Got a gun, now what do I do??

[Donna]

Morning all.....

So, Santa bought me my first gun for Xmas

Its a Spora Sub Instinct 75 and it looks very nice :inlove Loading it will cause a few laughs I'm sure, think I'll end up with muscles like Arnie, though I'm sure it must be technique rather than strength? I remember Alison telling me to stuff rolled up towels down my wet suit to help with the pain of loading against the chest - now I really understand why rofl

I know very little about spearing, so rather than sit here looking at my new toy all day, I need some pointers on what to do next, as a complete beginner. I realise that's a very vague request, but hopefully some of you lovely experienced spearo's will give me some good ideas to get me started....

Thanks in advance....

Donna

 

[vivien]

Hi Donna,

Nice to hear that you got a speargun from Santa.

Before you will enter water you should control the string at your shaft.
I mean the knot where it is fixed at the shaft.
This knot is very important and some producer are bit careless.
Also the hole for the string, If it is sharp work it blunt with sandpaper.

In water... First you can train bit loading and and shooting.
A towel is really necessary, but better is a wetsuit with a chest pad.
Look for a target with what you can train. For examaple something which is drift along ,
a plastic bag or so.
It is good to get a feeling for the range of your gun.

Hope I could help you a bit. Lets see what the others say...

 

[portinfer]

Hi Donna and happy new year,
Nice present ! Hope you will grow to love and cherish it - remember, a speargun is not just for Christmas...
Anyway, I guess the first thing to do is check if it is rigged or not. Seems silly but make sure that the spear has line on it attaching it to the gun.
Familiarise yourself with how the shaft fits in the trigger mech and how the line wraps around and sits in the line release.

Practise rigging it (without loading of course) - ie take the spear out and then practice putting it back in. Seems silly but I got very confused with my first gun the year before last - it was an open muzzle type with a little piece of metal to wrap the line around on the muzzle - easy when you know how and confusing as hell if you have never seen it before.

Next, take it in the sea, practice loading, practice shooting something soft like a piece of seaweed or take a plastic bottle out with you and aim at it. Essentially get used to loading it and firing it in a controlled manner. Get used to pointing it somewhere safe when approaching a buddy (either away or down, or unload it when getting near a buddy if you are going to chat for a bit). Just get used to handling it.

Drop it on a few dives (unloaded) to see how it floats or sinks - then it wont be a surprise when this happens unexpectedly.

When you feel confident go and find a fish, any fish, and practice tracking it, see how it responds to the gun being pointed at it. Maybe read about aspetto technique if you are a competent freediver already (seems like you are ) and practice SHORT aspettos on the bottom tracking fish.

When you find a fish that you want to eat (look on this site at pix of fish so you can identify the species before pulling the trigger and realising that you might not want to eat it...) then put all these into use and gently line up just behind the gill plate on the lateral line and squeeze the trigger... head for the surface ... grab the fish in the mouth or at the bottom of the gills underneath and push a knife into the top of the head between the eyes, string the fish and either head for home whooping for joy now that you have shot your first fish of try for another if you are feeling especially hungry
Hope that helps - maybe see the videos on the spanish site http://www.pescasub.com/ or for some more fun ones the videos on the http://www.teamkampela.com/ site.... that is what I would do and I guess the fish in Cyprus are similar to the ones here - also find a spearfishing buddy to go out with.
Ed

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Ahaha ! You beat me to it Viv ! - take it easy - Ed

 

[Pastor]

rofl the towel down the wetsuit rofl (well up the wetsuit actually). The first time I saw her doing that I thought she was mad but it makes sense when you think about it. Something else she used to tell us, like Vivien and Ed have said is target practice, shoot at a target that you can get a reference from like an old foam float from a swimming pool that way you can see if you're aiming high/low etc. also it will give you practice at loading the thing in shallow water

 

[Murat]

congrat donna i know how do you feel. I bet you are very excited.Now you have gun then you need float line and float-knife-fish stringer etc...I hope you have 5mm suit haven't you?

Winter is a very good time for beginer practice coz all the fishes stays shallow water and generally they are easier to shoot. You may find nice sized sargo sleeping on rocky bottoms or in holes. See you in march