South Devon report 2007

[spearheads]

Hi Dave have you got all your gear yet, what gun have you got.
weather looks even better today going to give it another try might take the camera.

 

[Allan B]

Spearheads, if you go down check out Babbacombe harbour Wall, there is a digger and what looks like a work hut on it.

I must stop spending so much of my time watching web cams

Babbacombe webcam

Exmouth Webcam

Lyme Regis Webcam

Croyde Surfcam


Allan

 

[spearheads]

Allan you should get out more often.rofl
Now to the sea it was a cold fish-less desert with Little visibility.
I dont know what they were doing to the babbacombe pier wall i was going to have a look but i could not be bothered to swim to it.
I say to my self each time i get out god i going to wait till spring but as soon as i get home i cant wait to get back in.rofl

 

[daveduvet]

I have just bought the seac x fire. I hope i made the right choice! It arrives tomorrow! It has no reel though, do you think i will need one?
I went to Ansteys cove for the first time today for a look, I couldn't believe how lovely it was there - the water looked glorious! If I had my suit I would have taken a plunge for sure. Then I went ovet to Babbacombe. I tried to spot the rock that allan b and yourself talked about a few posts back but I couldn't see it. Which side of the beach is it?

 

[spearheads]

Ansteys cove is a boring place to dive in my opinion. It looks great from the beach with the high cliffs an all that but its rather shallow and featureless unless you know were to look ( secret) you will soon find out your own secrets for spots were you dive.
As for babbacombe i only dive there with out a gun as its fish-less i think its due to the noise of the holiday makers and scuba diver bubbles that scare the fish of. Around the corner from the right of babbcombe pier is good for mullet and small bass in the summer.
I would try oddicome when the water clears up if you look in Devon report 06 you will find in there a great spot for bass its a big rock with smaller rocks scatted around it ,this is were i have had my biggest bass this year. Its quite hard to find for its size also on a high tide its around 8 meters deep.
looking towards babbacombe from oddicombe there is a long reef on the right of the beach, It seems to only hold fish on a rising tide and high tide fish the edge of the reef by the sand for the biggest fish. If you feel brave there are some congers under the ledges.
Good luck this summer.

 

[Huw]

I have just bought the seac x fire. I hope i made the right choice! It arrives tomorrow!

Nice one mate... thats the next band gun on my list.... i really love the look of it, and particularly like the look of the trigger and the muzzle... you will have to give us a report on how it goes!

As for a reel, not many spearos at all in the uk use them... most preffering a siple floar setup. Just try a search on the top of the site, theres loads to read on the different types... just experiment and see what works for you though mate.

I wish you all the best for the beginning of the season, ( to all of you ) and look forward to reading successful trip reoprts!

Huw.

PS: any of you get a triggerfish last year?

 

[spearheads]

you dont need a reel.
2 wraps will do if you dont know how to rig a gun look at http://forums.deeperblue.net/beginner-hunting/64504-dummies-guide-rigging-speargun.html.
Nice looking gun would be nice to hear how it shoots.
What size is it .(the gun of obviouslyrofl )

 

[daveduvet]

cheers Huw, i will let you know what I think- although I will have nothing to compare it too! Thanks for the advise about the reel, i will check out the simple float set up you mention.
Thanks for the tip spearheads, do you mean the reef is towards the pier?Before withy point?

 

[daveduvet]

the gun is the 85, glad there is no reel! I think i got a bargin at £99!

 

[spearheads]

85 that's a good size, great for hole fishing and can be used for open water.
sorry Dave i dont follow you, withy waty point .
the reef that follows to babbacombe is parallel to the big boulders that runs over to babbacome.

 

[daveduvet]

sorry! I didn't make that clear. Where do you refere to when you say babacombe? On my OS map there is no babacome beach marked. There is oddicombe beach that links with another small un named beach that has a sml pier on it and a pub. Is this babacombe beach?

 

[spearheads]

Thats the one ,with the pub and pier.
I have a gift for you it will be here later.

 

[daveduvet]

Cool, I like gifts!
Do you mind if I ask you if there is anywhere along this coast that you don't advise diving because of strong currents? I noticed you said that hopes nose is pretty bad.

 

[spearheads]

oh bugger i lost it all i will have to start again.
PIC 1
This is the best place to spearfish were it is red ,big rock with smaller ones around it. just to scare you blue sharks have been reported here by the scuba divers and trust me this place is creepy i always feel like I'm being watched, but this is were all the 10 pound bass live.rofl

The green is closer in reefs but still good. again this pic is low tide so the reefs will be further out on high tide.

The second pic shows rocks sticking out this is the reef that runs to babbacombe from oddicombe. Lots of bass and mullet here and congers.
This pic is on a very low tide so on a high you cant see the rocks.
Try spearing a bit further out than the rocks.


The front on hopes nose has a very very strong current that will kill you also thatcher rock will kill you. Always fish the left of hopes nose try the cliffs towards ansteys cove big pollock here.


If you want a dive guide for any where in the bay just ask.

 

[daveduvet]

hey you are a star man! After my new suit arrives i will make this my first dive. Its really good to get advice from you! Hope to see you out there one day! I did look at thatchers rock and could see huge torrents of water moving alongside it! Shame as it would be great to explore it.
Do congers make a good eat do you know?

 

[spearheads]

As long as your filleting skills are good they are great eating. I speared on under babbacombe pier this summer, you get big conger steaks off them yum yum.
Many people fear the conger due to its lovely jaw, if you try and spear one shot it in the face..
What suit you got .

 

[daveduvet]

Ok I'll go for the head shot-I bet they still wriggle for a while though!
I went for a Apnea sub "triton" i think its called. I got it from spearo dave. I have had knee pads added and have had the whole thing made in black-I didn't go for camo as I know my friends would take the p*ss out of me! And and as spearo dave said, camo is designed to catch divers and not fish!
I also got hold of a sevylor dive hunter float that looks great-have you seen one? Its really well made and offers plenty of room for kit and will provide a decent platform to rest on when out of breath! The whole thing packs down fairly small and weighs under 5k so is really portable.

 

[daveduvet]

took a trip over to ladram bay today. Water was brown a horrible. Any one got any experience with that stretch of coast? I know about beer and branscombe but is there any where else worth exploring?

 

[Spiderman]

I've had a couple of nice mullet at Sidmouth but visibility is rarely good - shooting at shadows is typical.

 

[spearheads]

I'm going to try ansteys cove tomorrow or oddicombe.
what ever looks best i will have a dip.
I got the same suit but without knee pads, i got some wetsuit glue for when i get a tear in my suit, most of my cuts are one the knees and chest.

Well the sea is not looking very inviting so i'm going to buy some spearing stuff to make up for the weather.