Got in today , meadfoot area , very calm sea , vis looked good from the shore , but pretty milky once in but OK 3 metres perhaps , no fish but crab , scallops and razors ( large ! ) and missed out on a lunge at a lobster but have the hole well marked so will look , and try again next time !!
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South Devon 2016
- Thread starter Trelawney
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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Went out for a couple of hours around high tide yesterday afternoon/evening visited a few sheltered areas south of teignmouth, have to say I was impressed by the vis a good 4-5 m in the sheltered areas, didn't get the gun wet spent a little time getting the weighting rite on my new wet suit and having a blast round with my new fins on 
Saw a few fish, nothing big enough to shoot apart from a flatty on the bottom. Marked a couple of fishy looking spots to dive on next time and try my luck
Saw a few fish, nothing big enough to shoot apart from a flatty on the bottom. Marked a couple of fishy looking spots to dive on next time and try my luckWhilst out on my Kayak recently I came across this in a small stony bay overlooking Thatchers rock , it is about 8-9 feet tall , some body must have spent quite a bit of time doing this , even if they are a proficient dry stone waller , I make small ones myself sometimes but this is the biggest i have seen so far !!!
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Took the dinghy out from Teignmouth today. Vis was spoiled by the swell from the easterly wind. 5m ish away from shore reduced to 0.5m closer in. I managed to get a mullet before going over to Ansty's Cove which had pretty decent vis in places. I was hoping to dive off the point, but there was a fishing boat there, so I tried the opposite side. There were lots bait fish, and lots of wrasse and pollack. I took one small pollack, and found a tidy size lobster, but had to put it back as she was burried. Bugger!
Here is a photo from the grey bottom of Ansty's Cove to show the vis. (It was better in the shallow.)
Here is a photo from the grey bottom of Ansty's Cove to show the vis. (It was better in the shallow.)
That's a seriously good photograph.
I hope you don't mind but I've made it my desktop background (2 screens!).Halfandy, I would probably classify that as good or fair-to-good visibility - but perhaps that say more about where/when I dive than where you do
.That's a seriously good photograph.
Glad you liked it .... in case you are wondering it is Prawle Point in the background and it was in winter ...
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Took the dinghy out from Teignmouth again today. The vis was beautiful and the water pretty warm. 5-6m at slack water, reduced to 2-3m mid tide. Lots of life about. Quite a few big mullet seen (I couldn't hit any of them) as well a large school of smallish mullet (30-40cm). Loads of bait fish, a few mackerel (which I also missed) and a few bass that I couldn't get a shot at. One of the bass appeared from over my shoulder and scared the living life out of me. I almost choked!
Many thanks to mirror (at least I think it was) for the underwater salting tip (and the awesome rock tower). I came home with some spiny cockles and razors. Oh and a tidy flounder as well.
A lovely afternoon diving, if not a little frustrating with all the missed fish.
Many thanks to mirror (at least I think it was) for the underwater salting tip (and the awesome rock tower). I came home with some spiny cockles and razors. Oh and a tidy flounder as well.
A lovely afternoon diving, if not a little frustrating with all the missed fish.
....a species which has become much more common since the EU bass fishing restrictions. I've heard the spiny cuttle is also a delicious beast, if unusually shaped for a cephalopod!
Halfandy .........well done on getting some razor clams , and was wondering how you have cooked them as they are very easily overcooked , resulting in white rubber !!!!....I have tried a few ways now and find they need very little cooking at all , however I only eat the foot ( not the whole clam like with mussels ) unless they are from cat A waters then they will need depuration , however just eating the foot is OK as the alimentary canal is discarded ) ... by spiny cockles do you mean dog cockles ? big ones ? or armandes de mer as the frogs call them ..... they look big but there does not appear to be much inside them ..... also the siphons look almost the same as razors so it is easy to get them by mistake !!!.... Do not give away too much about locations of razors as there are commercial interests in them and it would be a shame to see them exploited too much locally , although there are loads of them ...
I deep fry them ( in batter ) sometimes and I think it could be water in the hollow bit of the foot that gives a spectacular spit of hot fat upon immersion !!!! also I slice and shallow fry them as well ....They are also good bait for fishing . I have very rarely seen them for sale in fishmongers etc etc though ...
Razor clams are a favourite of mine. Like you said, very little cooking. I get a big pan of water boiling, chuck the clams in and return to boil vigorously for a minute or two (kill off as many nasties as possible.) Sliced up put in Thai style coconut curries is my favourite, but also good sliced thinly into salads, or in a tomato pasta sauce. I'd never thought of battering them though. I eat the lot apart from the brown/green stomach contents.
