spearfishing in 40cm/ 1feet of visibility???

[Karletto]

hello from Slovenia

iam a recreational freediver with personal best cca. 20m/ 64feet; i live quite close to sea but the water has poor visibility (gulf of Triest); there are rocks with fishes like 10cm/ 0.32feet long but other than that -> mud only; in some places i touch the ground with hand and cant see nothing O_O 8o

is there a tip to attract fishes (with bate or something)? whats the smallest fish u catch?
How to catch in these waters?

[Amphibian]

In such conditions hole shooting and finding hidden/stationary fish is your only realistic option.

A nice short gun. (40cm or so)

[spaghetti]

Now do you mean 40cm from the tip of your spear, or from your eyes? If it's 40 cm of visibility from the spear tip, then it's still clear water (ha ha!), while if it's 40 cm from your eyes, then its' very difficult indeed.
Me I love spearing in very low viz: it's a hunt against shadows, you feel like a ninja, or a shao-lin monk. Fishes are just dark shapes appearing and disappearing while you're surrounded by a mysterious nothingness. Fascinating.
Techniques: there's such a lot to say

-Short guns? Yes (40/60 cm)
-silence and very slow motion
- always current from your back
-remember: you can't see them they can't see you. But they can FEEL you with their sense organs. Only if you don't make too much noise, they won't easily feel your presence.

§Tricks to enhance visibility:
1-find points of referrence on places where fishes may pass around (bright rocks, wreckage, any submerged structure that may "call" fishes). A fish always has a reason to be in a place instead of another. You must avoid "flat" places with no rocks, no vegetation, nothing: fishwill stay away of those places too.
2-fishing in a counter-lìght position, aiming your gun from bottom towards the surface: you stay on the bottom pointing the gun up. You will recognize the dark shape of the fish against the brighter surface (if the sky above is bright enough)
3-fishing along cliffs of bright rocks (marble or so) in two possible positions:
a-in front of the cliff you'll recognize the dark fish's shape against brighter rocks
b-stay clamped on the cliffs in a parallel position, waiting for fish coming in front of you or from back, with gun 45° (degrees) towards open sea.
c-look into holes or cracks between rocks with a torch and, if you see a fish inside, shoot immediately.

Apart of this, the visibility can't be that bad every day. You should learn to forecast underwater visibility from weather, tide, winds, current streams, composition of the bottom (sand/rock/mud etc): this kind of knowledge is necessary.
A good thing, if you spear in areas of frequent lo-viz, is to keep a diary with notes about your habitual fishing spots: everyday you should take note about visibility, presence of fish and related weather-tide conditions. After two round years you'll be able to forecast with good approximation.

[hyeparis]

When visibility is low, I usually go to the bottom and then look upward - that way you can see siloettes of fish as they pass by above you illuminated by light
but if it is as low as 40 cm, then you have to ask around/read up on what stationary fish are out there in your area and where they hide. they you again dive close to bottom and crawl to the hideway, making sure you produce no noises - such as fins hitting rocks, etc
I sometimes even push myself forward by grabbing rocks at bottom. The more silently you approach the hideway - the more chances the fish won't flee.
If it is deep and water is murky, than obviously visibility will be lower at the bottom than at the surface levers, so you will need a flashlight
However, some fish are attracted to light while others are scared by it - factor in when deciding whether to use a flashlight

[fleshy]

Hyeparis's "shadow fishing" is your best shot if you are in a deep body of water. But you said you would be very shallow. Id say your best bet would be slow and quiet like Spag said. If you run into a fish, you run into a fish. A lot of it will be luck, for conditions like these I might almost RECOMEND a polespear. At the very least, a tiny gun.