• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

Ireland spearing 2007

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.
Hey Sunfish, The Divers that Abusingelves met were Scubadivers, who always are meant to dive together, and never lose sight of each other! That lad was a Muppet, and could have been responsible for seriously injuring that girl, I just hope she realises that, and doesnt dive with him again. Lucky for her that you were there Abusing!
 
I agree with you entirely on that Dechan. I didn't mean to suggest that scuba divers didn't need to buddy up or stay together. Abusing, you may well have saved her from being put off diving altogether.
Spearfishers do vary in their opinions on diving alone or in company. Many always arrange to dive with a partner.
 
Went diving this morning in a small cove west of Clonakilty to escape the strong offshore breeze. I started in 30-35ft among rockstumps in a spot whereI have seen good pollack before. Two years ago, while diving here, I spotted a fishy shape on the bottom. It was much too big to actually be a fish so I carelessly swam down staight at it, only to have the "stone" start swimming away before I was properly in range. I then made things worse by taking a desparation shot, scaring it altogether. I spent the next half hour diving in the direction it went, but of course never saw it again.
Back to today. After an hour with no big pollack sighted I moved outwards to look for lobsters and crabs in the submerged boulder piles under the cliffs. I found only small crabs and an undersized lobster but the beauty of the multicoloured cliffs, lichen and seabirds, against a deep blue sky, quite made up for it.
 
Feargus, I was wondering, when you train for a dive of over 30 metres, do you make your training dives to that depth?
 
Hi Sunfish,
I did 32m in Dahab so I Knew i could get that deph but 31m for the comp to allow for nerves etc. I haven't been to that depth since the double dip. Ideally I would like to be regularly as I have to kind of start off again each time rather than progressing from that depth. The problem at present is the training set up. Before the comp I did manage 29m at St Johns on a calm day with two scuba divers present on the line. Since then the club has been too busy with trainees to cover me which is a pretty boring job in fairness. The buddies I have when I am in the sea at present do not dive to half that depth so while they can do the surface work if I had an issue at depth I could have a problem. Ideally I should be hitting that depth regularly, getting more comfortable at it and then progressing from it. But at present I am hitting maybe 10-14m and hanging there for a few seconds before making the ascent. Hope that kinda answers it.
 
was out yesterday saturday and the vis while much improved was still just ok bit great compard to last week. Was in for about 2 hours total and saw plenty of life. spooked a few big fish in a couple of overhangs that i peered into. I dont know which was more scared me or the fish. Spotted a couple of nice sized dogfish and at the opposite end a pipefish clinging on to a lobster pot rope. will post the pics later. Cavan al was also sue to head out spearing so wondering how you got on alan or was the surfing too much?
 
Back in the water finally today! The wind had gone east so I set out from the western side of the long headland. I wanted a pollack to eat and so I intended to head for the tip, but when I left Bealahoon Cove the sea seemed a bit "swelly" so I started hunting for crabs and lobsters. After an hour I was diving well but had found only small crabs, so I set off for the tip. Large "humpy" waves, with white tops, were coming round the end so I stayed inside the tip. There was a little surge and vis was low, maybe 8-10 ft, but it was fishable. After a few dives I got a fish weighing 5.3lb. By now the sun was low and darkness on the way so after diving to release my stuck anchor I headed back for the cove.

 
nice pollock. was going to head out in doolin yesterday myself on the low tide. dad was doing some fishing there, so that's how i picked my location.
i was about to suit up when my dad managed to embed a 4/0 hook (for wrasse) in the back of his hand.

so i cut the eye off the hook with a pliers and had a go at pushing it through. needless to say, it didn't work.

off to A/E in galway. landed there around 6pm.

long story short left there at 11.30.

i did ask the nurse to just give me the local anaesthetic, and that i could do it myself (i'm a student in uchg), but she was having none of it.

so the best day for a long time was wasted. (dad's fine)

but we had a great laugh over it. dad's been fishing comercial and recreational since he was really young, which made it so funny!rofl

will try and get out as sson as i can.
 
Nice pics dude! keep em coming! always love seeing what other parts of the world look like underwater!
 
Hi all.
Newby here. Surf allot up north coast and am curious about what lies beneath and how it tastes so just ordered cazador gun and torch.
Doing this alone tho so shallow water stuff for now until i learn these techniques etc.
Please tell me there is someone else up north coast doing some spear work???
Really want a lobster or bass!!!
 
right! fcalagy is the furthest north i know of, but i'd be surprised if there wasn't some people spearing up there. possibly people on scuba? i'm going to letterkenny for college work placment in february, and will be looking to get out when i'm up there.

and if the weather's not up to it, the surf might be!
 
Hi Mucko, welcome to DB. There's almost certainly someone up there spearing. It's just a question of finding them. In the meantime look for lobster in little caves and holes. You may see antennae sticking out or you may need the torch. If there are as many commercial potters up there as there are here lobsters will be a bit thin on the ground but brown crabs are a bit easier to find.
For bass, find out the areas where anglers catch them. Always check shallow rocky areas, even if anglers fish the beach. Anglers don't like rocks as they lose tackle there. Bass love snaggy areas.(So do the better anglers).
 
Thx Sunfish
well I been rod angling for them for a while so know all the usual spots but screw the rod. I wanna get in with them!
I been reading back on this thread. You sure seem to have had your fair share of fish and dives. Great reading.
Many of you eat spider crab? legs edible?
Gun and torch arrived today. Shame its getting dark so early now and the swell is picking up also. I'll choose my dive times carefully.
I won be using kayak so would you guys always tie gun or spear to float?
Process of getting a DIY oen sorted
Also many bad experiences caught in old fishing lines?
 
spider crabs are delicious. the larger males are your best bet. the females tend to have little meat for their effort. sweeter taste than the brown crab.
some interesting recipes in the recipes thread for spider crab with pasta i think. must look that up.

i've always tied my gun to my float in water which i'm not sure of the depth, or whether i could retrieve it if i dropped it (depth)

but i've ended up leaving it clipped all the time now. but then again i have 16 metres of floatline. a bit of overkill i now.
 
On Tuesday I set out to dive a rocky island on the south west corner of a mile square headland. The launching and landing site is through rocks to a narrow, steep, gulley slipway and in any kind of swell it's a nightmare. As soon as I arrived and saw the swell I knew it wasn't on but I returned yesterday evening to find much better and so set off.
A kayak angler caught a double figure pollack there at the weekend so I was hoping to meet its brother. I've caught a few reasonable fish there in the past but never anything outstanding. Yesterday followed this pattern. I saw nothing above 5lbs so after two hours I took a fish for tonights dinner then raced the darkness to the landing.
 
Quick question lads about spider crabs, im certain ive found the top half of spider crabs here in the med, but never seem to see any crabs, does anyone know why, are they scarce here, what depth do they live at and where
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…