UK Spearo's, whats wrong with you guys??

[miles]

Hiya

Sick of cold water and small fish?? Read on!!!

I walked pass a bookshop and saw a Boat Fishing magazine, published in the UK, Issue54 February 2006. I bought a couple of other fishing mag's as well.

Inside THAT specific magazine was a GREAT article. They were TRYING to catch giant BlueFin Tuna!! Where?? Well, at Malin Head, on the coast of Donegal, IRELAND.

These guys talk of seeing 700lb BF crashing into baitfish on the surface!! Not one or two, but HUNDREDS!! They could SEE the fish, but couldn't entice them to take bait or lures. PERFECT scenario for a spearo!!

Be warned though, the largest BF they have caught waighed 1000lb's, so be prepared!!

Check out: www.tunacharters.ie

Sooo, what are you guys waiting for?? You have the opportunity to hunt THE greatest Blue Water fish right on your doorstep!!

Regards
miles

 

[Spaniard]

Hi Miles,

It's been tried before but the few skippers that know the grounds keep schtum and use it for rod charter only!!!!!! There was a thread here recently about trying a bluewater trip out to Ireland so who knows.........

 

[Wanny]

cool, heard about these a few years back. My wife's from Donegal so may be a good excuse to visit her family!

but have you seen the weather in Donegal in autumn?

 

[Almostafish]

Yeah but Bass tastes better!:t

 

[fcallagy]

A scuba diver I know operates a big trawler off Killybegs In Donegal and I had asked him about these he hasn,t seen any so far and says it could be september before he expects them in. He can take a certain amount as by catch and I heard of one fisherman gettin €8k for tuna. Unfortunately hes not allowed bring pasengers out as ain,t licensed for them. Spearfishing in Ireland is fairly low key and spearos few and far between but I,m sure someone will try it. If ant one id coming over I,d be happy to help Malin Beg is only 2 hours drive from me and we ofetn go scuba training up there as the harbour is always calm and relativly shallow. Very good hostel there too.

 

[miles]

Hiya

This seems to be the perfect opportunity for some enterprising spearo's!! Pioneering the sport of Blue Water hunting for BF tuna in the UK!! It doesn't get much better than this!! Wish i was living there!!!

Regards
miles

 

[Wanny]

don't let them hear you saying donegal is in the uk - could get you in a lot of trouble in those parts!

 

[fcallagy]

Miles not to be too pernickity but Donegal is in Ireland ( republic of ) not UK, could land yourself in trouble in Donegal calling it UK and if you are ever on for coming over though not a spearo I,d be happy to help in any way or any one else for that matter.

 

[fcallagy]

don't let them hear you saying donegal is in the uk - could get you in a lot of trouble in those parts!

just saw that

 

[Pastor]

Miles man!
Pay no heed to this "its Ireland" rubbish! Its true that al the principalities are still moaning about English occupation, even to the extent of banning English flags flying on cars during the word cup. It's Bull shit! all bull shit! Now here's the skinny! Its a European thing!
The real reason no one is doing this is: That to go out Tuna spearing would require blue water cannons and us europeans have taken the rise out of them for so long we just dont have the face to tell the world we are using them roflSo untill hell frezes over Bryn is spot on, Bass tastes much better of course I am only joking

 

[octopus]

Blue tuna? Nah...everyone is after carp overhere.

[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=66425"]Danger to UK spearos[/ame]

 

[Doc]

Got some in my pond at home to practice on first.!!

On the geographical issue as an ulsterman I always counted donegal as part of the old ulster anyway!

 

[dave]

but have you seen the weather in Donegal in autumn?

I was on a trip about 5 years ago looking for these very same tuna.It was great fun, but we spent most of our time in the pub! The weather and visibility are fairly predictable at the tuna time of year.........lousy! In October/November visibility is normally around 0-10ft as it is the autumn storm season!
I also became a bit suspicious about the actual frequency of tuna sightings, the only people who had actually seen them were those running charters . We got a lot of "you should have been here last week" type stories. Angling is a very important part of the Irish tourist economy, and there is a certain amount of spin coming from all involved. The tuna are normally only around for a week or two in any given year, sometime between september and december, but the whole sept-december period is sold as tuna season!
if I lived in Donegal, I would put some serious time into trying to spear a tuna, but for a short trip from anywhere else, the odds of getting a combination of tuna, decent weather and fishable viz at the same time are tiny!
cheers
dave
www.spearo.co.uk

 

[fcallagy]

if I lived in Donegal, I would put some serious time into trying to spear a tuna, but for a short trip from anywhere else, the odds of getting a combination of tuna, decent weather and fishable viz at the same time are tiny!


I live near enough and will try to get an angle on it this year I don,t spear or sell any charters etc so have no axe to grind and will keep ye posted if I hear of anything. I would love to dive near Tuna do they keep inshore at all or is the "run" always off shore? I would usually only have access to the club rib so can't/ won't go to far.

 

[stuckinsurrey]

Remember reading in sea angler a few months ago that some of the tuna caught were very close to the shore. will try to dig out the copy and post a few more details.....

 

[Huan]

I have been involved in satellite tagging these fish over the last few years, unfortunately as Wanny says the weather is the real killer, As the big bluefin show up the weather usually turns to shite, we have had many many days where we just weren't able to get out.
The skippers are also wary about taking people out to kill these fish as there is only a small bycatch allowed, and unfortunately an angling boat that kills a bluefin is likely to find itself in a lot of trouble.
Ireland incredibly has no quota for bluefin tuna and as such it would be a directed fishery if someone was to target these fish.
These fish grow big we had some very experienced wiremen over when we were fitting the satellite tags and they will all swear that the fish that they saw were in excess of 800lbs.
the biggest we tagged would have gone 700+ according to the tuna weight calculation.
I have analysed the stomach contents of some fish that were caught by big pelagic trawlers and apart from scad (Trachurus sp) there were also salmon and seaweed in the stomach, so the bluefins must feed close inshore at times.
I have seen the fish jumping and the big trawlers can actually mark the fish as they swim around with their sonar equipment and all the info I have got back suggests that they are there for a lot longer than 2 weeks, its just that small boats can't go out and the big trawlers aren't interested in looking too hard.
Last year was poor but the year before was incredible fish everywhere! hopefully this year will be an improvement on the previous years.
BTW Adrian Molloy (tunacharters.ie) boat is for sale.

 

[fcallagy]

Hi Huan,
Is just that area of the North west that they congregate or all over the coast and depths? Wood love to try and get out to see them if you hera of anything
Am heading to Malin Beag with the scuba club again soon great diving up there at present
Cheers

 

[Huan]

Hi Feargus
They seem to occur in two places regularly, Achill Donegal and the other in Galway/Mayo at Bills rocks.
There was some spotted by scuba divers last year or maybe the year before.
They were curious apparently.

 

[seamunki]

They seem to occur in two places regularly, Achill Donegal and the other in Galway/Mayo at Bills rocks.

Apparently there are charter boats that leave from Westport that fish the west side of Inisturk.
Our new house out wesht is nearly ready so i'm thinking of having a crack at one of these beauties. I figure the €599 inflatable from LIDL should be good enough, but i'm not sure about nhow to rig my s/h Beuchat Mundial 90cm- can any advise me?

All the Best,
Pat

 

[stone_shot]

Hmm.....I wonder if an 800 pound fish can pull a 599 inflatable under the water?????rofl rofl rofl