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Japan Spear Fishing - 日本 やり釣

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You had anyone hassle you yet? Ive been spearing on the sea of japan side when visiting family, police come by now and then and make sure your not abalone diving but dont care about pole spearing. Rules are real gray it seems.
Not really, just the snail/abalone guys in boats until they figured out I was just killing fish. Now that the hiramasa are in I have to pay more attention to boat traffic since I’m out deeper
 
They sell guns at a lot of dive shops here in Japan, is there maybe a special license required like hunting with firearms has?
From my understanding you technically have to know and go with someone in the fishing coop. Which is why a lot of guys get away with it Okinawa shooting doggies. Even if you could shoot guns here without stipulations I still wouldn’t pay Japanese dive shop prices... absurd
 
From my understanding you technically have to know and go with someone in the fishing coop. Which is why a lot of guys get away with it Okinawa shooting doggies. Even if you could shoot guns here without stipulations I still wouldn’t pay Japanese dive shop prices... absurd
Yeah, thats kind of what I’ve gathered as well. And yeah as far as prices, any hobby over here usually pulls a premium mark up. I havnt gone out any where this side yet, thinking of hitting up atami area soon. What part of kanagawa you at? I’m at Ebina.
 
Yeah, thats kind of what I’ve gathered as well. And yeah as far as prices, any hobby over here usually pulls a premium mark up. I havnt gone out any where this side yet, thinking of hitting up atami area soon. What part of kanagawa you at? I’m at Ebina.
I’m down by Miura, and from what I’ve seen the last time I went diving the hiramasa are in
 
Nice, haven't shot anything bigger than suzuki and big ishidai/kurodai yet, gona have to get out down that wAy when i get back to Kanagaw. Headed out north of kyoto on sea of japan side here in a week or so.
 
They are ok to own, just not to use.
although I did see a video on youtube with a guy using a gun, he said in the video, in Japanese, that where he was, was ok??
Maybe uninhabited islands in okinawa, I don`t know. I used to own a gun, the wife searched all the rules. they said guns prohibited.
They sell a lot on Yahoo auction too. I have been stopped by the coast guard enough times, to not take the risk. Pretty hefty fine.
 
They are ok to own, just not to use.
although I did see a video on youtube with a guy using a gun, he said in the video, in Japanese, that where he was, was ok??
Maybe uninhabited islands in okinawa, I don`t know. I used to own a gun, the wife searched all the rules. they said guns prohibited.
They sell a lot on Yahoo auction too. I have been stopped by the coast guard enough times, to not take the risk. Pretty hefty fine.
Yeah my attempts to get black and white, in writing regulations regarding any spearing of any kind have all been dead ends. The rules on the government website dont seem to actually matter. I had a buddy pole spearing in a prefecture the rules said was ok, police of some kind still made him leave, no fine or anything though.
 
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Interesting. Sounds like it may be legal (not illegal) but the authorities are pretending/assuming that it is not. Spearfishing is still a relatively new and unusual activity, it is possible that it has never been considered by the legislature, and perhaps never will be, being such a small, specialized activity.

Sometimes restrictions are covered by fisheries bylaws, rules and regulations, which tend to be updated more often.
 
spearfishing used to be very common (I'm told) then they had a big scuba boom. then the people who decide these things banned it. guns are still out, and polespear are ok in some places. Where I live, the law is if you dont use a band its ok. You have to stab the fish more or less. But I have had the coast guard called on me a few times. they say bands are ok as long as you dont let go. If the polespear leaves your hand completely thats out. The laws over here are such a mess, the police dont even know them.
 
spearfishing used to be very common (I'm told) then they had a big scuba boom. then the people who decide these things banned it. guns are still out, and polespear are ok in some places. Where I live, the law is if you dont use a band its ok. You have to stab the fish more or less. But I have had the coast guard called on me a few times. they say bands are ok as long as you dont let go. If the polespear leaves your hand completely thats out. The laws over here are such a mess, the police dont even know them.
Yeah, I’ve had law enforcment of some
kind called on me a number of times for various legal outdoor activities. I think if your outside the norm people just assume its illegal. I believe in Kanagawa where I live the “law” says you can pole spear but no goggles. The area I have speared the most in, Hyogo, spearing of any kind is banned, but whenever police come by they just kind of check in on you and leave, maybe checking for guns. I didn’t even know it was technically banned until recently.
 
" I didn’t even know it was technically banned until recently " Yeah the laws do change regularly from year to year in some prefectures.
This country has a strange way of doing things.
 
Was pole spearing with my 10 y/o around atami on the izu peninsula, was told to stop by some fisherman union guys. The rules i found online made it seem like this prefecture is ok for pole spearing. These guys said its definitey not, and on top of that I can’t even swim with a wetsuit on, thats also banned lol.
 
