Where to in this season

[speartom]

Hello I'm from London and looking for a place to do some easy/beginner spearfishing 2-10 mts before season ends
I read about Bognor reef but cant really locate from the marine charts
can someone give some hints on how to find it and can I swim there or i need a boat?
also is it possible in this period to predict visibility at all?
also if you know of any club (i contacted LIC) where someone can join please let me know

thanks in advance
Tom

 

[Mr. X]

The weather, particularly wind but also rain and rough seas are a useful guide.

Check out GB Wind map. High winds towards shore are bad. Low or no winds from shore are better.

It's been raining hard here much of today and looks like it was very windy last night too. Once the weather improves, give it a day or two or three to settle. The longer the spell of settled conditions before you dive the better, generally.

 

[Mr. X]

For clubs, LIC or Sussex spearfishing club - get details from the British Spearfishing Association.

I believe Brighton is also speared, good spot for flatties apparently.

I believe Bognor reef is about a quarter mile off shore. I should probably go and explore it myself some time.

 

[speartom]

For clubs, LIC or Sussex spearfishing club - get details from the British Spearfishing Association.

I believe Brighton is also speared, good spot for flatties apparently.

I believe Bognor reef is about a quarter mile off shore. I should probably go and explore it myself some time.

Thanks @Mr. X all makes sense. I'll be monitoring on windfinder, maybe ill try next weekend..

 

[speartom]

@Mr. X do you know if the tides have an influence? beside maybe checking the current for a spring tide which might be annoying (or even dangerous), but do they have an influence maybe on how much fish could be found? also, any preferred time of the day in general , eg early morning better? thanks again

 

[Mr. X]

Tides - as in Springs/neaps - might be a factor but I tend to only check wind. It's easy to over analyse things and get it wrong.

I forgot to check the wind on one trip this year and regretted it. There was an unusual prevailing wind, which messed up all my plans.

Time of day & tide can be important (e.g. bass coming in to feed off maggots washed of rotting seaweed at sunrise, predators hunting between tea time and sunset) but I don't think it is critical. There are usually other more pressing factors that determine "when" for me. I've speared fish at various times, we don't need the fish to be feeding. Perhaps afternoon and early evening rather than morning? Or perhaps that's just because it takes me an hour or two to get to the best spots and warmed up?

The state of the tide affects depth. When I was starting out, I didn't like it too deep but these days I don't like it too shallow, I like to be able to get under the fish.

I used to follow tide time tables very carefully when I used to climb sea cliffs. Esp. when climbing around the Bristol Channel (2nd largest tidal range in the world). I tried that when I started spearing in Dorset but found the tides often made little difference or did not match predictions at all. I later found out that much of Dorset coast, East of Chesil Beach and west of the Isle of Wight is subject to an unusual, smaller, double frequency tide. It has a name which escapes me at the moment. So I got out of the habit of checking tides, unless visiting somewhere with particularly dangerous tides e.g. Portland Bill, Gower.