South Devon 2016

[scrumpy]

stan

where were you approx. PM if you want

cheers

 

[stan7]

scrumpy, sent you a PM

 

[halfandy]

Friday night's fishing effort. Quite a lot of small Bass about, with a few larger fish and a nice mullet as well.

 

[Gazyb]

Hello all looking to try spear fishing for the first time , any help and advice welcome .any one around Plymouth willing to let me tag along to gane some experience thank you

 

[halfandy]

Vis at Teignmouth was pretty good yesterday. 3-5m and lovely and warm on the surface. I saw a few Bass chasing bait fish straight towards me and managed a lucky kebab style shot on one of them! I spent the rest of the dive looking for Mullet. I scared a nice Grey that was hiding in a hole, and missed a Golden Grey by millimeters. The spear must have grazed the top of it's head!
Called an early finish due to jet ski's, and boats zipping about too close for comfort.

 

[halfandy]

Thoroughly enjoyable dives. I spent way too long in the water today. Vis only slightly less than yesterday. There were quite a few Bass about, up until I shot one only to have the spear rip out, and the fish escape. I suspect he went and told all the other Bass to beware as I only saw tiny schoolies afterwards. There were a few Grey Mullet, but couldn't get a shot on any of them. I did manage to get two Golden Grey's from a pretty large school that came by.
I also found out that it's possible to catch razor clams without salt. The trick is to quickly dig your finger in a few inches away from them, and poke diagonally down towards the clam so you trap it against the side of its burrow (gotta be quick). At this point you can get your thumb or other hand involved to wriggle the clam out. It's not as effective as using salt, but after I got the technique I caught about 50% of the clams I tried for.

 

[halfandy]

I went spearfishing down at my local beach last night. When I first got in, the metal wishbone snapped as I was loading the gun, putting a tidy cut on my finger. (I'm glad it was only my finger though, and not somewhere face related!) I spent about 20 min, and 2 attempts to bodge a wishbone out of the string from my line boingy. Eventually I managed to get something working at the cost of another gash to my hand. So, I finally get back in the water to find the vis is pretty crap. <1m. Back out, another walk down the beach and I managed to find some slightly better vis, around 2m this time. Not ideal, but being wet already I decided to give it a go. I swam around for 10min or so peering through the gloom with my hand throbbing when I suddenly saw my spear inches away from the head of a very nice bass! Proper lucky!

 

[spearoeddy]

Looks like you got a great fish for your troubles!

I've been staring at the rather tired bands on my gun for a few months thinking I should replace them.

I had an unused rubber sling for the same gun sat around so I figured I'd put it on the gun in case something happened to the other bands.

Last weekend I was in the middle of a rather long session and miles from the car in a rugged bit of the south hams with a big cliff to go up in order to get back......when the bands snapped!

Thankfully I wasn't in any danger of being injured by it but I was able to continue fishing.

I found 2 bands were a bit of a pain but I like anything which stops me wrecking the session with a mechanical!

I think the lesson is probably to maintain the bands properly and to have some spares and spare wishbones.


Ed.

 

[scrumpy]

Teignmouth usual.
Havent dived much this year, I take hunter float with spare gun, well into 2nd year bands. I found when i started didnt always cock right - sounds wrong!! So wishbone was put under pressure or pinged against the gun whilst out of the water, causing it to break or weaken.

 

[stan7]

Dived the high tide this morning just up from babacombe, snotty 2-3M vis. loads o bass around good to see BUT all below or around MLS. Had a few long pop shots at some distance mullet i could make out, but no fish on the stringer. Good to have a dive though.

 

[halfandy]

I've gone with a diy dyneema wishbone for the moment. I was thinking it should be easier to repair/bodge, and less dangerous than a broken metal wishbone. Plus, I could get the string locally, and cheap.

Dived Babbacombe area yesterday. Vis was around 3m. Lots of small school Bass about, and a few Pollack that were close to being big enough. Little else worth mentioning. Came home empty handed.

 

[Trelawney]

Aye, metal wishbones are evil things. Just make sure you file the spear notch smooth so the sharp edges don't cut the dyneema. Or alternatively, buy a new spear with shark fins.

 

[halfandy]

Aye, metal wishbones are evil things. Just make sure you file the spear notch smooth so the sharp edges don't cut the dyneema. Or alternatively, buy a new spear with shark fins.

Yes, I did think of a spear with shark fins, but i'm not sure they'd do the closed muzzle much good. I did a bit of smoothing, I'll keep an eye on the dyneema. It's not got to last too much longer. I've sold myself on a new gun for next season. Something a bit better, preferably open muzzle with a rail and a stainless spear. My current gun will likely get cut down for a bad vis or hole hunting gun.

 

[stan7]

Hi all any south Hams vis reports would be welcome, thinking of going tommorw after work.
cheers
Stan

 

[halfandy]

Your in luck, well kind of. I dived at Thurlestone today. Vis wasn't that great. 1-2m close to shore (within 100m of shore) improving to about 4m further out. There were lots of baby Mullet in the shallow water. A few small Bass and Mackerel a bit further out, and some big enough Bass a bit further out again. I came home empty handed however. Mostly enjoyable none the less. All apart from some tit with a rib and a ringo that needed to thrash it around close to shore. I'm pretty sure he knew I was there too...

 

[stan7]

That sort of thing seems to happen to often, jet skis, ribs ect getting way to close for comfort and destroying any chance of a fish. Thanks for the Vis update i will let you know i get on.

 

[Brett Garrett]

Went out tonight at Exmouth maer rocks height tide, via 2-3 Mts, nothing about but nice dive

 

[stan7]

Hi all, got in on thus after work south hams for a change, dident dissapoint loads of schoolie bass up close, missed a 4 lber picked up a nice mullet and someother stuff. Vis was good could make out reef 20 ft down great dive deff worth the long drive. Trying somewere nearer to home this eve if vis looks ok.

 

[scrumpy]

I was in last night east Devon, poor viz big tide. Quite a few bass but nothing worth taking. Disappointing as thought the cams looked great diving conditions. Teignmouth had 3-4 m yesterday

 

[Dai ASBO]

Dived Torquay Friday afternoon with generally 2-3 meters vis. Took a good swim out to a spot I've not gotten around to this year that has previously held large mullet and bass. Got there and push of the tide was noticeable. Nothing around apart from a couple of small bass so headed back in shore. On way back took a couple of dives in a an area I'd not dived before - turned out that's where all the large mullet and larger bass have been eluding me most of the season. This was in 8-10 meters of water and an ideal sea bed with various large rocks and reef. Was lining up a shot on a large bass when it took off, had seen another the dive previously. Then the next few dives saw large groups of sizeable mullet come about, but couldn't line up a decent shot with my 60, wish I had my 90 but had expected poorer vis. Had the push of the tide not made it impossible to hold the location would have had a nice little haul but instead chose to leave it for another day and move into stiller waters. Will definitely be going back at some point and hopefully get a dinner or 2 out of it. I knew the area holds bass but usually just above or below legal catch size - nice to pinpoint them a bit further out. Have had a few good takes this season but nothing on comparison to previous years - there has been loads of average bass and mullet about but very few worth taking. Glad to come across some decent size fish at last. So despite coming away empty handed was a good dive - nice to dive a bit deeper than usual too.