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Ireland spearing 2007

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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My first bass (and mullet), thanks for the advice guys. Got these two snorkeling on the surface very close to shore in about 4 feet of water. The bass is close on 2 kg and is cooking as i write .
 

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Hi seamus give us a shout if you are still in my neck of the woods sligo.

I was out on scuba today with the club and we had to do two trips as there were 12 of us. So i was coxain on the first trip diving on the second. After we got the divers in the water I saw something in the water turned out to be a sunfish ( mola mola ) only one I have ever seen then we saw another with the seagulls seeming to be attacking it but i was since told they were removing parasites. Where was my camera back on the jetty with the second group. It was a busy day with two other dive boats and two fishing boats in the same area so we couldn't really hang about but it was great to see these guys. They were small enough for sunfish about 2ft across. Vis was good as well today at about 8 metres.
 
Seamus, if you're coming to West Cork anytime PM me. Denis, if you're coming out this way I'm based in Clonakilty. If you don't have any luck with the bass, maybe we can meet up sometime.
Feargus, the sunfish seem to be around here most years, though I haven't seen one this year yet. Mostly they seem to be 2 to 4 ft across rather than the huge 8ft specimens of warmer waters. Earlier this year I saw lots of basking sharks, up to 25 ft in length. They'll come up real close sometimes.
The wildlife I see while kayaking and diving is one of the reasons I love doing it. I also saw porpoises and common dolphins, and one sight of a bottlenose this year but it was all in the early part of the diving season. Maybe this was because the weather turned bad through the middle part.
 
Hey donnachad, that is a good catch & one FAT mullet, well done.
 
Congrats on the bass and mullet Donnachad! When I posted yesterday I was in a hurry and somehow missed your post. Hope you enjoyed the bass. Mullet's nice too if it's from open sea. I would avoid taking it from anywhere polluted or where sewerage could be going into the water as they sometimes feed by filtering mud off the bottom. From open beaches and coastline it can be very good. Similar to bass if anything.
I haven't been diving over the weekend as my mother is visiting us, but I'm planning on a dive tomorrow.
 
First bass is always the best! Looks like he nearly got away! I have that Gun you used aswell, acurate and light. Must tell you that my safety has fall'n out twice! Ive glued it with a 2" length of fishing line to the gun part so you can still turn it! Where did you fish that time, you didnt say??
 
The safety keeps falling out of mine as well!
Nice first bass, well done.
 
Nice Fish Donnachad, What distance from the fish were you when you speared them? What kind of range has your gun? its a 75 cm one, right?
 
Went to look for giltheads yesterday. It was almost high tide when I reached the area of shallow rock next to a headland. I spotted a couple of 3-4lb bass but the main shoal had already left the shore. I found them in about 15ft of water, about 15-20 yds off the shore, on a rocky bottom. I started aspettos and got off two shots at bream' both of which were just out of range. (Clear water). After this the bream wouldn't come closer than 20ft although around 40 to 50 bass and mullet were circling madly, some almost brushing the speartip. The bass ranged in size from 1lb to 4lb and the mullet seemed slightly bigger. After a dozen dives my aspettos had reached over 1min50secs and I gave up on bream for the day and paddled out to the reef.
Here I found a shoal of pollack in the 5-7lb range. I made quite a few dives on this shoal, hoping always to see a double rise out of the gulley. It didn't happen but I still have hopes for this reef as the average size of the pollack is better than most spots.
Hope to be out again Friday.
Anyone have any tips on shooting bream? Longer, faster gun maybe? It seems easier when the shoal is among bigger structure, right inshore.
 
[
Anyone have any tips on shooting bream? Longer, faster gun maybe? It seems easier when the shoal is among bigger structure, right inshore.[/quote]

Good morning! In our waters to get gilthead you need to be well hidden, stay still in the aspetto (dont even move your head) and wear a camo wetsuit. On the other hand if it starts coming it gives a good target. If it is going around you just out of range, move using your free hand towards it and press the trigger when you are in range!
The speargun I used in Ireland was a 100 cm carbon with 19 o rubbers and 6,5 shaft. It kills bream within 4 metres!
Good luck!
 
hi guys thanks for the replies, i've been off line for a while. i've got an excalibur 2000 75 cm, i took the shot from about 2.5 metres. i've caught another about the same size in the same place, rocky bay near carrigaline in cork. he got off the spear but couldn't swim properly and i managed to keep him in sight and reload, got him with the second.

Denis
 
Hi donnachad, quick question for u, ive also got i 75 but its a tabu, what line do u use for your reel
 
hi paddy, its all new to me so i just use what came in the box, couple of metres of line and a rivet each end.
 
Dived yesterday, (Friday) at the end of a long headland. It's one of my favourite pollack spots and I missed shots at two good ones. One of these looked like a double figure fish so I was a bit dissappointed to say the least. In the end I took only a short fat 4.1 pounder which gave two beautiful fillets.
On the upside, the big fish are definately here now and the medfish record seems to be only 10lb so far. The IUSA world record isn't claimed yet. I've had two fish over 9lb since last November so I'll keep diving my pollack spots into the winter but I'm thinking of a night dive to look for flats on Sunday night.
 
Hr or so spearfishing

Wat do you think apart from the small mullet, went spearfishing yesterday morning, going tomorrow at 7am, looking for double figure grouper i spotted, but didnt get a shot of basicallly because i saw its big mouth full of sharp pointy teeth staring at me, i know there teritoral fish, Quick question.. I know ill shoot it throw the head with my 110 with double barb single tip spear, but are they as aggressive as ppl say they are, i.e will it counter attack and turn on me
 

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Dived Sunday night as planned, making 19 dives from 23-05 to 12-21. All dives were 20 to 22 ft with bottom times over a minute. I found a plaice, a red mullet, and a small brill but all were undersized. I enjoyed the dive but still prefer diving among rocks. I'll still keep trying the sand though because I'm sure if I get one good flatty it'll fire my interest.
 
hey! got back from sicily on sunday. bit dissapointed , as i didn't find one shop selling freediving fins. oh well.

got out yesterday evening. dived from a beach (siilverstrand) just west of galway. got in just before high tide. say a small plaice just after entering the water, and that was it for the rest of the dive which was one and a half hours.

no pollock, no wrasse, no sandeel, nothing.

so needless to say, won't be going back there again, well not at high tide anyway.

should be out again tonight with two friends, and possibly sarturday.

might even do another attempt at a bass trip further south on sunday
 
Hi abusing I know silver strand and wouldn't have thought it to good for spearing/diving but I could be wrong. try the peir at Barna or if you have the time head to Bothar Bui in Carraroe but the tide pulls pretty strong if I remember correctly there so ask around with some locals to get a better idea. Killlary is definatly a good spot but may be a bit of a trek.
 
Re: Hr or so spearfishing

Hi Paddy, what do you guys call the silver fish with the spot on the tail and also the one in the bottom left corner of your pic. We call them zebra fish and blacktail over here, not sure if its the same species but they look very similar. About the grouper just shoot it, a spear from a 110 should scare it off you, if not just grab the spear line and start pulling to get it against the barb of the spear, that should pretty much give you the upper hand over the teeth.
Happy hunting to you all from a rainy Cape Town
 
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