Welcome to Portland Spearo Academy. Sorry to say there are no more courses available this year. We are all booked up. Its a combination of lots of people and little time on my part but a spearo specific freedive day will be held at Vobster Quay some time in the next few months but no dates yet. Stay safe all.

B.

Catch of the Month.

Gary, Williem and myself along with Paul, David and Andrew did a spot of diving this weekend...yes Janette said it would be fine to take a sat off. Thanks Babe.   We got to Christchurch ledge and started our first drift...the tide was just starting to go again and with such a mild current it was easy to look in the holes that you don't normally have a chance to look in when its running hard.   Saw one good fish in one hole but did not get a shot...The next hole was empty but the third was not!! As i approached the small overhang i saw a tail flap through the kelp at the entrance to the cave....heart started pumping faster as i could see from its silver colour it wasn't a wrasse. Looked inside and saw what i thought was a huge Mullet, it turned and came towards me...now I'm thinking...Mullet...should i shoot it?...The answer was swift in coming. Shot it and pulled it out the hole... Not a Mullet, looked big! Turned out to be a 15lb Bass and a new best for me...   Willem also managed a lovely 8lb + fish out of another hole before the tide really started running again.   We then went to the IOW...looked at the spot...no fish at all...saw 2 mullet and that was after searching in every hole. Gary found fish eventually taking the first one straight away then giving me a go...we alternated like this for the rest of the dive until we had enough for a few diners...it was good teamwork taking it in turns shooting a fish and then letting the other diver take the next turn while you retired behind the rocked to land your bass.   Just an observation... I have had bass in shoals many times in the past and have found that if you keep calm and take your time shooting from the surface you will keep them there for a lot longer than if you dive down in the usual manner..lie on the bottom an shoot. Try it next time...you might miss a few until you get used to it as you will need to compensate slightly but it worth it for a few more good fish.   Saw Paul and crew when we got back they had found a few new hot spots...Paul said he would give us the marks!! How about a dive report boet!....  and yes..... I did take the wrong road yesterday on the way back to London...i was not planning a secret trip to Southampton !!!! what a dick am I...Had to come all the way back to the M3.... 

  Chow Colin

Hi Guys
 
A great dive on friday. headed out on a dedicated salmon mousse hunt, but as usual when specifically searched for, could not find one!  usually they show up in the fridge when it is the last thing you expect to see!
 
anyway we were diving a reef off Chesil.  the cover here is very heavy, so heavy that you can often approach within a few feet of a fish before they see you- and you see them.  for this kind of very stealthy close contact diving, i find even a 75 too long, and even in the crystal clear vis we had there i was using a 50cm pneumatic.  for anybody new to pneumatics i would point out their drawbacks of loud noisy shooting, comparatively poor accuracy and mechanical breakdown not easily fixed.  the act of forcing the spear into the gun to load it inevitably puts little bends in the shaft over time and you have to keep an eye on that or you will miss. personally i always aim low with a pneumatic, with good results.
 
however, in conditions which are very confined, and you are literally sneaking about a couple of feet from a possible big fish, the pneumatic is short and powerful, ideal for short range shooting.  it also has a very quick reload and very good fish holding power with the double barb tips.
 
quietness is absolutely vital with this sort of diving, make a sound here and you can often hear unseen booms as fish spook.
 
so joe and i were diving in heavy cover. every dogfish or pollack i saw i thought 'SALMON MOUSSE!' until disappointingly identifying it.  I am still taking the pills.. The tide was rising and soon i got a nice red mullet my first of the year, between some rocks on a sand patch.  i was sneaking along the edge of the reef where the shale and sand meets the kelp forest, well down in cover when i spotted a nice 7pound bass. stoned that one and added it to the string.  fish were few and far between and we moved the boat many times trying to find a hotspot.
 
i set off to a place we call mullet cave to get one for the smoker. on the way is good ground, i use cover at the edge of the reef and keep silent so the bass often do not realise you are there.  this time i suddenly saw a very deep bodied bass heading into the cover of the reef.  he totally missed seeing me, hidden by cover, and swam past where i was lying silently.  i knew- once chance only, as soon as this fish detects me, he's gone.  i let him come past and took the shot.  the fish was about 6 feet away and the 50 hit it in the shoulder, exiting under the gill case on the other side. the spear must have clipped the spine as the big fish just sank down stone dead.
 
which is just as well as the tip had not come fully through him and the barbs had not toggled!  pulling him home i knew he was big as he kept hitting my ankle with his tail despite having his head near my belt on the stringer. i was really surprised when we weighed him and he came in at 12.5 pounds, my best bass to date.
 
i've cut it up into steaks and it will do a good few dinners!
good hunting!
Titus

Well done Flyflicker! A nice little 8lb Bass a stones throw from the shore.. Around the Isle of Portland. Sorry Podge your mullet just cant stand up to this fish but Happy birthday anyway!

Looks like a lean Basking shark!

I think the quote of 1 pic says a thousand words is very true. Not much info on this catch of Ben's but what a good looking clean fish and at this time of year. We ready for tuna around Portland this year??

First Plaice is always good!

After a 20m swim in freezing waters, braving death by yacht, gill nets and the fashion police, we finally have a flatfish of note! After the third or forth second on the bottom and seeing nothing I decided to move along a chain and after about 50-60cm I was nearing the end of my breath holding limits... Just as I was about to assend I see this little beauty half in the sand. One nice clean shot pining its head to the sand and there you have it.

What part of this report is bollox then..? Just the words..

Turbot or not to Turbot!

Hey guys, long story short......

