Spearfishing... or feed yourself for free at the seaside.

[underground]

Man, I'm so psyched for doing this- in fact I booked the cottage last night for a fortnight on Lleyn again in June and replaced my tattered wetsuit gloves today (caves and nylon faced neoprene don't go well together!) Luckily Lleyn is nice and quiet and there are very few folk in the water at once so I should be able to potter about for a while and get to grips with the technique. In fact I think it'll be sensible to spend a few days diving and moving in the water and dealing with weight and fins etc. before even taking the spear in the water....

I've got a couple of wetsuits, one 3mm front zipped one for caving, and a 3mm cheapo surf type one, so I think I'm going to settle for one of those with thermals underneath, glove socks and a decent hood, for starters (for background I won't be immersed for more than 30 mins to 1 hour, due to toddler and wife on the beach commitments) plus, we get to the coast once or twice a year and I can't see it changing for a while yet....

I think I'll invest in some fins other than my bodyboard ones cos frankly they're rubbish. The expense factor seems quite high for the very long freedive type fins, but the snorkelling ones are more affordable.

 

[Joethefish]

Sounds good to me, as you said the proper freediving fins are not cheap, but worth it should you take a serious shine to the sport. To be honest you can be successful with less than you might think. Only word of warning on your equipment is to firstly take some serious care with the speargun, and before trying it in the water remove the spear and practice the motion of loading it.. best method is to rest thebutt against your chest and pull the bands back assuming its a band gun, or on your hip to load the spear if its pneumatic, you'd be surprised how much effort loading a speargun takes and it would really suck to only find you couldn't do it in the water!
Also the 3mm wetsuit should be ok for a short time but be warned hypothermia can set in gradually, so if you find yourself diving more often especially on consequtive days take notice of any changes to yourself.. i find perception of heat in the shower is a good way of noticing your core tempurature is dropping.
Most of all take great care of yourself and others around both on the beach and in the water.
Hope you enjoy it and if i can be of any other help let me know.. will gladly talk you through some more details or answer questions, and of course as i have stated before am happy to show people the ropes if we can arrange a conveniant time and date.
Good luck and enjoy the new world your going to open up.
Joe

 

[Shibari.surfer]

Great post mate - I scuba dive Looe & Talland Bay all the time as i live just a couple of miles away. 46meters on a freedive!!! Well impressed mate.
I seem to remember meeting a load of guys on the beach at Talland from The British Spearfishing Assocation(???) they were coming in after a days competing with shed loads of bass. The bit that really impressed me was how long theyed been in the water.

 

[Joethefish]

I'll be at Talland bay this year last week in June, first week in July and middle two weeks of october.
Used to do a lot of competitive stuff myself but not into it anymore, seemed a waste to me, shooting to eat is one thing shooting for prizes is another, still have to admire their skill though. If that was this year thats when we swam with the Basking Shark and when the photos of us in the suits were taken, we dived the week before the competition left day before it started, dare say we spooked a few fish away, but no big loss in my book! We will have to catch up when im down, always enough bass lobster and beer to go around!
On another note thinging bak im not sure i mentioned the dangers of diving alone, although it is done regularly, out of neccesity more than sense. Diving with a partner means there is someone there to watch you and if necessary help in an emergency, return you to the surface if you black out, raise the alarm or just for company, an experianced partner will show you things you'd never learn alone, and point out the things you would never have seen.
Diving alone especially when new to the sport can be very dangerous, main danger being that of blackout, which without help is likely to be the end of you im afraid. New divers often push their limits as their skill rapidly improves... say your first dive your struggling at three meters, by the end of the day you might manage 5 or 8, suddenly that 10m bottom doesnt look so far away, believe me 1 or 2 meters pushed can mean the difference between safe return and serious trouble so be careful all!

The dangers of the sport are why im offering free tuition (except maybe the donation of the odd beer!) to anyone interested if i can organise it. Me and the other lads pictured above are all willing to teach new divers seeing they have a enjoyable and safe time. True we are doing a few trips this year introducing some scuba divers to the sport, possibly as the start of a business venture, however the offer is open from me to all here for free. So hopefully plugging myself as it were is not in contradiction to this sites rules. If so mods please feel free to edit this post.

