Dummies guide to Spearfishing - Part I

[covert]

There is this thread if anyone wants to check it out.

http://forums.deeperblue.net/beginner-freediving/69686-weight-belts.html

 

[Jace]

Camo wetsuits are not ment to hide you.
They are ment to make the fish curious to come in closer and give you a better chance at a clean shot.

If your a fish and you see a diver in a nice new camo suit for the first time im pretty sure ud come in closer for a look.

Jace.

 

[Mr. X]

Camo wetsuits are not ment to hide you.
They are ment to make the fish curious to come in closer and give you a better chance at a clean shot.

If your a fish and you see a diver in a nice new camo suit for the first time im pretty sure ud come in closer for a look.

Like it! I think there is some truth in what you say but I don't buy that it is the main reason for camo. At least not here, where visibility is often poor. I think the aim is to make yourself harder to see, to hide you and, if seen, to disrupt your size & shape so that apparent threat is diminished and unclear. You are right though, many fish are curious. It might be interesting to conduct some experiments to see if what you say is right though e.g. wear something unusual & easily seen but obviously not camoflage, perhaps a bright yellow wetsuit (although I hear sharks like "yummy yellow") or white (although sharks like that too - see portinfers shark-eaten white/red-head kayak picture - and the underside of fish is often white, presumably to act as camoflage against the surface/sky):hmm.

I try to hide when spearing. In a black wetsuit, at the surface or midwater I can be easily seen (black fishing plugs & eels are quite popular here now, as they provide an easy to see silhouette near the surface, esp. at dusk). I probably look like a large ungainly seal - which would be threatening to most fish. So I try to hide as much of me as I can in the weed or behind a rock and that does seem to be much more effective. Sometimes the fish do come into investigate but usually not when I am fully visible.

I am intrigued by the "macro" camo described on the Jersey spearfishing website & used on the Predator wetsuits used by Miles and other SA spearos. It doesn't hide the diver but breaks up their shape & outline. So you have a point. Apparently some continental spearos use unmatched tops & bottoms to achieve a similar affect. I would think wearing a different colour weight vest or a T-shirt over your wetsuit might achieve a similar effect, but perhaps straight lines are bad, perhaps camo/pattern would work better. It might also be better if the fish were more aware of your legs or torso than the firing arm pointing at them. BTW I have an Omer "mimetec" (camo mask) but its not really very camo, the flange is shiney so you can get very distinct straight high-lights on the nose & forehead, & the only camo part is the lens-frame & even that is picked out with a distinct black interior edge; an all matt black mask would probably be better.

 

[Groupermadness]

The reason for cammo suits is to make people buy them, my cressi cammo is great to hide in bushes when poaching but it goes black when wet, cant really see the use of cammo because as far as i know fish are colourblind, but they do look cool.

 

[Mr. X]

I don't think fish are completely colour blind - if they are let me know, I will be able to thin out the lure collection. From recent discussions on the angling thread, it seemed most think fish see colour, at least some do sometimes (e.g. perhaps near the surface, in clearer water on sunny days). For me, colours do start to disappear quite rapidly with depth. Perhaps colour appears as greys/neutrals to fish (as they appear to me at depth) or perhaps they differenitiate better between small changes in colour/grey-tone than we do? I suspect distinct edges in colour/tone is probably more critical than the exact colour (my brother's justification for "urban camo"). So maybe a nice Axminster carpet pattern or chintz furniture covering would be as effective as military camo?

You're right, of course, about products having to attract buyers more than fish.

 

[mishmish1993]

hiya i would like to ask with what type of gun should i start of with and size becuase iam only 15 btw

 

[mishmish1993]

hiya i would like to ask with what type of gun should i start of with and size becuase iam only 15 btw, what is the best brand gun in the market,
why do you need to wear socks if your yousing closed socket for fins ?:t

 

[getawayFK]

For gun I advise you yo start with a 75cm single 16mm band until you get comfortable with it then you can move to a 90cm or 100cm (you know water in Qatar is usually murky so a longer gun would only give you advantage in very limited situations)....

As for closed fins, i know people who wear socks and others who dont but I guess that most spearos would wear socks as the fins socket would irritate your heel skin after couple of hours of immersion in salty water so socks would prevent that...

For best gun brand: it all depends on personal preferences and the type of use of each gun. Brands such as rabitech, rob allen, omer, and C4 etc... are all great choices. If you are in Qatar, the guns you have here are rabitech, omer, imersion, riffe etc... I advise you to stick to with either a rabitech or omer gun and if your budget is restricted then you could try an immersion for 1/3 of the price of those former guns i mentioned.

I hope that was useful

 

[Mr. X]

...why do you need to wear socks if you're using closed socket for fins?

You don't have to. I wear socks in winter but not in summer. There are perhaps 3 reasons to wear socks:
1. for temperature control
2. to get a good fit
3. comfort
4. some additional protection against knocks, bangs & stings for your ankles and on the beach before entering the water.

You are right, a full foot fin offers pretty good protection & warmth. I find my Beuchat fins comfortable even without socks.

I think it's a good idea to fit fins with thin socks, as I have noticed my feet change size noticeably depending on temperature, which affects how well my fins fit. Also, my wetsuit is too warm sometimes in Summer, so it is good to be able to leave the socks behind. It you get fins to fit with thin socks, and your feet shrink in cold winter water you can always switch to thicker socks & if they expand in warmer Summer water you can swim w/o socks. Perhaps you never get colder water in Qatar?

