Noo Den From Shetland. :)

[mabster]

Morning Folks and Hello (Noo den)

Been looking through the forums for a wee while now and thought it was time I registered.
First of all. Thank you to everyone that has posted on this forum. It really is a wealth of knowlege and has certainly helped me greatly in the past month.

Well, My name is Michael, I'm otherwise known as Mabs by many folk up here and south. I'm 21, I live in the beautiful Shetland Isles nestled up between the Atlantic and North Sea.

I started spearfishing over a month ago and have become well and truly hooked. I am yet to find any decent sized fish but have been getting a good few coalfish and pollack which make stunning fishcakes.

I try and get out as much as can and as many new locations as possible.
At one point the north sea and atlantic are only 30 odd meters apart.

A long with the beauty of the islands I have discovered the hidden beauty underwater.
It truly is a magical place.

Sadly I have come down with a cold (too much time in the water and not enough sleep) so I'm out the water for a few days.


Cheers folks.


Mabs

 

[Salehthefish]

Hello mabs and welcome on DB the right place to learn and to share your underwater experience... hope u get well soon and get wet safely underwater...

All best

 

[devondave]

Hello Mabs , and welcome . You're the first Shetlander I've heard of on db .
It conjures up images of great vis' and freezing cold water , just guessing though .
Look forward to your posts , it will make a change to get reports from a different part of the country .

 

[mabster]

I'll certainly keep you updated
The vis of late has been pretty grim especially just off townwhere there'sa big tidal flow.
The sea is absolutely pinned with plankton, things that look like the living part of barnacles and trillions of young jellyfish.
It is great seeing so much life though. I love it.

Gnerally though the vis can be fantastic. The dive boats have a whale of a time when they are up for the summer.

The water certainly is a bit cold! I got myself a 5mm cressisub which I am not all that impressed with. Every single seam is seperating and Cressi wont replace it. I had noticed the seperation before I had even used it.. Sent it away to them but not much done to it. So i've taken it upon myself to seal every seam! I'm getting there...
Anyways.. it's still quite cold with the 5mm but I'm still managing at least two hours constant in the water. Come three hours it's pretty uncomfortable.

I'm going to get a custom 7mm elios at christmas which will certainy be much much better!


All going well I shall be out tomorrow if my sinus's clear up.

cheers for the welcome's and i'll keep you all posted. Come the end of october I may have a camera aswell. Those grey and common seals do get terribly close


Mabs

 

[podge]

Yes, welcome Mabs.
I bet you get some hoofing storms up there to sit and watch and when its calm I bet the vis is equally as good. Have you found any Lobsters yet as I thought the sea bed in your area was covered in them?
Looking forward to some fishy and shell-fishy stories.
All the best

 

[mabster]

Sadly no lobsters yet. Only seen a few edible crabs aswell.. Strange as there are pots everywhere!

The winter storms are amazing. Some of the swells we get are beyond belief ... which is good for me in a way as I am really into my bodyboarding and there is a good surf scene here.

One of the great things about here is that no water the swell direction you can find somewhere sheltered within 30 mins drive. I love it.

Was out the other night at a spot 5 mins from my house. Didn't think there would be much there but 50 meters from shore there were shoals of coalfish and the odd pollack. Nothing big though but big enough for filleting .
It truly is great when you swim down and the fish come back and swim around you...

We also have quite a few wrecks around which are freedivable. One in particular still is at the surface. I friend of mine did the Pionersk the other day without a weight belt! Can't wait to get out to it.. it is about a mile or more to swim it from a beach as cliff entry aint possible.

I think some sudafed is in order...

 

[Erik]

Welcome Mabs, always nice to hear about a new spearo. I've been in Canada since I was 4, but lived in Shetland for a year when I was a sprog- I do have some wonderful memories and want to return someday. My Mum's from Lerwick.
That custom Ellios will do the trick I assure you.
Cheers,
Erik.

 

[mabster]

That's fantastic Erik.
They always say that no matter where you are in the world you will either meet a Shetlander or someone with connections there.. It really is quite remarkable.

I live in Lerwick myself. Just up from the beach on the eddge of a council housing scheme. On a calm night I can hear the seals howling. Love it

 

[Old Man Dave]

Welcome Mabs. Lots of interest in Shetland from us UK spearo's. It's one of those mythical places.

My wife is from Glasgow originally although I am a Channel Islander. I have travelled Scotland but not as far up as the islands.

Some of our big local potting boats used to make the near 1000 mile journey up to shetland to raid your lobsters. There are (were) huge numbers of them. Mind you Scot's have some of the main pair trawling bass boats which fish the English Channel so win some lose some I suppose.

I am sure there is a lot of potential up your way. As well as lobsters how about scallops? Some areas in Scotland have a lot of scollies. Cod must also be a good target species but maybe we shouldn't mention the extremely big Porbeagles up north.

Good huntin' and keep up the reports.

Dave.

 

[agbiv]

Welcome from Texas!

 

[Ferry Louper]

I'm using a custom Elios 7mm down here in balmy Orkney and it really is the business. Toasty year round! Would love to meet up sometime - 8 years in Orkney and yet to make it to Shetland!

 

[ReefTroll]

Welcome to DB mate.