South Devon Report 2011

[mattbarlow]

Just got back from the south hams, vis was ok where I was but there is a fair bit of wind swell.

Really frustrating session had one good bass tear off and then saw lots of other decent bass in ones or twos only problem was I couldnt get a shot, came home empty handed grrrrrr

 

[Amateur Spearo]

Thanks for the tips. Didn't go in at meadfoot but found some decent viz in the bay. Went in Friday and after missing a decent bass I got shadowed by a seal for the next hour till I decided to give up! It was playing a game of grabbing my fins when I wasn't looking and even followed me right into the beach when I got out! Anyone else find seals a little un-nerving? I know they are playing but it still feels pretty startling when a animal bigger than yourself tugs at your fins. In various spots around the bay this has happened to me a dozen times or so.

Anyway, I won't start another 'War and Peace'. Went in the same spot yesterday, no seal and shot two decent bass. Now just a choice of ebb or flood tide today? Regretting leaving the wetsuit in the rain overnight......

 

[Amateur Spearo]

Thought I better get round to uploading some pics. Saturday and Sunday's catches. Not huge but my biggest so far and getting bigger.....

 

[foxfish]

Great stuff AS you seem to be doing OK!!

 

[Trelawney]

Good catch AS. Keep up the good work!

 

[Spearo Si]

AS - With a catch like that I think you can afford a name change!

 

[Trelawney]

Well I haven't got a funky Tuna story, but we went for a night dive last night at 11pm. The rain cleared, but there was still a bit of ground swell and kicked up weed in the water. Over the rocks it was quite clear though. Saw some flatties on the way out, but they were a bit small, so I tucked in shallow to hunt the bass. There were only a few small ones about, but carried on anyway. I bumped into my dive buddy Matt Barlow, who already had a 5lber on his belt. Having shot nothing and getting annoyed, I swam up a gully into 4ft of water, and there in the torchlight was a slab of silver. I took the shot and pretty much stoned it through the top of the head. By this time, a nice set of waves came in, up the gully and turned it into a washing machine. Torch, gun, fish, rocks, all whizzing around me :blackeye. I grabbed my prize in the gills and headed out for deeper water. Met up with Matt and Teo, and swam back to shore. The bass weighed in at 9lb at 1am this morning.

 

[MARK BISHOP]

Cracking fish Trelawney well done.

 

[devondave]

Pretty good for a womble, lovely fish.

 

[mattbarlow]

Well I haven't got a funky Tuna story, but we went for a night dive last night at 11pm. The rain cleared, but there was still a bit of ground swell and kicked up weed in the water. Over the rocks it was quite clear though. Saw some flatties on the way out, but they were a bit small, so I tucked in shallow to hunt the bass. There were only a few small ones about, but carried on anyway. I bumped into my dive buddy Matt Barlow, who already had a 5lber on his belt. Having shot nothing and getting annoyed, I swam up a gully into 4ft of water, and there in the torchlight was a slab of silver. I took the shot and pretty much stoned it through the top of the head. By this time, a nice set of waves came in, up the gully and turned it into a washing machine. Torch, gun, fish, rocks, all whizzing around me :blackeye. I grabbed my prize in the gills and headed out for deeper water. Met up with Matt and Teo, and swam back to shore. The bass weighed in at 9lb at 1am this morning.

Here's the 5lber

 

[Spiderman]

Well I haven't got a funky Tuna story, but we went for a night dive last night at 11pm. The rain cleared, but there was still a bit of ground swell and kicked up weed in the water. Over the rocks it was quite clear though. Saw some flatties on the way out, but they were a bit small, so I tucked in shallow to hunt the bass. There were only a few small ones about, but carried on anyway. I bumped into my dive buddy Matt Barlow, who already had a 5lber on his belt. Having shot nothing and getting annoyed, I swam up a gully into 4ft of water, and there in the torchlight was a slab of silver. I took the shot and pretty much stoned it through the top of the head. By this time, a nice set of waves came in, up the gully and turned it into a washing machine. Torch, gun, fish, rocks, all whizzing around me :blackeye. I grabbed my prize in the gills and headed out for deeper water. Met up with Matt and Teo, and swam back to shore. The bass weighed in at 9lb at 1am this morning.

You can buy tuna in a can but you can't get bass in a can!

 

[north1]

Had a local dive with Tribs last night from the shore. Sea was nice and calm but viz was patchy. Dived on the low tide and went out quite a distance to search through the dens. Plenty of Mullet about but only saw one bass. I missed the biggest mullet I have ever seen. How I missed it I don't know. I was about 3 feet away directly above. When I started for the surface the cheeky thing followed me up to the surface looking straight at me like the head and shoulders of my labrador.
Tribs took his fish swimming in open water. He commented just how confident the fish seemed. sometimes when the tide starts to run and the viz is poor they speed past like torpedoes.
Oh well looks like we could be in for a good weekend of fishing.
Good luck all.

 

[superdude171]

My mate has a few friends down for the week so we decided to go to the beach for a camp out. I brought along my gear just in case, turned out that this area was stuffed to the gills with fish and amazing 10m vis. Only one problem, I forgot to pack my gun. Went out for a dive anyway and managed to creep up on and stab a very nice flounder, there is a certain satisfaction to doing it this way. Even though I had to ignore all the bass I kept seeing, I will certainly be back again, with my gun this time.

Greg.

 

[mattbarlow]

Went for a night dive last night; didn't see any bass but did see plenty of small sole (too small) and bagged myself a nice Red Mullet.

 

[spearheads]

Got in satday, in for 3 hours shore dive, was a bit quiet, got 3 bass and 3 good pollock.

Dived south hams today, and had 3 bass and a mullet, again very quiet, untill i moved out deeper into some fast tide.

Cheers

 

[Spiderman]

Did you use a shotgun on the top pollack?

 

[crazywind009]

i think he use dum-dum bullet

 

[Spiderman]

Not been in for a while but I've managed to use my dry time profitably and finish a web project that I've been working on for a while:
One Breath Photography - underwater images from the UK

 

[Broseidon]

That's great mate, nice pics - on a side note - if anyone ever needs any help with web or graphics projects, just give me a shout - always happy to lend a hand with things.

It's what I do for a living so I may as well be of some use

 

[spearheads]

Did you use a shotgun on the top pollack?

Na but Maybe if i had a 6.5mm spear with a 16mm band and a french wishbone insted of my 7mm spear and 20mm bands, i would of made a head shot, but i think its cruel to shoot something in the head, thinking about it..... i think its cruel to shoot fish full stop.