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Is It Always A Question Of Depth?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Stevie T

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2003
78
7
48
Ok this may well have been discussed before so I appologise first off if I am going over old ground.............

My question is: -

How much time do you spend hunting around the shallows i.e. less than 10m?

I ask this question as it appears to me that most the fish along the south coast of the UK in summer are found in water generally no more than about 3-4m, i.e. Bass, Rays, Flatties, Bream, Mullet etc

In fact the bigger Bass & Mullet around at the moment are in very close in no more than 1m of water most of the time.

Cheers

Steve
 
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Hi Steve

I also wondered about this when I started out, but the more time I spent diving, talking, reading, listening...the more I realised that
It is not about the depth, but rather what area's you prefer hunting in, and what fish you chioose as your 'hunt of choice'.

For me, most of my hunting is reefs, and I also do mainly shore entries, hunting between 4 and 12 meters on average. Further up the Coast, I hunt cracker, average depth 3 meters to 12 meters. Most of my fish are found in and around kelp forests, so diving to 20 meters is meaningless to me.

But, mates in Durban hunt off boats, to far greater depths. Basically, most of my hunting at current is less than 10 meters, but with the emphasis on aspetto, and longer bottom time.

Hope this helps ??

Jeff
 
Hey Stevie
I fish as a rule in shallow water too, Bass mostly, 4M at high water, just cant see the point of going deeper if the fish arent there. I do fish occasionally in deeper water for biggish Pollock, down to 15 - 20 M cant say as I like it much in the UK murk, 4M is fine by me. One fish Ive found to be exclusively at a fair depth is the John Dory, a rare find but worth the hassle :D They taste YummY :D
 
Cheers Guys,

I've just found a mark near to me that has some nice Bass around and it is only about 2-3m depp at high tide, so will be trying that out soon.

Alison, I read some of the threads about attaching flashers to your float, do you use your rig in shallow water or is it just something for dep water marks?

Steve
 
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Hi Stevie :D
No I use them in shallow water so the sun reflects off them, they're not attached to my float but free anchored with stones in the bags and the coke bottle half full of air?water to keep the whole thing upright. It seems to do the job of stopping the schoolies from wizzing past at the speed of light but now they all wizz around the flashers, but you do get some slow movers in with them so its possible to get a shot off. one thing i have found with them thats not so good is that because the fish are near them when I shoot, if I dont get a stoning shot they have a 50% chance of getting wrapped up in the flasher line and its a mess when they do :(
 
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Hi Stevie..

Coudlnt respont earlier, as I have been busy diving..:D And gotta tell you, it is definately not about the depth, although if you have deeper water to dive in I would definately do some hunting there too..
I think the best wayt to get fish is to do some diving in deep and shallow water.. Work your way through the shallow into the deeper water, keep your eyes open and nail the fishes there..


Alison, how deep so you need to dive for John Dory? I would love to get some.. and I am off to Cornwall for some diving.


Pekka
 
Hi Pekka :)
Ive never seen a john Dory above about 15 metres but thats not to say they are not there, Ive only seen about half a dozen in my life :( you'll need a sharp spear for them though :)
 
The reports I've heard this year indicate that the wsb (clear up to 50 lbs!) are in such shallow water off PV that the spearos were shooting up at them from about 20 ft. under. Anglers all know that fish concentrate around "structure" like rocks, weeds, kelp, wrecks, reefs, etc and that it is only a matter of depth when the particular fish needs a change in either temperature or oxygen. That seems mostly to be a fresh water issue. In the sea fish are where you find them (except in the case of carcharodon, then it's where they find you!):D
 
I would agree, and personally have only just stated to look at going deeper and waiting around down on the bottom, but for me 10m is about my limit anyway, as by the time I have cleared my ears and got down I need to be on the way up. I havn't really seen anything whilst going deep like this. But I think I'm still learning.
 
Plymouth
I think I have to agree with you that there isnt much at depth in UK waters, except Pollock but even they tend to be found in the surface area near rocks too. Im not keen on going deep in the UK it gives me the heebeegeebees when In freediving for some reason but saying that Ive shot some good Pollock at depth, I like (well not really :) ) to dive down about 10 metres offshore from where I want to fish, then when at the bottom, swim into a gulley and hope to see a fish worth shooting. Quite often even if I dont see a fish at the bottom if there is some surf I see decent fish on my way up at the surface just under the surf bubbles, so its worth keeping a bit in reserve for a shot then; once your up they dissapear :( This works best on cliffs that are really steep not on shallow inclines for some reason and involves an upward shot which I find difficult, I often miss and have my spear hit the rock :(
 
I agree about the concern going deeper. It's all the fishing line you see, and although I havn't ever seen any, I have heard that there can be old parts of monofilament nets around. Bought a knife 2 years ago, when I started going down more.

I've taken up Octopush here in Plymouth 2 nights a week all winter so hopefully that will give me some more bottom time this summer.
 
Depends on what I'm doing. I have 10M and 20M float lines and use the 10 most of the time. If I'm going to a deeper area I'll put on the 20 and can outdive that, but most of my hunting is done at less than 10. Sometimes I'll hunt mullet in water so shallow I can't dive because even though I'm on the surface, I'm also already on the bottom. :eek:

Which was the case today and even though there were a lot of mullet around I decided I would be better off on my porch washing gear after the second box jellyfish I had to yield right-of-way to.:girlie ;)
 
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