Hello everyone, fairly new to the diving scene. Just got scuba certified in October. And I'm currently going the the commercial diver training program at Santa Barbara City College. I plan to pick up spear fishing and free diving as my new hobby. Any suggestions on whether I should start out with a spear gun or pole spear?
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Newb here from Southern California.
- Thread starterMesaDiver
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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Welcome to Deeper Blue. I'm going to go against what many others may advise and suggest that you start with a speargun. Many will say that you should start with a pole spear to improve stalking skills, but I'm not sure that really helps- it just makes it harder.
I should confess that I've never used a pole spear. I started with a Hawaiian sling in the early 1950s in Florida, but that would not be suitable in the kelp and poorer visibility of California. The shaft is not tethered so all but the smallest fish would just swim out of sight with it.
I should confess that I've never used a pole spear. I started with a Hawaiian sling in the early 1950s in Florida, but that would not be suitable in the kelp and poorer visibility of California. The shaft is not tethered so all but the smallest fish would just swim out of sight with it.
I'm on the Central Coast but occasionally head down south to fish Catalina. I first tried spearfishing with a pole spear there and while it isn't impossible get a fish it is frustrating as hell to have such a short range. If you're wanting to go for rock cod in the shallows it would work, however if you are wanting to push yourself a little more you might want to pony up and get a good gun to start yourself off.