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Ireland Spearing 2012
- Thread starter sunfish
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
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Meh, the weather wasn't so bad this weekend. You just had to be where the good weather was. There was a pocket of good weather on Saturday in Connemara which I had been coveting throughout the week and wanted to act on.
I decided a day-trip from Dublin was in order. Drove to Coral Strand in the morning and geared up for a nice dip in the ocean, knowing full well that it's spider crab mating season. Sure enough, about 10 mins into the dive, a male spider crab comes wandering across the kelp floor while I was lying on the bottom hoping (in vain) that larger pollack would come in. And then another crab was found. And then another, etc, etc. Five (legal landing size, naturally) male spider crabs were taken home. Nothing else happening really - very quiet, no real fish life - dogfish, small pollack, even smaller wrasse. Almost eeriely quiet because of the good vis (8m).
And was it, really. The only thing I'll add it that the water was f-ing cold. I was nonchalant (probably negligent) about my gear. I left my good holeless 5mm booties in NZ last month, leaving me with only holy booties (rock holes). Oh boy. By the end of a 90 min dive, my toes and soles of my feet were frozen numb. D'oh. Remember - in Ireland one must have pristine holeless booties if one is to survive in the water all day. In warmer climes, booties are really just there to stop chaffing on the heels. Also, had 7mm jacket but only 5.5mm waist-high trousers. Should have gone with the 7mm farmer johns. Again, complacently thought the end of April is nice enough for holy booties and waist highs. No, no. Not yet.
At home, boiled up the crabs (small compared to bobdonny's one at the start of the month), de-shelled them and made Maryland-style spicy crab soup. It was grand. It more than made up for the tedium of shelling the brutes :blackeye
I decided a day-trip from Dublin was in order. Drove to Coral Strand in the morning and geared up for a nice dip in the ocean, knowing full well that it's spider crab mating season. Sure enough, about 10 mins into the dive, a male spider crab comes wandering across the kelp floor while I was lying on the bottom hoping (in vain) that larger pollack would come in. And then another crab was found. And then another, etc, etc. Five (legal landing size, naturally) male spider crabs were taken home. Nothing else happening really - very quiet, no real fish life - dogfish, small pollack, even smaller wrasse. Almost eeriely quiet because of the good vis (8m).
And was it, really. The only thing I'll add it that the water was f-ing cold. I was nonchalant (probably negligent) about my gear. I left my good holeless 5mm booties in NZ last month, leaving me with only holy booties (rock holes). Oh boy. By the end of a 90 min dive, my toes and soles of my feet were frozen numb. D'oh. Remember - in Ireland one must have pristine holeless booties if one is to survive in the water all day. In warmer climes, booties are really just there to stop chaffing on the heels. Also, had 7mm jacket but only 5.5mm waist-high trousers. Should have gone with the 7mm farmer johns. Again, complacently thought the end of April is nice enough for holy booties and waist highs. No, no. Not yet.
At home, boiled up the crabs (small compared to bobdonny's one at the start of the month), de-shelled them and made Maryland-style spicy crab soup. It was grand. It more than made up for the tedium of shelling the brutes :blackeye
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NZRegan is back in action!!!
Next week is going to be 8 to 2 degrees...every single day....! I don´t have any more finger to cross.... My only chance now is forget trigger fish and amberjacks and dream about artic char, halibut or capelin since that water temperature when down again...Nothing better in the horizom (next week). Even in Portugal they are having a return in water temperature for winter temperatures.... End of May.... can someone borrow me fingers to cross....!?
Hey Regan, you also left a nice little net bag in Melbourne. You should visit more often
, I would have to buy less gear.
I'd send it back to you but it stinks of fish!
, I would have to buy less gear.I'd send it back to you but it stinks of fish!
Hi Guys! Went to the west coast this weekend. Scalloping went very good, got some excellent scallops for supper. I was lucky enough to define the place approximately using the map I attached in my previous post 
. Water was just perfect, a bit cold, but great visibility!
Saw few dogfishes, but haven't shoot them. They look better alive
. Water was just perfect, a bit cold, but great visibility! Saw few dogfishes, but haven't shoot them. They look better alive
Hi Guys! Went to the west coast this weekend. Scalloping went very good, got some excellent scallops for supper. I was lucky enough to define the place approximately using the map I attached in my previous post
Saw few dogfishes, but haven't shoot them. They look better alive
Well done man!! Your the first to hit scallops first go!! Did u get many?? The rule is u gotta post pics ;-)
I got some for myself and some for my friends, but not more, so somebody else could enjoy them as well
. I'll post some pics later today or tomorrow
Well done Gazprombeiter (don't forget the pics) and Regan...weather has been totally cr@p here, no sign of getting out anytime soon.
In the meantime, there's a program on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm called Hidden Talent with a Freediving challenge. Looks at people with the Dive Reflex as potential freedivers...looks interesting. One for you Feargus?
Hidden Talent - Series 1 - Episode 2 - Hidden Talent - Channel 4
In the meantime, there's a program on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm called Hidden Talent with a Freediving challenge. Looks at people with the Dive Reflex as potential freedivers...looks interesting. One for you Feargus?
Hidden Talent - Series 1 - Episode 2 - Hidden Talent - Channel 4
Hey Regan, you also left a nice little net bag in Melbourne. You should visit more often
I'd send it back to you but it stinks of fish!
Tell me about it. Left my booties in NZ, left my good mesh bag in Aussie. I only have one even-smaller mesh bag now, and I couldn't fit even one damn spider crab in it on the weekend! Ended up relay-running the crabs to a mate who was hanging about on the rocks :duh
Gonna need a new larger bag for scallops, too...
Hi Guys! Went to the west coast this weekend. Scalloping went very good, got some excellent scallops for supper. I was lucky enough to define the place approximately using the map I attached in my previous post
Saw few dogfishes, but haven't shoot them. They look better alive
Champ! Great stuff, Gaz. Scallops is a game of trial and error.
I remember my first-ever scallop dive trip; got a 'hot tip' off the owner of a local spearfishing-shop - he said "In Jones Bay, about 12m deep." So off we went; swimming the lengths of Jones Bay (NZ) at different depths until we found them. Honestly, for a while there I thought we were the world's most ineffective side-scan sonar systems, just scanning the sea bed for scallops (Bobdonny, a couple of Kiwi guys use home-made versions of the SUBWING sea board to quickly scan large areas of the seabed for scallops. They are mad buggers).
Yes, found them alright. Right in the middle of the bay. Thousands of them in about 10-15m, but all undersize. Scuba divers just swim along and vacuum clean the legal size ones up. Nothing for spearos (maybe 10 scallops for a couple hrs of freediving).
Except... at the edges of the bay where the current is absolutely cranking. No sane scuba diver would get themselves in 15m of water with currents like that; they'd get sucked out to sea. But not spearos. Our ergonomic fins means we can foot it with the current and dive the 15m and find good patches of legal scallops. Generally, we'd tread water/dive until we found a good patch of scallops, then shove the gun deep into the sand, and then hang onto the float to breathe up. We'd get our limit in 20 mins.
Exactly. Pics or it didn't happen
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Nice dive this afternoon vis about 8-10m easy saw twp takeable pollock but very skittish, flat lik e a lake and I got a new mask, clear skirt so it seems brighter but doesnt go well with the camo suit. who am i foolin?
