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Night Diving Again

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Very interesting thread. Its fun to see how other folks do it at nite. One thing you might try. Start in the black dark just before light and see what you can get close to as the light comes back. We found that very large seatrout were hunting around the jetties at that hour and that was the only time you could approach them, or even see'em. We would often come in just after dawn with 1 or two trout that the line fishermen considered giants. Some of them got a little testy when they saw us. That size were actually pretty common, just too smart for the hook.

Don't know what's in your water, but I'll bet there is something that fills the same nitch.

Connor
 
Interesting thread, here is my contribution for what its worth.

I am a recent convert to night spearfishing, having spearfished in the daytime for 25+ years. Like everything to do with the sea I agree with the KIS, but I always use a float when night diving, not for the visibility angle, but for safety, as a buoyancy aid.

I’m paranoid about getting snagged in nets at night or getting caught in the tide. My thought is that my float (which is attached to me with a piece of floating rope rather than cord) doubles up as a flotation device which if I needed to I could pull myself up to and then use to support me while I cut myself clear. I carry a spare torch, spare knife and ‘tough cut’ scissors as well as the usual goody bag and fish stringer on my float.

Only negative is the hassle of getting snagged up in the float line, but I find using floating rope reduces this and the drag effect of rope over cord is minimal.

My float is a catamaran design made of 2 boat fenders side by side with a goody bag strung across the middle which is a safe place to store gloves, mask etc when walking up and down the beach.

Torches?

I use a UK D8R which seems to me as bright as you can reasonably get, being rechargeable has low running costs. I had a problem with bulbs popping when I first bought the torch, but Kent Diving were excellent and sent me replacements parts without question. The torch has 2 bulbs (1 x 14 watts 370 lumens and the other 30 watts which is fish fryingly bright) Burn time is about 1.5 hours, although this is quoted at 7 hours if used on the lower power setting. The fact that if one bulb blows mid dive you can switch to the other without any interruption to your dive was a good safety factor for me when choosing it.

I also use a UK mini Q40led which I attach to my mask strap with a piece of bicycle inner tube this is useful as a back up and as a handsfree headtorch arrangement for stringing fish etc

I have to say that I’m not a big fan of LED’s they somehow just don’t seem to have the ‘guts’ of a conventional light. I am slowly replacing the conventional spotlights in my home, I find that the LED spotlights, even though being rated the same just are not somehow as bright?

As a diving experience there is nothing like a calm starry moonless night with the sea alive with nocturnal creatures and I would recommend everyone to give it a go. Certainly the imagination works overtime and there is nothing like a solo night dive to sharpen your senses.
 
Reactions: devondave
Andy, I'd be surprised if you thought my LED torches didn't have enough "guts" mate, one's rated 1000lumens and the other an admitedly optimistic 800, I'm confident your UKD8 would be a bit dim in comparison :t

I like the justification of the float though, never use them at night for simplisities sake, but as a life life to haul yourself and attached net up I can see the value.

Also re mask lights I don't like many small dive lights because they have the twist on style switches. Thats hard to do with one hand, and you're generally holding something when you need them. I found a push button one on ebay which is much easier to use.
 
Reactions: Mr. X
Agree with you on the ‘twist switch’ can be a pain, have tried leaving it on all the time, but that gives a lot of backscatter which is even worse. I lubed the O ring and can turn it with one hand (just)

I’m sure your 1,000 lumen is a beast and don’t dispute that, its just that when I have replaced a 50watt spotlight at home with an equivalent LED the light somehow just isn’t the same?

Tides look good for next week and we seem to be having summer weather at the moment.
 
To give yourself an idea of night diving, suspend yourself upside down from a rope tied to your ankles, get someone to blind fold you and spin you round, then (still blind folded) try to load your gun.... (this may not be legal in some states).

*Disclaimer :Obviously don't load the gun out of water just try to thread the shaft, loop the line round the catch...)
 
But the led torches don't use the same led units as are no doubt in your room lights. There's many reasons for that, cooling for one, especially on lights that are designed to be able to be on almost indefinately as home bulbs will be.

Getting a decent throw with leds is trickier than with incan bulbs as they're pretty flat so the position of the led in the reflector is critical.
 
