Depth?

[Spiderman]

I've been spearing for about a year now and of the few fish I have caught all but one have been surface shots. My breath holding is not good but has improved a little - I can spend perhaps 20 seconds on the bottom at about 4m or make a brief trip down to 8m. I have noticed that the guys who catch big bass sometimes refer to finding them in caves at considerable depth. Is this the exception or the rule? I am hoping to improve both depth and bottom time but it would be useful to know what I am aiming at in terms of depths and times. I am not looking to win competitions but it would be good to bring more fish home! Also, do you find a likely area and dive hoping that there will be fish lower down, or do you wait until you see something from the surface and dive to investigate?

 

[Spaniard]

I'm going to assume that you are in spearing in UK. Bass can be caught all over the place, deep and shallow. From approximately Weymouth towards Dover bigger Bass seem to favour hiding in caves/holes/cracks in reef etc. That's not to say you won't see them free-swimming either but you can be sure to find them in holes. Going the other direction i.e. Weymouth to Cornwall, bigger bass are less likely to be found in holes are more likely to be free-swimming. You don't necessarily have to dive deep to catch bass but I would suggest your chances will improve if you can lie still on the bottom or in amongst rocks for at least 30 seconds and ambush the fish. You will hear this called aspetto or agachon fishing and it can be very successful for bass if they are about and you are 'stealthy'.

 

[Old Man Dave]

This is a very old chesnut and to be honest would take pages to fully answer. Basically you can catch big fish in both shallow and deep water, especially bass. If you can dive deep then you also have the option of going shallow. If you cannot dive deep then the shallow option is your only choice. So it is worth learning to dive deeper. However it is better to fish where you are comfortable. If you can't stay long or dive deep then there is no point fishing there 'till you can. Hunting in shallow weed beds trying to ambush fish (going indian) will bring results if you practice being stealthy. You can also then try diving deeper and extending your bottom time for a portion of your dive. There are many exercises you can do at home to improve your breath hold. Search through the forums.

Good hunting

Dave

 

[hcknudsen]

what equipment do you use? long fins or short fins etc. how much lead? is there a posibility that you might be useing to much energy, and maby would be able to improve your bottom time if you changed a little in the gear dept., are you relaxed when you dive? do you spend twice as long at surface as below, write down what gear you have and describe two or three concequetive dives, how many breaths, how you submerge etc. maby someone will be able to correct you and you can win a few seconds



Hans-Chr.

 

[Spiderman]

I have just bought my first pair of long fins. I use 9kg of lead and am still quite buoyant at 3-4m (have to grab something to stay down) while at 5-6m I am able to stay down fairly easily. I know I am not as relaxed as I should be, but I am getting better with each dive (at home in a comfy chair I can hold my breath for a little over 2 minutes). Before a dive I exhale as fully as possible, inhale as much as possible, exhale again, inhale and then dive. After a dive I spend at least twice the lenth of the dive on the surface.

 

[hcknudsen]

That all seems to be right, gear, and the way you dive, then I would think that it´s just a matter of spending enough time in the water, then sooner or later you will be at ease, I´ve been spearfishing for a year an a half, it took some getting use to with the line, float and speargun in the water, but now I feel at ease when I dive and that has improved my bottom time a lot and I´m starting to get to grips with ambushing the fish etc, I started with a bottomtime of ca 30-40sec and have during the last year worked myself up to a time of ca1-1min10sec, I don´t push myself, inhale 2 times deep and dive on the third. I also quit smoking the long fins might take some getting use to, but I think they will help as well, I feel helpless without long fins now

happy hunting

hans-Chr