• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

Hunting techniques

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
For bass and mullet, which I'm told are the most common targets in England, the best technique is supposed to be a mix of "agguato" (ambush the fish crawling around rocks and weeds) and "aspetto" (waiting for the fish to come close while you hide motionless on the bottom or behind a rock).
Bass and mullet are both nervous fish, but curious. If you fail to take them by surprise (ambush) and scare them, at first they will run away but - if you don't make too much noise - often their curiosity will make them soon come back to investigate who you are: that will give you a second chance.
There are hundreds of variables related to visibility, depth, weather and type of bottom, undreds of tricks, millions of personal habits: not a science. But that's it basically.
The key is being stealthy and silent.
Some tricks among the hundreds:
-sun and current from your back if possible
-no direct approach: approach them with relatively wide loops (better with no fin strokes, crawl on the bottom helping with your left hand)
-while you're "waiting", release a bubble of air to switch on their curiosity to come close
-when they come by frontally, don't wait for them to turn: aim straight to the face
-when a school of mullets passes by, don't aim to the first one of the row. If you scare him, the whole school will run away. And moreover, there's often some bass following mullets from behind.
- alarmed mullets move in a jerky way, with quick, nervous, short "snaps". Shoot soon as they start to slow down just before the end of a "snap".
-and many more....
 
Last edited:
Reactions: Mr. X
Personally and depending on where I hunt I like to use a combination of stalking, ambush and aspetto hunts. Normally in a area where there is more than one species all with different habits and prey one of these styles will get you some...
This is actually a much discussed and much debated issue but in the end it all comes down to what works for you personally and in the terrain and species that your targetting
 
Reactions: spaghetti
deep thinker said:
This is actually a much discussed and much debated issue but in the end it all comes down to what works for you personally and in the terrain and species that your targetting
Click to expand...

Yes indeed. In facts I'm talking of bass and mullet just because Cisco Kid is from Dorset. But I can't swear that the english bass and mullet have the same behaviour of bass and mullet of my mediterranean waters...
 
Reactions: deep thinker
I find agguato is best suited for very shallow water although it does work in deeper water too but most of my catches/sightings are by aspetto. I rarely resort to other attraction methods, perhaps I should? I do give my bands a gentle twang from time to time, my mate uses one of those little metal clickers that looks a little like a button or badge, another mate uses a couple of pebbles in his left hand to simulate feeding.
About a month ago on a particularly difficult day (no fish) I dived to the bottom and hid behind some weed, however my balance wasn't good and I started to roll sideways. After a bit of cafuffel trying to get myself upright again my gun got caught up in the weeds. So after getting that sorted out I thought to myself that that dive was wasted but I decided to give it a little while as I was now fully sorted out. After all the commotion I had made I didn't expect to see anything but a 3 pounder came in for a look, so maybe a little noise isn't such a bad thing from time to time

Try and get a copy of Giorgo Dapirans video where he demonstrates agguato, Spaghetti do you know its name? Awesome anyway
 
Last edited:
Reactions: Mr. X
Here we dont really spear mullet, theyre too quick rofl
Seriosly though, we dont really get those big mullet that you guys get... cept the odd one or two and theyre normally quite spooked.
 
I think it's because the noise you made didn't "sound aggressive" if you see what I'm saying. Vibrations may as well scare away or attract fish. it seems they are capable to distinguish "good" vibrations from "bad" vibrations.
--
In the case you reported, I'm just guessing but I think that the fish felt it wasn't aimed against him: he saw you trying to sort something out of the kelp, and probably he thought there could be something to eat for him too. --
Just guessing, but I'm quite sure that fish have some kind of thought, and I'm sure we need to have an insight in a fish's mind for successful hunting.
Any...thoughts about this?
 
