Dive fishing

Just curious to see if anyone has ever approached using this fishing method before?  Looks like it would work in deep water corners of our lakes.  What fun!  


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What fun!

Yeah,  fun!

I've done this before with rock cod and a poke pole, no reel.  It is a blast

A guy I know is an urchin diver who also does the "live fish" thing (which I hate) does this with a poke pole for commercial live fish.  He claims to have caught lings like this.  He also claims that its the least impact on the fishery because you target only the fish you want to catch - no by-catch.  Makes sense, even from a commercial live fish guy.

I dunno, I can easily picture blues smacking away at your bait while you're looking for higher grade fish... 

I have a small ice fishing combo, to do it freediving.  Swimming near the surface and dropping bait/lure down to fish.
Need to wait till rockfish season opens - since it is the same as fishing from a boat.
Should be a lot of fun over a school of perch or blues.

I felt kind of dumb thinking about it, but I've been thinking lately about bringing with me a poke pole while ab diving. Yea.. spear fishing is what the smarter man would do, but I just couldn't handle the thing and was always thinking if bringing a poke pole with me would work.

when visibility is poor, spearfishing is out - time to go to plan B.
However, with poke pole, I think you would be hung up in kelp all the time.

I'd be careful about where you go dive fishing in CA. From the current Freshwater Regulations:

2.09. Possession of Illegal Gear.
Except as otherwise provided, no person shall use or possess, except in his or her home, any landing gear, any nets, except standard landing-type dip nets not exceeding 36 inches in greatest dimension, excluding handle, gaffs or spears within 100 yards of any river, stream,lake or reservoir. Non-electronic underwater viewing devices may not be used for taking fish except under the provisions of Section 2.30.

Section 2.30 is the Spearfishing regulations.

Just sayin'
Scott

And what does it say under 2.30? I've thought about fishing underwater before too. For me it would be a catch and release thing; if there's a fish I want to keep I'd just spear it. But this seems like a fun low-impact-on-the-fishery pastime. Diving/spearfishing is my first love and this would be a sustainable way of doing it. I've also thought about shooting fish with a rubber spear tip, sort of a dart gun. That's the problem with spearfishing, there's no catch and release.

I can't think of any advantage over my speargun, but it looks like it'd be a lot of fun to snorkel over halibut beaches with a rod and reel.  Do you think I'd wreck my reel with all the sand in the surf?

And what does it say under 2.30? I've thought about fishing underwater before too. For me it would be a catch and release thing; if there's a fish I want to keep I'd just spear it. But this seems like a fun low-impact-on-the-fishery pastime. Diving/spearfishing is my first love and this would be a sustainable way of doing it. I've also thought about shooting fish with a rubber spear tip, sort of a dart gun. That's the problem with spearfishing, there's no catch and release.

The reference to 2.30 in the quoted section means you can use a mask while spearfishing

I can't find a similar reg in the saltwater section - so I'm thinking that dive-fishing might not be prohibited in the ocean.

It's just about as hard to take good, up close pictures and video as it is to pull the trigger - no need for a rubber spear tip.

Scott