Dived Abbostbury....
20ft fiz.....
11degs (brrrr)
hundreds of dogfish!
diving to 13mtrs

...... 1 x 7lb Turbot!!!!!!!! My first one ever! it was completley buried I nealry didn;t see it, in fact at first I thought I was looking at an inprint of where a fish used to be..... just as well I swam right over it. Shot it and shoved the spear though it making sure I had the fish well on the spear. Didn't realise how big it was till it came out of the sand. Long swim back up 13mtrs as I'd been down a while and the fish caused a lot of drag on the way up, but it was a great fish. We had it for dinner.... uuuummmmmm!!!

Laters Clive

 I know I keep saying it but “thanks again” for the great experience of spearfishing.I knew I would enjoy it, which is why I bought all the kit before we met up,this enabled you to teach me the correct way to use the gear that I will now be using for the foreseeable future. As you can see from the pictures and the £10 note for scale, we ended up with some better than could be expected results including, Pollock (on the 1st ever time I fired my spear), Flounder, Scallops Place and of course the Bass. Dan’s (4th time ever spear fishing) Bass = 2.52lb and 7.86lb, Bryn’s Bass =3.55lb and 9.50lb. We look forward to visiting the south cost again and meeting up for somemore spear fishing.  Dan Starbuck

 An early Plaice. Ever so slightly spent but still just a tad over 4lb.

Same good Bass. Can you tell where it is yet Sports?? Ha bet you cant..

A tenner for some scale.

Was Nick collecting seeds and berrys? Naaa She was to busy cleaning the nice carpet after somebody barfed all over it at 0200 after lots of bbq'd fish and mixed booze... Cheers all round guys. B.

This is what Portland look like from a Sea king. As you can see the island is and ideal place to spearfish as you can always find shelter from the conditions.. Well nearly always! Click on the image to get the BBC weather report for Portland.

                                                 Viking Provider

My home for 6months a year!

We provide offshore medical/logistical support for 5 platforms, lots of work but she has a good crew and we mostly get on well.

More Plaice than you can shake a spear at. 61cm long 32 cm wide and 6lb and 81/4oz.. Oh yes! The 4 1/2lb bass is kind of dwarfed! I jumped in the water on the off chance that there might be something out around the (x), lots of WAFI's around ( Wind assisted Fu*king idiots ) so we were sticking close into the boats. Just behind this big old bit of anchor chain was this fruity little number..

Its short of the UK record but will feed me for 5 days!

What a Brill dive.. Get it? The story is short and simple, we all meets up around 1600 for a nice little dive to keep the kit wet, we swims out into 1.5m viz, my famous " It will be much better when we swim out a bit " did not come to fruition! So there we all are swimming along in very murky waters, dusk closing in, bout 500m off shore with thoughts of Makos and with me wondering how im going to get me, my catch and all my kit back to shore with only one leg.. Clive swims over something funny on a broken patch of shells and mud and in his words " That looks like a fish...Wack "

For a few moments he thought he had the British record for Top knot and was very happy to say the least! Then good sense prevailed and after working out its habitat and getting the fish ID booklet out it turned into a Brill! Still a nice fish.

As for this talk of scallops in Dorset I have to say its absolute arse, there are no scallops, absolutely not, never have been, they would be far to deep for mere mortals, they would be poisonous if they were there and they make your bits grow smaller and turn you blind... Look into the picture, not around the picture, into the picture... Say after me " There are no Scallops around Portland "

Guest picture from Podge ( Deeper blue )

Thought you might like this one its not in the water but it's close, 9foot long and 265lb of Bronze Whaler very much alive. All the sharks we caught went back alive to look for spearos to take revenge on..

Winter is Flatfish time! Waterproof seat cover are a must so you can drive to a hot shower to get changed.

After dumping her girly 50 she grabs my 75 ( With comp rubbers ) and proceeds to lay waste the the pollock. Also caught was the first big spider crab of this season. It was about 4lb and tasted great..

My good wife has now become bored of Lobster but scallop kebabs are still a firm fave..

This one is not from UK however! One of the best fish pics I have seen for a while.

Spearfishing and Freediving courses, help with kit and information is only an email away. Have a look around the site and feel free to contact us for any information regarding spearfishing or freediving. We can also help with setting up a freedive club or just pointing you towards fellow freedivers and spearos in your area.

Look what we encountered off Portland Bill yesterday!!! Is it the crystal clear water or the ocean blue that gives it away as a lie? Nice one Fuzz, he's the guy on the other end of the gun. Summer is here every body so get geared up and get your lardy arse's of the sofa and in to the water..

For thousands of years people have been harvesting the seas by hand, ancient tiles in Greece show men with handfuls of fish and octopus, caveman sites in Africa have large numbers of shells and fish bones, the generations of pearl divers...and now you have the chance to experience a timeless activity too. Apnea..you can't beat it. The art of relaxation on a single breath.

The most ecologically sound way to feed yourself and a few friends... Spearfishing!

Another cold but productive day in the Portland waters

A happy flyflicker I think! Nice one John. I will never get to 15m.... Well he did and made it look nice and easy.

Its starting to look like a rogues gallery! nice fish Glenn. It does look surprised..

NEVER DIVE ALONE NEVER DIVE ALONE NEVER DIVE ALONE NEVER DIVE ALONE ...

All freediving and spearfishing courses at the PSA are taught by an AIDA Certified instructor .  All prices include, Accommodation at a local B+B and a simple but tasty lunch.

 Our speciality is in the area of Apnea. . Our business is located in Portland Dorset.

Spearfishing and freediving are potentially dangerous and should never be practised alone or by people with no training. There is a lot more to it than just holding your breath. NEVER DIVE ALONE.