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Ireland Spearing 2012
- Thread starter sunfish
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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Looks like the west is the place to be for the next few days. The viz here on the south east coast is just terrible. I took a walk by the shore today and the sea was brown for at least 100 metres out. The shoreline was littered with kelp and weed from the storm at the weekend.
Hey folks. Will be spending the weekend in North West Donegal and hoping to hit the water on Sunday or Monday. Ill let you know how I get on. Has anyone any experience of hunting around Dunfanaghy? It looks promising. This will be my first time hunting this year and to say I'm excited about it would be a massive understatement!
Hi Deego. I'll gift you some info, but make sure you write up a report after the dive. Even if you don't catch anything. Also, a picture paints a thousand words, so bring yer camera too. There aren't enough spearos in the country, so we don't get any where enough reliable information on new areas.
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Anyway, I've only dived Dunfanaghy once. It was my first-ever dive in Ireland and I didn't know what I was going to find. After um-ing and ah-ing, and driving around for an hour or so looking for somewhere to get it, I decided on Dundooan Lower:
Google Maps
I muffed a shot on a lightening-quick flounder, but picked up my first ever spider crab.
I seriously liked the look of this spot for a dive when I was up there, but went with Dundooan Lower. I regret changing my mind and going to Dundooan Lower - because Dooey looks bloody ideal (more kelp, etc):
Google Maps
I also walked around Hill Head when I was up there. I don't think it's worth a dive - it looks good, but you'd have to hump your gear for miles. There are plenty of easy-access spots up north, so don't waste your energy walking for miles.
It's spider crab mating season, so I'm pretty sure you're going to come across plenty of spider crabs. Try and only take the males - they are much larger, besides, which means more-crab-meat-per-effort-of-extracting-crab-meat.
Right, so. Rip into it. And post a report :blackeye
Cheers for the info NZRegan. Im going to be doing a bit of surfing and a bit of hunting over the few days so hopefully I will have something to report on Tuesday.
I spent some time in the Downings last year and managed to get myself a good lobster of 30 oz and a few spider crab. I was surprised about the lack of fish that I saw however, one dogfish swam by and a few small wrasse but that was it, even in the kelp.
I should have my gopro hd and a head mount so given a bit of time I should be able to put a video of the underwater shenanigans on youtube.
I spent some time in the Downings last year and managed to get myself a good lobster of 30 oz and a few spider crab. I was surprised about the lack of fish that I saw however, one dogfish swam by and a few small wrasse but that was it, even in the kelp.
I should have my gopro hd and a head mount so given a bit of time I should be able to put a video of the underwater shenanigans on youtube.
Nice photos Feargus. But something doesn't seem right...... U in a camo suit and talking about skittish pollock could only mean......you have taken up the gun OR you have had your identity stolen?????
hello lads,
got my first feed of scallops this year on sunday but as regards to taking them is it definitely legal because i heard from a baliff the a snorkel is considered a breathing apparatus and therefore illegal to use when scalloping!
could of taken a large male spider crab but the task of cooking him seem daunting ,any tips on the best way to cook them and extract the meat?
got my first feed of scallops this year on sunday but as regards to taking them is it definitely legal because i heard from a baliff the a snorkel is considered a breathing apparatus and therefore illegal to use when scalloping!
could of taken a large male spider crab but the task of cooking him seem daunting ,any tips on the best way to cook them and extract the meat?
Turn them upside-down and they curl up nice and neatly ready for the jaccuzzi.
As regards the snorkel. I'm glad I take mine out of my mouth before I dive. Glad to be doing things legally!!
As regards the snorkel. I'm glad I take mine out of my mouth before I dive. Glad to be doing things legally!!
You live right on the edge, don't you jb? I play it a bit more safe, so to abide by the letter of the law I take out my lungs before I dive. I mean, if lungs aren't breathing apparatus, then I don't know what is...?
