South Devon Report

[Jez]

Dived Anstey's Cove in Torquay last Saturday. Had the place to myself as it was peeing with rain. Didn't seem to put off the fish though (why would it!). Saw the usual shoals of small sandeels, lots of small colourful wrasse, small orange coloured pollack. I eventually found a decent shoal of marauding pollack but the plate sized fish wouldn't come near enough. After a couple of hours I lost them and headed in. Nice dive though.

Sunday saw me up early and driving down to Prawle Point in the South Hams for an explore. Headed to East Prawle and dived to the east of the point in 'Landing Cove' etc. The visibility was not as good I had read about although there was a bit of swell and a gentle but steady longshore current. The place looked very fishy but I didn't see much. A few large wrasse were spotted and a couple of lonely pollack not worth bothering with. Then, as I was coming in through a shallow (2-3m) lagoon I saw what must have been a five pound bass at least just below and in front of me. It was facing head onto me making for a small target area and so I missed by an inch or so, my spear burying itself in the sand. The fish scampered about but stayed real close to check me out. I couldn't reload without looking at what I was doing and so lost sight of it. No fish taken that day but was pleased I'd finally checked the place out.

Monday and I headed to Hopes Nose in Torquay. Plenty of mackerel bashers out so I dived up into the cove to the side. Simply the best vivibility I have dived in in my two month spearfishing career. Lots of baitfish present and wrasse etc. It wasn't long before I was being buzzed by shoals of beefy looking mullet. I went for one but only scored a glancing blow on its chin/gills. However, it didn't travel too far before I caught up with it and got it good with a second shot. My first mullet, must have been about 5-6lb. Soon after I found another plump bass lying next to some string weed, too far to shoot and too close to dive to without spooking it. It went and an aspetto in its wake didn't see him return.

After warking up on a rock (I've only got a winter surf suit) I began some more aspettos in the same general area. More grey mullet zooming around but I didn't really want another of those. I was suddenly caught by suprise as a shoal of about 10 bass hoved into view. I sighted a plump one and as it obligingly swam past my speartip I hit the trigger. Good result, my first bass too!

One thing I 've noticed is that mullet and bass have a very hard skull and I stuggled to spike 'em in the head. I tried to go up through the gills but still had trouble. Anyone got any tips on finishing them off? I regret to say that the mullet bled to death but I took the but of my dagger and bashed the bass in the old fashioned way. The bass was probably 3-4lb.

Gave the mullet to my lady friend's mum (the cat will like it too) but we had the bass last night . Rosemary, olive oil, salt and lemon. Yummy. No pics sadly as I've no camera.

Hopefully going to dive Branscombe or Budleigh in the week after work if anyone in the area is interested?

[glowworm]

Nice report chap.Firstly if you take your knife and put it in the gills and pull down cutting the fishes throat,that does the job.Pekka usually fishes Budleigh reef so he's the best to contact.Try sending him a pm.

[madasfook]

Nice to hear from a fellow local , we have been going most evnings , my buddy is a bit of a girl and will not dive down to any sort of depth and just flaps around on the top , but between us we have seen some nice fish from Beer to budliegh. I have been a scuba diver since 1976 but have never seen fish like you do when you are lying on the on the sea bed ,even if i do not shoot anything the wild life is a fantastic sight.I have seen a few sholes of bass but my breath runs out before they get close enough any tips ?Oh and i have found a sharp knife stabed in to the top of the head between the eyes kills the fish and will stop it suffering

[Jez]

Dived Budleigh with Pekka Saturday. Saw my first mackerel since starting diving two months ago which was nice. A few medium large bass about, the usual monster wrasse and a large school of small bass who were teasing me. I managed to land a 2-3lb mullet that tasted nice when given the Rick Stein treatment .

Pekka came across a whopping bass under a ledge somewhere on the reef apparently but couldn't extract it as only had his 110 gun with him. Maybe next time buddy.

Dived Hopes Nose Sunday morning, very quiet on the fish front with just one mullet seen on my way out of the water. Hoping to hit Budleigh again on Tuesday with Pekka if anyone's about and wants to come along, probably in the pm.

[Robbo66]

Jez,
great report. Just back from France where the fishing was so so. Seems every man and their dog spearos there. Simply no fish in comparison to West Wales. One mate showed me a great method of killing bass quickly.
1. Take your Accroche Poisson and align at approx 45 degrees behind gill, pointing at eye
2. Slide under first feather
3. Push until contact with underside of head
4. Push harder until spasm occurs

Very quick, very easy.

