MIKER,
Yes, me a scuba spearo is not as macho as you are a freediver.
Yes, me use air bottles to assist myself , not as cool as apnea....yes....yes...yes.
I know this very traditional spearfisherman. He uses no fins, no mask and just a pole spear. He freedives, he gets fishes (reef fishes ). This guys is as natural as anyone can get with the sea. He is the coolest spearo I know. Perhaps if he sees other freedivers with fancy mask and fins, he will think that is not macho ?
Come on, give us a break will ya. This area of the forum have no mention of "STRICTLY FREEDIVE HUNTING". We are here to share information not critisize each other. Doesn't mean I use a tank and I get to be an unethical spearo. It is up to the individual to be self discipline. Do you think chumming is a good thing, killing small fishes to just help you kill another bigger fish ? It is an accepted method, so is scuba spearing in some parts of the world.
Now, if my fishes hang at 48 meters/160 feet, how am I ever going to shoot one on apnea ? So I can't shoot fish to eat just because my fishes hang too deep ? Man creates tools to help himself. Is your mask, fins and speargun not a modern tool ? If you need to take a boat out to hunt, is not a boat a modern tool ?
Is your float not a tool to help land a big fish ?
Learn to scuba, come to my Doggie Territory, maybe after that you will realize that you and a scuba spearo is just another spearo after the same goal.....FISH.
DOYLE,
So where's the fish Datok Doyle ? Any luck yet ?
Deep diving on scuba and shooting fish....HELL DIVERS, that's their speciality. 200 feet to them is normal....damn, I will faint at that depth.
Doyle, I hunt up to 48 meters/160 feet on air and single tank. However, lately I stick at 140 feet/ 42 meters, if possible I stay shallower. I try to avoid decompression if possible. If I do decompress, I will stay at 3-5 minutes maximum and that is also on the last two dives. I do 5 dives in a day with the average of 140 feet. Since I get decompression first instead of low on air, a single tank is enough.
My favourite hunting area is one shot per dive, that's it. This is Dog Tooth Tuna territory. I can dive 5 times a day and not pulling a single trigger. You can't use a twin tank here because we perform wait & chase, twin tank too bulky for fast acceleration.
We wait at 120-140 feet. The doggie will come and swim at the bottom of 175 feet, they come from the corner which is 250 feet. This is only possible if the current is at the "correct" direction. At the opposite current direction, the Doggie will hang deep and will sound deep when we make a chase. Once we spotted the doggie hovering at 175 feet, we sprint as fast as possible while keeping ourself on top of the Doggie. At 155-160 feet while chasing, we fire downwards. If you are lucky, the Doggie will maintain its course and does not speed up. You need a 20-23 feet range speargun here if you want the 15kg/33lbs upwards size, this is the closest distance you can get to it, speartip to fish. This is why I am using the Metal Tech 3 with 6 x 9/16 bands shooting 3/8 shaft, 4 double wraps shooting cable.
The smaller under 10kg/22 lbs Doggies are approachable sometimes but we don't target them, they also hang with the bait fishes at 120 feet. This size is for my newbie friends. My core group of hunters only shoot the bigger ones, the bigger the better they taste, more oil in the meat and the meat is more red than white...YUM YUM....
Over the years my core group have matured well and we are very specific on the size and species we shoot. Different area offers different specific target. This Doggie territory has tons of jacks and snappers sometime but when we hunt this place, we only go for the Doggies. Later when you hunt more often, you will be more chossy on the size and species you shoot. It is better not to shoot the fish that doesn't fit your specification, than just to shoot because there is a fish to shoot.
We ( my core group ) can harvest this doggie area easily if we want to but we want to be able to hunt for as long as our health and age allows, thus we are very choosy. The drill is simple, if there is no big Dogie that fits the spec, we don't shoot at all. On the last dive or when we run out of bottom time while there are still fishes, we make one shot on a small available doggie, we must bring home something to eat too. So one guy brings home one small doggie. Population controls works and we don't take more than we need.
This place of mine is 3 out 5 chance. In 5 dives, usually only 3 dives will show Doggies, sometime only 2 dives. Funny place.
Our harvest ratio is very poor. Only 1 out of 4 trips will be decent, only 1 out of ten trips will be excellent. Only 1 out of 20 trips will be superb. This place is 2nd location I got within 5 hours drive by car from my home and another 1 hour by boat which still hides Doggies. I have another location in the Indian Ocean which is far by boat from Jakarta, 125 nmiles one way. Logistic nightmare and make me broke. We have our own boat ( not mine ), but burning 3,000 liter/780 US gallons of fuel each trip is heavy on the pocket for 4 divers. Yes. many times we bring zero fish too from this place. Java island is totally screwed, over harvested, over bombed and over cynide-ded, not many good area to go.
There is this friend of mine who never been to this Doggie territory. He just bought a used Riffe Standard #4, 4 x 16mm bands and 3/8 shaft. No reel, no float. On the first dive of the day, he shot a 30kg+ doggie at 160 feet. This guy is very fit and strong. He got dragged to 230 feet, pull up the fish again to 160 feet and got dragged again to 230 feet....that's when he decided to give the gun away to the fish. Lucky he did not pass out from the over exertion or 02 poisoning. His Alladin computer went ERROR immedately.... ha ha ha. So he did a 30 minutes emergency decompression.
There is another funny story, when my friends who have hunted often with me, goes to eastern Indonesia's remote area where there are still tons of fish....and fishes will actually swim to check you out....they don't like it. They won't shooot the fishes, they said it is not sporting...
They are so used to shy and must-chase-a-fish area, they get frustrated when fishes come to check them out and 2 meters to their spear tips.
This is what happens to me in a few of Dubai oil rigs. There I was with my MT3 with 6 bands, I thought I will see giants Spanish Mackerel. It was not the season. I ended up shooting only one jack which Indonesia does not have the species type and shoot video for the rest of the dive. I can even get fish there on freedive....easy. For such a lousy apnea guy I am, there is simply too much fish and of no fear to divers. I should have brought my MT Zero and 9/32" Hawaiian shaft, it is more than adequate. It was an eye opener trip to see the rich and beautiful Dubai but not a spearfishing experience I would ever want to repeat.
Next time come to Jakarta. Leave your Riffe at home, travelling with speargun in Asia is shitty, very shitty. I have a few spearguns. You can use my 4 banded Standard #2. A bit shorter than your C3 but decent power. You can try my Doggie territory and I am sure you will like it, provided there is fish...
..it is no guarantee however....
IYA