Dive safe
Joe

 

[FGYT]

Gday

Nice catches

I do a lot of hunting in SCUBA but dont use a gun ive allways been trying to sort otu the legality thing and am now fairly convinced that it is legal on SCUBA in UK you say not in some counties ?? i assume this is By laws any info on which

for you SCUBA divers out there you dont need a gun you can catch a wide range of stuff by hand or with a small hand spear (stabby stick)

always stick well above minimum sizes (no problem with the above pictures :You_Rock_ )

for others always check with your Fisheries Committee as min sizes and restrictions can vary a lot by area
heres mine Southern Fisheries District

its mainly aimed against comersial fishing But some is applyed to us

Mainly size and guidelines on Max take qty for crabs lobster scallops etc

if in doubt give em a ring they ( well mine ) are very helpfull and reasonable.

ATB

Duncan

HAve a rep point :You_Rock_

 

[Shibari.surfer]

Yeah mate, give us a shout before you come down and we can swap no's and meet up. Not a drinking man myself but always up for a snorkel -we'll take you out surfing on the north coast if you like

I've always been told that Scuba/spearfishing with a gun is illeagal in the UK. Anyhow I've never tried it but besides the unsportingness of it, wouldnt it be too noisy and scare any fish away?

 

[FGYT]

Yeah mate, give us a shout before you come down and we can swap no's and meet up. Not a drinking man myself but always up for a snorkel -we'll take you out surfing on the north coast if you like

I've always been told that Scuba/spearfishing with a gun is illeagal in the UK. Anyhow I've never tried it but besides the unsportingness of it, wouldnt it be too noisy and scare any fish away?

well you can hands spear Cod and flat fish and most dont seem to worry to much about noise

Unsporting your already using lots of gadgets and aids
and im not in it for sport (thats chasing foxes etc) im out to get food and go home

Competitions are unsporting ie 20 sperafishermen turn up and the one with the heavyest bag of fish (edible or not ) wins a prize

hunting for the pot like the guys above or me on scuba is a differnt kettle of fish though as i said i dont use a Gun yet and actually probably wont as its not needed you can get close enough to use your hands

and personnal ethics i dont take rays or Skate at all as they are on the decline

ATB

Duncan

 

[Joethefish]

Spearfishing on scuba is.. or at least was still legal in the UK although dont take my word as gospel. Only other place i can think of is the US where its legal but not sure if thats the case in all states. Pretty sure the rest of the world has it banned.
In my experiance scuba scares off a lot of the smaller things around you but many fish etc are inquisitive of the noise so it sometimes actually attracts them.. agree wholeheartedly with the competition side, although will admitt to sometimes acting as a safety marshall in competitions, i dont agree with them but do agree with providing safety cover for people who participate.. might be double standards i dont know?!
As for meeting up im all up for that, but surfing.. knowing my coordination it will end in tears.. some blinding spearfishing spots on the north coast too.. Polzeath for one..!
Joe

 

[Woods Wanderer]

glad to see you say fins not flippers lol

 

[Alex...]

Hi Joe

I've been thinking of doing this for a while now. I am getting a 2 piece 5mm wetsuit tomorrow but would like to know your thoughts on

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SEAC-ARROW-75...ryZ29577QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I'm thinking of popping along to the coast this weekend to try it out, and would love to know of any recommendations for places to go etc....hell, even if you dont think its the right time to be going.

Thanks

Alex

 

[CLEM]

Wow would I ever like to have a go at this,this looks great! Have to improve my swimming first mind!

 

[Alex...]

Hi Clem

Like you I thought my swimming could do with improvement.

That is until last year when I joined a local gym. I used to think swimming was about getting from point A to B quickly. Something I guess about competiveness.

Then I tried (bizarre idea at the time) swimming for some reason as slowly as I could. I actually discovered that potentially I am a good swimmer.

