Dived Anstey's Cove in Torquay last Saturday. Had the place to myself as it was peeing with rain. Didn't seem to put off the fish though (why would it!). Saw the usual shoals of small sandeels, lots of small colourful wrasse, small orange coloured pollack. I eventually found a decent shoal of marauding pollack but the plate sized fish wouldn't come near enough. After a couple of hours I lost them and headed in. Nice dive though. 
Sunday saw me up early and driving down to Prawle Point in the South Hams for an explore. Headed to East Prawle and dived to the east of the point in 'Landing Cove' etc. The visibility was not as good I had read about although there was a bit of swell and a gentle but steady longshore current. The place looked very fishy but I didn't see much. A few large wrasse were spotted and a couple of lonely pollack not worth bothering with. Then, as I was coming in through a shallow (2-3m) lagoon I saw what must have been a five pound bass at least just below and in front of me. It was facing head onto me making for a small target area and so I missed by an inch or so, my spear burying itself in the sand. The fish scampered about but stayed real close to check me out. I couldn't reload without looking at what I was doing and so lost sight of it. No fish taken that day but was pleased I'd finally checked the place out.
Monday and I headed to Hopes Nose in Torquay. Plenty of mackerel bashers out so I dived up into the cove to the side. Simply the best vivibility I have dived in in my two month spearfishing career. Lots of baitfish present and wrasse etc. It wasn't long before I was being buzzed by shoals of beefy looking mullet. I went for one but only scored a glancing blow on its chin/gills. However, it didn't travel too far before I caught up with it and got it good with a second shot. My first mullet, must have been about 5-6lb. Soon after I found another plump bass lying next to some string weed, too far to shoot and too close to dive to without spooking it. It went and an aspetto in its wake didn't see him return.
After warking up on a rock (I've only got a winter surf suit) I began some more aspettos in the same general area. More grey mullet zooming around but I didn't really want another of those. I was suddenly caught by suprise as a shoal of about 10 bass hoved into view. I sighted a plump one and as it obligingly swam past my speartip I hit the trigger. Good result, my first bass too!
One thing I 've noticed is that mullet and bass have a very hard skull and I stuggled to spike 'em in the head. I tried to go up through the gills but still had trouble. Anyone got any tips on finishing them off? I regret to say that the mullet bled to death but I took the but of my dagger and bashed the bass in the old fashioned way. The bass was probably 3-4lb.
Gave the mullet to my lady friend's mum (the cat will like it too) but we had the bass last night . Rosemary, olive oil, salt and lemon. Yummy. No pics sadly as I've no camera.
Hopefully going to dive Branscombe or Budleigh in the week after work if anyone in the area is interested?
Sunday saw me up early and driving down to Prawle Point in the South Hams for an explore. Headed to East Prawle and dived to the east of the point in 'Landing Cove' etc. The visibility was not as good I had read about although there was a bit of swell and a gentle but steady longshore current. The place looked very fishy but I didn't see much. A few large wrasse were spotted and a couple of lonely pollack not worth bothering with. Then, as I was coming in through a shallow (2-3m) lagoon I saw what must have been a five pound bass at least just below and in front of me. It was facing head onto me making for a small target area and so I missed by an inch or so, my spear burying itself in the sand. The fish scampered about but stayed real close to check me out. I couldn't reload without looking at what I was doing and so lost sight of it. No fish taken that day but was pleased I'd finally checked the place out.
Monday and I headed to Hopes Nose in Torquay. Plenty of mackerel bashers out so I dived up into the cove to the side. Simply the best vivibility I have dived in in my two month spearfishing career. Lots of baitfish present and wrasse etc. It wasn't long before I was being buzzed by shoals of beefy looking mullet. I went for one but only scored a glancing blow on its chin/gills. However, it didn't travel too far before I caught up with it and got it good with a second shot. My first mullet, must have been about 5-6lb. Soon after I found another plump bass lying next to some string weed, too far to shoot and too close to dive to without spooking it. It went and an aspetto in its wake didn't see him return.
After warking up on a rock (I've only got a winter surf suit) I began some more aspettos in the same general area. More grey mullet zooming around but I didn't really want another of those. I was suddenly caught by suprise as a shoal of about 10 bass hoved into view. I sighted a plump one and as it obligingly swam past my speartip I hit the trigger. Good result, my first bass too!
One thing I 've noticed is that mullet and bass have a very hard skull and I stuggled to spike 'em in the head. I tried to go up through the gills but still had trouble. Anyone got any tips on finishing them off? I regret to say that the mullet bled to death but I took the but of my dagger and bashed the bass in the old fashioned way. The bass was probably 3-4lb.
Gave the mullet to my lady friend's mum (the cat will like it too) but we had the bass last night
. Rosemary, olive oil, salt and lemon. Yummy. No pics sadly as I've no camera.Hopefully going to dive Branscombe or Budleigh in the week after work if anyone in the area is interested?
