Sea Angling for Spearos

[ADM]

Not sure if you all collect your own bait, but I try to as much as possible as it all adds up, especially worm, king rag imported from the UK is £14 a lb. Went verm digging today (see Fishing Guernsey - Baits - Verm) since it's big springs, well as big as they will get this year (9.8m high and 0.6m low). They are found in the type of ground in the pic and only on ground which uncovers on tides below about 1.5m. I reckon this stuff would sell at least double the price of king rag if you could buy it. I'm certainly not selling any of mine!!

Was dug with the trenching tool not the fork. Fork was next to useless in that ground though there are a very few spots where a fork can be used, which are pretty well dug out now.

Well worth the dig IMO, very juicy, full of blood, very tough and can also be frozen and still very good after defrosting. I used some with a client last year and he likened it to Dungie blacks. No idea if that's accurate or not?

 

[miles]

Hiya

We get the EXACT same worm here!! Called "WONDERWORM" locally. We're not allowed to remove them with any sort of implement, only your bare hands. Wreaks havoc with your fingernails!!

Arguably one of THE best baits for our South African fish. Many a time a angler arrives with wonderworm and he'll be the ONLY guy to catch fish, usually PLENTY of fish, whilst the others anglers are merely spectators.

How do you preserve them? I normally wash them off in salt water, seperate the broken ones, then wrap all the head parts in a newspaper sheet. This gets put in the vegatable rack in the refridgerator. This keeps good for a week or so. The bodies i salt and then wrap in newspaper and then freeze. I also freeze the heads, unsalted, if i'm keeping them for long term storage.

Regards
miles

 

[ADM]

I thought they were native to the channel isles only. Latin for our species is Marphysa sanguinea

I keep them in a bait fridge with the temp set warmer than a domestic fridge, the worms don't like it as cold as a normal fridge. Keep them in garden planting trays lined with newspaper and sawdust under and lightly dusted over them. Keep for a fortnight.

For freezing I use those cheap chinese takeaway style metal trays with the paper lids, you just fold the edges of the tray over the lid. Again, mix well with sawdust in the tray and freeze like that, session sized tub as well. Not as bloody when defrosted but still tough and smelly. The smell is very obvious, like a smell test, blindfolded I can tell you what an orange (for example) is and various foods, and also verm as well!!

 

[ADM]

p.s. Bare hands only!!!!! Can't be many people use them then!! I wouldn't get any with my bare hands where we need to dig!!

 

[Mr. X]

Along with Spring tides, the weather on the S. coast is stormy/windy this week. I seem to recall that some beachcasters like heavy weather (cod/bass?). Any thoughts on fishing after the storm has passed? Will the washed up weed attract mullet or other species in, or is it too wintery for such activity?

Miles, those 3oz lures would be too heavy for my 2oz-rated rod. I could troll one from the yak -- although I already have half a dozen handlines already set up to try out this summer. The new Veals catalogue showed up in the mail Saturday. They have a heavier lure rod rated to 90g (~3oz) which caught my eye, although a couple of people on the thread suggested going for a 4oz rod. Actually I quite enjoy seeing how much I can do with my current rod - 60g/2oz is quite light weight for sea fishing but you can still do quite a lot with it. Veals also offer a sea flyfishing kit (#9 I think) for £99, which looks interesting.

I bought some decent "Cobalt" drill bits to finish drilling my remaining flounder spoons - they work sooo much better. I also drilled the cut off handles. They could probably be used as Slim Jim tobies or tied them together to make a flasher.

 

[Pav]

Mr X. I have a photo for you! I think it may get you excited. Drop us your email on a pm and I'll send it to you to put on this thread. Took it very close to South Kensington Station. Can you guesse what I saw?! :t

Sorry I have never mastered the art of posting photos or I would post it myself for your pleasure!! Pav.

 

[atomichaggis]

Mr.X,

What would you fish one of those big feck off lures for? Knocking fish over the head? Casting 90 grams over and over again will knacker you out 60 gram is heavy for a lure rod.