Ergo

Now I do around a mile swim every other day very easily. The only issue I had initially was boredom. Now its fine and I reckon at an easy pace I could swim for hours (front crawl)

I guess its all about how you approach things!


edit....and with the wetsuit I've just got there is no way I could sink (without weights)

 

[Joethefish]

Hi again all,
Sorry been so long away from the board... bit of bad luck in the computer and finances dept! Anyway back now and will endeavour to catch up on what i've missed!
Alex, took a look at your link, and must admitt i have never heard of the make but looks ok to me, take a look yourself, spearguns are very simple bits of kit really so if it strikes you as being well made probably is!
Keep up the swimming training all... swimming in the sea is a bit different to the pool as im sure most know, wind weather currents tides waves etc etc etc! Not wanting to scare you just like to remind people to be careful!
Havn't been spearfishing myself since feb... and by god yes its a might chilly that time of year although i collected a nice haul of longustines, scallops and even managed a very early.. or very late 5lb bass.. Have discovered the joys of night diving.. not for the faint hearted or inexperianced i may add but spearfishing in the dark is a top experiance!
Off again weekend after next... i'll be in weymouth area for that trip.. as for good places to go on a first trip... see next post!

 

[Joethefish]

Ok potential first dive spots... please note i have omitted all my secret spots! But please seek further advice before trying as tides times etc play a big part for a general rule, dive low tide slack/raising tide, avoid falling tides as currents may try to give you a free trip to france! Choose areas with mixed seabed... i.e sand rock and gravel or large structures. Dont head too far out or too deep, re read my safety advice at start of thread! Pay attention to wind direction, obviously pick sheltered bays or days with minimal wind.. weather for week or two before hand will affect the vis, ideally look for low rain and low wind/wave for a week before for best chance of good vis.

Weymouth.. Chesil cove (portland end of chesil beach) not a nice walk to the water but nice dive hits 5m deep almost immediately dont stray too far past the rocks to your left (portland) as current can pick up. Dont dive if any sort of waves, you'll see why when you look at it. and save plenty of energy for getting back out the water!
On a safety note dont be tempted to dive elsewhere in portland/weymouth without local knowledge and knowledgeable partner.. the currents here are some of the fastest in the UK... i speak from experiance.

Lulworth cove/Durdle door both excellent dive spots, lulworth is let down by dodgy parking and boat traffic durdle by the hike to the beach.. or more precise the hike back to the car.

Ringstead bay.. pretty nice all round

Swanage pier.. dont spearfish here but nice for a nose.. mind you it is always full of scuba divers

Talland Bay (cornwall, looe) good spot aside from in SW winds, park at the beach go left or right dont head out the bay as its deep, wavey more currents and plenty enough in the bay.
Polperro (next bay along) same again nice pubs for lunch too

Lizard peninsula, cornwall loads to see but pick your spot as tides/currents and scuba divers make some bits unsuitiable

Port gafearn (spelling?) Port Issaac North coast of cornwall.. often good if south coast is windswept, not worth considering if wind is blowing onshore though.

Thats a list written in mind that despite warnings some people will read it and head off to a site alone, or ill prepared. Its by no means safe but offers dome of the safer if not best options.

Please be careful

Joe

 

[mrostov]

When I lived in Hawaii I spearfished a lot.

I mainly used a 3-tine, 4ft long sling spear. A lot of my hunting I did at night. I would have three flashlights with me (I would often be out longer than one set of batteries would last), a mask, snorkel, and I often wore tennis shoes instead of fins, as a great deal of my hunting was on a volcanic reef.

I would put the game in a styrofoam ice chest that had some rocks in it to weigh it down and I would have 4 empty 1 gallon milk plastic milk jugs, one on each corner, wrapped around the ice chest with duct tape. This gave the game box stability. I would tow the game box behind me on a long, high visibility yellow plastic rope. There were a lot of sharks in Hawaiian waters (hammerheads, etc.) and if one went after the game I wanted it to be a ways away.

The water was always warm and I never wore a wetsuit, usually just a t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes.

I didn't like using spear guns in Hawaiian waters. The wave action often made retrieval of the spear difficult and more than once I had the end of the spear stuck in a small volcanic hole, trying to get it out.

