do fish know the range of your gun?

[tbgsub]

I live in a Heavily fished area, and am only now after Two years beginning to learn to get close to larger fish (Grouper, Coral Trout, Trevally, Dogtooth, Wahoo ect). These fish are skittish and Too Smart, but there are techniques for each species to be learned.
out here the hardest is Big Eye Emperor, because they keep their eye on you form a distance! HA HA HA..

The day I get one of those is bragging time, because they are really hard to get.

 

[Marwan]

tbg, the fish in the left is called spangled emperor, it behaves just like the big eye emperor but even quicker,,,i also find the big eye to scare easily, one time though i managed to swim through a whole school of them and they didnt seem bothered by me at all...

 

[Newbie_spearo]

Hehehehehehe my 2 new guns have arrived and from butt to end of range there is a difference of 1.2m so what do you say I hop in the water with both guns and point them both at the same fish and see if he knows the range of my bigger gun? then if he's still too smart I'll just have to order a reel from Mr. Allen and then we'll see who has the last laugh, rofl

 

[Mongrel454]

Here fishy fishy fishy....FEEL MY WRAITH rofl rofl

 

[bgill]

I beleive that "prey" fish KNOW that they are prey...Probably by your size (length of gun too) they can pretty much judge how far away they gotta stay from you to "feel" secure...I also agree they can "feel" your predatory instincts, tension, movements, etc...

Even here in freshwater...The fish KNOW somehow...Atleast the fish you CAN shoot seem to know...especially after you shoot one of 'em.

The ones you can't shoot act like they know it too!

Weird....we'll probably never know "the truth"...

 

[Newbie_spearo]

Hehe You reckon if I swap the stickers on my tuna for the ones on my Caranx that it'll fool the fish? he'll be seeing Caranx 1000 but in reality it'll be a Tuna1300rofl:martialrofl:martialroflHe'll be sitting there all smug thinking I'm just outta range and then WACK!he's on my dinner plate

 

[Marwan]

hahahaha good one newbie...of course you could always whistle and look the other way as you approach and then at the last second BAAAM...

 

[Newbie_spearo]

Haha, not sure if you've tried whistling under water? I heard it doesn't work too well, but I have also heard that those rape whistles work underwater, so I might have to pull mine out and try it. Just incase you're wondering I used to carry it when I worked on a party bus, those women get pretty crazy

 

[tbgsub]

swim quietly and carry a slightly short gun with multiple bands (euro style preferably, or mid handle with the release mech behind the handle = longer band stretch = longer range for the length)
I like to carry my gun when diving down, back with the barrel next to my head to decrease my overall length, hand backward on the handle, sometimes fish let me get closer then when I dive with the gun outstretched in front of me. I think it has something to do with a decreased profile that doesnt look like a barracuda in attack mode 2ft in front of you.

"I think that its not the size of the gun they sense but the way you handle it" (that may come back comically on me it sounds like a funny coloquialism) maby that goes for girls as well? LOL!

I like to get in the habit of pointing it slowly like I am pointing something out. (ERR these arent getting any better are they? I really am talking about spearfishing)

when something like a blue fin Trevally gets close but not the right profile try nodding your head slightly about 2-3 inches and watch what the fish do out the corner of your goggle but dont move your head again, often they circle around for another look right in front of you, you shouldn't have to move the gun much, then you have em. this may require a good Aspetto however. Best of luck.

TBGSUB

 

[settingsteel]

and sometimes they do fall for tricks Buhahahahahaaha!!!

Ha I thought that was a spangled, and from another thread have learned they are indeed quite challenging fish to hunt...BTW this fins look badazz M...

Spago has made 2 very keen points

I agree with tbgsub on the "don't lok like a predator" thing, and don't behave like a diver.
Best lessons from my masters was: "You must act in water as if you too are a fish".

