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South Devon report 2007

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#784
Tried Ansteys and Hopes yesterday at high tide late afternoon. Usual swarms of mullet. 3 bass seen, all too small, gonna revisit Budleigh soon and explore around Prawle Point if the damn weather would cheer up.
 
#785
Jez said:
Tried Ansteys and Hopes yesterday at high tide late afternoon. Usual swarms of mullet. 3 bass seen, all too small, gonna revisit Budleigh soon and explore around Prawle Point if the damn weather would cheer up.
Click to expand...

Jez

If your coming to Budleigh give me a buzz and i'll come with if thats ok?
It's my local dive and i'm pretty flexible on dates.

Tribs :)
 
#786
Its a type of algea bloom that makes the water and shelfish in it toxic by taking out all the oxygen from the water. This year it was so bad the fish suffocated and normally it can only be cleared by strong winds and seein that we didnt have the correct wind direction it didnt go away, heres a pic of what it looked like in some areas Red tide at Muizenberg on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
and heres a more detailed explanation of what it is [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tide]Red tide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
Cheers and happy hunting to ya all
 
#788
tribs said:
...Typical though that two obviously experienced Spearo's have given conflicting advice; one high tide under the fast tide and the other at dead low awater in the stringweed! Both probably worth a try on the right day...
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Yes, both worth a try. I agree with all that Foxfosh said.

The tide discussion did get surprisingly heated. Incoming tides into bays have been lucky for me so far, although perversely my best catch day so far was on the edge of bay at low tide (a Spring tide, so very low) - went back a few months later under similar conditions and saw only one decent size fish, briefly though. I think the upshot of the discussion was that you can catch at any state of the tide but some conditions/locations combinations work better than others, for some people. Classic advice (from sea anglers as well as spearos) is that in general (uh-oh) fish come into a bay on the flood tide & move out to the headlands on the lowering tide. It makes sense from at least 2 perspectives: the bay shrinks on a low tide so there is less water to hold fish/divers/...; also fish come in to feed on worms, maggots, crabs, shellfish covered by the high tide (and predators to feed on the other fish).

Fast flowing water will sometimes hold a few bass (at least it has a couple of times for me) - watch out though.

Re. scuba divers, it varies. They might just be waiting for you to speak. I usually speak to them if I see them and so far they have all been friendly and several quite helpful, with fish sightings and information of vis/depth/torches/.... One reminisced that he hadn't seen anyone spearfishing since the 70's. There must be quite a few spearos that scuba dive too, I've met one. I have a friend who is a dive instructor, as is his wife - they don't eat seafood, they just like looking at things and taking pictures. I don't think he fully approves but he is smart enough to realize that this a sustainable (i.e. harmless) & healthy way to fish, and that our interests have a lot in common.
 
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#789
Mr. X said:
Yes, both worth a try. I agree with all that Foxfosh said.

The tide discussion did get surprisingly heated. Incoming tides into bays have been lucky for me so far, although perversely my best catch day so far was on the edge of bay at low tide (a Spring tide, so very low) - went back a few months later under similar conditions and saw only one decent size fish, briefly though. I think the upshot of the discussion was that you can catch at any state of the tide but some conditions/locations combinations work better than others, for some people. Classic advice (from sea anglers as well as spearos) is that in general (uh-oh) fish come into a bay on the flood tide & move out to the headlands on the lowering tide. It makes sense from at least 2 perspectives: the bay shrinks on a low tide so there is less water to hold fish/divers/...; also fish come in to feed on worms, maggots, crabs, shellfish covered by the high tide (and predators to feed on the other fish).

Fast flowing water will sometimes hold a few bass (at least it has a couple of times for me) - watch out though.

