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South Devon Report 2010

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 90 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
#841
Hi All,
Haven't posted for a long time. Just back from Mallorca, where i was very pleased to see so many fish. Had a couple of dives around the north of the island. Saw plenty of bream, sargo, school bass and wrasse as well as octopus. Didn't take a gun with me but it was good to see so much life.
Trying to persuade my good lady to consider Galicia next summer. If anyone has any suggestions on good spearing in Europe I would be happy to hear!

Congratulations to Big Scott on getting hitched! I'm sure the new wife will be very understanding about your spearfishing. After 22 years my wife is glad to get a bit of peace and quiet when I go spearing.

Tribs,
been trying to contact you for ages. Had a bit of a drama before i went away and will tell you about it on your return. Enjoy the holiday and I hope junior doesn't put as much weight on as you!!!
Love to the family.

North1
 
#842
north1 said:
Hi All,
Haven't posted for a long time. Just back from Mallorca, where i was very pleased to see so many fish. Had a couple of dives around the north of the island. Saw plenty of bream, sargo, school bass and wrasse as well as octopus. Didn't take a gun with me but it was good to see so much life.
Trying to persuade my good lady to consider Galicia next summer. If anyone has any suggestions on good spearing in Europe I would be happy to hear!

Congratulations to Big Scott on getting hitched! I'm sure the new wife will be very understanding about your spearfishing. After 22 years my wife is glad to get a bit of peace and quiet when I go spearing.

Tribs,
been trying to contact you for ages. Had a bit of a drama before i went away and will tell you about it on your return. Enjoy the holiday and I hope junior doesn't put as much weight on as you!!!
Love to the family.

North1
Click to expand...


Hey Mate,

You've been in Europe so long we thought Jose' had signed you for Madrid!
Hope your drama wasn't too terrible? Anyway Junior is plumping out nicely, getting his winter layers on hopefully and daddy is sadly doing the same.
Did get some exercise today swimming with several stingrays to 150lb. I saw a spotted eagle ray and Mrs T wanted to take it home! Swam over some sand and i thought to myself 'Eye Eye, that's a familiar shape in the shadows. Yep 2000 mile flight to swim with the humble mullet! (It was about 15lb though!) Great day all in all even minus a gun! Did see a nice JBL in the shop though but the $799 tag made me think again. European kit is so dear out here it's crazy. Shipping I suppose.

Back too soon

Tribs

out
 
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#843
Hi All,
I haven't posted in a while as the new arrival in the family has a habit of curbing a lot of spearing activities but i managed to get in today. Vis wasnt great as there was a bit of choppy swell running so I would say about 3m but within about 15 minutes I came accross a few bass, dived down and did my best spearo sniper in the stringweed impression. Shot a one of the better ones whcih was about 2.5lbs (funny how they always look bigger under water) unfortunately I just nicked him under the dorsal so had to let go of the gun and let the spear fall through him so he had nothing to fight against then swim through the shoal of bass to grab him - well and truly scattering the shoal! Anyways a bass on the stringer. Went out to deeper water (about 7m) and dived onto a rocky patch, saw a nice size bass swim away so I finned slowly along the bottom and held onto a large rock. I noticed what I thought was a large piece of kelp wafting in the swell just to my right and then realised it wasnt kelp at all but the tail of a rather large conger, it must have seen me coming and decided to hide by sticking its head under the rock with its tail sticking out! I was coming to the end of my breath and already having chest spasms so thought Id better hit the surface before it locked onto my hand which was holding onto the rock.

while i calmed myself down on the surface I thought about what I have heard about congers - they bite and dont let go, they go mental, theyre hard to get out, never shoot them through the tail, always shoot them in the head, through the top of the head is best then stab them with the knife. I had only planned a short dive near the shore where it is very rare to see boats so I didnt have my SMB, the fish was about 6m down and vis wasnt good, If i shot it and let go of the gun I could be likely to lose the whole lot, I hadnt seen the whole fish just part of its tail which was 9 inches accross - this thing might put up a hell of a fight......But could I swim to shore like a big pansy? I drew my knife for the head stab or to cut the line if needed took a deep breath and charged down gun in one hand knife in the other steeling myself for battle. I got down to the rock and it had gone! looked in the hole stabbed around with the spear couldnt find it anywhere If the vis had been better I would have been able to see where it went (in a way Im quite happy about this as I was not looking forward to an underwater struggle but on the other hand it was a big conger).

So the question is - are congers territorial? if so I reckon ill go back to that rock later in the week with my gun attached to my float line, that way I can shoot and get up for some air.

Any advice is very welcome.

Matt
 
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#845
foxfish said:
Yes congers are very territorial but please don't shoot it for fun, only if you are going to eat it?
Click to expand...

We will definitely eat it. I will not shoot anything that I will not eat but I hear that Conger is very tasty! it funny but i do have a lot more respect for the things I eat since I took up spearfishing.

Matt
 
#846
There is quite a lot written about conger on the site, try the search button.
I have shot a few over the years but they are horrible slimy things to handle.
re eating - well yes some folk eat them but I assure you if they were that good you would see them for sale in every supermarket.
Conger excrete ammonia through their skin & are covered in a glutenous white slime that come to the surface when the creature is dead!
They also have a surprising large amount of bones however once you have cleaned & skinned the beast, there is a quite nice section just behind the rib cage, the flesh is firm & edible.
My mother used to make a scampi equivalent from conger flesh but she also baked steaks of it complete with skin & that made the house smell for days!!

I have no intention of ever killing one again but if you are prepared to do the work & have a strong stomach then why not?
 
#847
If you want to cook Conger, speak to Crazywind. He is an expert when it comes to cooking fish.
Be careful if you shoot it though they can be very tricky!!!
North1
 
#851
Tribs,
Good to have you back!
Ollie and myself were thinking of trying to get in tomorrow, but the viz around here seems pretty poor. If we get a plan together I will give you a ring.
North
 
#853
Bumped into Googlyfloogly today after a shore dive. There was already another spearo at the spot when I was getting in. Was it you big Scott? Shiny said you might be venturing down this way :-) Nice to meet another spearo and find out how they hunt etc. I've been having OK catches all season but nothing huge. Well happy though. Just treated myself to a new carbon gun for my birthday so I am looking forward to trying it out. These bass were the bigger of the ones I had today. I picked up a dozen scallops as well. Looking forward to lunch and dinner tomorrow.
 

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#855
hi all went in today with north1 flat sea the viz was not great after all that wind very dark pass the 10m mark we both got some mullets but no bass:waterwork i have not been in for over 3 weeks did feel a bit rusty great to be in the water
 
#856
MARK BISHOP said:
Bumped into Googlyfloogly today after a shore dive. There was already another spearo at the spot when I was getting in. Was it you big Scott? Shiny said you might be venturing down this way :-) Nice to meet another spearo and find out how they hunt etc. I've been having OK catches all season but nothing huge. Well happy though. Just treated myself to a new carbon gun for my birthday so I am looking forward to trying it out. These bass were the bigger of the ones I had today. I picked up a dozen scallops as well. Looking forward to lunch and dinner tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Nice one Bis, you gota be happy with that.:):)
 
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