Ireland spearing 2007

[paddyc23]

Im actually not gonna shoot any small bass, if i think there small, like u say id rather they grow big and have a chance in life after seeing wat the spanish throw outta there boats each day, yesterday for instence the whole beach was covered in bait fish just a little bit smaller than mackeral, i think they should of had a chance at life, it makes me pretty sick wat ive seen here, and i dont want any part in that mentallity....I really like hunting for pulpo "octopus".. its my favorite type of spearfishing, rooting around in the sand and under ledges, i only ever shot two, one was 567gr and the other 1.3kg, but apart from that i grab them by the head then turn it inside out etc etc.. im addicted to the taste it can be beautiful if cooked right....Theres a storm here at the mo, will probably be here for the next 3 days but once its calm enough to see some good viz then i tink ill go pulpo hunting... maybe the odd grouper too....Id show you the pics of the pulpo but there on a motorola vr3 phone and i aint got the software to transform em to computer, useless piece of ****, but DB isnt going anywhere in a hurry ill have em on some day..

 

[paddyc23]

Does anyone know and English or Irish company or shop etc, on the internet that sells spearguns, i.e OMER T20 OCEAN MIMETIC PLUS REEL AND T2O CARBON MED MIMETIC SPEARGUN WITH REEL, its just id prefer to have it sent from somewhere instead of the U.S.A, and to see things from the euro point of view

 

[Pastor]

apnea in Jersey sell them Apnea Online Store but Dave at spearo has great guns too Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

 

[fcallagy]

Thats a shame, Diver harversted Scallops are better for both the environment and the consumer. Ireland seems to have some really daft fishing laws.

To be fair its perfectly legal to collect shellfish freediving just not with a tank but some locals think if you have fins you have a tank also maybe hidden under your suit some how. I think some people were robbing lobster pots as well so that obviously brought peoples livlihoods into question but most divers help lobsterpot fishermen relocating pots etc.

 

[sunfish]

The fact that we're underwater seems to make some fishermen suspicious. They can't see what we're doing and if we're doing it near lobster pots..... I try not to dive near lobster pots but in practise, lobster pots are in almost all the good diving spots round here so its not possible. In general I get on well with the local fishermen. I'd never take thieves to my divespots. I don't see what enjoyment anyone could get from stealing lobsters. To me it's about being able to find or catch your dinner yourself.
You were unlucky to run into the fisherman in Teelin Fergus. Mostly they don't complain even if they'd rather you weren't there. If you're conscience is clear you can say hello and be polite and if anyone doesn't like it they can shove it up their ass!

 

[foxfish]

The bass where you are grow faster than here in Ireland and actually get a lot bigger but the big ones are much harder to approach (thats why they got big). If you look in the Medfish hall of fame you will see bass bigger than any ever seen in Ireland or the UK.

Interesting observation, here in Guernsey, every year we have an influx of breeding bass. They arrive around Xmas & stay a month or two, of course the commercial fisherman hammer the unfortunate fish. Anyhow 20lb bass are regularly taken although less so in the last two years, 22 - 23lb seems about as big as they get but you will hear of bigger ones. The whole situation is very sad with over 100 tons taken every year. All these fish congregate around a single reef 1.5 miles from shore.

 

[sunfish]

That would be the Beau Blondel reef I believe. I read a thread about it on this forum a couple of months ago somewhere in the archives. I think the Irish and UK rod caught records are both under 20lb. I didn't know the fish taken from there were in that size range. That should definately be made a no take zone. Can nothing be done about this? Could support of UK anglers help? Some of these fish must be from the south coast of England and Cornwall, Maybe Ireland even. Most of the fish on this coast go somewhere in winter.

 

[foxfish]

There is an ongoing campaign but this year is set to be the worst yet! Our 12mile fishing limit has been lifted by the European court which means it will be a free for all with huge English trawlers taking the fish before they even reach the breeding mark.
Sometimes I really feel like crying with despair.

 

[sunfish]

Unfortunately the same thing is happening with the bluefin tuna run off the west coast of Ireland. Irish boats have no quota but Japanese and Spanish boats hit them as hard as possible. Japanese boats are not supposed to come inside 200 miles of the coast while fishing, but the Spanish boats have a quota and since the Irish government bargained away everyones ocean to the EEC the Spanish boats can fish as close in as 12 miles. The bluefins are becoming less common every year now as greedy people make them extinct for the sake of money. I may never see a wild bluefin now.

 

[PUDD]

Hi cavan Al, your a mechine dude out in 4 and a half foot surf! then less then 50cm-100cm vis that is dedaction dude i had fun hope my under water camera worked should be some good pics on there when you got that bass i was thinhing we should have gone where you said a couple of villages back as we did not see one fish for over an hour but paid of in the end shame i missed that bass just after you had got that one though. i wll be back soon to fish with you keep us posted with catches and locations

 

[donnachad]

Does anyone know and English or Irish company or shop etc, on the internet that sells spearguns, i.e OMER T20 OCEAN MIMETIC PLUS REEL AND T2O CARBON MED MIMETIC SPEARGUN WITH REEL, its just id prefer to have it sent from somewhere instead of the U.S.A, and to see things from the euro point of view

Paddy, try scubastore.com. If they have what your looking for, they are very good to deal with, next day delivery to europe.

Regards Denis

 

[fcallagy]

Was out last night at Mullaghmore witht the brother but the vis was seriously crap. Under 1m and you knew you were on the bottom when you hit it. Hope it improves but the forecast aint looking to hot.

