South Devon report 2007

[Jez]

Can anyone give me a few tips on diving around Bigbury and Burgh Island (without a boat). I've surfed Bantham and Challaborough so am reasonably aware of the rips during a swell but wondered if a circuit of the island was a bad idea without boat cover?

 

[Spiderman]

I speared my first fish (a pollack) by the rocks on the East side of Burgh Island.
I saw some reasonable sized mullet there as well right up close to the beach, and a small flounder by the river mouth.
An angler I spoke to told me he had seen two spearos swim round the island and come back with several large Bass. I don't know if this means it is safe to do so, but it certainly sounds like it's worth investigating.
Hope Cove is a good launch site and a fairly short boat ride away, so if a boat is a good idea I could bring one along

 

[Allan B]

Funny you should all be talking about Bigbury Bay as that is where I’ve spent the day exploring.

Started at Hope Cove with the plan of paddling up to Bigbury, then stop off at a couple of spots for a dive on the way back. Unfortunately only got as far as the next bay past Warren Point as yet again the wind got the better of me :vangry , so after Half hour relaxing and watching the golfers (almost sent me to sleep) I kitted up and headed back out to Warren Point.

Spent an hour diving in 3-7mtr with 2mtr viz, nice deep sided gullies, May Water showing on the bottom. Two Wrasse and plenty of spider crabs, nothing taken so moved on.

Next stop was to be the Books but it was to exposed to the wind which was howling off shore so moved on past Thurlestone Rock towards Great Ledge. Dived about 400mtr out in 10mtr, viz was appalling, certainly no more than a 1mtr, if the May Water was in any bigger blobs I swear it would bite.

Dive three was a half hearted attempt close in at Beacon Point, was originally going to look for the wreck of the Empire Harry but I think I’d of hit it before I sore it.

Not a bad day and will be back here again as soon as things clear up as the hole area looks like it’s full of potential.

My Yak

Hope Cove

Thurlestone Rock

Beacon Point

Map

Allan

 

[grunter]

jez, the island has great diving, your best to enter the water 2-3 hrs before high from the challaborugh side of the causway, slow fin round to the northwest piont, at this tide there will be a strong tidal race (water squeezed from the north of bigbury bay) dont fin off the island too far out stay close in, you can then duck in and out of the current, resting out of the race sheltered by 2-3 rocky outcrops. good bass. you could then drift around to the southern pionts some nice swim thru,s. as you come back to the coauseway stay close in to the island (use the eddies) as by then the tide will have flooded the sand and the tide wips across north south over the causway. hard swim . lots of boat activity out of the avon and off chally. remember your SMB!!. depth from 4mts to 30mts relatively steep shelving. if you see an ally seastrike with a 20hp honda its me, say hi. cheers.

 

[Doc]

I also dive bigbury often. I tend to go clockwise first heading out to the reef to the east then I rejoin the island and cruise round the back. if there is a big tide you can sneak up close inshore then come out and drift back deep. Loads of crab round there too. on the NW point is a fun swim through then on the way back to the beach are a couple of sheltered shallow inlets often productive for bass. If I am short on time then I usually head here first but a full circuit is fun.
Finally the Pilchards has good bass but only in glasses!!

 

[scottwilson]

Well doesnt seem to be much reason to get in the water of late snd my trigger happy finger's been getting itchy so I took the plunge and bought myself a bsa supersport 1.77 air rifle with scope I LOVE IT I can see many hours of fun with this on the days when the spearfishing gets a bit slack. I bagged my first rabbit with a loverly head shot over the weekend. and was going to bag another until an old fool and his wife chased me off the field. BUMMER

Any1 on the forums enjoy a bit of bunny bashing and fancy sharing a few good spot for it.

 

[scottie3030]

scott you should go very careful, armed trespass and poaching is a very serious offence but they have to catch you first you should get some pigoen decoys ive had hours of fun shooting pigeons and they taste almost as good as bass! thats wood pigeon not ferrals!

 

[Mr. X]

i think they've already arrived we just cant see them yet! when i was in the water today it just felt fishy, if you know what i mean?

You guys must be optimists ... when I dive in the murk I feel like the sea is empty of all life! (The same feeling I get casting a rod into the sea).

HI I am a new user to this forum there is a lot of good posts on here, i would disagree that nobody discloses there secret spots on a forum?? we all talk about the spots we fish in of which there are spots you hope nobody else would go to.Spearomatt is a good target he talks about all the places he fishes at (good on him)

I figure I will tell people about lots of places, including obscure ones (I like obscure locations) -- that way we don't all have to end up the same place all the time! Not much point having a spearing discussion forum if we don't discuss stuff. I occassionally withhold specifics if I'm planning to return soon, if there is a danger of exhausting an area quickly, or if the area is pretty much the same as the rest of the vicinity. Sometimes folks PM for specifics - that's fine too, I'll often share more detailed info. with one or two others (as others have done for me). I'll give specifics if viz is bad or no fish are seen, as it might save others time and fuel, or at least go with realistic expectations.

