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I hope this is not too basic but I continue to be surprised at how many spearo's have not had the opportunity of dry land basic hunting expertise.
I have been able to hunt underwater successfully by using all of my dry land experience that does translate to underwter tactics.
SAspearo has outlined a few, but there are some general do's that define hunting vs casual swimming around with a spear gun in hand.
spearinhand said:...hunt when you are thinking you are cold, hunt when you are tired...
Wow, Sailsoon28, never heard of this trick before -- you are right, it could be a life saver. I have heard of an experienced spearo using a kelp/reef hook to anchor himself to while he waited for the tide to change when caught out by surprisingly strong tides once.sailsoon28 said:... sometimes if caught at the turn of the tide I would just intentionally trap the spear (point) in a crevice-hanging out on the surface-diving between waves(the big ones) until the tide came in. Sometimes twenty minutes between phases before the rip would slow down. I learned this after watching two scuba divers...die. Our rescue attempts failed-they insisted on coming in though we warned them to wait till the big sets passed and the rip slowed down...this could save a life under similar conditions
Great post SpearInHand. The comfort point caught my eye. I read an interview with an unassuming non-star mountaineer who has done most of the 8000m+ peaks in the world (prob. done them all by now). His secret? He did not even consider himself a mountaineer or climber but a high altitude camper. Being able to spend long periods in remote, high altitude conditions comfortably allowed him to achieve far more than many more skilled/talented, fitter/stronger/better financed mountaineers. If you are uncomfortable, you will not stick with an activity ... obvious really but easily overlooked.spearinhand said:...
c) Be comfortable, be part of the enviorment,vigilant and cognizant without putting too many "predator vibes" in the water. It is a documented scientific fact that quarry feel it when you are overly aggressive and over stimulated in a predator mode. Fish know it when sharks turn it on, and deer and elk know it in the woods on opening day, plains game know it when the big cats turn it on. It is why the first timer, or the camp cook, or the guy taking a crap at his blind kills the monster of the woods..it never fails and I have lived it and seen it. Same natural thing applies in the water.
d) Prepare and do your homework. keep a log of tide, time of kill, wind, temp etc. It works. Talk to the locals, especially the hook and line guys, and share your insights and spots. Google earth is a free down load and it is my map for finding the spots no one thought were there. I map my spots with a red dot and file them, then hit them hard and repeatedly.
...
G) Honor the quarry, and the game laws. Hunting is not killing, and killing is not hunting. The more you hunt, and succeed, the more you instinctivley know the difference. ...and your peers will know the difference as well.
Aiming down the side of the gun (rather than over the top), as described in the Len Jones booklet achieves similar results. Although I've seen pictures of Alison's Bass catches -- her technique obviously works too. sighAlison said:This is a pretty awsome thread... I find in the heat of the moment I dont always have time to aim properly and as a result I seem to shoot high but how high depends on the amount of paralax (Im looking slightly down at the tip so in relation the spear is aiming slightly upwards). So as a means of avoiding this, of late Ive been tilting the gun over to 90 degrees, so that the hieght axis of the gun is in line with the body length of the fish, so now all I have to do is get the new vertical axis of the spear in the middle of the fish (easy) and aim just behind the head and bingo my hit rate is near perfect on a slow moving fish nearly always a head shot and so fast.
Im pretty chuffed with the technique anyway, probably find out now that everybody does it but they werent going to tell me
I use that techinque to, the Rob Allen website recomend it I think. Which of course is fine if your using a Rob Allen like You and I do. But having seen and used her guns I can see where she was coming from. Wooden guns can be much wider than the pipe guns which can give a little uncertainty couple this with rubbers that have a greater angle in relationship with the spear than pipe guns and it can get a little confusing to the eye. So as you say her technique obviously worked for her but remember she had 20 or so years of spearing experience behind her which had got to help toMr. X said:Aiming down the side of the gun (rather than over the top), as described in the Len Jones booklet achieves similar results. Although I've seen pictures of Alison's Bass catches -- her technique obviously works too. sigh
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