Newbie - very first equipment

[Sbiriguda]

Hello everybody
I am doing scuba at a simple level (Open Waters PADI) and I would like to start spearfishing and freediving
This year I will be in the Philippines (Visayas) but normally I stay in Europe
Sometimes in the Italian lakes and sometimes in the mediterrenean (Liguria, Puglia, etc.)

I really have no idea on what equipment to buy
I already have a Scubapro Mask and Seac fins

I will have to buy or rent wetsuit, but due to the very different sea/lake and temperature conditions by now I preferred to rent

What I really need is advice on a speargun to buy

 

[Mr. X]

Welcome Sbiriguda,

What about: Weight belt & weights? Float (buoy) with diver-down flag & ballast? Float-line? Fish stringer/ikejime/spearo dagger for dispatching fish?

Re. Speargun - what is visibility like in the lakes? How big are the biggest fish you expect to spear?
For a beginner in the Med/Philipines perhaps 90cm/100cm/110cm barrel speargun. For the Lakes (& Med), perhaps something a little shorter. (70-80cm?). With a single 16 or 18mm rubber band. Spearos don't generally use reels in the UK but they seem quite popular in the Med. - but cheaper and simpler not use one initially. Clip your speargun to your large dive float via a floatline if concerned about loosing speargun.


Brand/model doesn't really matter that much. As you are in Italy, how about something Italian - there are many good Italian options? Mass produced models inc. Cressi Commanche or Geronimo 75 or 90cm? Omersub Cayman? Non-Italian options that I like the look of some Beuchats, Rob Allen/Mako/Rabitech railguns. There are many small brands and exotic custom options available too, esp. in Italy, USA and Greece it seems.

 

[Sbiriguda]

Mr X, thank you very much for the suggestions
1) Weight belt & weights: I already have those for scuba diving, I think they should be fine (unless your advice is different)
2) Float (buoy) with diver-down flag: I don't have one (maybe I can buy used)
3) Float-line: I don't have one
4) Fish stringer/ikejime/spearo dagger: I don't have
5) Lakes conditions: low visibility, cold water, fish tend to go 20 or 25 m deep especially in winter (you might wonder why people still want to go fishing there...); the biggest fish you can get are pike (luccio) and chub (Cavedano); pikes can be very big but mostly I would say you can expect to see fish not bigger than 40 or 50 cm and like 2 kg or 2.5 kg of weight
6) My first choice was in fact Cressi Comanche 75, both because of the usage I would make and the possibile use also in the Philippines

 

[Sbiriguda]

Mr X, thank you very much for the suggestions
1) Weight belt & weights: I already have those for scuba diving, I think they should be fine (unless your advice is different)
2) Float (buoy) with diver-down flag: I don't have one (maybe I can buy used)
3) Float-line: I don't have one
4) Fish stringer/ikejime/spearo dagger: I don't have
5) Lakes conditions: low visibility, cold water, big fish tend to go deep like 20 or 25 m especially in winter. You might wonder why people still want to go fishing there...
6) The biggest fish you can expect to find are pikes (luccio) and chub (cavedano). Pikes can become very big, mostly anyway I would say what you can expect to find are chubs like 2 or 2.5 kg weight and 30 or 40 cm length
7) My first choice would be Cressi Comanche 75, which I could use both in the lake and in the Mediterrenean or abroad