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Ireland Spearing 2013

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Nice one Bob, I don't seem to be subscribed to an of my fav threads anymore, I thought you lot were all dead!
 
Reactions: bobdonny
Well done Bd...I didn't think you'd see a Bass this time of the year, no one is catching any around here. Might get in to see if any plaice or flounder around though.
 
Reactions: bobdonny
well done Rob , very unusual for this time of year .
I was out couple time in last month with really impressive results . there is couple pictures ,cod 8.1 kg and biggest place of just over 3kg. I have realised why in Norway have much more fish close to shore then Ireland.... in Norway is no seals , who eating all shoreline fishes . I'm here a year with and done over 50 dives . have not see a single seal at all.
winter should bring scallops and big cod close to shore specially at night . keep u informed boys ...
 

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Reactions: bobdonny

How's the new Roller working out for you?
 
How's the new Roller working out for you?
Hi Derek,
I'm actually not impressed by rollers performance by the price we paid. is couple thinks that is getting "under my skin" , first is shouting , i have to aim much lover then the fish are. because spear is lifting a lot in a shot out , i don't know what is causing that , maybe spear flipper or slider ? it took me a wile to get use to it . second think is loading a gun , a spear lock some time does not work , it takes several time to push spear it to place to lock down. other then that is super gun. shooting range is amazing . very light to load when i took your advise with a little piece of rope , is as quick as ordinary gun.
 
Yes you do need to aim a bit lower if the fish is less than 2.5-3 metres away, I was thinking a heavier shaft or less tension might sort that out but I haven't had a chance to play around with it in any controlled kind of setting...I'd welcome any advice from other spearos with more experience of rollers....Foxfish?
I read from a few reviews of Omer mechanisms that some spearos had problems with the shaft engaging properly and they had to push it in with a fair bit of force. After each session I clean the gun with fresh water and lubricate the internal track with a light spray of silicone lubricant, I found that when I didn't wash it off the shaft was a bit 'sticky' in the track.
 
I am not really sure Derek, possibly a 50mm longer spear or a .5mm thicker spear might make all the difference but the high shot implies the gun is lifting before the spear has left the gun.
However, I have read that if the spear is shooting low it is because the gun lifts the back of the spear & sends it at a slight downward angle!
So I cant really say LOL
I do think however, that these light weight small diameter guns are not the best for roller designs & that a high mass wooden roller gun would be a more accurate choice.
There always seems to be some compromise when we sway away from the tried & tested traditional band gun.
 
Top fishing Danas!!! Well done!
Derek/Danas... it annoyed me that my rob allen seems to shoot low in relation to my cressi... when I was replacing my spear on RA I went a with a lighter guage spear (think 6mm from the origional 6.5) and it made a nice difference and it seems more equal with the cressi so I dont have to "autotune" when I swap guns.
Think maybe as Foxfish says, play around with better wighted spear...

But perhaps the roller is hooting true and your other guns have trained you to think it shoots a little high?

Either way... How come no one else is posting in this thread.... we have another week of this glorious weather???

Talking on the other fishing forums apparantly what I saw (e.g. shoals of mullet and bass) is normal apparantly over the space of a few weeks they "hang" around the outskirts of Cork harbour as they shoal in thousands before they head off to deeper/warmer water???

people should really get out and see this... I missed out on a dive today as I took family out to catch supper on the boat.
Really getting the hang of the boat, and can't wait to dive more from her next season....




PS................. F. U. New Zealand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I think the Omer roller(especially coming from the Seatec mini-roller) is solid enough albeit not as solid as a wooden gun. It is consistently accurate once you get used to aiming a little low at shorter distances. For the longer shots over 3 metres it is bang on so it might be a case of right tool for the job...the 75cm XXV is lazer accurate at the shorter ranges but drops off in power and elevation on 3 wraps. The ideal would be to have a gun and shaft with a flat trajectory but I don't know if that's achievable, like shooting .22's hold under for short range and over for ranges greater than your sight in zero, experience will teach you how much.
I'd love to do a few tests with different spears in a swimming pool to figure out what exactly is happening but I don't think I've any chance of that in my local pool...they won't even allow me to wear fins and I had to argue with them about wearing a mask.

PS................. F. U. New Zealand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great match Bd, soul destroying for Ireland though.
 
The et is a closed track,so the spear leaves the muzzle straight ,without any shaft whip,it takes a few sessions to get used to all that power,but when you do,this is an awesome bit of kit,i love it .
It could be simply the nut behind the butt,is a little loose
5kph W till Thursday Der,fill yer boots,don't forget the lagan jacket.
 
G'day folks. It's been great reading through this thread & seeing how active spearfishing is in Ireland. I'm from Lurgan & left Ireland in the 70's for the sunburnt country & quickly took up diving & spearfishing & became very active in comps in NSW through the eighties & into the noughties. I reckon I've been fortunate to have had the opportunity to do what I've done within spearing & have seen many changes, not just in abundance of fish, but regulations, restrictions & attitude shifts. Some of it good, some not so wise. I can still rember as a lad fishing for mackerel at Newcastle & off the harbour wall at Arglass & now that my own boys have left the nest there's a wee bit of nostalgia creeping into my thoughts now.