No need for a flyfishing kit, just use a bomber and fly, just use your spinning rod, much longer range too. Tho if you are set on a flyrod I recommend a G.Loomis Nativerun GLX 10' #8 like mine

I done a major stupid today...
I went on a spending spree at weekend and bought a pile of the cheap wobblers from the Norwegian equivalent of halfords. 3 types, the larger one like the veals bass bandit, topwater pencil types and little fat ones that I was told were trout killers.
So, after work today i set off with my speedmaster 300ML some wobblers, bombers and flies.
Took out one of the little fat wobblers and on its first cast was pursued by a potential fish of my life... Bang! it got hit so hard I was sure I had it but it just popped out the fishes mouth. I thought that was bad luck, then it took a second shot at it and ping! it popped out again. I couldn't believe my bad luck... that trout was several kilos! and I bounced it twice on treble hooks.
i carried on fishing for a bit then decided to change pattern. It was then I realised my mistake... the wobblers still had hook guards on :head
The day wasn't a total waste tho, I switched to a 15gram sinking trout bomber and tied on a 'polar magnus' flie and caught me a breakfast

 

[ADM]

Nice fishy. And that made me laugh about the hook guards!!

 

[atomichaggis]

It got worse before it got better actually...
I began cutting the guards off with a very sharp knife and... *sigh*... profusely bled, sticky red blood all over my gear for the entire session :head
Of course this is the first time I have ever fished without my small first aid kit due to reorganising my gear... Many, many lessons were learned today.
No more Mr. Bean style fishing... Tomorrow I will be prepared!

 

[Mr. X]

roflAtomicHaggis, you have my sympathy. I don't think I've cast a lure with the hook tape still on (yet) but I hate taking that stuff off. Occasionally it comes off easily but more often it's finger accupuncture time. Another pet peeve, hooking myself or my clothes. I laugh when I see those trout bags with game nets on the outside & flyfishing vests with mesh pockets & backs -- I reckon I'd spend most of the day unhooking myself if using lures.

3oz lure? Didn't you read the Mike Ladle link about catching bass on lures almost as big as the bass?

Mr X. I have a photo for you! I think it may get you excited. Drop us your email on a pm and I'll send it to you to put on this thread. Took it very close to South Kensington Station. Can you guesse what I saw?! :t

Sorry I have never mastered the art of posting photos or I would post it myself for your pleasure!! Pav.

roflThe mind boggles! You can post images easily enough, when you create a post like this, just scroll down the page a bit further & press the "Manage Attachments" button. If your file is too big, you can shrink it using the Windows Paint program (run mspaint) & use Image->Stretch&Skew (or control-W) & save it as a jpeg file.

[Strange, your post doesn't offer the usual email option when I click on your name link Pav]

BTW There was a rather demoralising article in Sea Angling this month about Cornish fisherman being forced to fish already under pressure in shore bass fisheries with nets because of changes in quota, against their own better judgement (funny, I thought they recently relaxed white fish quotas). Too many trawlers?

Judging by recent posts on the Dorset threads & ML's recent article, the bass are about BTW This is a very interesting link on bass fishing.

 

[Pav]

Have had to resize the image but seem to have cropped it so its lost its real appeal for Mr X!

The photo is much wider! , and has 100s of Rapalu Lures!

Come out of South Kensington station and there is a small fishing shop. It was shut but in the window is a great presentation of lures! Approx 1m x 1m and 4 ish lures deep!.....

as soon as I saw it I said to my wife.. "I must get a photo of that for Mr X!!"
her reply " who the hell is Mr X!!"

Hope you enjoy the photo and I'll see if I can get the full size version up later, but my current photo editing software is PAINT ! rofl

Cheers!

 

[ADM]

Morning All.

If you don't read the Guernsey thread, I Went fishing last night. Not very nice out with a F8 gusting F10 or so but still...

 

[atomichaggis]

Morning All.

If you don't read the Guernsey thread, I Went fishing last night. Not very nice out with a F8 gusting F10 or so but still...

