Ireland spearing 2008

[danas]

i have found a gun to buy a Omer XXV 90cm without a reel and cost is 135 euros incl.shiping. but it has no reel. - what you think it is worted to buy , or better look other gun.
i have seacsub asso 75 with reel. i took out reel becouse it was only stoping spear. and i feel that is has not enough power. maybe i`m wrong. maybe i`m not enough expirience.

 

[johnnybuoy]

i have found a gun to buy a Omer XXV 90cm without a reel and cost is 135 euros incl.shiping. but it has no reel. - what you think it is worted to buy , or better look other gun.
i have seacsub asso 75 with reel. i took out reel becouse it was only stoping spear. and i feel that is has not enough power. maybe i`m wrong. maybe i`m not enough expirience.

hi danas,
the 90 cm sounds good. have one myself and no complaints with it. great gun. in my opinion the reel is good for targeting big fish in deep water which i dont do often so i dont bother with one. if a fish is big enough and needs to run to become manageable(tire him out) then a reel is probably needed but for shallow water targeting single figure fish such as bass and pollock i find i dont need one. hopefully if i ever get up north for tuna i may buy onerofl

 

[sunfish]

I tried a spot between Sandycove and the Old Head today. I saw a few bass and lots of mullet. Bass were around the three pound mark but I'm sure there will be some bigger ones. The vis was OK but the weather was a bit rough and I reckon the vis will be gone by tomorrow. I'm looking forward to trying it again if the weather improves sometime.
I took one of the mullet for a change. It weighed in at 4.9lbs.

Danas, if you read this I'm afraid the sea conditions don't look too great for the weekend.

 

[johnnybuoy]

looked at windguru today sunfish. saturday is looking flat calm!! viz will probably be soup though. sunday isnt so bad either. where do you get your weather reports from? windguru seems to be on the ball the majority of the time!

 

[sunfish]

looked at windguru today sunfish. saturday is looking flat calm!! viz will probably be soup though. sunday isnt so bad either. where do you get your weather reports from? windguru seems to be on the ball the majority of the time!

UK + Ireland Swell Charts
and here-
UK + Ireland Wind Charts
Wind may be calm but with the swell we've had, Saturdays water won't be calm enough for vis to clear up much inshore.
Saturdays prediction is for swells between 5 and 8 feet inshore even though the wind is only force 3. As they're from the West there should be some shelter East of the Kinsale headland but I doubt if you'll see much!

 

[sunfish]

I just looked at windguru and the swell height they predict doesn't drop below 2.6 metres, with wave period of 10 seconds, during daylight. Monday looks the best bet, with waves of 1.9 metres at 11 second intervals. Six foot swells still sounds a bit messy to me.
http://www.windguru.com/int/index.php?sc=64358

 

[Mr. X]

i have found a gun to buy a Omer XXV 90cm without a reel and cost is 135 euros incl.shiping. but it has no reel. - what you think it is worted to buy , or better look other gun.
i have seacsub asso 75 with reel. i took out reel becouse it was only stoping spear. and i feel that is has not enough power. maybe i`m wrong. maybe i`m not enough expirience.

Hi Danas, I reckon that's the ideal gun for SW England waters - can't speak for Ireland. I have the 75cm version which has been a revelation this season & I plan to get the 90cm soon. If you haven't already you might want to check out the fast-tracking guns thread - there is a lot of chat about the XXV. We reckon the Omer XXV is a bit shorter than some other brands, so I'm expecting the XXV90 to handle like a slim, light RA80 but with the range of 90cm gun -5cm. I was going to suggest considering the 100cm model (which would likely handle better than most 90s) if you have clean water, like Cornwall/Channel Islands, but OMD is loving his 90 in Guernsey, Pav is loving his 90 in Cornwall & Devon and Spaghetti is loving his 90 in Italy - so perhaps that's the way to go. The 90 is a safe bet.

If you're buying from the guy in Italy from ebay, it's a regular XXV rather than XXV Gold. Bad news is that means: no rail, no reel, no bulk rubber spare band. Good news is that you don't need any of those things and its a lot cheaper, lighter & more stream-line w/o them. (If you think about how much each of the items is worth, that's almost exactly what the Gold XXV with reel costs extra!). You're going to love it.

[If you really must have all the bells & whistles, the above thread suggests scubaland.fr. Apnea.co.uk also carried the Gold but does not currently list it.]


Sunfish, the recipe forum could do with some pollock recipes if you have any (nice haul ).

 

[sunfish]

Dived East of Kinsale peninsula. Vis, one and a half to two metres. Small bass, mullet and pollack around but nothing doing really.
How was Sheepshead Donnachad? Did you find anything there?

