Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Its Here!

Surf's up! after a long break.................. Monday saw a small swell turn up on the door step this week. Sun, no wind, warm and none of that ear and brain freezing weather insight. Ok, if the surf was that good even a fraction of that good.

Can't be fussy after a long period out the juice. Took a trip out to Perelle on Monday and paddled out to behind the island with pa, some nice shoulder to head high lefts greeted us in the line up. Looking over to the Big Peak, it looked like two of the boys were dropping in on some over head sets.


Tuesday we had a nice session on the beach then headed over to crack a jumble of chest to shoulder high sets on the reef as the tide filled in.


Wet Board

Wet Wetsuit

Enough Said

Monday, March 28, 2011

Out of the Fog, FISH ON


The last few days have been lovely, with warm afternoons and plenty of sunshine. Overall the change in the weather has brought on the spring onslaught of fog and an increase of angling activity with plenty to report from all corners of the Bailiwick. Unfortunately for us bottom bashers, over the weekend we had to compete with something high up in the fish food chain. As we put our lines in I had a nice run followed on the next drifted by El Capitano, fishing was poor with only one small Turbot caught by Captain Tuc and a nice sized Pollack by yours truly on our old stumping grounds the Godine Bank off Sark. The bite was slow as we were going through a slack but once the tide kicked in we hoped that the fish would turn on again but the rest of the day turned out to be slow pickings. The weekend proved to be a foggy one with the viz dropping down to 50/60 metres at times, making a visual on the radar a must when motoring up to take the next drift. The tide was on the drop with a low at around 5.30 pm, the Godine fishing best at two hours before low. So we had plenty of time to catch the best of the fishing. (NOT TO BE)

While sitting in my deck chair on the back deck of Fortius feeling a bit worse for wear after a night out on the town with the captain the evening before, we both noticed a shoal of bait fish which were being forced to the surface by predators below. The fact that they were so active suggested to us that something big had sent them into a frenzy. Sure enough about 30 minutes later, our suspicions were confirmed as in the glassy calm water were some porpoise. It didn't look like much of a group, perhaps four or five just milling about on the surface keeping their distance from us, hence no pics. For the next two to three hours the fog slowly fizzled in and out and we had another sighting of the same pod that were definitely hanging around and feeding on the bait fish. Even with the poor fishing after our little marine friends had chased them away it was a great day out on the water.


Changing the subject completly, looking at the forcast there could be a wave mid week. Time to change the rods for my surf board (sorry Jen!) ..............

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Fishcapades

Over the last few weeks I've been doing some work on Stu's new house. Stu and I decided that we had grafted hard enough this week and it was time to take some time out on Sunday and take Fortius out for a spot of fishing.

With the prevailing weather still coming from the North East the conditions on the east coast remain less than perfect. Despite this we have had an un seasonally warm break in the weather over the last few days with sunshine and light south east winds greeting us on Sunday morning.

Some loose talk on Friday about taking a trip out to the Schole bank to look for some flats, was soon put to rest after we looked at the tide table and noticed that Guernsey had the biggest tidal change of 2011 with an 0.2 low and a 10.2 high on the weekend. That meant we would never hold the bottom with our baits. (Should be out Ormering with a tide like that). So plan two was put into action to hit the Godine Bank south of Sark where the tide should in theory, not be running so hard.

Nearly missing the boat on Sunday due to Stu working me to hard on his house and over sleeping his TXT to meet up at 10 down at the harbour, I was sent in panic mode to get my S**t together and get down in time to catch the tide. Jen kindly gave me a hand and quickly packed me some lunch and a flask of coffee, so that was a bonus! On arrival I found Tuc and Phillis (Phil Ogier) loading the Peril along side the pier and ready to take the boys to the mother ship which was moored up in the pool. The trip started off with a bang and as we readied the boat in St Peter Port with calm conditions that were predicted to prevail for the next few days, the trip out to the bank was as pleasant as they can get and the excitement was rife. The journey out was an ideal time to chat with the motley crew on our prospects and the past triumphs on Fortius. On arrival on the Godine, which we hadn't visited since New Years day, I was itching to get out there to test run a new rod. Breaking out the new Kenzaki 12/20 Lbs class boat rod out of its rapper and rigging a simple boom rig with a 6/0 hook baited with a flapper of poky nose (that's Garfish or long nose to the land lubbers out there), I was soon waiting in anticipation for the twitching of carbon. It didn't take long for Stu to blow the cobwebs off and recognise the area again, once we knew where we were it was game on. We managed to time the tide just perfect, this particular little corner of the bank can produce some nice fish on the right tide. I had time on our first drift to take a look around at the other boats fishing only to see Phillis doing battle with his rod, my brain at this stage was working overtime with excitement as I knew it was early in the session for Brill and Turbot, and wondering what Phillis had on the other end of his rod after only 10 minutes of fishing time. We soon had a nice 5Lbs Turbot flapping on the deck. While we were unhooking Phil's fish on the deck Tucs rod twitched with a poky nose flapper on it, leaving us to deal with the Tub. He lifted his rod, struck, as he felt sure he was hooked into it, only for it to let go half way up to the surface, which niffed him somewhat. Baiting back up and heading up tide to the drop zone for a second run produced nothing apart from Tuc missing another fish. I say again, MISSING ANOTHER FISH. Then all went quite until Phillis landed a nice little early session bass on a green he feathered up earlier. Had a great session today, the combination of the calm after the storm and a spring tide coinciding with a Sunday afternoon, along with taking a fish on our first drift made for a great day out. Thought Tuc and I was in for an epic session after a great start, but not to be. Phillis stole all the glory and out fished us...