Hey, no criticising SpearoMatt - he must already be Britain's most prolific spearing video maker and he's not even old enough to drive yet! (Future Jacques Cousteau, spearing champ, guide writer,...?)

 

[paulrossiter]

Hi fella's

I went out a few weeks back with a well known contributer to the forum and both of us had our first Bass of the year, some 5 weeks ahead of last year.

We actually dived in Cornwall on the South coast on an off shore reef with great vis. The Bass screamed in on our first few dives, there after we had to look into the cracks and gully's and picked a few out of those. I even had a Conger swim alongside for a chat when tucked into a little gully. My buddy also dived a wreck to 56feet and picked up a few Pollock to about 4lbs. Anyway here are a few photo's from our early season dive.

Cheers Paul

 

[Old Man Dave]

Nice catch Paul. How big were the bass?

Dave

 

[fearthespear]

Well done Paul and well known contributor. That is a cracking fish feast! The fish seem to be making an early appearence all round...great news! No doubt those pics will stir everyones enthusiasm! I'm busting to get in already and it's only monday...

 

[scottie3030]

whats the chances of the water clearing for thursday?

 

[spearheads]

Nice catch. Paul i couldn't finish of the day with out leaving one more thing behind, there is a mask in your car of mine.

 

[tonyiannu]

Very nice Paul and the fishes looks also a good size too,would like to be in the water now.Let me know how did you cook it!!!!

 

[Spaniard]

YEP thats me this forum has more going on than the BSA one at this time! so who are you we must have met some where in comps let us know, it would be good to talk to a fellow fisher

Hello mate, this is Juan, used to sell Sporasub gear a few years ago. How's it going? Saw you with Gordon Ramsay on the TV. He learned how to catch bass quickly.rofl rofl

 

[Spaniard]

I speared my first fish (a pollack) by the rocks on the East side of Burgh Island.
I saw some reasonable sized mullet there as well right up close to the beach, and a small flounder by the river mouth.
An angler I spoke to told me he had seen two spearos swim round the island and come back with several large Bass. I don't know if this means it is safe to do so, but it certainly sounds like it's worth investigating.
Hope Cove is a good launch site and a fairly short boat ride away, so if a boat is a good idea I could bring one along

Be careful near Bantham as there are some pretty nasty rip tides there; having said that it is good ground for bass

 

[waterbird]

HI THERE all - can someone tell me about pots and crabs and what the law is there. Can anyone put out a pot? Going to get a boat and wondered if it is legal to drop a pot off the back.
Also - in the few outings I've been under (with rocks up my wetsuit cos I'm yet to get real weights...) I've been confused at all the fish. Does anyone recommend a good way to learn which fish are edible.... they look quite similar and move so fast!!!
thanks

 

[Mr. X]

Nice catch Paul - inspiring. How was the visibility - I tend to think of Cornwall as being a place to take a long gun (90/100cm) but noticed you used a 70cm RA (with 20mm rubbers?)?

Hi Waterbird, I think almost all fish around the UK are edible - but others will correct me if I'm wrong - I'd probably avoid weaver fish but wouldn't be surprised if they were edible too. I've seen mainly wrasse (of various types, the big colourful ones are Ballan Wrasse), pollock & bass, which are all edible. Others seem to get various flatfish (plaice, dab, sole,...) & mullet fairly regularly - again, edible. Conger eel, garfish, bream & dogfish are distinctive & edible. There are some good websites with pictures.

I picked up a fish identification chart at Portland Oceaneering -- an inexpensive folding waterproof sheet with lots of colour pictures, names & average sizes. There are at least two books on British sea fish/fauna available. Seafood cook books with pictures can be useful too. Pity some UK spearos didn't put together a booklet like Len Jones did in South Africa - as well as a very concise, illustrated introduction to spearfishing, it includes a hand drawn pictures and a discription of the main fish they hunt over there for about 4 quid (available from spearo.co.uk).

I think anyone can place pots for personal consumption but commercial fishing requires a licence. Either way, there are minimum size limits on crab & lobster.

 

[paulrossiter]

Hi,

I used a 90cm Rabitech (from Spearo), which is a dream to use, very quiet and smooth with 16mm rubbers and Dynema wishbone. Not sure why I put the RA in the picture?

The Largest fish was 5lb 1oz.

I've got to say it was a real surprise to see the Bass so early but a real bonus.

Let's hope we are all in for a good year.

 

[Spiderman]

Does anyone recommend a good way to learn which fish are edible.... they look quite similar and move so fast!!!
thanks

Best bet is learn what bass, mullet and pollack look like first and don't shoot anything else until you are dead sure what it is and whether it worth eating. These three are pretty easy to indentify once you've looked at a few pictures. The other thing you really need to learn is the minimum sizes for these species (remembering of course that everything looks bigger underwater).
These sites should help:
http://www.underwaterpics.co.uk/
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