 

[sunfish]

Went out to the end of the headland today. Vis was OK and I got a pollack of 4.7 but once again saw a big one which I couldn't get a shot at.
It was calm when I went out but by the time I came back the sea was building and a couple of times I had to dig in the paddle and lean on it to avoid turning side on and capsizing. While diving I hadn't really noticed the sea worsening and being in the shelter of the headland tip I only found out how rough it was when I started back. There's a gale forcast for tonight so the vis will probably go and diving may not be so good next week.

 

[paddyc23]

Went out this morning 8.30am, viz was bad but good for stalking, its been 2 days now since we had a bad flash flood, silt and mud have settled but still needs a day or two to really settle, I saw 3 bass medium size but left them alone, saw plenty of shoals of big and medium size mullet, I shot one mullet 2.2lbs, one sargo and i think a small grouper, i got one octopus 1.3kg, about 2ish lbs, so all in all a good day, I would of stayed out for longer but there were too many fisher men out spinning, ledgering, hand lines etc, so i stayed in for about an hour. I shot the small grouper to ask you on DB if it is a grouper as i see plenty of them bigger than this one while im out, which if it is a grouper i will focus a bit more on them for next time, heres some pics

 

[paddyc23]

Grubs: I found this tongue eating louce inside the sargos mouth after i brought him back, as you can probably see its massive, so after i pulled it out using long nose pillers, and had a good look around it, it turned out to be a female, so i opened its belly via a toothpick, and found all these babies alive inside, Pretty nasty if they were realised into open water, imagine the damage all of those lice could do, So after a few pic´s i wrapped it up in a few pieces of toilet paper and set light to it and the quay, thankfully all thats left is charcoal remains

 

[donnachad]

I need to replace the line and rivets that came with my gun. Can these be bought in a tackle shop, or do I need to buy online??

 

[sunfish]

I've never managed to find them in a tackle shop. I got mine from one of the big UK online stores that advertise in the sea angling magazines.
If you're out this way any time I can do it for you for now. Alternately, I'm in Cork city tomorrow 'til about one o'clock if you can meet me somewhere.Ring me this evening if you can, and I'll bring the line, crimps and pliers.

 

[Pastor]

Leadertec - big game fishing tackle: crimping sleeves, fishing hooks, ball bearing swivels, leader are good

 

[abusingelves]

got out sunday evening about a few miles west of ballyvaughan in clare. tide had just turned. the area had a small pier with a slip, which didn't seem to be used by any boats (in other words very handy).

brought a friend, who we'll call Lenny, who was using my small 55cm.

so we weren't long in when i noted the relative lack of decent sized fish. there were however an abundance of small pollock, nd tiny wrasse.

i also noted a lot of velvet swiming crabs. i know there is a large fishery for these in this country, but i had never eatten them, so i decided to take some.

they're small, but christ they have balls. they're fairly fast as well and swim away if they realise they can't fight you. but they all seem to try the 'lets fight the large human first' approach. this rooting around in the kelp and looking around under little ledges turned out to be a vastly enjoyable dive. baagging 15 velvet crab, which were consumed with friends about 2 hours later. i also located a brown crab which couldn't be moved from his hiding place, and i got a glimpse of a lobster. while peering into a hole ( small hole) i could see a single black leg. when spear tip was introduced into the hole, the creature made off further in, and i don't ahve a torch, so that was the last i saw of him.


two scoobies showed up aswell. they started their dive from our entry point on the slipway, and headed west, more or less in the same pattern we had. they turned and started heading back to the slipway not long after passing us. i was diving away chasing crabs, when i noticed that one of the divers was on the surface a bit away from me,( but only one fin was up in the air) my first thought was ' strange place to be duck diving, as it was shallow 4m tops), but then i realised that what the problem was. the poor girl had on a drysuit which was too big for her, and she had inverted, all the air rushing into the legs of the suit.

i finned over as fast as i could, gave her the ok sign, sign not returned. she was just after managing to right herself, and control her bouyancy (inflate). she had a broken fin strap, which i think happened in her efforts to right herself. i calmed her down, introduced myself, and got her finning calmly on her back towards the slipway,talking to her the whole way.

where was her buddy you ask?

the idiot had finned ahead for god know's what reason about 50 m , and was way out of sight behind the pier, leaving his buddy in a potentially disastrous situation.

she got to the slipway anyway, and was ok. her buddy was already ashore and didn't have much to say for himself.

seriously i don't think i've ever seen someone put another person in such a dangerous situation. i was not impressed by him. i have to say i'm not angry man, but i was really pissed off at that guy, and communicated it by practically ignoring him.

if i was her i would never ever dive in his company again.

turned out she had wanted to end the dive, as the drysuit was not hers, was too big and she was having difficulty using it. so he knew this, but blasted on ahead of her regardless.

ok rant over.

was great to get that off my chest.

anyways, was great to know that i could in fact handle a rescue situation which was not simulated. i was going for the girl's bcd inflator when she got there herself.

and on the up side Lenny spotted some mullet which hee reported as being very big and fat looking. sadly my 55 let us down again and he couldn't get a shot off.

 

[sunfish]

That sounds like a buddy not worth having.
Personally I almost always dive alone. While I know many people will disagree with anyone doing this, I find stealth impossible with two people together, and if they split up its not really buddying. It works for deeper diving (30ft or more) when divers can take turns, one uo one down, providing the water is clear enough to see to diving depth. In this situation, especially if divers are going deeper than they normally do, it's obviously desirable even. If the diver on the surface suspects a problem he can be straight down to release weightbelt or do whatever's necessary.