Spearfishing success.

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Spearfishing success.

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towerhill

Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 332
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Fri Jul 03, 09 11:02 am Post subject: Spearfishing success.

A few years ago I bought myself a spear-gun with some cash I had trapped in a paypal account. After using it once with no success (it was also a cold experience as I only had a cheap wetsuit back then) hung it up in the workshop and forgot about it.

I noticed it again a couple of months ago and decided to give it another go - I've been doing a lot of sea swimming and surfing recently and also have a very good wetsuit now also.

I've got the hang of it now an usually come out of the water with either bass or pollack. I see loads of other fish like wrasse and dogfish but I wouldn't want to eat those. I only go for fish which are big enough and that we'll eat that day.

It's also great just being in the water - there are hundreds of small jellyfish around at the moment as well as the odd curious seal and dolphin. It's all very primal down there. I tend to swim from Nolton Haven up about a mile and a half towards Negwale and back - well away from holiday makers and bathers.

The kit I use is as follows - speargun, a stringer (basically a pointed metal spike with a line attached to the back of the gun - this is used to dispatch the fish and to string them on so you can carry on fishing), a dive belt with lead weights on (which allows me to stay submerged without the wetsuit's buoyancy bringing me back up to the surface), snorkel and fins and a dive buoy (so boats can see me), I also have a divers knife attached to my leg in case I get caught on anything as well as a whistle and flashing led light which attaches to the wetsuit zip.

If you're confident in the water and are happy to be in there alone and away from other people (you cannot spearfish with a buddy - it's not worth the risk) and get the chance to try it out I'd suggest giving it a go. It's very peaceful and meditative so you come out of the water relaxed and possibly a little fitter even if you don't catch anything.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42223
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Jul 03, 09 11:11 am Post subject:
Interesting. I've had a hankering for a go at spearfishing for a while. What type of speargun have you got? And what's the effective range for them?

towerhill

Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 332
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Fri Jul 03, 09 11:19 am Post subject:

The one I have is a Demka AMI II 90.

https://www.demka.eu/indexEN.htm

The harpoon is attached to the gun by mono-filament and can reach about 2.5 m away.

I tend to spend about a minute on the surface taking deep slow breaths. Then dive down about 10-20ft to the kelp forest. I can stay still holding onto the kelp then for about 40 seconds before I have to surface (this is increasing with practice).

You can also just float around on the surface and try and get the fish from above but there is less of an outline to aim at.

Quite often the fish come and have a look at you

towerhill

Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 332
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 09 10:24 am Post subject:
see below - mistyped Last edited by towerhill on Sun Jul 05, 09 10:26 am; edited 1 time in total

towerhill

Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 332
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 09 10:25 am Post subject:
More good news on this front - three good sized bass this morning. One for dinner two I'm going to pot in chillie oil in good sized clamp top jars for the winter. And the cats get the rest...

goosey

Joined: 29 Apr 2009
Posts: 380
Location: Merry England

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 09 2:38 pm Post subject:

Interesting to read about your experiences, and imagining being in a kelp forest. Something I probably won't attempt for real, but lovely to picture.
I first had bass caught by my father as a child, and he taught me you owe it to fish to bump them off quickly, then cooked by mother. I have never forgotten what a wonderful tasty meal they are.

ETA I was the child!
That whole day and the lessons, have stayed bright in my memory for decades.

fishfish

Joined: 03 Sep 2009
Posts: 43

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 09 8:48 am Post subject:

towerhill wrote:

I'm going to pot in chillie oil in good sized clamp top jars for the winter.

And the cats get the rest...

can you tell me more of this preserving method?

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