Ireland spearing 2008

[phishfood]

Hi dan, ive gotta say i love my roballen gun. just if your lookin at different
makes. cant make a real comparison cos i only had a pole spear before but
you wil find plenty of people who really rate them.

handed in my thesis yesterday so was really itchin to get in the water.
headed out at a local mullet hotspot. vis was good once you dove down
a metre or two but did find it a bit patchy. it was bucketin down rain
which might have played a factor. left it 3hrs into the push, think this may
have been a mistake. not a mullet to be seen! did see a seatrout though.
first time ive seen one while spearing. had to control the itchy trigger finger
went home empty handed but great to be back in the water.

Feargus, did u get out last weekend? id say sunday was amazing?
Friends of mine were up at mullagmore and said the water looked crystal
il b in touch soon, now that i have a bit more free time b good to meet up

colin

 

[johnnybuoy]

any truth behind this? a person can fish up to 5 lobster pots without a licence and have a bag limit of 2. anybody shed some light on this subject?? What is the legality of someone fishing pots (4-5) with no licence?

 

[fcallagy]

Colin was out last saturday but the vis was poor and went back out Monday eve but didn,t get in as was a bit windy and wasn't too bothered. Should be out over the weekend either tomorrow sat and Mon eve at 7.30ish for training weather permitting if bad weather we may hit the pool and your welcome to either. Surf comp on sat in Strandhill so may take a look over there to see who turns up.

baldyfish i think you have to have either buy or apply for tonnage to fish lobster. I know a guy who fishes a few pots but only to keep his hand in. not too sure on the legality but it would be a different ball game if someone was selling them on. if it was primarily for private use just lobster on the table I cant see why it would be illegal. i dont think there is any catch limit on lobsters but could be wrong. there used to be the V notch system in operation where a fisherman could claim for a notch i think but its phased out now afaik. Huan is usually well up on the fisheries legality as i think its somewhat related to his area so to speak but haven,t seen him i a while, family must be keeping him busy.

 

[Huan]

any truth behind this? a person can fish up to 5 lobster pots without a licence and have a bag limit of 2. anybody shed some light on this subject?? What is the legality of someone fishing pots (4-5) with no licence?

Baldy

As the law stands there is nothing stopping you from setting and retrieving as many pots as you want for RECREATIONAL purposes.
Needless to say any attempt to try and sell lobsters will be ill advised, there is a heavy enforcement presence going on ATM.
You would be well advised to have the legal minimum size well studied as well.
Also V-notched female fish should not be taken.
So fish away, but just be aware that the local pot boats may not take kindly to some one coming in and fishing their area.
It is not unknown to go out and find that your gear has gone missing......
just my 0.02c

 

[themosb]

Hello guys
hello feargus
hello nikita

i am coming to N.Ireland on the 6th of August for spearfishing
staying at county Antrim Carnlough 'till the 26th and planning to go down south to Kerry for 5 days around the 10th anyone who's interesting to come spearfishing with me and get to know the Mediterranean way of fishing send a message

have a nice summer themos
feargus come east to carnlough if its possible i would like to see you

 

[johnnybuoy]

Baldy

As the law stands there is nothing stopping you from setting and retrieving as many pots as you want for RECREATIONAL purposes.
Needless to say any attempt to try and sell lobsters will be ill advised, there is a heavy enforcement presence going on ATM.
You would be well advised to have the legal minimum size well studied as well.
Also V-notched female fish should not be taken.
So fish away, but just be aware that the local pot boats may not take kindly to some one coming in and fishing their area.
It is not unknown to go out and find that your gear has gone missing......
just my 0.02c

Thanks Huan. thats helpful. have 4 pots but only set them in summer for a few weeks and take only what i will eat. its great to see how much life is on the bottom and opens up more places to freedive too.

 

[garett]

which brings me to another point. perhaps we should look into organising an association for irish spearfishermen/women/people, or see if we could join the BSA, just in case that we did have to start looking for licences.
any thoughts on the matter?

