Best prep/training for spearfishing

Those responses remind me of the Farside Cartoon on my desk planner. It is a photo of a helium balloon with a chicken tied to it, floating into a bar filled with Samarai warriors. Pretty much what I expected to hear .

Iya, the gun is coming next month. I did decide to go with the MTO. I'm buying from PirateScuba. Matthew was very helpful on the phone answering my questions, and the price seems fair. Basically, I'm just going to buy a whole bunch of stuff and experiment (similar to your method ). Four 9/16 bands, 9/32 Hawaiian, 5/16 threaded, floater wing kit. I'm not going to get the enclosed track, the muzzel reinforcement kit, or any Riffe spearheads. No enclosed track because I don't think shaftwhip could possibly be a problem with such short shafts. No muzzle because I want the gun to float...and I already have one buoyancy strike against me since I am in fresh water. And no Riffe spearheads because they are too expensive, and the floppers too bulky (for the prey I hunt). Instead I plan to just get the thread adapter so I can use my cheap (inexpensive) JBL spearheads. They sharpen up easy, and cost 1/4 as much as riffe. As fast as I go through them in a summer, I would spend a fortune on Riffes.

I cant wait.....believe me, everyone on the forum will know when I get to try it out.

I'm also going to order some extra Riffe mono line and a bungee to make my Custom more reliable. Although I must say that the little banger didn't let me down yesterday while I was hunting Big Mouth Buffalo. They have very hard heads and gill plates and that little gun popped my single barb spear right through to the other side. Granted vis was only 4 feet, so most shots were between 3-4 feet. I just swam to the bottom and croaked until they got curious. When they saw me, they would immediately turn to go around me or run away....game over. I imagine that I will probably continue to use my Custom in low vis water or in the winter months when gear tends to get banged up a bit more. I still don't like the fact that that gun sinks though. It's a real pain when you are wrestling a big fish on the surface. I need to stop complaining and get some foam in the barrell :head .

El Ninio`

I am still jealous that you got out yesterday while I had to work.

We had a record breaking day in Wisconsin yesterday. It was 54 degrees in January! That's something that doesn't happen too much in these parts.

Jon

Sorry for an out of date post but I jsut have to express my opinion. I don't agree that the ONLY training is to dive. I know this because about four years ago, I though a touch and go dive to 50 feet was a deep dive. Then I got a job wirking with a troubled kid after school. All he wanted to do was go to the pool and go swimming. He would play around with his friends and I would train. Warm up with a 400 yards freestyle to get the ardio up. After a few minutes rest, 25 yards, then 50s yard underwater breast stroke (pool didn't allow fins at first). Underwater flutter and dolfin kicks no fins for 25 yards. Even allow the other kids to "surf" on my back in the shallow end. This would be crawling along the bottom while a kid stands on my back holding me under. I also found out that I am negative in the pool . This allowed me to do static on the bottom in the deep end. Eventually, I got my underwater static up to 3+ minutes. The lifeguard there came to know me and like me enough that she let me bring my mask, snorkel, weight belt, and surfing fins into the pool to help clean it while doing breath hold. I would put the gear on and scrub the walls, and even the floor with a tiny toilet scrubber. I would have to kick while in the deep end to stay at midwater long enough to actually clean the wall. You can imagine what this did for my diving. 75 feet with 30-45 second bottom times became easy. Average dives went from breathing contractions at 1 minute to contractions at 1:45 to 2 minutes. I have broken the 100 foot barrier and I attribute this to pool training. True that I have gotten more confortable in the ocean but just diving would not have allowed me to get to where I am. I agree that the best training for spearfishing is to spearfish but there are other ways to train. I'm gonna try the apnea push up and abdominal routines and see where that will get me. Good luck training. If ever on the Big Island of Hawaii, look me up. Got some really good reef and blue water here.

Brad :martial

hi

That was a cool story, almost enough motivation for me to do something like that

cheers