Last edited:
Do you remember Alison? Anyway, she would have bass around her when we wouldn't, she always said it was down to a lack of aggression and body language. Sounds daft I know but like you say, good vibrations! How you could actually create good vibrations I have no idea but it's an interesting thought
 
Ive heard that is because women dont have the natural hunters instinct us dudes seem to come standard with.
Last time I went diving I saw this huge Zebra fish out the corner of one eye but as soon as I turned slightly to see where it was goin it added on the speed and disapeared.
Ive also heard that kicking up sand while on the bottom can coax fish to come closer, thinkin theres something to eat, Ive tried it a few times but never succesfully on anything big enough to eat let alone hit with a spear and still have a piece left rofl. Another trick that does work is concealing your gun on your way down and while finning around...
So yes I do tend to agree that you need to have good vibes when in the fishes world.
 
Last edited:
Reactions: Mr. X
spaghetti said:
the fish felt it wasn't aimed against him
Click to expand...
I think this is the key to make a vibration sound like a good vibration. Easier said than done, though.

Deepthinker, interesting you say about women being more welcome in fish's perception...should we cut off our....? rofl
 
Reactions: stuckinsurrey
Erm I dunno about that one hey mate and honestly I dont like fish that much rofl
Also I think it mite disqualify you from another form of hunting and sports which is alot of fun especially when the water and the weather is bad roflrofl
 
We had a visitor from Italy here in Guernsey this summer, Marco spent 6 weeks hunting our resident bass. I mention this because he used techniques that were new to me & to be honest most likely impossible for me!
He is very fit & would spend 6-7 hours a day in the water every day - rain or shine - rough or calm. Basically he would find a suitable looking spot, usually found from the surface if vis would allow, or by repetitive diving down & looking. I swam with him a few times but never quite worked out exactly what he was looking for? When the spot was found, usually between 5 & 10 mts he would dive down & rest on the bottom for a few seconds then move on a few mts & stop again. All the while croaking away like a frog, very audible even for a surface spectator. He never really stopped moving for more than a few seconds & very often shot his bass while fining!
Any how a very successful method indeed as Marco caught more Bass in 6 weeks than I catch in one year. (God I hope he doesn't come back next year!)
 
Reactions: spaghetti
I dived with Marco a couple of times out in Guernsey and just as Mart says he really did croak like a frog underwater. I didnt know what the hell it was to start with as I couldn't see him. I was down in a 7m agachon, heard the noise and then just saw his shape moving in the deeper water beyond. He swore the croaking worked on his Bass.

I tried to experiment with this without success...on Bass... however the Pollack go crazy for it. I generated loads of interest with this croaking in Devon this year - lots of Pollack coming in to investigate - and then, I think as a result of Pollack interest other fish start to come in to range. So pretty interesting all-in-all.
 
If you are too deep to croak - i.e. no air in your throat due to compression. Then I have been told the band twanging also works for Pollack
 
What you describe is exactly what we call "agguato", with the additional use of acoustic "fish call" (some people say they work, some people say they're useless: open debate).
I'm not particularily surpised by your description of Marco's style. But I guess, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that Marco's fin strokes were very quiet and that he didn't make much noise except for the croaking. Otherwise, I would be very surprised if you told me that he had such a successfull hunt splashing lots of water around.
In facts I still think that we must keep separated the three things: stealthiness, speed and croaking
-YES I agree we can use acoustic fish calls: many guys use a deep groo-groo from the throat for bass, and a clop-clop with the tongue for breams.
-YES our action must have rythm and velocity: the bigger area we dive, more chances to spot some fish.
-BUT: I strongly believe that a hunter's dive must be extremely quiet and stealthy, reducing the finning to the strictly minimal necessary while you're underwater, and keeping a quiet finning while surface swimming.
I don't think that I said anything particularily smart, but honestly this is what makes sense to me...
 
On YouTube i've seen a number of spearo videos where the hunter banged his gun quite hard onto the rocks where he was hiding and lo and behold the bass came zooming in to check it out and bang they were dead. Not sure whether Italy or Spain but definitely the Med. I've never tried it in UK but some people also swear by blowing a few bubbles to bring the bass in. Each to their own....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…