Hi to all. Was reading this new thread and discovered posts regarding regulations. 2 years ago when I’ve restarted spearfishing (after few years of break) in Ireland I tried to find any regulations. To do not waist time and to get most accurate information I’ve decided to contact Fisheries board directly. First answer on question if there is any regulations in Ireland was “…spearfishing is illegal here…” I wasn’t happy with that answer and I sent them few pages letter where I explained why I think it’s not illegal + other stuff. They changed their opinion, not much but in the next letter they said that it’s not illegal, it just because of lack of interest this kind of activity has to official rules or regulations. Also they said that they can create rules if I can collect sufficient amount of names who are interested. Same time I’ve contacted London spearfishing club and asked them for advice. We had long enough but nice conversation (they were really supportive buy the way) and they mentioned that they think that it’s not so easy to get those regulations without any risk to do not get some problems. They mentioned that they think it will be better to leave everything as it is. What I actually did that time. But after reading this new thread I've understood that at some stage we will need those regulations any way, about everything including guns. Some spearos live in country side where just seals can watch them, but others have to … not to hide, but not to flash with gun when they getting into water. I nkow examles when people called Garda and man had to leave gun underwater... Let’ think about all of us if we think that there is some kind of community here. Maybe even we need to vote to make right decision regarding this? If we decide to try to get those regulations I have a name of a person from Fisheries board who was quiet friendly and supportive to me before and we could ask him what we can expect in those regulations + any other questions. If somebody else from this board has personal contacts with Fisheries he could scan situation as well. Any opinions?

 

[sunfish]

The fisheries board are not in charge of lawmaking in any capacity.They can however apply influence to any changes being made in the law. Any input they have will probably be used to make spearfishing illegal.
As things stand it isn't illegal and never has been. I say it's best not to start messing with this subject. Regardless of how harmless spearfishing may be, it's disliked by scuba divers, anglers, and commercial fishermen and there are way more of those than there are of us. If we start getting the law changed it'll almost certainly go against us.
Anyone heard the saying "Let sleeping dogs lie." ???
We're already fighting off changes from the EEC fisheries board. Surely we don't want another lot of problems.

 

[fcallagy]

hi themos,
glad to see your back in green water or soon will be I will try to get up to you one of the days if your there till the 26th I should be able to sort something.

 

[fcallagy]

kind of agree with sunfish on this one i know there is an arguement for for taking action before we are forced into it but lets see what way the eu changes pan out first imho.

 

[Huan]

In my opinion it is not worth trying to get licenses.
If you go down the road of trying to get legislation for spearfishing then IMO you are asking for trouble.

As it stands bar fishing for Trout and Salmon and the 2 bass limit/closed season then there are no restrictions on spearfishing in the state.
What is the total catch for spearos in Ireland at the present time?
If I said that there was 2 ton caught per year it would be a major overestimation IMO.
That amount of fish even of it was 4 ton would not be worth legislating for.

The fact is that if you asked 50 different gardai what the regulations are on spearing then you will get 50 different answers.
There are much bigger things happening than a few pollock being taken.
If the guards are called and a person is spearfishing legally then there can be no problem.
as long as there is no pneumatic speargun and no salmonids/freshwater fish then no case exists.
You would think that Firearms would be a clear example of legislation but across the whole country there are many cases of laws being used in different ways.
Spearfishing is not anywhere near as popular as shooting and what would probably happen is that a law would be passed that made spearing illegal and spearguns also.
With one swoop of a pen there is no more problem.

Would anyone in any position of power be worried?
How many votes will be lost?
What spearfishing industry would be affected?

Salmon driftnetting was banned because of pressure from the Angling fraternity and it had a lot bigger impact on the rural economy then spearfishing.

