South Wales Club

[ashbish]

Thanks for your reply, I am not complaining and I completely agree with what you are saying and respect it with regards to spearfishing on your own, I am the same, however there is surely no harm in posting on this forum now and again (if you have time obviously) instead of only to 'tell people off', seen as it's only really a couple of us here who seem to be relatively new. Having local experienced advice available would definitely aid us in various ways. Someone has obviously brought this forum to your attention, why they haven't spoken out on here, I don't understand and I assume your local from other forum posts.
I have grown up from a young age catching lobster, and i generally use the width across my knuckles as rule of thumb as to not take small ones, and that's why I can't really see what's wrong with the video? The lobster looks like it's within size? I haven't used a pneumatic gun but agree it's a big no no to have it loaded out of water and didn't know if I hadn't read the comments. Can't say I wouldn't go for the bass as I've seen people with rods bring in smaller ones than that and how often around South Wales do we actually get the chance to shoot at one?

 

[ben]

I can't overstate the fact - infrequent encounters with bass or lobster is no excuse for taking undersized fish or crustaceans. Just because fishermen take smaller doesn't mean we should. Minimum size limits are there for a reason and unfortunately not policed anywhere near enough.

I think when we were all newer to spearfishing and the forum we asked questions and contributed more. However things change, the forum isn't what it used to be and as you learn more you find you'll use it less too!

I check the forum daily during the season and weekly probably during the winter. I only contribute occasionally and that unfortunately seems to be because I tire of the unfortunate attitude of some of the people who frequent the site.

 

[ashbish]

Of course and I completely agree! Unfortunately I've never had the pleasure of shooting at a bass, but from that video all I'm saying is I would have taken a shot too.
As for the dog, I agree with rob and but before I would have possibly taken a shot at it in fear of it swimming off but now I know in future that I won't use one as 'target practice' so to say seen as they don't move, I'll just grab it instead. Without his input today, that would of probably been different! That's why I personally feel either you or him or anyone with experience having an input and correcting or giving us different possibilities can only aid us.

Ok, that's fair enough! I've seen some of the other arguments and to me they are all political and pathetic really, but maybe that's because I'm 20 years of age and can't be arsed for the petty arguments and all I want to do is spearfish!

 

[KevinFlame]

I seem to have caused a bit of a kerfuffle today...

I can see valid points on both sides. Like Ash has said, being completely new to any type of fishing, I wouldn't of known that you can just pick up a dogfish. Well, if you're quick I guess.

I get the under size argument too, but have had trouble in the past trying to find any decent info that is up to date. That's not to say I haven't looked, I've done a fair bit of Googling, but it seems some regions have different rules, and the welsh government site is useless. If there were some links for newbies to check out, or previous posts from more experienced members, I think it would go a long way to help. I'm not saying I'd just take anything, you can work out most things using some common sense.

I get that people lose interest in websites/forums over time, but if you do happen to have a gander at some point and have any more advice, would be glad to listen. Cheers.


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Jeff
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[Robbo66]

Ash, the experienced don't really post here any longer. Check the other threads, handful of young chargers repeatedly posting the same. It's a simple pass time, with only so much you can learn.
Ben and I spear together, along with a couple of others, few beers after and have a great time.
And that's the point, time is special....more so when you're a bit older and have other responsibilities and limited time. Add to this the fact that we have the worst Viz in the whole country, massive tides take the brunt of SW weather and you can see that our window is very, very small.
You can't teach ethics as such, you either realise you don't take haul loads of fish or undersized fish or you don't. The same with Competitions. There are MSL for all species, so suggest you read those to start, read up on the species and check the growth rates....you'll be surprised just how long some take to mature.
The same can be said of some of the posters on here. Good luck anyhow.

 

[ben]

Jeff

I don't think you caused a kerfuffle at all.
It's just that it's different strokes for different folks.

Some of seem to be repeatedly accused of being negative or not engaging with the community but to be honest I sent a pm to you in an attempt to keep this off a forum and further reinforce people opinions and entrench positions.
Anyway - I guess you've learned something about picking up dogs (and no, quick hands are not required! ) I bet once you've played with one for a few minutes you won't fancy eating it!

 

[KevinFlame]

Yeah, that's cool fella. No probs at all.

Will post some more updates if I ever get out this summer!


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Jeff
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[ben]

Some minimum size limits from angling trust

Sorry about format....

