spearing been that bad... terrible to hear that Derek, was mackerel fishing a few weeks back and the guy in the tackle shop was telling us about guys spearing in the area and shooting loads of wrasse and a few congers. Said the locals were not one bit happy and would have burned out their car if they found them. Not good for us if we were mistaken for them. Havent been out much this yr anyway with the weather being so bad only managed 3 trips and one being a disaster with almost zero vis. Seen shoals of small pollock in one spot we go, lot more than other years for some reason, mackerel fishing hasnt been the best either, hit and miss, mostly ones or twos...
 
havent been on here in yonks lads...cant believe how quiet this forum is, have people gone under the radar or has the spearing been that bad... terrible to hear that Derek, was mackerel fishing a few weeks back and the guy in the tackle shop was telling us about guys spearing in the area and shooting loads of wrasse and a few congers. Said the locals were not one bit happy and would have burned out their car if they found them. Not good for us if we were mistaken for them. Havent been out much this yr anyway with the weather being so bad only managed 3 trips and one being a disaster with almost zero vis. Seen shoals of small pollock in one spot we go, lot more than other years for some reason, mackerel fishing hasnt been the best either, hit and miss, mostly ones or twos...
Well for me the weather and bad vis has stopped a lot of my outings, also in the few places where there were still some fish there is an invasive species of weed growing extremely thick. It's very hard to get through this stuff at low tide and the element of stealth is lost when you become entangled in it and have to struggle free, it's also nigh on impossible to swing the gun around when you do spot a fish off to the side. I also got a kayak this year but so far I've only been out three times, the first time we got surrounded by dense fog a few Km's out from shore and the second trip turned so choppy and wild we had to head back. The third trip was lovely conditions though and we managed pollack and mackeral between us but like yourself not in any numbers.
 
Quick question,
I was out diving a spot I've dived quite alot over the years and as the viz was pretty good and the tide was quite low I must have been 200mtrs from the shore. After spotting only one bass I thought I would try making my way across the bay only to come across a large Gillnet, are these legal to use? obviously trying to catch bass
 
I don't know the regs on actual gill nets, but it is illegal to use any net for bass which this was obviously intended for. The other regs relating to bass such as closed season, size and quantity also apply. I know there are regs relating to Irish sea fishing vessels and the landing of bass but I don't know if that extends to small boats and punts or even kayaks which all seem to be used in the retrieval of the ill-gotten gains. I came across a small bouy with a rope attached to a large rock earlier this year, there was no net present but shortly afterwards I realised that it was being used to attach and remove a net.
 
Nice fish Bob! I did not realise you had moved but I am guessing somewhere like Aus/NZ?
Yip, dubai actually.

Was out diving on an oil rig yesterday, straight into a big shoal of barracuda. Amazing the difference from home.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd...._=1453294793_f9a1f3e048bcf57031f4a8123192badc

Gill nets aren't illegal and some one can always say they were targeting mullet. But the can't land bass. Most likely a local whovwill pull it at night. You could report it. Ifi caught a local at 3am in cork harbour a few years back. He tried to dump bass as they came and got a fine but was shortly back at it. Well known in fishing circles.
 
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Looks like killing bass could be banned......

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
 
Hi Johnny, are you in Canada??? Have a nice Christmas, wherever you are mate.
 
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