Ireland Spearing 2012

[bobdonny]

The Great Dublin Bass Challenge continued amid amazing vis unknown species, and mixed catches.
On Thursday evening I had a quick dive over HW vis was patchy 4m at best and almost zero in places. Water temp was a warm 14.5-15c I saw no bass but did manage a nice mullet of about 4lb.
Friday morning promised much better over LW when I arrived the sea was like a sheet of glass. The sun was beating down and air temp was already 20c the vis was about 3m close to the beach but cleared to 5m just beyond this. I tried the normal shallow water and gullys for bass but after 40 mins decided it was too clear and bright for the bass to come in. I moved out to the kelp beds over 2-3m water. I was hoping to find a bass resting in the kelp after bout 20 mins swimming very slowly and quitely I spotted a fish of 4-5lb in the kelp and shot him from above straight down through the skull he barely twitched.:martial
Out here the vis ranged from 5-8m possibly more and water temp was a toasty 16c. I searched around for another short while and then decided to head out to deeper water to search for pollack. I went 300-400m offshore until I got to about 10m I dived here for an hour and saw tons of pollack but nothing over 3lb. On the way back in I had a look for crabs as the misses wanted one I found a nice brown wedged in a crevice after a tusssle and a close call with the tip of a finger he was in the bag.
I got out for a drink smoke and to warm up for 20 mins getting back in I decided to look for flounder after looking at the area where the sand meets rock and kelp I saw none, only to find several palm sized ones lying on flat rocks in the open sunning themselves!!!! Eventually found one about 1lb and took him. I tried for mullet then but only saw a group of three who zoomed by far too quick to track.
Now ye know the little fish that sit on the rocks in the shallows they look like mudskippers I think they are some sort of blenny or rockling ??? Normally I see them about 2-4inches but on Friday I saw a really colourful one about 8-10 inches anyone know what it is ?????
p.s if the fish look funny its caus I scaled them at the shore.

Well done man... thats no small feat nailing the bass in Dublin... many have tried over the years and not connected I'm afriad I cannot give you some rep until I spread it some more

Sand goby sounds about right!

 

[chealy]

Ended up going for a dawnie myself on Sunday after blanking on the night dive with Rob.
Tried a spot not far from where we were, took two pansize bass and then went for abit of a nosy around.
Ended up spooking a small flounder so decided to have a look around, ended up with three Flounder and the two Bass.

I've never really spent that much time looking for them in the past but they were there in numbers once you took the time.

Will have to go again once the weather settles.

 

[kookiebrew]

on the subject of flatties... is there any technique to spotting them...been looking about for them lately but can manage to see them... only time ive seen any were about palm sized and i either stumbled upon them by accident or ive seen one swimming over kelp...

 

[chealy]

The odd time I have looked for them myself I very rarely see any, only shot one before yeaterday.
I first started looking on clean sand but then slowly this drifted into broken sand interspaced with rocks and kelp, It's in amounst this that I saw them.

The biggest being dinner plate size, I got him between two bolders.

If you have a beach thats rumoured to hold them look around edge basically where the rocks and kelp meet the sand.

 

[kookiebrew]

thanks chealy, i think im gonna take an hr to search only flatties next time out... i know when im hunting fish i dont see any crabs i gotta kinda switch off from fish to see them.... might be the same with flatties

 

[chealy]

That's what I found, once you switch to looking for flatties you start to come across them, it just needs to be the right terrain.

 

[kookiebrew]

one of the places we go is known for them so defo gonna try zone into them next time out there

 

[mcmahon00]

as Gav said we went out to Coral beach on saturday...was very disappointed...vis wasnt the best and only fish i saw were wrasse and shoals of baitfish... no crabs either...had heard a few good reports on here about it but another blank... might have to emigrate to the peoples republic of cork to start catching fish again...

I went as far as Spiddal on Wednesday after work. Was going to go to Coral Beach but didnt get out of work till Late. Basically got wet and got out again, couldnt see a foot in front of your face.

Went to the peir in Ballvaughan on friday on my way to Tipp, Got two pollock there but Vis was still crap. Had to dive down into the unknown and hope for the best..

Thought I saw a flattie there but had to go up for air and couldnt see down again afterwards..

Doesnt look like its going to improve either this week..

 

[kookiebrew]

yea we were at ballyvaughan thursday evening... should have given you a txt... vis was the worst ive seen there...as you said we were just diving to the bottom to see where we were...couldnt even make out the weed beds underneath us... the brother caught a nice pollock of 6.2 lbs but he caught it from trolling a line of feathers off his float...