The finest fish in the sea they say....and what do we say?.... absolutely correct






Phil working his finest fish to the net




Phil landed his first bass of 2011




Capt...Tuc playing with a poky nose.
Bait catching fun...


Sunday, March 13, 2011

A scalloping good time ...

Captain Tuc sizing the catch looking like a real Guern in his traditional Jumper

The Pirates


and


their Booty


Ah- ha, me hearties !!!


taking a break between dive spots



Getting all geared up as I navigate a good drop in spot




Like any of my other outdoor sports, diving makes you hungry and while Jaffa cakes and chocolate biscuits may be a great way to fight off that hunger feeling, there are more adventurous ways of coming by your dinner, diving for your own scallops is one of them.



I can only recommend diving at this time off year in a well fitting drysuit to keep you dry and warm. Thus equipped, I rolled over the side of Fortius into 8 degree water. Divers will know that down there is a whole new world waiting to be discovered. The water at 8 degrees left my head with brain freeze the entire dive. My ears weren't equalising the water pressure properly due to a slight head cold that I now have, which made for a slow decent to the seabed. Apart from the usual scuba equipment we took down a large net bag and descended to 30 metres to hover just above the gravel/sand bottom. The current had a little trickle to the north and made for an effortless dive, taking me past small pieces of reef. Knowing that the seabed dropped off to 42+ metres to my east and that I had Nitrox 32 in my tank, I made sure not to venture over the edge of the reef and push the limits. Passing over small chancre, crabs, small scallops, and the odd dog fish being nosey. I started to get my eye in, they tried to run, they tried to hide, but they were no match for our elite diving skills and within a few short minutes I was picking up some nice size fully grown scallops. While the dive itself was effortless, there was many a scallop but I was simply too slow to grab them due to the tide. After about 35 minutes my task was complete and I had managed to catch a large number of these shelled critters, my bag was full and I sent it up on an air bag for the boys on the boat to grab and then made a slow trip home to the surface. Back on board the scallops were sized as we motored back to St Peter Port. Dinner that night was very good.


Great dive trip today with the boys.
Thanks Stu.

It seems like every time I shuck scallops friends ask me questions on how to clean them. so I decided to make a step by step guide on how to do it.


This, my Blogging friends, is a scallop.


To open a scallop and clean it at the same time, hold the scallop in the palm of your left hand with the rounded part of the shell downwards and the hinge part facing away from yourself. On the right of the hinge as you now view it, where the shell begins to bulge, there will be a slight gap between the two shells. Place the point of the knife into this gap and push the blade upwards and in towards the centre of the shell. Then keeping the blade pressed against the inside of the upper flat shell, cutting through the muscle where it joins the shell moving towards the hinge of the scallop.







When the muscle is cut you will feel the two half's come apart






In the same motion, lift the the flat part of the shell upwards to reveal the contents (unfortunately you will see the muscle and all the organs pulsating at this point),
separate the edible part from the eyes, gills and mantle





There will be a small dark gut sack around the rear edge of the muscle which needs to be cut away, as do any remaining bits of mantle or eyes that are left




Cut the bottom of the muscle away from the rounded part of the shell and you should be left with the good edible parts. Discard everything else overboard. Its best if other divers are are still in the water, so they can appreciate the attention that a nice chum slick generates.



A la Prochaine!





Friday, March 4, 2011

Return of the westerly winds





Pray to the wind gods. If Poseidon was the god of marine weather, Boreas was the god of the north wind and Zephyrous the West in Greek mythology lets all pray to Zephyrous to bring back those warm westerlies.






Last month we thought we were wave sailing down the line legends.We rode so many cross off days we started to get picky with the conditions.This week, I fell off my board.






I guess you can say that this week has brought us back to reality. We have been spoiled too long with logo high waves and westerly warm winds. This week has seen a blow to our egos and taken a hit by good old mother nature right between the eyes with nasty cold Northerlies. Basically the temperature cut off point as been reached over the last few days. This means I'm not getting on the water as long as the air temp is 7 deg's and below. Day time temp's are hovering around the cut off point, that combined with the wind chill is enough to keep me on dry land. It's not to bad for a 30/40 minute session but windsurfing with cold hands and feet is no fun, then de-rigging is hard as your hands stop working we all have experience that excruciating pain in your fingers as the circulation comes rushing back into your veins.





I refuse to sail in palmless mitts. Most of us are skeptical about sailing in gloves as we all have felt the cramps in the forearm induced by wearing gloves. Mind you I have no excuses to go in. I've always been an O'Neill man but I thought it was time to try something new "ION WETSUITS". I have just bought a new Ion Onyx semi dry 5,5 double lined suit, that should keep me warm through this cold snap. I thoroughly recommend you check them out....



www.ion-essentials.com