Looking for spearfishing tips for a newbie?????

Going up to Sea Ranch this coming holiday weekend.  Doing quick ab diving then focusing on spearfishing for the first time.

No tanks, just free diving.  Any tips for a newbie spearfisherman???  Not sure what gun I’ll be using, but its not a pole spear.  Where do I aim?  The head, the eyes??

PS, the couple we are going with like to dive in 30-50 feet (no typo).  I have a feeling I’ll either be sitting in the boat, or floating around looking for a school of blues near the surface.

Stuart

Never forget you are carrying a deadly weapon. Practice with it in advance  (on the sand). Especially practice the reloading. You should be able to do this without looking (while keeping your eye on the fish you just missed and is right there....)

There should be a lanyard on the gun (unless you don't care about losing it.) For fish like WSB, YT and halibut, people put a thin line on the gun that goes to a float.

Keep the safety on and the gun aimed ahead of you. (consider the water resistance and how long it takes to change the gun's angle.)

Move slowly... especially when approaching a fish.

Blues, blacks and kelp rockfish are up in the column and easy prey.
Big fish (esp. Lings ) like to lie at the base of a cliff or in a cave.  We always carried a light to look into the deeper caves.
On the other hand, I shot some nice cabezon that were lying "on top of the reef" in 10 feet of water. (spotted them while resting on the surface.)
In the shallows, greenlings are good game. They are far more active (wary) than lings, cabs and rockfish which often don't move until it's too late.

Don't forget the 20% magnification factor. BTW, I marked the ling cod min length on my spear for comparison.  Free diving, you only have a few seconds to make up your mind.

If the fish is on the bottom, do not shoot down at it. Even if you hit the fish, the spear will impact the rock....damaged point and maybe bent shaft. (same applies for a fish against a rock wall)

I always tried to hit the fish "just behind the head." You don't want to hit the head or gill plate because the spear might glance off.

When you do hit a fish, swim to it quickly and drive the spear all the way through. Make sure the point flukes have opened. (I have lost fish by assuming the spear would hold and pulling on the line to recover the fish.)

lionel

Stu-I am a newbie myself.  It is super fun!  Practice on someperch or something at first to get the hang of it.  Shooting the fish is easy, dealing with loading etc. is the tricky part.  Have fun.

Sean

Are you one of the guys I met out there off of HMB? If you wrote the salmon article you got me thinking about spectra again.

Except for big lings etc that you usually have to work for the other fish are pretty much going to be sitting ducks. Pop them in the head so you don't ruin the meat.

If you're going to shoot a big ling I imagine your friends will have the right gun with a straight point. Don't try to do it with something meant for small fish. And you'll probably have to dive on them multiple times.

If you can dive 30 you can dive 60 - it's easy getting down. If you're 50-60 ft down just realize you have to head for the surface before it's too obvious and if you feel like you're going to black out drop your weight belt. We used to attach a little colorful float with a hundred feet of line rolled up on it and tuck it under our belts so that it would be easy to retrieve. I only had to use mine once but my buddy was using his all the time.

I have a 25' floatline on my gun so it's hard to lose.

Bottomtime is all about relaxing, also your spleen reponds to the pressure of being below 15 feet or so by pushing your blood reserves into your veins, which increases your downtime ability after you've been diving for 20-30 minutes.  Make sure you spend 2-3 minutes topside between dives to get yourself oxygenated too.

The freediving part is the tricky part, otherwise it's a point and click deal.  I take the safety off when I dive since the gun is long enough you're not going to shoot yourself and I don't like to waste my air fiddling with it.  I do put on the safety when I'm at the surface and fumbling with something else though.  Make sure to unload the gun before taking it out of the water too - it's much more dangerous in the air.

p.s. don't "practice" on anything. If you have a good shot do it otherwise wait. Treat it just like you would salmon.

Thanks for all the tips guys.  Very good information.

I just checked the forecast and it looks bad, so spearfishing may be out, though I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  If we do get out, my expectations are LOW.  This sport sounds really, really tough.

Guest (bluekayak),
Yup, that we me at HMB.

Stuart

Guest (bluekayak),
Yup, that we me at HMB.

Stuart

It sounds tougher than it is. It's a great opportunity if you're going out with experienced divers. When I was 19 I moved in next door to a guy who was on #2 spearfishing team in the world. He helped me get set up and took me out in 60 ft told me to hold my breath and go down to the bottom which I did not knowing any better. Never regretted it. Don't think about it too much.


That was a pretty good article you wrote. I think I still have some old saltwater reels from my grandad with braided line probably all rotted by now.

You guys ought to put some pontoons on that little boat.

Good luck

seems like Muir/Dux might be heating up.

Bluekayak,
the "little boat" will be reserved for calm inland waters or possible inside monterey bay on CALM days.  There is built in flotation under the seats, but if I need that, I'm screwed.  I believe Chuck and I were both feeling nervous on the way out.  

I really enjoy paddling better anyways.  Good form of excercise and very rewarding to land fish from a yak.  We didn't paddle out that day because the fish were out of our paddling range.  Glad you were rewarded for your efforts.  You definitely deserved it.  

Stuart

Looks like the weather has turned around, mind if I join ya stu?

Josh,
If this were any other trip you be welcome to joing along.  But on this one, we've got 2 families staying in a 3 bed house at Sea Ranch.

As for diving, I have no idea where we are going.  I'm leaving the yak home and will be going from their boat, launched from Pt Arena (I think).  

Next time I head up north w/yaks (aug/sept) I'll post up.

Stuart

Here is what I learned today:

1.  The trigger pull on a JBL is HEAVY!!!  First attempt at squeezing nothing happend.  Oh, the safety probably wasn't all the way down.  Second attempt, damn its the safety again.  Then I realized, no, you have to pull HARD.
2.  The recoil is more than I expected.  No one mentioned it, but when the gun went off, wow!!!  I didn't load the gun, so I didn't realize the the amount of power being generated.
3.  Fish don't always give you a broad side shot.   When they are quartering away, you target is pretty small.  
4.  Blacks are not as dumb as I thought.  Yes, they do get skittish.
5.  Its hard to move slow when you need air!!!

I got lucky with a shot just behind the gill plate and out the eye.  This fish was still flopping around really well.  I thought it would be stoned.  Far from it.

Its a small world.  I got to meet a popular coastsider at the launch (BackBrace) and based on his suggestion, went to a cove he suggested.  Glad we did, because there was a lot of fish.  Sort of felt like the Monterey Aquarium.  

Stuart