Two things you always had to watch out for on the Hawaiian coast were sea urchins (billions of them, one in every volcanic bubble hole), and moray eels. I've seen sea urchins and morays of impressive size.

One game that there was a lot of was lobster, some spiney lobster, but most I caught were the smaller slipper lobster.

 

[ESpy]

There were a lot of sharks in Hawaiian waters (hammerheads, etc.)

And tigers. The beach where I did my first open water dive, a woman had been fatally bit by one a couple of weeks previously. 'Course, I didn't find that out until after getting back to the UK...

Two things you always had to watch out for on the Hawaiian coast were sea urchins (billions of them, one in every volcanic bubble hole), and moray eels. I've seen sea urchins and morays of impressive size.

The black diadema? 'Orrible things.

 

[mrostov]

And tigers. The beach where I did my first open water dive, a woman had been fatally bit by one a couple of weeks previously. 'Course, I didn't find that out until after getting back to the UK...

Yeah, I was spearfishing in the daytime on Oahu, off of a place called 'Shark's Cove' of all things, when a 3 meter tiger shark swam by. Fortunately it was one of the times I was using tanks and I just stayed still down on the bottom till he passed. He was a picture of pure strength and speed. A marine biologist once told me that when you are in the ocean, you are usually within 100 meters of a shark.

Just before I moved back to the US mainland, there was a story in the news that happened just off of the Big Island (the island of Hawaii itself).

Three locals, a man, his brother, and his 5 year old son, were fishing in an 18ft open aluminum skiff about 5 miles offshore. Sometime in the middle of the night, a shark - probably a great white - came up out of the water while they were fishing and bit the transom (back piece of the hull where the outboard engine is attached) off of the boat. It tore the whole back of the aluminum boat completely off, causing it to sink almost instantly. They dumped out the ice chest, put the kid in it, and spent the evening swimming back to the island. They said that during the swim, they were waiting for a large mouth to come up out of the water and get them.

The TV news in Honolulu interviewed some biologists at the local university and they speculated that the electrical reaction between the aluminum hull and the seawater might have attracted the shark.

The black diadema? 'Orrible things.

The surf pushed me into this volcanic bubble hole one time and when I saw the unbelievably huge sea urchin in it. I did everything I could to keep from being pushed all of the way in. It was the biggest, black sea urchin I had ever seen in my life. I didn't know they got that big. It's body was almost the size of a volleyball and the spines looked to be maybe a foot long or longer. That thing could have cause some serious bodily injury.

Most of the sea urchins are small, 1" to 3" in diameter, and they seem to litter the volcanic bubble holes in the rocks. If you get a small spine in you, urine will generally dissolve the spine. If it's in a spot where you cannot pee on it yourself, have a buddy do it (that or have a cup handy).

 

[Joethefish]

Mmmm bitey pointy things... thankfully not too much worry on the whole of those over here, mind you saying that last summer i was diving out of Portland (Weymouth) on an old landing craft shooting Bass, had dropped to the bottom at about 15m, water was warm (17degrees) sun was out but vis was a murky 3meters. I was crawling over the wreck hoping for a bass to be in the current on the opposite side. As i got to the top and peered over got that rather odd feeling of being watched, i get it fairly often underwater and its often lead to spotting a big fish i may otherwise have missed.. so i took another peek into the murk.. still seeing nothing I gave up and started my ascent. Just as i left the bottom a HUGE grey lightning bolt came out of the murk straight at me, stopped inches from my knees and veered away. It was a Mako Shark and a big one too, guess would be 4m later verified by my mate who had a similar encounter about 5 mins before me. Must admit i was scared and probably did a good impression of jesus walking on water on the way back to the boat! Turns out the Shark stayed in the area for a week, bumping the odd scuba diver and generally scaring people, disappered when the vis cleaned up though. Kinda glad i was too stunned to react or i can well imagine in a panic at my first big and unexpected shark encounter i may well have let a spear fly at him... and im sure that would have annoyed him and destroyed my gear!
Still get heebie jeebies diving that spot now, waiting for the next time, as long as Mr Mako dont bite he will be welcome!
Joe