Re. spear guns, getawayFK's advice sounds good to me. Imersion, Wong, Cressi, Beuchat & Dessault spear guns also seem well regarded. I have an RA & an Omer and rate both highly. The SA spear guns are particularly well designed for big fish. My Omer is incredibly light and agile. One is not better than the other, they just excel in different ways. e.g. A 75cm RA Scorpia or Omer Excalibur would probably be good first guns and something that you will be happy to use later too (and will have some resale value). I agree with getwayFK about 16mm rubbers to start with, they have plenty of power (at least the RA ones do) without making loading too difficult/unpleasant, you can always switch to bigger ones later if you feel the desire/need.

Don't forget to read Miles' classic threads & articles for beginners: http://forums.deeperblue.net/beginner-hunting/65300-dummies-guide-spearfishing-part-i.html

 

[miles]

Hiya

Different fins fit your feet differently. Some spearo's get VERY bad blisters on their heels if they don't use socks. In warmer waters, some guys simply use normal cotton socks, just to cover the feet, thereby protecting them from chafing and blisters as well as from any other stinging animals (like blue-bottles, portugese man-o-war, etc)

 

[divendeep13]

hey lots of good info:
thanks for the time.... i already have some black wet suits and want to camo them!!! do u know of any ways to do this....

 

[MrCoombe]

buy a camo rash vest and wear over the top

 

[Sploded]

Heya.. Nice guide this is.. I had a suggestion. (Someone might have done this or suggested it before) - But, These guides as with many other guides are intricate and loose. A lot of information on what to look for in equipment and techniques but loose enough to avoid personal bias and such to allow the reader to be comfortable in looking for what works for them..

My idea is to have a part of the guide, like at the bottom, of what to avoid when making certain decisions. Kinda doesn't make sense but there are some products that work with a specific set-up yet not work too well in a different set-up.

It might dip too far into personal preferences but to noobs (Like me) sometimes the personal preferences of the experienced has more weight with justification.. Possibly from bad experiences, hearing from others. In a way just passing the torch of knowledge and experience to noobs so they don't make those small mistakes. (The bigger mistakes are usually covered with safety and general knowledge.)

Some examples of what my idea entails is... off the top of my head.. Specific fins that the Pros use, as there are a lot of them.. Which one's work well with socks, what thickness of socks for the most comfort, or simply which ones are not too great with socks - i.e. Too tight for socks with even one size larger would be too loose.

In many of the threads, I see people posting small tidbits on what to avoid but sometimes have to read through tons of threads to get to those tidbits.

It'd probably be too hard to gather or think of the small things into one post that make for a bad day in the water, but I feel it might help us noobies when we get bombarded with so many suggestions, confusions, and mistakes that a seasoned veteran would have avoided almost subconciously being what they look for is engrained into them with time.

Just a small suggestion from a beginner.. grain of salt and all that jazz.
Sorry for the long post. This thought just came to me as I woke up a few minutes ago so I'm rambling.

Thank you all for everything.

~Sploded~

 

[spaghetti]

Sploded I see what you're saying: it often happens that discussions derail to irrelevant details. But discussions are made this way, people are made this way.
This is a forum where people discuss, not a school or a "how to" handbook.
A forum is not about teaching lessons, it's about sharing experience: everyone may throw in his opinion, and this is the way people like it.
It sucks when discussions derail to irrelevant posts, but it would be much worse to edit posts, censorship et cetera. People are free to speak themselves.
But whatever question you have to ask, please ask: in most of cases you'll get some very good reply from the forum guys. Feel welcome!

 

[benicio]

which color of the should be best to wear?
i don't actually swim to deep waters, i just go about 5ft to 10ft while viewing from above using snorkle. but then i like to shoot those fishes below.

 

[lafona00]

Hi Everyone,

Very good advice...

I have learnt plenty of things...

I may catch more fishes now rofl

 

[MattB]

This is a great thread. I learned a lot!

 

[Mr. X]

buy a camo rash vest and wear over the top

I tried this for a while, I think it probably works ok but it's just yet another piece of gear to lug around and put on. I think black might often be a pretty good camo (e.g. in the shadows/rock gullies), as lighter patches on the camo could potentially draw attention to your movements, which might otherwise go unnoticed. This season, I've decided that for me, "Black is the new camo"!

Reminder: if you guys have specific questions or areas that you wish to discuss, it's ok to start new threads. In fact, I would encourage it.

 

[kevtron]

As a complete newb to spearfishing (or really even much fishing at all) there are a couple probably very basic things that I'm quite curious to see in a total beginner/dummies guide.

I read somewhere on here that you want a knife to be able to dispatch of the fish quickly and easily. How is the best way, specifically, to do this?

What do you do with the fish after you've speared them? I assume if you're out for a few hours (as some have said they are) you'll, hopefully, catch a few fish. How do you keep them with you while you continue to dive for more? More so if you go pretty deep.

Are certain types of lanyards/ties/ropes used to keep all your gear attached to you? ie. If you're using a pole spear (which is what I'd like to learn to use to start) how do I make sure it doesn't just fly away from me? This also relates to the above question regarding caught fish.

 

[kevtron]

I got bored and started going through all the old posts just to see what I could find of interest. I also managed to find answers to my questions

I figured I'd put the links up here for future reference, and so others can more easily access them.

Quickly/Humanely killing fish

info on fish stringers

connecting self to float

attaching line to spear