Point taken. I'm just trying to justify NOT buying a new torch when the one I've got is in good working order and is perfectly adequate for the job.
 
My experience is that my 3 x 3watt LED's in my shockwave produce about the same amount of light as a 17 or 18 watt filament bulb i.e. about somewhere between my 13.5 watt and 20 watt bulb in my UKC8.

However the light is a different colour (temperature - technically). LED's are white and filaments yellow. White from LED's is supposed to be better or more natural although I liked my yellow light for spotting fish.

Biggest advantage of LED's is burn time. My UKC8 would run for 1.25 hours on 20 watt when new and about 1.75 hours on 13.5 watts but after a while the rechargables seemed to lose memory and were down 75% of their capacity. No probs with LED's as my shockwave on full power goes 12+ hours.

The other big difference is the robustness of the units. In 2 years I had 3 new bulbs in my UKC8 at a cost of about £25 with postage. LED's are more or less indestructable as long as you don't soak them.

My current shockwave LED is the 170 lumens model. The new 400 lumens model should equate to a 35+watt conventional filament bulb. It's on my Chrissy list.

Dave.
 
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OMD, have you had any problems with your Princeton Tec? Mine started leaking a few months ago, only misting up really, then one dive it let in enough water to cook the batteries. The O ring was clean and lubed. I sent it away to Denny Diving where I bought it, and they sent it to Hydrotech (Princeton dealer).

Got it back, apparently working and took it for a dive today. It was fine until I turned it on at 10m, then it started to fill up again (really buggered this time). I couldn't surface as I was on SCUBA. It was supposed to have been stripped and pressure tested by them too. Not happy, as its got to go away again just as the water is crystal clear. Hopefully get a new one this time.:rcard
 
The only problem I've had is the internal trigger operating mechanism (fork) breaking. This would not cause a leak though. I've found Chris Denny to be a good bloke so expect you should get a decent service from them.

Potential leaks are; cracked housing, broken bond between front cap and lens, damaged o-ring seal and leaking trigger seal. Nothing else to go wrong.

Hope you get a replacement. Seems like the best option for PT and you. Let us know.

Dave.
 
im my admittedly low experence with LED lights i have found that they are just as or more bright as convetional light but the color (or i think its the color) has a tendency to light up the particulates in the water making it hard to use in lower visability. but they tend to have a brighter and wider beam that makes them nice for handling fish, realoading, anything that is closer up. but i have never used a big LED light.
 

I'm suspecting leaking trigger seal. It was fine until I turned on. Chris Denny should be getting back to me on Monday so fingers crossed I get a new shiny torch.
 
After a long wait, Princeton Tec are sending me a brand new torch under warrenty . Just in time for the early winter nights, and a bit of flatty bashing:martial.
 
Tell me about winter diving ? Flatties around all year ? What else do you see in the cold dark months ?
 
You can night dive all year. The summer day species are about at night too. However the summer sunsets make for late nights. This time of year the sunset even before teatime leads to more civilised hours. I do night dive in the summer but mainly because of the timing I concentrate from now 'til january.

Most UK fish are winter breeders and most breed offshore or at least too far offshore for freediving anyway. Flatties are inshore from June to December and breed offshore from January 'til April. Varies a bit with location and weather but that's more or less it. Actually it's exactly the same for bass as well. Small fish even some that are legal size are too small/young to breed and they may be around in the winter as well. Plaice under 1.25lb and bass under 2lb are generally non breeders.

So night diving at the moment is still for summer species that's for me principally bass, plaice and sole. In addition red mullet which are almost exclusively nocturnal are now about in numbers as are the annual squid. Lobsters and crab are also available and are largely nocturnal as are the sole. These nocturnal species are somewhat easier to see and catch night diving, although night diving in itself ain't easy although great fun.

There are some good night diving vids especially some taken by Magpie and some from Jonny 250 as well. Definitely worth a look as they give a good idea of the atmosphere of night diving.

I should have been out tonight but 4 to 6 foot swell scuppered that.

Dave.


Here's Tom's Halloween one. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9uG2eLdEFw&feature=player_embedded#]YouTube - Guernsey Halloween Dive[/ame]
 
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