Introduction for a Nor Cal Spearfishig Noob

[Vaughnthomas]

Hey guys , my names Vaughn and I'm a student. I'm new to spearfishing, but I've been surfing for a while and I thought I'd give freediving Monterey, Mendocino, and Norcal a try.
I have a few questions for the Norcal fisherman freediving monteray:

1.) How thick should my dive socks and gloves be as well as any suggestions of brands...?

2.) After a lot of research through trolling and such, I'm trying to choose the right speargun between either Rob Allen or Mako because I understand they are cheap but decent quality guns for reef fishing...

3.) Anyone who's willing to dive with a newbie I'd be stoked! Let me know either through this thread or my email vaughnthomas48@yahoo.com. Of course other newbies welcome!!!

Thanks in advance people.
Vaughn Thomas

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Welcome to DB Vaughn. I'm a bit too far south to help much, but there is a club that would be a great source of information and dive buddies.

http://www.montereybaytritons.com

 

[Mr. X]

Hi Vaughn (Welsh heritage?), welcome. Yes, RA are based in South Africa and they make & sell good equipment - not particularly cheap (or light) but strong, robust and designed to handle even very large fish. Mako sell similar types of products, based in the USA although I believe they import rather than manufacture - but I'm sure somebody will correct me if I am wrong on that. Both are good brands.

Perhaps more important than the speargun brand is the length - for this style of speargun (railgun/eurogun) it is usually specified by the length of the barrel tube - which is largely chosen for the visibility conditions that you expect to encounter. Also, don't forget the other gear you'll need: float/buoy, float line, fish-stringer, wetsuit, weight-belt.

 

[BatRay]

Hi Vaugh, welcome to Deeperblue. We've had some other new members from your area recently, some in the last month or two. You may want to look through the Intro and Greets subforum and respond to their threads. You may also look through the USA/Canada subforum and post/respond in there. Here's a link: https://forums.deeperblue.com/forums/usa-canada.91/

Do you plan to go ab diving?