 

[foxfish]

There are definitely techniques for finding flatfish!
To start with there are quite a few different species flounder seen to be the most common around your way but plaice are caught as well.
My favourite method is prodding ... you need to swim just off the bottom over a suitable sandy area & prod every suspicious looking lump!
you will be amazed at how many fish you had been swimming over once you have got your eye in & prodded a few!!
I dont think I have seen many sole reported on your thread but i would guess there are some around as well as the bigger flatfish like turbot & brill!
different species often have favourite types of bottom where they like to hide, flounder like very soft silty bottom, plaice like sand & fine gravel & the bigger fish prefer bigger grain gravel & strong tide.

 

[kookiebrew]

that really makes sense foxfish... as i said only time ive ever seen flatfish was when i stumbled ontop of them in the sand....gonna try the prodding, im sure your eyes will soon get trained into them once you start finding them at all

 

[fcallagy]

Aloha great report Neal, had a course on Sunday viz was shocking at about 10m great to have a nice shock once in a while. The sea was a bit rough on the normal side so we dived the back of the castle and the sun stayed shining. Lobster found in 2ft of water on the way out but released as we reckoned he was undersized.
This weekend hopefully Wed and thurs wont upset the viz too much but Saturday looks ok with lower winds a 1m swell. I need definite names for the boat trip to the Island if people are going if not feel free just to turn up. So current plan is turn up on Saturday, boat trip to the Island leave morning at 10.30 or 11 back at 4.30 or so chefs do their thing, bbq and Philippe filleting demo, Ocean men video free but donations to RNLI, get pissed, go to bed.

 

[charco]

Fergus, what are the accommodation options up there? Is camping available?

 

[Derekn]

I find flounder and the odd plaice to be the most common flatfish around these parts from the shore. I usually find them very close to the shore at high tide and buried in the soft silty sand as Foxfish said, close to the margins of weed and sand, although they can also be spotted hiding out in the open sand near a rock or clump of weed.

I change the way I hunt when looking for them usually just hovering on the surface until I see one and then dive down and jab it with the spear...no need to even fire it usually as they tend to rely on their camouflage to keep them hidden and they won't try make a break for it until the last minute. Sometimes I find quite a few in the mossy weed but they are very difficult to spot and I prod my way through it until I disturb one and can get a shot at it.

When you jab them or shoot at them in the sand, make sure your flopper goes through and opens before you lift your spear up, I've lost a few when my flopper failed to open and had to watch a nice big meaty flounder swim off like nothing happened.

 

[foxfish]

Thats really interesting Derek as I would never even consider looking for flatfish at high tide. Mind you I do live in a completely different area of the UK.
We tend to hunt on the very lowest tides over large areas of baron sandy, gravelly ground. I would say 95% of flatfish are buried with only a basic outline or even less of them visible. It would be impossible to spot the vast majority from the surface but like I say Guernsey is probably very different to your area.

 

[fcallagy]

Fergus, what are the accommodation options up there? Is camping available?

Hi Charco yeah plenty of camping either in Mullaghmore itself or at Philipes house/hostel.

 

[Derekn]

Thats really interesting Derek as I would never even consider looking for flatfish at high tide. Mind you I do live in a completely different area of the UK.
We tend to hunt on the very lowest tides over large areas of baron sandy, gravelly ground. I would say 95% of flatfish are buried with only a basic outline or even less of them visible. It would be impossible to spot the vast majority from the surface but like I say Guernsey is probably very different to your area.

That is interesting, I never see them here at low tide. I find them usually on the high tide in 1-2 metres of water and close to the shore. Occasionally you will see them swimming over a gravelly patch picking off shrimp or tiny crabs. They do bury themselves in the soft sand and you can just make out a bump or an outline in the sand.
This year they are a bit harder to find as where I hunt for them has had a large amount of muddy sediment from the land wash down on to the shoreline and it has become encrusted and hard...this has pushed them out a bit further from the shore and there doesn't seem to be as many of them.

 

[Derekn]

Be careful collecting any shellfish up around Galway, Mayo and Sligo...The food safety authority has just issued a warning.

FSAI: Don't eat wild shellfish | BreakingNews.ie

 

[fcallagy]

Cheers Derek,
Will keep an eye out for it but red tide seems to be gone but could be other Algae stuff not as visible I guess.
OK for this weekend so far from DB we have
Johnny, Neal, Danas?
From FB we have about 4-6 others not all spearos but probably coming on boat.
I forgot to add the swop meet, we will have a table laid out to sell second hand stuff if you have something you want to move on.

 

[climbingperch]

Yup I'll be there hope this feckin cold clears up !