I give them the chop before I boil. I want the meat in the legs and shoulders, so I use my dive knife to chop through either sides of the abdomen and up past the upper legs. This way the legs/shoulders come off in one piece (two piece = both sides), and I put this part in the pot. Saves room in the pot. See highly technical attachment (red lines are where I cut - use your dive knife; don't use your wife's chef knife or you'll get in trouble)
Big pot boiling water + Monkey wrench/pliers + Time = Extracted meat
Get one next time and give it a go. Trial and error.
Attachments
Is a crab watertight ?? the gills are inside the main body and therefore that cannot be watertight surely ,if this was so would they not float ? I have on occasion taken home just the legs (too long a swim with more than one crab) and they have cooked fine , also i would question the tradition of never eating a dead crab as I have had them die on the way home and they have given me no problem and have read a few reports of people catching lobsters but ending up with just the claws ,and have eaten them . I understand the reasons but it is not black and white ,consider how long you may have had a dead fish on your stringer and then the journey home ?
The meat we eat in shellfish or fish ,is there much difference ?,it is muscle comprised mainly of protein ,and was trying to say (enquire ) as to the perception that once it is dead it is immediately toxic ,i would not collect a dead crab no more than i would take home a fish i found already dead ! I understand to some extent that if the meat is cooked in the shell it may hold in more flavour for longer ,but I am not that much of foodie ,in fact when i get back from the beach I would eat(almost ) anything !!!
Dont forget to vote for your choice of fish of the month for April folks:
http://forums.deeperblue.com/uk-ireland/94815-poll-fish-month-competition-april-2012-a.html
http://forums.deeperblue.com/uk-ireland/94815-poll-fish-month-competition-april-2012-a.html
Well you do have a point, crabs, lobsters, scallops & other shellfish should be fine to eat if they are freshly dead & you are responsible, or at least know, the circumstances of their death.
However - I am a foodie!
I only want the best quality - this is my main incentive to hunt.
I want the very best quality ingredients to obtain the ultimate end result for myself, my friends & family.
For me cooking crab legs that have been removed from a crab (live?) rather than landing & cooking the whole crab is not even a consideration.
Of course I can understand that this is not an issue for lots of folk.
Perhaps I am obsessed with cooking & take the point to far but, for me I need to cook spiders whole so as the the meat does not actually come in to contact with the boiling water.
Where I live, crab sandwiches are severed in almost every cafe' & lunch time restaurant menu, there are competitions held & results printed in the local paper as to who severs the best crab sandwiches.
Cooking methods are kept close to peoples chest but it is pretty common knowledge that the winners all use the same tactics..... fresh live whole crab, cooked in salted very high temp water for a short time to prevent water ingress into the meat.
So - for me the idea of cutting a crab in half & cooking it is simple not going to happen.
Fish are completly different because I like to cook "dead fish" fish that have been bled to remove the blood from the flesh.
I guesse this might not matter to a lot of folk but, I very often fillet my fish in front of my guest.
I dont want blood oozing out of the flesh while filleting or the bitter taste of heated blood in my serving.
However - I am a foodie!
I only want the best quality - this is my main incentive to hunt.
I want the very best quality ingredients to obtain the ultimate end result for myself, my friends & family.
For me cooking crab legs that have been removed from a crab (live?) rather than landing & cooking the whole crab is not even a consideration.
Of course I can understand that this is not an issue for lots of folk.
Perhaps I am obsessed with cooking & take the point to far but, for me I need to cook spiders whole so as the the meat does not actually come in to contact with the boiling water.
Where I live, crab sandwiches are severed in almost every cafe' & lunch time restaurant menu, there are competitions held & results printed in the local paper as to who severs the best crab sandwiches.
Cooking methods are kept close to peoples chest but it is pretty common knowledge that the winners all use the same tactics..... fresh live whole crab, cooked in salted very high temp water for a short time to prevent water ingress into the meat.
So - for me the idea of cutting a crab in half & cooking it is simple not going to happen.
Fish are completly different because I like to cook "dead fish" fish that have been bled to remove the blood from the flesh.
I guesse this might not matter to a lot of folk but, I very often fillet my fish in front of my guest.
I dont want blood oozing out of the flesh while filleting or the bitter taste of heated blood in my serving.