Re. scuba divers, it varies. They might just be waiting for you to speak. I usually speak to them if I see them and so far they have all been friendly and several quite helpful, with fish sightings and information of vis/depth/torches/.... One reminisced that he hadn't seen anyone spearfishing since the 70's. There must be quite a few spearos that scuba dive too, I've met one. I have a friend who is a dive instructor, as is his wife - they don't eat seafood, they just like looking at things and taking pictures. I don't think he fully approves but he is smart enough to realize that this a sustainable (i.e. harmless) & healthy way to fish, and that our interests have a lot in common.
Click to expand...
Hi Mr. X,
I really belive that 99% of scuba's are nice but last time that I was in Babbacombe once they saw me the atmosfere start to became very ostile like they didn't want me to park the car when I was before other people waiting for parking,when a car freed a park space the spearo put themsef instad of the car saying that they have to keep a space for a incoming friend that booked the space the day before ,when I reply that the space cannot be booked he sayid that better to do not insist cose "I'll choke(dont now how to spell it)you in the water!!!"I wasnt afraid but shocked so I said cmon do it!!Another woman take the place instead of a car waving her harms and saying thats only for scubas,the same woman that my wife heard to say that I was an idiot while arguing for the space and for my rights.So now I dont know what to think about that,becose I'm a spearo or becose I'm foreigner????Belive me it wasnt so nice.And now I start to think about another accident (but now I doubt it was) appened the same in Babbacombe when I was with Scottie when I had a huge nail stuck into my tyre.But I want still tinking it was an accident.Have you got any opinion about that?
 
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#790
tonyiannu said:
Hi Mr. X,
I really belive that 99% of scuba's are nice but last time that I was in Babbacombe once they saw me the atmosfere start to became very ostile like they didn't want me to park the car when I was before other people waiting for parking,when a car freed a park space the spearo put themsef instad of the car saying that they have to keep a space for a incoming friend that booked the space the day before ,when I reply that the space cannot be booked he sayid that better to do not insist cose "I'll choke(dont now how to spell it)you in the water!!!"I wasnt afraid but shocked so I said cmon do it!!Another woman take the place instead of a car waving her harms and saying thats only for scubas,the same woman that my wife heard to say that I was an idiot while arguing for the space and for my rights.So now I dont know what to think about that,becose I'm a spearo or becose I'm foreigner????Belive me it wasnt so nice.And now I start to think about another accident (but now I doubt it was) appened the same in Babbacombe when I was with Scottie when I had a huge nail stuck into my tyre.But I want still tinking it was an accident.Have you got any opinion about that?
Click to expand...

I believe you are right about 99% being OK. I am also inclined to believe that most of the 1% congregate around Babbacombe. There is definitely a group there that are very anti spearo and who make it their business to make us feel uncomfortable.
 
#791
hey,
dived the west pier in brighton yesterday evening and came across a triggerfish of about 2 punds which i took as i heared that they where good to eat, anyone else ever shot one and if so how did you cook it.
 
#792
I caught my first trigger a couple of years ago. It bit me - twice. Inside the trigger fish its skeleton is fused together to form a boney plate and its skin is ultra tough.. However you can fillet them like any round fish and skin the fillets. The taste or more precisely the texture is amazing. It really is just like chicken breast. Gave little bits to several people who all pronounced it to be excellent chicken. There was a thread called something like "triggers the fish not the gun sort" started by me. You could probably search for it as it had some interesting threads including cooking tips and imput from our cousins across the pond.

Enjoy.

Dave

PS Edited this post as I found the link http://forums.deeperblue.net/spearo-board/63621-info-triggers-fish-not-guns.html
 
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#796
Went fishing in the boat last night at Budleigh and couldn't miss the Pollack were so thick that they were jumping after the whitebait. My rapala was never in for longer than 2o or so seconds before the next candidate met the floor of the boat. The sounder was totally jammed by signal because the bait shoals were so thick!
Today over the same reef but with the gun and didn't see a single edible fish!
Too much tide, 2 metre viz and 15, yes 15 kayaks sat around!
Cut to shreds on the barnacles but did find someones lost fishing gear so that offset the carpark fees!
The old man went in with tanks a mile away at straight point and said there were plaice and came bag with some nice scallops but viz still ropey and not a lot of round fish.

Tribs

Out
 
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#797
Managed to get in the water today, a few hours later than planned though. I had a few to many :friday last night so i ended up missing the high tide and finally got wet just before low water. Vis was very milky and patchy between 1 and 4 metres in places. Saw a couple of 'tea time' bass, took a shot at one but missed.:headBut still managed to bag a couple of nice mullet biggest about 4lb.
 
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