View attachment 17980

Bass already... You guys must be sick of them. We need to start a fish exchange program and transplant some from here over there and vice versa.
I've booked off 3 weeks in late summer to be in with a chance of a bass and ADM gets one on a windy day in march.
What was it taken on? details, details?...

 

[ADM]

Taken close in where there was a big swell running on "wonderworm". i.e. Verm from the pic further up. 3/0 pennel rig 4oz grip lead, smaller hooks than normal but that's a rockling area and one of them over a lb would have been welcome also.

 

[atomichaggis]

Are there any companies that export this Wonderworm? Not sure if its legal to import the stuff right enough but I'll do anything to get an edge this year

 

[Mr. X]

...
The photo is much wider! , and has 100s of Rapalu Lures!

Come out of South Kensington station and there is a small fishing shop. It was shut but in the window is a great presentation of lures! Approx 1m x 1m and 4 ish lures deep!.....

as soon as I saw it I said to my wife.. "I must get a photo of that for Mr X!!"
her reply " who the hell is Mr X!!"
...

rofl rofl Oh man, don't feed the addiction
Yes, who indeed. Great picture, I love it. Interesting how well the yellow & gold stand out:hmm. Act. just reminded me, I noticed there is a tackle shop within walking distance (just) of where I work that I have yet to visit -- then again, perhaps best that I don't.

Well done ADM ... braving the storm to catch a bass for us to admire. BTW Nice trout AtomicHaggis - also appreciate the inclusion of the fly in the picture - always interesting to see what lure/fly/rig/bait was used.

 

[ADM]

Well done ADM ... braving the storm to catch a bass for us to admire.

Just in case you'd forgetten what they look like, what with the viz down here at about half an inch there could be a wait before you see a speared one.

 

[dave]

The Mike Ladle links off this thread are quite interesting, but does anyone else find a lot of his (and angling writers in general) assertions about bass behaviour a bit fanciful?
In particular this section of his website http://www.mikeladle.com/chapter6.html
which describes someone observing the same individual bass and mullet returning to a section of reef every day seems to have influenced a lot of anglers thinking about how bass behave, but strikes me as total fantasy, and certainly doesn't tally with my observations
There is no way anyone can identify individual fish in the water without tagging or very, very extensive photo records which are reviewed on dry land (although they may honestly believe they can, particularly if it fits in with their preconceptions). The writer is making the classic mistake of assuming that because they saw a similar size bass in the same place 2 days running it must be the same fish. Many times I have seen identical looking bass in the same gully or hole on several occasions, but I know for an absolute certainty that they were not the same fish.........................

cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

 

[atomichaggis]

The behaviour described in the article is credited to a Scientist named D.B. Carlisle and not by the Mike Ladle himself.
I have swam with the same trout on the same beat several times on different days and recognised them by pattern, fin injuries and missing scales... as easilly as recognising a jack russel in a pack. I also caught some of the trout on the fly at the same spot and recognised them easilly enough.
Like facial recognition... it probably depends on how much character you credit the individual fish with, if you only see it as prey then one fish is the same as another.

As far as writing goes... at least he keeps it about the fishing and doesn't try sell you a shakespeare rod every 2 minutes like other UK angling "experts".

 

[dave]

On the subject of fish recognition, there was an interesting article in the most recent Hawaii Skindiver about the supposed territoriality of sharks. The bit that really leapt out at me was a study done on a divesite in Hawaii used for regular tourist dives. The dive guides who dived the site on a daily basis all agreed there were a maximum of 6 different sharks occasionally using the site. Photo id (concentrating on the very subtly different spot markings) over six months identified a minimum of 18 different sharks!
It is very easy to convince yourself you are seeing the same fish (particularly if you indulge in a degree of anthropomorphism ), but without comparing 2 side by side it is impossible to be sure. I have been observing bass underwater for nearly 30 years (and not just as prey) and I would not be able to swear I was seeing the same fish twice
The main point I was trying to make, is that many anglers make assumptions about fish behaviour without ever seeing the whole picture. The D B Carlisle piece has been quoted to me by several anglers as an example of why spearfishing is bad as it wipes out "resident" bass, whereas in reality, i dont think resident bass exist

cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment