As the very name reveals, this method is basically a pure ambush. During hyperventilation (Deep breathing ..... blah blah blah about safety here) or on the way down the spearo marks the appropriate ambush spot. Good spots are rocks or sand bottom covered with dense vegetation. Even better is the margin between the rocks and the clear sandy sea floor. That's where you can encounter almost all kinds of fish.
The dive should be absolutely quiet and you should try and look more like a sinking log than like a living creature. The object here is to get right down to the ambush spot and hang around for a while.
Once you reach the bottom try to blend into the scenery, no matter how bad it might look to inoccent bystanders. Grab a stone or sea weed, straighten the arm you hold the speargun in really slowly making sure it doesn't hit the rocks or get snagged somewhere. At this point it's always a good idea to check your spear line - you don't want it wrapping around appendages or other things just before shooting.
Unlike the surface hunt the fish that would pass in front of your ambush will be much easier to spot, unless it comes from above. Then you'll face the opposite situation where the silver belly of the fish will fuse with the colors of the surface. This is obviously nature's camouflage at best.
If you've got a good spot, fish will get very close to you. They may even start feeding of your gun - it's been known to happen. Once again, be extremely carefull and aware of your gun - banging it into rocks is never a good idea.
Danger warning: Being at depth and not moving much, as you would during this kind of dive, one should be aware of one's body - if you start feeling like you need air, go and get air. It's no use if you spear a record fish and die 2 seconds later because you've got no breath. I've found that getting into a rythm for this type of dive is the most advantagious.
What I do is dive for 2 minutes, stay on the surface for one minute. It does NOT matter how deep the dive is - even if it's a very shallow and easy dive, this is the rythm that I keep to. If you've got a good spot and a decent rig, you can keep this up for at least 3 to 4 hours with the occasional rest and rehydrate in between.
Only one problem I've found with this technique: I normally use a 120cm
Rob Allen Railgun (they RULE!) and sometimes a fish will come from the blind side and the gun won't fit between me and the fish. All you have to do, however, is wait. Or like we call it in SA, Chill ..... it'll go into range sometime or another.
Happy Hunting!