but one I will add that is quinessential is to try to suppress your predatorial instinct...believe it or not you are a predator when hunting fish, your body, your vibe and your mind are tuned in to predator mode- fish not only see that- which you can hide in various ways (as already mentioned)- but they also feel it on a line running along their sides its called a "lateral line" and is a clearer indicator of danger than what they actually see. How many times have you seen fish around a predator fish say a cuda and they are calm, yet other times you see them and they are figidy why? b/c the cuda is either calm or predatorial and fish feel it. So whats the solution practice meditation, thought displacement (sounds far out their I know), but it truly does work...try it and you'll see. Here is a trick I use to fool myself. I have a reef tank and often collect sealife for it, everytime I go out I see very decent fish and they swim right up to me...so I started to carry a gun without a shaft...to train (con) my mind into thinking he carries a gun but he's collecting fish (crazy huh) then after a while of this foolishness I started to carry my gun but focus on the "pretty sealife" until it became second nature for me to slip into this mode...this has helped me immensely in taking fish, most of which fall within 10' or less, true having learned to spear using a pole also helped, but this tactic if applied will increase your kill ratio quite some

 

[tbgsub]

I find that If I am thinking about the taste I am going to get that the trigger I am pulling doesnt seem so predatory, as long as I do it with my eyes closed.

have you guys tried spooking a small school slightly to attract predators? as the reverse lateral line attention should work as well, and some fish such as Giant Trevallys and bluefin can be territorial and may want to investigate the reaction form the food fish.

I also try to act like a retarded butterfly fish thats too big for his britches rofl, but when I think they see right through my disguise, thats when I fool em with my wounded juvenile baitfish squeak while in octopus stealth mode (AKA ASPETTO), and if that doesnt work I go Han Solo and "JUST BLAST EM from above -> OLDSCHOOL!!":martial sometimes one of them works.:t JK!

anyone else?

 

[settingsteel]

^^^Hans Solo has its applications, but the Chubaca turnaround also works quite well...and lets not forget Jaba the hut seafan trick (agachon)

 

[Geoff]

It's a well know fact that all fish have to attend a compulsory course, entitled: "Know your adversary".They are schooled in all of the most common Gun's, to begin with, then, after passing an exam, they go onto a higher level of tuition!.

 

[tbgsub]

I think acting like a predator with his range in mind gives it away to your fish, they seem to know instinctively by how you are approaching them. Let them approach you and then close their perceptual distance of how safe they may think they are by a foot or two thats when I calmly pull the trigger on my pointing device! I like the Chubacca turnaround alot! Approaching indirectly works wonders! Try the "unflinching flipper" technique!

how about a Jedi Mind trick " Im not the accurate spearo you think I am (wave hand mysteriously at fish)!" "take a closer look young Fry (motion them to come over)" it works with schools of Ulua but the wave looks more like a retarded octopus going zigZag hula style and I think they like it. but you better have a solid breath hold or they wont get in range.

for safety reasons I think you should rule out the "Drunken Diver" untill you master "lightning steel" and "jammed bolt" (variation of broken arrow). dive safe young Jedi.

50% of this is more joke than wisdom, but I assure you there is Spearo wisdom there somewhere.

 

[vali]

i guess it depend on the fish
in the black sea i can hunt mostly turbot and mullet
with turbot things are very simple....he don-t run away so u can shoot him at little distance [15-30 cm...the problem is to see it because is a master of camouflage and often he stay at the bottom, covered with sand]
with the mullet things are so different...i must stay hiden beyound a rock and he they come...
allway, but allways one law has apllied: the bigger the mullet , the smarter are...
the little one don-t seem to know the range of the gun, but the larger one [from 1,6-2 kg and bigger], know the range an keep the distance in 98% of cases [my cases]

 

[willloomy]

go diving without your spear. try to get as close as possible to the fish. then try emulate that attitude and feeling when you have your spear.

 

[titan]

that's way love my culture we are so got tham advanced :martial
"Sea belongs to the man,the man is the only species in danger,there is no room for fish" that was said by one of our greatest ambiantal entites in my country looks like a quote from a 007's EVIL MAN jajajaja
spearfishing is very popular here but as u already noticed by the sentece, comercial overfishing and massive boat and industrial polution the rocks from the natural parks are black due to oil spills yummm but
as soon as someone see as fish it's dead kaaboom althought there is litle amounts of fish sometimes searoos have to wait in line (I should post some photos for the ceptics) that way there is no fish to tell the tale

 

[vali]

the rule is simple
if u want to catch fish, act like one

 

[Mr. X]

It's a well know fact that all fish have to attend a compulsory course, entitled: "Know your adversary".They are schooled in all of the most common Gun's, to begin with, then, after passing an exam, they go onto a higher level of tuition!.

So that's how they do it! I should have known.

 

[Newbie_spearo]

I'm gonna put 1000 stickers on my 1300 then BAM fish won't know what happened:martialrofl