newbie, freediving skills?

actually, you don't need any freediving skill to spearfish, but the lower the freediving skill, the more you limit yourself to the types of fishing you can do

for example, you can hunt in 3 feet of water, and still get 20lbs fish

fishing is not the same as freediving, it's a whole new experience. The most important parts that you need for fishing in deeper waters, and that are the same in freediving, are apnea and safety. Everything else is different imo.

Im about to go take a PFI course in a week or so.

Ive gotten all my gear and been going out in the surf as of late just because I cant wait. So far Ive shot a spadefish, spanish makeral, and a sheepshead. All of the fish were shot while I was snorkeling, so I wouldnt consider that free diving at all. There were times when I was going for the sheepshead that I would dive under to about 10 feet and try to sneak up on them, but again that really wasnt all that challenging in the grand scheme of things. Still it pushed my relaxation limits.

My dry static apnea personal best right now is two minutes, but that is just the number that Ive reached while doing tables. I know I can go farther, but I dont really care what the number is. Im just trying to get better. I know that I didnt stay under water for a full 30 seconds even once. I just cant seem to relax. My heart rate is elevated and my breaths dont feel full. I try to just chill out and get my breathing under control, but even at my best, my breathing isnt what it is while Im sitting on my couch or bed. I know I can do better as every time I was down my brain was screaming at me to go up and breathe, but just before I would break the surface and knew that breath was half a second away my mind would yell at me saying why the heck did you come up, you are fine ... I know this is all a mind game in the beginning, Ive just got to beat it and get comfortable. Looking forward to the class, hopefully they will have some good advise.

@ jtvann
I too have recently started spearfishing and and its amazing how similar my experience is to yours.

Maybe its just anxiety but it seems i cant stay down there for more than 30sec at most.

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