South Devon 2016

[halfandy]

I went for a 'fun' dive at Babbacombe last night. Vis was ok 3m or so. A few small school Bass were close to the shore, and a few small lobsters and eels dotted about here and there. On the way back in I came across a pretty big patch of molting spider crabs. There must have been hundreds of them! I tried a few, but all were soft, so I left them. Cool sight though.
The water in Dawlish looked clear enough, so will probably try somewhere over there this evening.

 

[Trelawney]

We had a dive off the back of the Mewstone near Plymouth yesterday. I followed a length of fishing mono over a reef, hoping for a nice lure or a spinner. I saw an orange object on the end of the line, so I grabbed it thinking it was an rubber eel. Turns out it was the end of a fishing rod. I pulled it out of the gully it was stuck in, and a whole rod came out. Best of all was the brand new Penn multiplier on the end of it! Not a bad way to end a dive.

 

[stan7]

Any Vis anywhere ?

stan

 

[Brett Garrett]

Any Vis anywhere ?

stan

Went to Charmouth today, low tide vis less than half meter,

 

[scrumpy]

Easterly here for next week or so, teignmouth already gone, only places will be thurlestone side mate

 

[halfandy]

The easterly wind is welcome for once. I've been given a surfboard to have a go on!

I'm hoping to dive at Thurlestone on Thursday afternoon.

 

[scrumpy]

Even there web cams look iffy. Check cottage hotel web cam, hope cove, distant breakers ? Viz, I was going tonight but not worth the trip

 

[halfandy]

Yes, I've been keeping an eye on that webcam for the last few days. It looked calmer today. So long as I get >3m vis I'll be happy enough. October is likely to be my last chance to dive for a while so I'll make do with whatever is on offer.

 

[scrumpy]

keep us updated mate

 

[halfandy]

Vis was ok, a bit patchy. Around 3-5m of good vis. More is some spots, less in others. I startled a school of mullet in the shallows and managed to get one of the smaller ones. Saw a few small bass about, small pollack etc. I saw a cormorant chasing bait fish too. That was pretty cool. I was planning on doing a night dive as well, but feeling the cold a bit too much, I ditched that in favor of the grilled mullet and glass of wine plan.

 

[Trelawney]

With such great weather today, it would've been rude not to go for a dive. I took a trip to one of my favourite plaice spots to see whats about. Viz was stunning from the cliff path. I jumped in to be met by 10+m viz and really warm water. There was a cross/offshore wind that was dragging the float which was annoying.

No sooner had I loaded my gun, I saw a silver bass tail sticking out from under a ledge. Took the shot, and it went ballistic. Way bigger than it looked. I dropped the gun and let it run on the floatline. It then did a great job of wrapping everything around a clump of kelp.

That went on the stringer so I had a poke about for flatties. Loads of flounders about, at least ten I saw, but it was plaice I was after. I was rewarded 12m down with a good solid fish. A good hour hunting for more produced nothing so I called it a day.
Also found two expensive frisbees too. Bass weighted in at 9lb and the plaice at 3lb

 

[foxfish]

Awesome mate, that plaice looks in prime eating condition.

 

[Dai ASBO]

Great catch Trelawney, good report too.

 

[Trelawney]

Awesome mate, that plaice looks in prime eating condition.

It's filleted and baking in the oven as I'm typing this.
The bass I had to fillet and cut down into steaks. There were so many parasitic worms in the flesh around the gut though.
My vintage Spaniard booties are working a treat

 

[Trelawney]

My OMD DB "Fish Of The Month" trophies have taken their place in our recently decorated lounge. I'm still admiring the craftsmanship all these years later. The good 'ole days of DeeperBlue.....

 

[foxfish]

Yes it is funny how things can change but great memories all the same, they look great on your table mate

 

[scrumpy]

Hopefully those days will return

 

[halfandy]

I'd noticed looking through old threads that there used to be more posts on deeperblue. Has there been a decrease in the numbers of people spearfishing in the uk? Have posts moved to facebook? Or have people just given up reporting?

 

[foxfish]

Yes, we have gone from 500 post a day to 20 post a day!
This has happened to many forums due to various factors, facebook being largely responsible but the novelty of posting on forums has long past.
We still have hundreds of hits every day but folk read and don't post!
However you never know what is around the corner, facbook has its own issues so things might turn around one day.
This forum, like many other dedicated forums, has a huge database of info for anyone to read & many people still do.
This fact becomes apparent when a large fish is reported and all of a sudden people who have not posted for a long time will supply a like or even a comment.
Lets try to get things alive by posting, even if it is not a report.

 

[shiny1]

I used to enjoy posting a dive report but things got a bit funny on here with people taking offence if you took to many fish or there was just the jealous type who moaned about anything. Plus I had lots of time on my hands which was a big factor.
I don't have the time these days like I used to, and i like to keep a lot of what I do private seeing I fish for a living.
I have only done about 5 shore dives this year and 3 of them was back in April early May time.
I did a week in Norway recently just spearfishing which was a struggle seeing I wasn't dive fit. Good thing there was plenty of big fish around.
I did my first boat dive in this country last Friday looking for flatties. I haven't dived the ground for over a year so expected or more hoped for a few. I doubt I will get a chance to dive it again this year so intended to get as many as possible. I have one of those modern inventions home called a freezer I intended to store the fish in until I eat them. Sorry for the sarcastic remark.
First fish of the day in about 8m was a nice Pollack of about 7lbs. I then started finding the plaice and if you found one there was another close by so I would stab the first and shoot the second one. I did manage a nice red mullet on one dive. Lots of small 6inch bass around in a massive shoal and also lots of herrings pilchards and mackerel. I was suffering a lot from leg cramps on the day through dehydration which made me call it a day for diving. All the plaice were in the 9/10m depth with the same in vis.
I started the day off rod n line fishing before I dived at first light then ended the day up until dark back rod n line fishing for bass. It was meant to be a day off from fishing but couldn't help myself