Rob

[Pekka]

Thank you Jeremy again for the ride, I'll be cooking for some bass for you tomorrow.. hopefully you like it smoked.. with some mash and bits and bobs.

here it is fresh out of water..
Water at budleigh was relatively clear.. about 4m.. could have been worse, could have been better.. fish was scarce but I found this bass following a shoal of mullet which I let swim by with twitchy trigger finger..

Pekka

[Jez]

I went for another morning dive on Wednesday following my blank at Budleigh on Teusday at Anstey's Cove in Torquay. There was a bit more swell than usual and rafts of weed making things a bit awkward. However, I saw more fish than usual in the cove which was nice. I was approached by some school bass on only my second dive. I've never seen them in this cove so I was pleased as I've always had a hunch. I found a decent shoal of pollack which was interesting to watch circling me. I bagged a nice one just under 2lb but there were few bigger fish to be seen so I just watched the rest.

I swam around the corner of long quarry point as I've had mackerel there on a rod before. The bottom was more barren that I'd expected and not much was seen apart from a few large wrasse and the odd glimpse of a mackerel (they never seem interested in spearos). On my return around the corner, during an aspetto a small bass passed me from behind and disappeared ahead of me. I waited for it to reappear through the kelp. I knew from the bass earlier that it would come really close to my spear tip, turn sideways, realise it was too close and bolt. So I shot it on the approach. The spear went in through the eye and didn't emerge until it split the tail at the rear. Fish kebab! It also allowed a quick check against the notch on my spear that it was a few cm over the minimum size limit.

I had to land on a rock, cut my line and restring the spear. There was no way I could run the barb back through the length of the fish. I must get a decent quick release link. I've tried fishing snaps rated to 96lb but the can't take the pressure when the gun is fired.

Hoping for another dive or maybe two before going back to work next week, I need a rest!

[Jez]

I wrote a nice report jsut now and lost it trying to load a photo. So here's a brief recap. hopes Nose, 2 mullet, one bass, one plaice. Looking forward to tea!

Hope the picture is attached ok.

[Pekka]

Cool fish! I have always though plaice was only present during early summer.. but I guess no..

Did you dive on Sunday? I was itching to go but decided after short consultation with my Girl..

Pekka

[Jez]

Dived Budleigh with Pekka on Saturday just gone. Heavy current with visibility at around 6-8m, lovely. Not too many fish seen, a few mullet at the back of the reef. Some large bass sited by Pekka (saw the video thanks) but nothing landed at the end of the session.

I dived Hopes Nose in Torquay on Sunday, near Thatcher Rock. I couldn't dive my favourite spot due the wind picking up. A few small pollack seen and one mullet. No sign of any bass. Visibility was about 5m.

Anyone else in Devon got anything to report?

[Jez]

Dived Hopes Cove, Torquay, this evening just after high tide. After a 25 minute swim to my new spot I saw a 4lb bass on my first dive. Some mullet to 3lb were seen, looked like thin lipped, not as heavy set as the usual grey thick lipped mullet I'm used to seeing.

Loads of dog fish out for an evening stroll, two went right over my legs during an aspetto! The whole place came alive at dusk, wrasse all over the place (more than usual), pollack chasing bait fish etc. I even saw my first cuttlefish, how cute are they!

Managed to land a reasonable bass and a dinner plate sized mullet. Mmm... ideal

Hope to dive this weekend if anyones about.

Hope the pic works

[Jez]

Sorry, here's picture.

[Jez]

Dived Hopes Nose again on Saturday am. Saw a few nice bass but never managed to get a shot off. Plenty of dogfish about, one even headbutted my mask when I peered over the top of a ledge! The usual crowd of pollack were about but nothing worth shooting.

Only one mullet seen. It might have been the way the light sun was shining but it seemed much more pale in colour than the usual dark grey tone. Have I seen another type of mullet?

I met one of my Mother's cousins at the weekend when celebrating my Gran's 90th birthday. Turns out he and a few other distant relatives used to spearfish in east/south devon, must run in the blood or something.

Looking forward to getting my custom diving wettie and being able to do some longer dives (its amazing how shiverring can really cut down on your bottom time). My four-season old surf suit is nearing retirement.

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by Jez

..I eventually found a decent shoal of marauding pollack but the plate sized fish wouldn't come near enough. ...

... Soon after I found another plump bass lying next to some string weed, too far to shoot and too close to dive to without spooking it.

Just out of curiosity, what size size speargun are you using? (Would a longer one be useful there?)

[Jez]

I use a 77cm gun. I think a 90 or 100 would be good next summer.

I dived Hopes Cove on Saturday in about 3m visibility. One small bass seen, several large grey mullet (including one over 4lb in weight that I stoned). Plenty of dogfish. And they seem to be getting larger.

Saw my first lobster though he was under a large rock and was only a wee fella so I left him alone.