As for the spiny cockles, i'm not 100% sure which type they are. They have been cooked, making precise identification difficult. They looked like a big cockle 7-10cm across. They had spines on the shell and a bright red foot that licks around like crazy when dislodged from the sea bed. I believe they are from the Acanthocardia family, but I couldn't them on marlin.ac.uk. I'll make the effort to post a photo next time.
I wonder if the razor clams are sold abroad (like much of our sea food is.) I can't imagine there being a market for them in the U.K.
As for the spiny cockles, i'm not 100% sure which type they are. They have been cooked, making precise identification difficult. They looked like a big cockle 7-10cm across. They had spines on the shell and a bright red foot that licks around like crazy when dislodged from the sea bed. I believe they are from the Acanthocardia family, but I couldn't them on marlin.ac.uk. I'll make the effort to post a photo next time.
I wonder if the razor clams are sold abroad (like much of our sea food is.) I can't imagine there being a market for them in the U.K.
You can see Razor fish, as they are called in Guernsey, in a few of our restaurants & our fishmonger. (only one)
They are no where near as common as they were 20 years ago & the average size is now small!
However it is still pretty easy to dig 30 or so on any spring tide.
They are no where near as common as they were 20 years ago & the average size is now small!
However it is still pretty easy to dig 30 or so on any spring tide.
Dig!!! Invest in some salt, and save your back. When you see a razor hole pour some salt in and walk away a few paces. Within 30 seconds or so the razor will eject it's self from its burrow. Easy pickings.
Well, where I live digging razors is about 50 times more effective than salting.
I have been collecting razors for around 40 years, so I have developed what I feel is the best method.
We do see the odd salter (french) but virtually everybody digs for them, we use a three prong fork and it is quite possible to dig 30 in 10 - 15 mins or 100 in an hour.
Many folk stock up razors for bait and take 200 in a session and that is why the popular beaches only produce small specimens.
The limiting factor is very often the weight as a 5 gallon bucket full (about 100) is really heavy to carry a mile up the beach!
Anyway we simply walk along the shoreline and dig out the blow holes that are visible, it takes one quick fork pushed at the right angle to lift out the razor. (or sometimes two or three)
We dig in soft sand a mixed crushed shell. The most popular coves get really crowded but I tend to visit offshore islands in my boat to find the bigger razors.
We also dig a myriad of other crustaceans and worms, cat bait or white rag is very popular as bait, cockles, sand gaper clams, horse clams and many others. There is one very large clam that we call 'monkey cock' and that one is the most popular as bait, best gilthead bream bait!
Also it is believed that salt kills the clam as it hangs out of it's shell in the bucket and is exposed to air, fishermen in particular like to keep them alive as they often fish the tide back up over the razor beds.
Salt is an irritant to the clam and that is why they rise out of the sand, many people believe that it fools them into believing the tide is in!
I have tried salt but it is a slow method, I can only talk about our beaches, perhaps it works better in other locations?
I have been collecting razors for around 40 years, so I have developed what I feel is the best method.
We do see the odd salter (french) but virtually everybody digs for them, we use a three prong fork and it is quite possible to dig 30 in 10 - 15 mins or 100 in an hour.
Many folk stock up razors for bait and take 200 in a session and that is why the popular beaches only produce small specimens.
The limiting factor is very often the weight as a 5 gallon bucket full (about 100) is really heavy to carry a mile up the beach!
Anyway we simply walk along the shoreline and dig out the blow holes that are visible, it takes one quick fork pushed at the right angle to lift out the razor. (or sometimes two or three)
We dig in soft sand a mixed crushed shell. The most popular coves get really crowded but I tend to visit offshore islands in my boat to find the bigger razors.
We also dig a myriad of other crustaceans and worms, cat bait or white rag is very popular as bait, cockles, sand gaper clams, horse clams and many others. There is one very large clam that we call 'monkey cock' and that one is the most popular as bait, best gilthead bream bait!
Also it is believed that salt kills the clam as it hangs out of it's shell in the bucket and is exposed to air, fishermen in particular like to keep them alive as they often fish the tide back up over the razor beds.
Salt is an irritant to the clam and that is why they rise out of the sand, many people believe that it fools them into believing the tide is in!
I have tried salt but it is a slow method, I can only talk about our beaches, perhaps it works better in other locations?