Be very careful what you wish for.

my 2c

 

[garett]

First of all – please understand that I’m not trying to push anyone to anywhere. I have just feeling that regulations will be made here at some stage, when – I don’t know. And it will be really bad for all of us if they would be created after some accident or incident happened. Government will say “…who’re those people with guns underwater and what they are doing there!? What law says? No law!? Create it for those … ugly fish killers!” Then – spearfishing will be dead here, even in the West Cork or Donegal. Can this be happen? No guaranty, but chance raised 100 times since eastern european came to Ireland. I’m Russian myself but to tell you honestly I liked Ireland much more 10 years ago when I arrived and it’s pointless and useless to regret or to complain about this now – this is the life. I know more spearos from those countries that Irish… If there is no regulations – they follow their own regulations… not so good very often, unfortunately. It’s normal freshwater spearting in those regions, besides other freaky things. Unfortunately. But even without all those people – chance is still really high that something can happen some day even with locals. As you know it’s better to wear helmet before something heavy falls on to your head. And it’s useless to put in on the cracked head after. I was thinking, if we by somehow can manage to get GOOD for us regulations – that’s will be just perfect. How can I think we would try to do so? We need to establish good and friendly relations with fisheries or other government departments who’s responsible and who is dealing whit this. How? Friends… I believe if we had someone from government (or family) in our community – that will be much more easy. It just a one, maybe to primitive example but if we really want and if we think well, and if we apply sufficient amount of efforts – we can get what we need. Once and forever. But if we think about ourselves something like “…I’m safe here for next 200 years and it’s enough for me…” so what is the point to talk to each other like to real friends? I hope I didn’t say to-o-o much, if yes – I’m sorry, I didn’t want to insult anyone here. Any way – again, I’m not trying to push anyone to anywhere, I’m sure I’ll find solution for myself any way. But … something doesn’t let me to say “this was sorted in the best possible way”…

P.S. Huan, it’s not about how much we take. It’s about how we take and what other people think about this, unfortunately…

 

[foxfish]

Hmm our sport does appear to exist on a knife edge! I guess sitting back & letting others make decisions is the majorities choice! Some may feel disrupting the present circumstances could cause a back fire?
where I live spearfishing was once very popular, we had national competitions & twice monthly locale competitions, a very active club, fish of the month & regular articles in the local paper. What killed the sport was publicity, people would come to spectate the competitions weigh-ins. In fact lots of people would come & then they started saying to many fish were being killed but what they really meant was the relatively few fish that were being killed & sold for charity looked awful! The fish had holes in them, there was blood, they were manhandled around with thier guts hanging out! The naive public did not like the look of this, there were complaints & letters in the paper & so ended the popularity of our sport.
Now we keep a low profile, no competitions no record list - just deeper blue.
Still to this day divers are blamed for all sorts of things espesally the decline of fish stocks & we are careful what we say & print on db as we know others types of fishermen are watching us though the forums.
Definitely a knife edge existence!

 

[garett]

... we had national competitions & twice monthly locale competitions, a very active club, fish of the month & regular articles in the local paper. What killed the sport was publicity, people would come to spectate the competitions weigh-ins. In fact lots of people would come & then they started saying to many fish were being killed ...The fish had holes in them, there was blood, they were manhandled around with thier guts hanging out! The naive public did not like the look of this...

That what actually killed your club – WRONG publicity. Publics are primitive, they don't what to think to much especially after coffee with cigarette, when mouth works faster that brain. If you want to promote something – you have to be very careful and really smart. Especially if you need to promote something not popular… But as I’ve said – everything is possible if you really want it and if you plan everything properly. I believe if we plan everything wisely – we shouldn’t loose anything here, even if didn’t get those GOOD for us regulations. But first of all we need to decide if we want them or not. To understand this (on my opinion) we need to make a list of all advantages and all possible disadvantages. We didn’t do this yet. At this time as I’ve understood majority is against any try. Again did you think well before sharing your opinion, and was it before or after coffee?