 

[donnachad]

Nothing doing, i saw a red stripped mullet (i think) and the usual wrasse and pollack. Dunmanus bay was fairly flat and i had a few dives to 15 metres

 

[johnnybuoy]

ya sunfish i noticed the swell was up and knew the vis would be crap so i didnt bother trying. looked at those sites. more informative than guru, thanks! gonna try and get some bass on rod and line tomorrow. dug black lug last night so hopefully they will like them with some sand eel.

 

[sunfish]

ya sunfish i noticed the swell was up and knew the vis would be crap so i didnt bother trying. looked at those sites. more informative than guru, thanks! gonna try and get some bass on rod and line tomorrow. dug black lug last night so hopefully they will like them with some sand eel.

Good luck with the rod and line fishing. Friday looks good for spearing. I just hope the vis clears a bit and that I can get someone to do the afternoon school run for me. I've got ideas of kayaking to one or two places......

 

[sunfish]

Headed East again today, hoping for flatfish. I started on a ridge, running out from a headland, at low tide, expecting to spot pollack or maybe bass. The current was soon roaring due to the big tide, but I saw no exceptional pollack and no bass at all. An hour into the tide, the swell, chop and wind, all increased, making things a bit uncomfortable, so I retreated inshore a bit to look for the flats. I found no flatties either but lots of mullet were around so I took a couple. They went 3lbs and 5.2lbs.

 

[sunfish]

Because of the big tides and full moon, I went to a holding area, near a spot where sandeel gather in these conditions.
Plenty of bass around still, and I took fish of 4.4lbs and 6.3lbs.

Lets hope they stay a while yet!

 

[Robbo66]

Good fish.....weather too rough in wales:head

 

[sunfish]

It's been a bit rough here and it's very rough now! On Sunday I was in a spot that's a bit sheltered from the West, but I could see whitecaps out in the open sea. On Saturday it started fairly calm then the sea gradually built all day. By the time I'd finished spearing and got into the kayak for the run to shore, there was a chop with "whitecaps" and a swell hidden under it. Every couple of minutes I was rocked by a set of bigger waves going under from behind. I stopped a short way from the beach to take down my flag and stow my sounder away as I expected to be rolled. I got in OK between sets but I wasn't half glad when I'd dragged the boat clear.

 

[foxfish]

Hey Sunfish, have you actually caught any plaice this year? what about other flatfish, rays etc?

 

[sunfish]

Hey Sunfish, have you actually caught any plaice this year? what about other flatfish, rays etc?

I haven't ever even seen any plaice. If Ibuy a torch and start night diving I'm hoping to find some. When I ran into the flounders they were so easy to find that it made me think I've been looking in the wrong places.
I found a good sized thornback a couple of weeks ago, just as I was going up for breath. I went back down, having decided to take it, but it was gone. I looked in the same place a couple of times since, but found no more. There's a muddier spot nearby which may be a better bet.
I've twice dived the spot where I got the flounders and I haven't found any more. Perhaps it was a flukeroflroflrofl.

 

[foxfish]

Dude this is a fluke Fluke Page

 

[Robbo66]

I haven't ever even seen any plaice. If Ibuy a torch and start night diving I'm hoping to find some. When I ran into the flounders they were so easy to find that it made me think I've been looking in the wrong places.
I found a good sized thornback a couple of weeks ago, just as I was going up for breath. I went back down, having decided to take it, but it was gone. I looked in the same place a couple of times since, but found no more. There's a muddier spot nearby which may be a better bet.
I've twice dived the spot where I got the flounders and I haven't found any more. Perhaps it was a flukeroflroflrofl.

Hi Sunfish,

just a quickie question, your fish finder...useful ?? if so what make and price approx please ??

 

[sunfish]

Hi Robbo, I find the fishfinder to be very useful for finding the kind of broken rocky bottom that fish love. To a certain extent I can also tell if fish are present. It has a "fish alarm" which differentiates 3 sizes of fish. I have it set to only "beep" on the biggest size. If I'm paddling over a reef and it picks up 2 or 3 "beepers" then it's probably worth dropping anchor to take a look.
I use it on around 45% gain, gain being the sensitivity adjustment. At this setting and in water of 30 to 50 feet depth, the "beepers" are usually fish of 3lb upwards. In shallower water, they could be smaller fish, sea urchins, bits of weed etc. Thats why I said "to a certain extent".
It's a Garmin 340c and cost me 559 euro two years ago. You'd have to catch a lot of fish to justify it money wise but you learn a hell of a lot about your local reefs with it, faster than you could by swimming them.
Possibly a less powerful one with a small GPS might be money better spent. I use land bearings to find reefs, then when I'm near I watch for them coming up on the sounder but a GPS would find them more easily.
If your in a kayak the sounder also helps by finding highspots on the reef to anchor on. If your anchor's stuck at the end of a tiring session, it's nice to only have to dive 30ft to free it rather than 60ft.