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First spear catch, Hawker's Cove, Camel estuary


Andy135

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15 minutes ago, Saintly Fish said:

Very nicely described adventure you had there. Robson Green eat your heart out. 
But, why is the kayak name pixelated out? Is it a secret one?

Ha! It's a drop of water on the GoPro lens.

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18 minutes ago, JonC said:

I can’t read the words but I’ve concluded that this has something to do with drug smuggling. 

🤣🤣 better than drugs for me - a catch, not a blank!

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2 hours ago, Andy135 said:

The plan was that I would swim out to the estuary mouth over slack and drift back over the Doom Bar and along the side of the channel where the sand meets the rock. My son and brother-in-law would paddle out on his inflatable kayak and drift back as my support boat.

Well done on your first spear fish, we had some of the Plaice caught yesterday for dinner this evening.

Not wishing to be a spoiler, the Doom bar is aptly named, and TBH even in calm conditions is not a good place for an underwater swimmer OR an inflatable kayak. The currents and rips over that bar are notorious, and it is spring tides this week.

Are you having a BBQ at your mate Gordon's house, it is very close to where you were today ? 🤣

Edited by GPSguru
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16 minutes ago, GPSguru said:

Well done on your first spear fish, we had some of the Plaice caught yesterday for dinner this evening.

Not wishing to be a spoiler, the Doom bar is aptly named, and TBH even in calm conditions is not a good place for an underwater swimmer OR an inflatable kayak. The currents and rips over that bar are notorious, and it is spring tides this week.

Are you having a BBQ at your mate Gordon's house, it is very close to where you were today ? 🤣

Yes, I had planned the dive with tides in mind and didn't want to be caught out over the bar. As it was we stayed to the west side of the bar and avoided the navigation channel... but I must admit I drifted perilously close without even realizing how far out I was - and it was a bugger of a swim back! Won't make that mistake again.

Who TF is Gordon though??

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11 minutes ago, Andy135 said:

Yes, I had planned the dive with tides in mind and didn't want to be caught out over the bar. As it was we stayed to the west side of the bar and avoided the navigation channel... but I must admit I drifted perilously close without even realizing how far out I was - and it was a bugger of a swim back! Won't make that mistake again.

Who TF is Gordon though??

Gordon feck'in Ramsay, you know the geezer, head cook and all that 🤣 .......... you were close to his £6 pad 🤣

Yes, the Doom bar is named on reputation and the rip currents are fierce. I didn't want to be a spoiler, but felt I just needed to remind you of the perils !

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2 minutes ago, GPSguru said:

Gordon feck'in Ramsay, you know the geezer, head cook and all that 🤣 .......... you were close to his £6 pad 🤣

Do you mean Rick Stein, as in Padstein/Padstow?

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1 minute ago, GPSguru said:

No, Gordon Ramsay (Celeb Chef) has a £6m house at Rock on the estuary.

We were further north up the estuary than Rock. Hawker's Cove is roughly opposite Daymer Bay, which itself is north of Rock.

However we were at Rock on Tuesday for a beach day with the dog and buckets & spades. Didn't see Gordon though.

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Fantastic, even though it was relatively quiet the buzz of getting to know the environment from beneath the surface is something those who have strong opinions against spearing will never understand. You get home after a day under the water and play back all of what you've seen over and over in mind, something a day with a rod and reel in your hand doesn't come close to how ever good the day was. This feeling doesn't ever stop even after years of diving and some of those memories stick for life.

How did you feel for buoyancy ? had your weights slipped in that photo or do you have weights all around and the clip at the back or side ? I cant tell from the photo but if you dont already have the rubber dive belts these are so good as they don't slip as your body compresses at depth. We tend to wear our weights more towards the back as it helps assist the angle of your body at the surface when you need to get some air and re-rig the gun.

In regards to strong tides etc, I always used that to my advantage on the IOW by getting in at places and drift diving. These would often mean getting out walking the shore and drifting the same run a few times, St Catherins was great for this and surprisingly good in very shallow water on various sized pollack.  

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7 hours ago, JDP said:

How did you feel for buoyancy ? had your weights slipped in that photo or do you have weights all around and the clip at the back or side ? I cant tell from the photo but if you dont already have the rubber dive belts these are so good as they don't slip as your body compresses at depth. We tend to wear our weights more towards the back as it helps assist the angle of your body at the surface when you need to get some air and re-rig the gun.

Yes, it's a rubber weight belt. Yes, they had slipped round to the front as I like them positioned at the back. I reckon I could do with one more weight as I feel a bit too buoyant - it's hard to hold bottom at present.

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31 minutes ago, Andy135 said:

Yes, it's a rubber weight belt. Yes, they had slipped round to the front as I like them positioned at the back. I reckon I could do with one more weight as I feel a bit too buoyant - it's hard to hold bottom at present.

I would advise about another 20kg of lead. 

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