Was pole spearing with my 10 y/o around atami on the izu peninsula, was told to stop by some fisherman union guys. The rules i found online made it seem like this prefecture is ok for pole spearing. These guys said its definitey not, and on top of that I can’t even swim with a wetsuit on, thats also banned lol.
I’ve had commercial guys ask me to leave before, I think they thought that I was trying to take the snails, abalone, or urchin that they catch from their little boats. In all fairness a polespear looks strikingly similar to the long poles they use from their boats to pick up snails and abalone. One time an older fisherman saw me with a nice size Suzuki and just smiled and let me be. I don’t speak Japanese so that definitely doesn’t help, but I’ve noticed as long as you give them their distance and they realize you are just looking for fish most of the time they leave you alone. As for the actual laws, I don’t think anyone really knows and sometimes it comes down to how the fisherman feel that day.
 
These guys were hollering at me from a pier, and then were waiting for me when me and my son swam back into the beach. We were in a pretty high vis area being that i was taking my kid out. They said they got a call from someone that "strange people" were diving lol. Im guessing the 2 old guys fishign from the beach called them? They were "friendly" but totally bogus about the rules. First they said this was a protected area, when i mentioned people fishing then they said oh its a no diving area. I told them we weren't taking any shellfish of any kind and thats when they started saying crazy stuff like you cant even swim with a wetsuit and you also cant swim underwater at all. When they were talking to us my wife found a site that said you cant use a band of any kind on your pole spear in Shizuoaka so we didn't have much room to argue. The oldest dude also mentioned someone had called the coast guard on us but he held them off cause I'm a foreigner and I did'nt know the rules, which may or may not have been a scare tactic. I found some locals in that area through a friend and the info I got was basically just dont do it in a populated area at all. I wish i lived closer to the Sea of Japan side, everyone is chill up there.
 

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These guys were hollering at me from a pier, and then were waiting for me when me and my son swam back into the beach. We were in a pretty high vis area being that i was taking my kid out. They said they got a call from someone that "strange people" were diving lol. Im guessing the 2 old guys fishign from the beach called them? They were "friendly" but totally bogus about the rules. First they said this was a protected area, when i mentioned people fishing then they said oh its a no diving area. I told them we weren't taking any shellfish of any kind and thats when they started saying crazy stuff like you cant even swim with a wetsuit and you also cant swim underwater at all. When they were talking to us my wife found a site that said you cant use a band of any kind on your pole spear in Shizuoaka so we didn't have much room to argue. The oldest dude also mentioned someone had called the coast guard on us but he held them off cause I'm a foreigner and I did'nt know the rules, which may or may not have been a scare tactic. I found some locals in that area through a friend and the info I got was basically just dont do it in a populated area at all. I wish i lived closer to the Sea of Japan side, everyone is chill up there.
Is that 3rd fish down a type of grouper? A buddy of mine has done scuba in Shizuoka in some reserves and seen some pretty big ones, mostly because I think the dive operations feed them and “domesticate” them
 
Yeah its an oomonhata or aerolate grouper. I shot one probably about three times that size that reefed himself and the slip tip didnt engage properly, was pretty bummed. I didn't know there were any marine reserves in Shizuoka, you got a link that points them out? I'd hate to go messing around in a dedicated reserve.
 
Yeah its an oomonhata or aerolate grouper. I shot one probably about three times that size that reefed himself and the slip tip didnt engage properly, was pretty bummed. I didn't know there were any marine reserves in Shizuoka, you got a link that points them out? I'd hate to go messing around in a dedicated reserve.
Again this is coming from another white guy who doesn’t speak Japanese and is being told this by some scuba charter. Whether or not they are real we all know how defensive scuba people can be off their dive sites. Do you happen to known if korodai or if some other type of sweet lips live up here by Kanagawa? I’ve been seeing some pretty big fish that look like them but I’m not 100% sure on what they are. Also I saw the biggest Madai of my life yesterday, probably pushing 20lbs easy...too smart though to play polespear games
 
Again this is coming from another white guy who doesn’t speak Japanese and is being told this by some scuba charter. Whether or not they are real we all know how defensive scuba people can be off their dive sites. Do you happen to known if korodai or if some other type of sweet lips live up here by Kanagawa? I’ve been seeing some pretty big fish that look like them but I’m not 100% sure on what they are. Also I saw the biggest Madai of my life yesterday, probably pushing 20lbs easy...too smart though to play polespear games
Definitely lots of kurodai around, I've seen them all over the mainland. They even come up the rivers here. I lost a 3-4lb one of those as well that day before i finally realized i had my slip tip rigged up wrong. Tons of madai around too in Atami, no where near 20lbs though, thats a monster!
 
Definitely lots of kurodai around, I've seen them all over the mainland. They even come up the rivers here. I lost a 3-4lb one of those as well that day before i finally realized i had my slip tip rigged up wrong. Tons of madai around too in Atami, no where near 20lbs though, thats a monster!
Not a kurodai but a korodai, these things were pushing close to 10 lbs. Yeah know I know where he lives, just have to catch him slipping haha
 
Not a kurodai but a korodai, these things were pushing close to 10 lbs. Yeah know I know where he lives, just have to catch him slipping haha
Ah sorry, I misread that. I’m not familiar with that fish. I can’t say Ive ever seen one, or if I did I mistook it for a tai or something.
 
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