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South Devon Report 2011

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#761
aaronrushton said:
another random question, how do you kill flatfish? i speared my first flatfish in pembrokshire in june. i had left my stringer at home by accident but i did have my kinfe. i put my knife between it's eyes and it stopped flapping about. i pulled out my spear and it imedietly flew straight out my hand and bolted off into the abyss. this wouldnt be a problem if i had my stringer, but jsut in case, where is there brain?
Click to expand...

I found this out the hard way too! They just don't die!!!!

I'd left my stringer on my buddy's float, I was passing him a flatty which, to be fair, didn't really have much of a head left and BOOM off it went! It took me a while but I found it again, just chilling on the bottom as if nothing had happened.

If there's a trick to doing it, I'd love to know!
 
#763
Hi Dave

May as well just cut the whole head off it must be dead then. I hate the thought of them not being despatched ASAP. I remember last summer taking the side off a bass I'd caught that morning and you could feel it twitching/pulsing. Very wierd, i even gave the neighbour a shout to prove to myself I was not imagining it lol.

Mark
 
#765
With flatties you need to remember that its head is sideways so the brain is not between the eyes like round fish. What I do is think of the head as a round fish head on sideways and push my stringer up through the gill flap aiming at where the brain is on a round fish. This isn't fool proof but it does seem to knock most of them out. Just to be sure I also cut the gills and then I can ignore any flapping that occurs knowing that it's just reflex.
 
#766
Scott Wilson and I ventured out early this morning. On the water by 8am to beat the scuba boats. We saw Shiney1 coming back into Plymouth Sound from a stupid o'clock bass trip. He had four nice fish in his cooler. We passed Rame Head, and Scott announced that the air deck was going flat and needed pumping up. (This was to be a regular anouncement). Scott had thoughtfully provided the worst pump in the world that did nothing except tire out the person using it.

We were aiming to dive the James Egan Layne on a low tide and get some Pollock. We arrived, prepped and jumped in. The vis was stunning, 12m and warm. We were in the water for about 15 minutes when I shot a nice mullett. It was one of three, and Scott went for the other one. Next thing, a boatload of Navy divers turned up and jumped in. End of fishing. I did stow the gun and join them at 20m for a while, just to be nosey. One of my mates was surface support on the RN rib, so I swam over for a chat.
Site 2. Shallow and no fish, just a soft shelled lobster (returned) and a handful of fishing lures. Returned to the boat and pumped up the deck.

Site 3. More fish, but too small. I found the wreck of the Taxiarcos in a deep gulley, and a massive old anchor. Played with a seal for a while too. Scott picked me up, I pumped up the deck and went to:

Site 4. Stringweed beds and sandy patches. Good viz here too. Scott went into flattie bashing mode. I scoured the patches and came away with three flounder. Scott had two pollock. Pumped up the deck and returned to Plymouth.

Not a bad day diving. We expected to see more fish than we did. The water was very warm and clear though. But hey, a day diving beats a day at work!
 
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#767
hey all,

not been on in a while but have been in getting bits and bobs - mostly mullet but the odd bass thrown in. looks like people are doing well and making the most of the high pressure spell.

safe spearing one and all.

tribes

Out
 
#768
I've managed to find a way to keep the other half happy whilst I'm spearfishing which is to take her and the kayak with us. The only down sides so far are the fact that is bright orange and probably scares the sh*te out of any fish within a mile radius and also the fact that she managed to kayak into the side of my head and nearly drowned me...........

Anyway, a few fish to report. Got a few fat place in an estuary Thursday. Had a long session Saturday in a good 12m vis and shot the pollack below - not a monster but my biggest to date at 4.5lbs. Managed to miss a few monster mullet and bass in the shallows.

Having got the taste for it I headed out yesterday on my bday no less and had an epic swim round from a beach to a mark I have wanted to try for ages. Having missed a few fish and feeling pretty much exhausted and acutely aware of the need to swim a mile back to the beach, this beauty glided into the firing range. It went a few ounces short of 6lb with most of the guts out so I'm calling it a good 6lb.

Happy days!

Also got a cuttlefish which along with squid I love to eat. Any tips on prepping them though? Spent ages cack handedly trying to get the membrane like skin off. Is this necessary?
 

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#770
Amateur Spearo...you need to change your name! ;)

Re squid, check this out... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg5lz8z4nCk]‪How to: Prepare Squid‬‏ - YouTube[/ame] Hugh Fearnley W. at work! Fresh squid tentacles deep fried are completely delicious! I would love to get one of these guys when I start!
 
#771
well had a pretty dissapointing weekend in devon over this weekend. on saturday i went to meadfoot where the vis was ok, about 5m. i swam to about halfway betweeen the beach and the big rock, diving down where the kelp meets a big sandy patch. i saw some small pollock and wrasse, and a lone small flounder but nothing worth spearing. eventually i cam across a small group of medium sized pollock, which i spooked. i went down into the same area again, hidden in the weed. they came towards me and i shot a 2lb one which was right on the edge of my spearing range. i swam up and down this area a bit. but saw no mullet bass or even any decent crab or lobster, despite my best attempts. by now it was about 45 mins before high tide so i decided to cut my losses and head up to babbacombe. there was an area the other side of the breakwater which looked promising, but seeing as it was regulary being bombarded with string of feather and 4oz lead weight i decided to go on the other side. after receiving many dirty looks from the scuba guys who were about to head out i entered the water and immedietly noticed the slight improvement in vis. the only problem was i didnt see any life other than small wrasse. again dissapointed with the lack of mullet or bass. the next day i went to heybrook as my dad wasnt prepared to drive all the was to torquay again. the viz was terrible! algea everywhere, as soon as i got down to the bottom i could barely see the end of my gun in the red haze. this got no better as i went further out, only turning to green! saw nothing but small flatties, pollock and wrasse. left devon feeling altogether a bit dissapointed in seeing no bass or mullet which i had heard so much about (other than the mullet and bass i saw in plymouth aquarium!) but i suspect its about knowing which spots are good at what times, as back on my usual hunting ground of pembrokshire this is certainly the case.
 
#772
[QUOTE=Amateur Spearo;

Having got the taste for it I headed out yesterday on my bday no less and had an epic swim round from a beach to a mark I have wanted to try for ages. acutely aware of the need to swim a mile back to the beach

I'd put money on it that I got in at the same location. is there a house on the beach ? The locals there told me there was a spearo in earlier who came out with a big bass.

I managed three bass, two plaice and a lobbie. Matt Hill had more sucess with a few big bass and Pollack
 
#773
hi all me and peter just like to thank the jersey boys for a great 4 days spearing and comps and dave o cal and andy broad for a great and top trip and my mate dave o,neil you,s new at spearing cheers, happy hunting the crawfords
 
#780
In my limited experience, as a general rule anywhere the other side of the Dart tends to have clearer water than the Torbay side unless the wind has been blowing right in. Having said that, so far this year it seems to have been blowing SW a lot and a few times the clarity in Torbay has been great. It is also supposed to be blowing SW all this week so the Bay may be the place to be. Also doesn't require the best part of an hour's drive ... for me at least
 
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