Best time/ day for spearfishing

[PhilKat]

Hi to all. I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine that loves traditional fishing (off shore). He got me thinking when he said that factors like full momoon, tides, wind, barometric.... affect fishing.

I wonder what factors affect spearfishing? What is the best time? After a full moon? Or when there was no moon at all?

How barometric affects fish and hence spearfishing?

Thanks

 

[foxfish]

There are quite a few threads on here if you can find them... here is one.... https://forums.deeperblue.com/threads/tides-and-spearfishing.65100/

 

[PhilKat]

Thanks foxfish for your reply. I will have a look

 

[pollack hunter]

Hi to all. I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine that loves traditional fishing (off shore). He got me thinking when he said that factors like full momoon, tides, wind, barometric.... affect fishing.

I wonder what factors affect spearfishing? What is the best time? After a full moon? Or when there was no moon at all?

How barometric affects fish and hence spearfishing?

Thanks

I don t think that they have a big impact on spearfishing as you don t need the fish to feed to spear them but the fish will be at different location if they are feeding, resting,or spawning up to you to find them what as a big impact is the temperature if it is dropping it is bad as the fish will go deeper or move away . the big tide are not great in my personal opinion bad visibility and strong current small tide work very good for me

 

[PhilKat]

Thanks for the reply. I thought that when the temperature is increasing, fish move away to deeper waters.

I believe the moon faces have an impact impact.

 

[akkosons]

When the sun rises and when it sets. The bait fish around the reef shelters on top reef when the sun sets. And its comes out with the sun. For Jacks,snappers , tunas this is the time. Ull find them crushing at shallow depths when the sun rise and when it sets.

 

[guillaume@milo]

i live in sa and we always dive acording to the moon,winds and tides here where i live you tend to get alot more fish when you do

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

 

[Pinniped72]

All things being equal, I think in deep water there are less variables, in shallow water, dusk/sunset seems to be good, especially for predatory fish.

 

[CCspearo]

dusk is a good time for really big fish here in Oz namely great whites, bull sharks and tiger sharks. They taste good but you also taste good to them.

 

[Mr. X]

I usually dive early morning to mid-afternoon just because that fits in with the logistics of life. But on vacation a couple of years ago, we drove past a favourite beach on the way home from a day trip around 6pm and the sea was incredibly flat calm - like a mill pond. We all noticed it and to my surprise, my wife & son insisted that I dive (even though we hadn't eaten since lunch)! Lucky they did: I got 3 large grey mullet. & saw several other - & all done in an hour & a half. It was great! I dived the same spot several times before & since - usually I'm lucky to see one or two fish. Unfortunately diving at that time rarely fits into with our plans.

I think that is part of the reason bass angler Dr. Mike Ladle is so successful, he regularly fishes before the sunrises - that's often before 4am. The other time he recommends is as the light is changing in the evening - just when most folk are watching TV, sleeping or at the pub!

Inspired by the above, I arranged my holiday this year so that I could walk down to the Mumbles on Gower in the morning and/or evening to go spearing. Unfortunately it didn't work out as well as I had hoped due to various reasons, not least the weather (strong southerly winds). Such is life.

 

[CCspearo]

I like to time my ocean dives around low tide,I look for a low tide around midday. I try to enter the water about 2hrs before and usually leave the water about 1hr after low tide I can't remember when I last didn't get a feed of fish. I find there is less swell and current at low tide, therefore the visibility is much better and it is more pleasant not having to swim against the current.

 

[Andrew the fish]

Thanks for the reply. I thought that when the temperature is increasing, fish move away to deeper waters.

I believe the moon faces have an impact impact.

yeah, common logic doesn't work here. I though so too, but fish kind of either goes deeper when temperature drops, or is not very active.

 

[ROBERT REYES]

If its offshore like you mention, it will vary according to fish species, not so much with the moon or tides, but more by the season, go for wahoo in wahoo season really early in the morning and for tuna in tuna season late afternoon, mahi mahi on mahi season anytime of the day, but looking for specifics like stuff floating offshore in deep blue water or birds in the horizon, etc.

 

[Gail]

I don't know about that, but I would not go spearfishing at dusk or dawn, for fear of sharks. The only time I've ever seen sharks was at 4 pm or later.

 

[Steven Rawles]

I'm quite new to it all, but in the six months I've been hunting I seem to do quite well in the last few hours of light! For some reason Mullet seem to Patrol around the Portland brake water last thing? Suits me

 

[Okis]

For shorehunting i've noticed here i Thailand that early mornings and hours before sunset have more fish. 11am-3pm i rarely see anything worth shooting

 

[Mr. X]

The problem with vague terms like "early morning" is they can have widely different meanings to different people. A lot of folk would consider 9pm early morning. For Dr. Mike Ladle, it might mean 3.30am. For Alpinists, it might be 1am or earlier.

I don't know about that, but I would not go spearfishing at dusk or dawn, for fear of sharks. The only time I've ever seen sharks was at 4 pm or later.

Yes, I've heard that before, sharks get start very interested in eating late afternoon - tea time/dinner time?

 

[billder99]

The problem with vague terms like "early morning" is they can have widely different meanings to different people. A lot of folk would consider 9pm early morning. For Dr. Mike Ladle, it might mean 3.30am. For Alpinists, it might be 1am or earlier.

I am a very-early morning person. I have tried spearfishing at first light, all the way to sunrise. It was too dark to see the fish! How do you hunt if you can't see the prey?

 

[billder99]

In salt water spearfishing, I know the fish generally stop eating when the barometer is falling and start eating again when it's rising.... they also tend to move to deeper water when the barometer falls. Supposedly the fish don't eat on a New Moon, and eat all night on a Full Moon... I don't know about that.

The biggest thing I pay attention to is tidal currents... when spearfishing on a reef, the bigger fish like to sit in wait (a bit deeper) where bait fish (above) are likely to swim against the current in a "stationary" position. Thus, rising and falling tide can be a very big factor is spearfishing success. It takes a good bit of experience to know where to go and how to sneak up on the waiting fish.