Anyway, I just wanted to say G'day, express how much I'm enjoying all your posts, & to wish all the best for SpearfishingIreland.

Cheers Sharkey
 
Reactions: bobdonny
It could be simply the nut behind the butt,is a little loose
5kph W till Thursday Der,fill yer boots,don't forget the lagan jacket.

Definitely a screw loose somewhere alright
Looks like its a good week to get a bit of diving in...temp is picking back up on Wednesday as well, still I reckon I'll be donning the 14 mm lagging jacket for sure

Anyway, I just wanted to say G'day, express how much I'm enjoying all your posts, & to wish all the best for SpearfishingIreland.

G'day Sharkey or should I say 'What about ye?' always nice to hear from fellow Irish spearos who've broadened their horizons. I only took it up 3 years ago but I've learnt a lot from the great community on here and met some really nice people as a result. I only wish I'd taken it up sooner.
 
Great intro sharky, hope you keep posting... It goes quiet here during winter.

The weather is great for diving however I've read a few scuba reports of single figure water temps... Not long now.
 
Great intro sharky, hope you keep posting... It goes quiet here during winter.

The weather is great for diving however I've read a few scuba reports of single figure water temps... Not long now.

I'd be very happy to keep posting here if you'll have me. I try to get in the water once a week & although I don't often chase trophies anymore I always catch a feed & at this time of the year that can mean yellowtail kingfish or a mulloway if Huey is smiling on me. Hope it won't be a problem if I hang out here, but as I'm still an Irishman maybe no one will notice, although this particular forum seems to be more active than most. I'd better be careful not to get too homesick. No ones heard of soda bread, wheaten bread, potato bread down here, I miss that good food & Irish cooking.

You folks are hardcore. Water temps in the single figures? No wonder they call the Irish mad! lol The coldest water I've ever dived in would have been about 15C & that was with 5mm top & bottoms. At the moment the water off Sydney is about 18C-20C & it should peak at about 23C-24C in Feb. When I go away on a spearing trip, the locations I prefer are the southern coral reefs east of our Barrier reef, water temps should be 27C for the fish to be active, its very plesant. I like to wear a 3mm top here & 3mm wetsuit shorts on short dives, but sunburn on the legs is an issue so long bottoms are needed for long days. This is the amount of rubber I'll also be wearing off Sydney till about April/May when the temps will drop as low as 15C.

Stay Safe
Cheers Sharkey
 
With little for us to post over the winter months Sharkey, it'd be nice to see how the other hemisphere is doing, some nice summer pics should help to keep us warm...its 4°c outside at the moment...time for the Coddle and the hot Irish Stew with suet dumplings. I seen surface water temps in July this year of 20°c and over for a couple of days, it was near a reef with black rocks that absorb the suns heat then transfer it to the water as the tide comes in...I could see the haze and feel the temp change as I swam in and out of it. For most of the summer the surface temp here in the SE was averaging 16°c which is just heaven for me in my 5mm not too warm, not too cold. I had a week in Spain during September and snorkelled in a 3mm shorty...I actually felt as if I was skinny dipping.
 
Am really gutted....
After such an amazing experience in the ocean with a once in a lifetime opportunity i found out this happened shortly after.
This equate to about 120,000 mullet taken from a small area around cork harbour.....
I estimate 10-20% bass mixed in with the shoal from what I saw so about 15,000 bass

Makes me sick... and feeling that silly things like my own attempts at conservation are just futile... whats the point

From the same souce...



This was my original post last week..... I'll have to go out now to see if any fish are still left.


 
It goes to show there is a market for any species of fish even if it is not the most desirable for restaurants or supermarkets, if 2 boats can take that amount of fish, effectively destroying populations in an area, it makes you wonder how long it will be before the sea is left barren...sick.
 
Hope you don't mind me asking a few questions about the fisheries management over there.
Does the commercial sector have quotas?
Do individual commercial fishers have quotas? Do they have a daily limit?
Are they allowed to sell "bycatch"? How much is considered to be "accidental" or bycatch, & how much before its considered to have been fished for intentionally?
What sort of monitoring of fish stocks is done? What I mean is, do they use commercial catches to monitor trends & abundance? Do they wait for a fisheries to collapse before it triggers a management change? Or do they use another method to monitor the trends of the fisheries?

The art (science?) of fisheries & game management is of particular interest to me & I'm always trying to learn. I'm happy to discuss some of the initiatives & changes I've been involved with or witnessed. Just to qualify my position, I'm not an anti, or animal liberationist, just a very passionate fisher & hunter who believes in the wise & ethical use of wildlife.

Cheers Sharkey
 
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