SpeciesMinimum Lengthcm/inchesNotes

Bass41/16Angling trust have a 48cm/19inch size limit as bass 41cm/16inches long may still be too small to have reproduced.

Black Bream23/9.5Brill35/14Bull Huss58/23Coalfish35/14Cod35/14Conger Eel91/36Usually released by anglers due to breeding patterns. See conger eel article for details.Dab20/8Dogfish38/15Flounder27/10Garfish38/15Gurnard (Tub)28/11Haddock35/14Hake30/12Ling63/25Mackerel30/12Megrim25/10Mullet33/13Applies to thin lipped grey, thick lipped grey and golden grey.Mullet (Red)20/8Plaice28/11Pollock35/14Poor Cod18/7.5Pouting18/7.5Ray41/16Almost all ray species are classed as Vulberable or Near Threatened by the IUCN. Recommended that anglers catch and release ray species.Rockling18/7.5Scad25/10Silver Eel38/15Classed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Recommended that all silver eels caught are released, regardless of size.Skate41/16Classed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Recommended that all silver eels caught are released, regardless of size.Sole25/10Smoothound51/20Spurdog58/23Numbers massively reduced in UK waters. Classed as Vulnerale by the IUCN. Recommended that all spurdog are released.Turbot41/16Whiting27/11Wrasse23/9Unclassified20/8All other fish and mini-species that are not listedOther SpeciesThe following species have a minimum weight rather than length when caught from the shore:


Halibut- 10kg/22lb.

Monkfish – 7kg/15lb.

All large shark species – 18kg/40lb.

Tope – 9kg/20lb

 

[ashbish]

Ok that's fair enough! I have been checking out the other forums as well and like I said, I haven't really had the chance to shoot at much anyway, hopefully as I gain more experienced I'll start to see more! Thanks for the replys anyway! Best of luck for the summer!

 

[KevinFlame]

Thanks Ben. But this is what I wasn't sure about... Sizes seem different for some fish than what's on the defra site. I can only find a PDF with them but no date stamp or whatever, so difficult to know what's correct. Will make sure if I ever see anything this summer it's big enough for both. Cheers.


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Jeff
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[ashbish]

Just a picture of what Ben posted but hopefully in a better format, seen on the cardiff bay barrage earlier so thought I'd share!

 

[KevinFlame]

Nice one Ash. Heading down Caswell or Langland now for a swim, will let you know what the waters like.


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Jeff
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[ashbish]

Alright sweet nice one! You taking your gear? Think I'm going to take the kayak out tomorrow afternoon and hopefully if it's clear I'll take the gun out Sunday!

 

[Broseidon]

Nice one Ash. Heading down Caswell or Langland now for a swim, will let you know what the waters like.

I wouldn't bother mate, I was down there on Tuesday, zero viz - water was looking really churned up.

I recon the shallows on the right of the bay would be very mullety on a high evening tide...

 

[marco78]

Ash, Please let us know the conditions! It looks like we will have 3 or 4 days of northerly and easterly winds! So the vis can be good from Monday I guess!

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[KevinFlame]

Went to Langland in the end, weather was lovely for a swim, but couldn't see further than about a foot gents.

I just keep everything in the car now, so had everything with me just in case. Took the snorkel and mask in, but there's a lot of sand been churned up, so I don't think this weekend will be any good.

Heading down the ship in Port Eynon tomorrow to give the new owners a hand with some painting, so will post another update tomorrow folks.


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Jeff
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[ashbish]

Will do Marco! I'm down port eynon too, will be taking the kayak out tomorrow afternoon so will give you an update of what the waters like further out!

Ah bad news mate, lovely night for a swim mind! I'm keeping everything crossed that we will have some viz by Sunday!

 

[ashbish]

Just been out on the kayak, good news is that 50m off the beach there was at least 2m of viz at the surface (length of the oar) at least! Bad news is that the wind has picked up something terrible, easterly, so hopefully shouldn't effect the viz but just blow you about and make it choppy! Only managed 20 mins on the kayak but bagged 4 decent mackerel so won't go hungry tonight!

 

[KevinFlame]

Cheers for the update pal. Didn't make it down today, but will be down tomorrow. If you're about, give us a shout and we'll have a beer in the ship


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Jeff
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[ashbish]

Sorry for the later reply I'm off down the ship in the next half hour! Supposedly they got wifi so will let you know when I'm down there!

Viz update. 50-1m in the shallows, not sure further out!