 

[stone_shot]

As regards regulation of Irish spearfishing, I say if it ain't broke don't fix it. While I agree that regs will probably be imposed on us somewhere down the road, I think that to try to be pro-active and get the regulations set now to the spearo's advantage would be disastrous to our sport. It's just an unfortunate fact that public opinion is decidely not in our favour when it comes to the methods we use to take a few fish. John Q. Public is almost certainly unlikely to notice that most spearos are passionate conservationists interested in the preservation of our quarry - they just see or hear "gun" and make a knee-jerk reaction that everything associated must be bad.
It is probably to our benefit to consider that every time we go fishing, we may be being watched - and to try to present the best possible face of our sport to the public. I've been asked questions by people on the beach before and I always try to leave them knowing something positive about the sport like how selective it is or all the interesting stuff you see underwater(even stuff you would never take for the pot). Something I also like to do is to take some rubbish off the beach with me and dispose of it properly - it's surprising how may people notice you doing something like that. When the inevitable regulation of the sport comes around, people are more likely to remember that nice spearfisherman that answered all their questions and cleaned up the beach and there's a better chance of support for us.

That's my take on it anyway - as always you're all entitled to your own opinions.

 

[johnnybuoy]

Dont fix something thats not broken. I agree totally with sunfish and huan.
Bad enough them trying to ban it.

Got out today with my girlfriend today and bagged a nice pollock. Met donnachad and tried for bass. Donnachad managed to get one but i blanked AGAIN! managed to put a tear in my suit under the loading pad. (butt of the gun slipped). any ideas on what kind of glue to use and the best way to do it? Sunfish did u do a similar repair to one of your suits??

 

[sunfish]

Hi Johnny, the easiest glue to find is Black Witch, as sold by the surf shops. Since your suit won't have any stitching though, I'd advise getting a neoprene glue from Cork Dive Centre in St. Finbars Road. It's the same as Black Witch but dearer and maybe better quality.
When the suit's properly rinsed and properly dried, you put a thin coat of glue on both edges and let it go touch dry. When you bring the edges together it'll stick so be sure to bring them together in the right place! I like to pinch it between my fingers all the way along the join then.
You'll get instructions on the tube and it's not too hard to do. I took a 2 inch wide strip out of the back seam of a pair of trousers to make them fit snugger. Take a look at this http://forums.deeperblue.net/goods-sale/79306-3mm-elios-wetsuit.html

 

[sunfish]

Today I went East to dive the sheltered side of a headland for Pollack. I couldn't get the kayak to the spot I wanted it due to a small swell combined with a big chop and force 4 wind, so I settled on a bit of rough ground of 10 metre depth. I started diving without the gun, to warm up and get in the swing of things.MISTAKE!
After half a dozen dives I followed a dogfish up a gulley and spotted the biggest ray I've ever seen. On surfacing I sighted the exact tuft of grass behind the kayak flag and the approximate distance to the kayak then swam to it for the gun.I dived the area for half an hour but needless to say, I didn't see it again.
Afterwards I thought I should have tried for it with my Knife but it's easy to be wise after the event.
I went on to get 4 pollack of 2.5,4.0, 4.2 and 6.2lbs, and gave two of them to a Latvian couple who were camping on the beach. The woman cooked the on a grid over the fire, cutting them into steaks first, and cooking the head and some fin sections too. It was barbecueing slowly and looked good, but I'd been diving four and a half hours so I shot off home for roast freerange chicken with homegrown organic spuds,greenbeans,black kale,baby carrots and gravy.

 

[donnachad]

I've had nothing to report the last few weeks except for a couple of barely legal bass and an amount of euros in the diesel tank getting to and from west cork on a regular basis. But when your lucks in it's in. Went back to a spot Sunfish showed me a few months ago near inchydoney, low tide calm enough. After 10 minutes 2 bass, 4.5lbs and 5lbs so with my bag limit reached i decided to continue searching the area very slowly staying in the kelp all the time. I saw many bass around the same size resting in the kelp and on the way back 2 larger specimens I estimate to be around 8lbs, I'm sure I'll bump in to them again.

 

[sunfish]

Nice one Dennis. I've been looking there every 2 or 3 weeks. I was wondering when the "biggies" would show up again.