Baby Pike

[Cussy]

I wasn't going to post any photos from yet another dive in Stoney Cove, but after all these years I finally saw something that I hadn't seen before and thought I'd share. Nothing spectacular, but on 2 dives of over 1 hour duration we saw 4 baby pike of varying size, 3 very small (~10 - 15cm long) and one of about 25cm long. So here are the photos:



Rob

[Cussy]

And another couple

Plus adult Pike,


And other stuff;


Rob

[DDT uk]

I do like the first perch picture. The crayfish, with the shallow depth of field, is good although personally I think that it would have been helped by being a little lower in the water.

Daniel

[Cussy]

Daniel,
I don't know what it was about these dives, but nothing would let me shoot up. Last visit was mainly for Crayfish, didn't see/notice that many and all we did see were in inaccessible crevices or flat on the bottom. The Jackpike were all higher in the water though and there were a few other shots of Pike on the top of the weeds, but as the vis wasn't great these have been binned.

I also saw the Ghost carp. The whole point of these two dives was to get used to using the Sigma 50mm on auto focus with the DS125 acting as focus light. When I saw the carp it was quite a distance from us and the camera wouldn't focus at all, so didn't even manage a crappy snap of it. Maybe next time....
Rob

[DDT uk]

How did you get on using the strobe's focus light? I had one on my old Ike 100A but didn't find it effective. I ended up taping a pen light to it.

I'm impressed that you found the ghost carp and baby pike. I've never yet even found the ledge on the other side of the 36m section and that is despite sending several dives looking.

[Cussy]

Originally Posted by DDT uk

How did you get on using the strobe's focus light? I had one on my old Ike 100A but didn't find it effective. I ended up taping a pen light to it.

I would say my results were mixed. For the Crayfish photo it really helped, but for this it is positioned close to the port and just above it, with the DS-51 off to the left of the port. BUT, in switching between times when I need it and times when I didn't the strobe was in a bad position. I think this is why several of the baby pike shots are blown out. I'll hopefully get used to it. On the first dive we went to the Stanegarth, which was pretty dark and I was surprised what a difference even a little bit of light makes, fair to say that a dive on the Stanegarth with a macro lens doesn't yield a lot of photos!!

We saw 4 different baby Pike and saw 2 of them on both dives. I can tell you where they are. I've now seen the carp in the same place twice, so now know where that lives. On dive 2 we didn't go below 6m all dive, why bother when there is so much in the shallows?
Rob

[simonmort]

some spot on pics rob, like the the baby pike image 2nd from the right and the portrait shot above.
well done,think yes the crayfish could do with the whole claws in the picture,which would make it a stunning portrait shot (more the images i favor). But theres something about the eyes spot on in the middle which draws you in, so still a nice shot.
well done again
simon.