Shooting techniques when in a school of Fish

[Pastor]

Originally Posted by MARMIR

Azapa,
...I would strongly desagree but since you catch so many fish I would change my mind....

Do a google search on "instinctive shooting" there are dudes out there who are precision shots without even looking at their guns, bows or whatever else they are shooting.

[azapa]

I would say more "luck of the draw" in my case... I have a competition this Sunday, watch how I bungle every shot........... will report back

[spaghetti]

Hm Hmm...
I thought that this thread was about hunting when fish come in numbers in a school, which has peculiar difficulties, different than targeting a "solo" fish.
It seems however that it has become a discussion about shooting in general, in which some say to aim aligning carefully gun and target, some say just shoot instinctively.
For me, it's both right and wrong.
Some random thoughts:
1) Shooting instinctively is better, or even necessary, in many situations, especially when fish won't let you take your time to aim. But instinctive shooting doesn't mean fortuitous, casual, blind shooting. For a succesfull instinctive shooting, before you've got to know your gun: how it shoots (high, low) how's the recoil, how much range before the spear start to drop et cetera. If your familiar with this, you can shoot easy and quick, without aiming at all, and hit the target.
2) In order to know the specific ballistics of your gun, you must have done some practice aiming properly, which means aligning the three points of reference (gun butt, shaft edge, target), and training your hand and arm to the proper position and movement. Then after, when you know your gun, you may get better advantages from instinctive shooting when necessary.
3) When hunting a school of fish, unless they pass by very fast (and in this case they might have a bigger predator behind them: don't shoot, wait for the big one!) you choose a single fish to target. And if you have enough time to choose among many who will be your lucky winner, you probably also have the time to aim properly, aligning butt-shaft-target, with a straight rigid arm, et cetera et cetera et cetera.
Just my 2 cents.

[IB Boyd]

Just a passing thought, but how are you carrying that gun when you swim/stalk. I carry my RA 140 (primary hunting gun) in the "solidier at arms position" -when I see a passing fish Im intersted in, I pull it up from alongside my body, anticipate where the fish is going to be, and push the gun out, rather than swing it. 140-120 sized guns dont track for
s%@t. I try and eliminate tracking a target as much as I can when using a longer gun. If you are swimming with the gun out in front of you, your "window of oportunity" is going to be very limited
Good luck,
Boyd

[MARMIR]

Originally Posted by Pastor

Do a google search on "instinctive shooting" there are dudes out there who are precision shots without even looking at their guns, bows or whatever else they are shooting.

Hoo Pator you are provokimg me, now you have to get all that following stuff:

In the 1987 I scored 6th in PL/Free Pistol, at the national championship. PL meas that the handgun can have any shape and the trigger weight it's free (usually few grams) and the target is placed at 50 mts. In the same year I scored 11th in P10/pistol (Air compressed handgun).
Despite of what people may think this is the most difficul handgun as trigger weight is Kg 1,350 and the BARREL TIME is extremely high compared to fireguns.
I'm 2nd class in trap shooting. When I was advanced in category I could not afford to train myself for 3 hours a day (lack of time and very expensive) so I had to quit. I have been a hunter since I could hold a gun. I had a chance to go to US 15 years ago and bag a lot of
whitetail with bows (recurve/long and compound bows).
I'm a great fans of Fred Asbell an American guy who spent his life teaching instinctive shooting with bows, and shooting pheasants with bow is a lot of fan.
About 10 years ago I was involved in bench-rest too. I and a friend of mine have won some trophies with cal.6PPC so far.
Sorry folks I have to leave you now....10 good reasons to shoot by aiming the target, when possible, will follow soon...

[azapa]

Hey Marmir: I did practical pistol shooting for about 15 years! Full bore pistols, 9mm, .40 S+W and .45 ACP. I was never that good though, but I think those years of point and shoot help me spearing.

Comp. this weekend canceled, 1 to 2M viz and huge swells, still got in though. Check out De la Paranguanzon (sorry, in Spanish only)

[MARMIR]

Originally Posted by azapa

Hey Marmir: I did practical pistol shooting for about 15 years! Full bore pistols, 9mm, .40 S+W and .45 ACP. I was never that good though, but I think those years of point and shoot help me spearing.

Comp. this weekend canceled, 1 to 2M viz and huge swells, still got in though. Check out De la Paranguanzon (sorry, in Spanish only)

Hi Azapa,

...I'm sure it has helped a lot.....btw I don't speak spanish and I have spot you in a pic....pls tell us more about it....

[jimy286]

So wat do you guys use as a target in the water for shooting?

[spaghetti]

Originally Posted by jimy286

So wat do you guys use as a target in the water for shooting?

A plastic bottle full of sand, a "balsa" light wood plate or...the Omer target fish (Omer now sells a plastic fish for practice shooting: it costs 24 euro. I'd say: plastic bottle and save your money for some serious bottle if you see what I mean ).

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by Pastor

Do a google search on "instinctive shooting" there are dudes out there who are precision shots without even looking at their guns, bows or whatever else they are shooting.

Interesting, I guess it's the classic western gunslinger approach.

I find aiming properly always takes too way too long & fish sense all that gradual tensing & positioning. Even a partial hurried aim is often too much. I found using a smaller 75cm spear gun last season seemed to help make that sort of instinctive shooting easier & more natural, it was a joy. IB Boyd's description of how he uses his very long (140cm) railgun was very interesting. Longer guns (even 90cm) seem to require a different approach than a short gun, especially in a current/rip.

[efattah]

I would warn you all that this thread has a very suggestive title: 'Shooting techniques when in a school.' My first thought was it was someone who was planning a 'Columbine High School Massacre', and needed techniques to shoot people when in a high school...

[Mr. X]

We don't need any more of those. sigh.
(Well spotted & fixed guys ).

[kmo]

Originally Posted by efattah

I would warn you all that this thread has a very suggestive title: 'Shooting techniques when in a school.' My first thought was it was someone who was planning a 'Columbine High School Massacre', and needed techniques to shoot people when in a high school...

Eric, I think the media has warped your mind. That never once occured to me in the 18months this thread has been up and running!