Noob w/ a Gun

[s14slide]

Hello all, new guy here. Biting off on another addiction. Taking up spearing because; 1) I like getting my own food, 2) bow hunting is no bueno in the hotter months, 3) I am at home in the water (grew up in Hawaii and GA/FL swamps/marshes/rivers), 4) I work for Uncle Sam so have the privilege to travel to tropical destinations on his dime for work, and those are just the first hand full off the top of my head.

I currently live in SoCal in the mountains, but will make the drive/ride to the water to hook up with others. Actually working on a system to fit everything on my motorcycle to hit the water for a day or two.

I am an ex smoker and am working on restrengthening my cardio endurance. Can still do 2 minutes before contractions while static, usually on the 3rd or 4th cycle. Much room to improve.

Gear: I have goggles that have been great, don't know the brand as they were gifted to me by a friend on a trip to Roatan, Honduras. Fins are US Divers. I like them. Snorkel is a Riffe. Works great. Gun is a Hammerhead Evolution 2 100. Also have a Voodoo reel if the need arises.
Still working on getting a wetsuit, boots, knife and spear friends to help show me the ropes In these SoCal waters.

Holding my breath....

Ski

 

[Mr. X]

Welcome ski. When you say goggles, I assume you mean mask (i.e. nose covered)?

Some other kit that you might need:
- dive float + float line
- fish stringer (i.e. somewhere to store the fish you spear)
- a weight belt & weights to offset the buoyancy of your wetsuit, when you get it

I think that's pretty much it.

 

[s14slide]

Welcome ski. When you say goggles, I assume you mean mask (i.e. nose covered)?

Some other kit that you might need:
- dive float + float line
- fish stringer (i.e. somewhere to store the fish you spear)
- a weight belt & weights to offset the buoyancy of your wetsuit, when you get it

I think that's pretty much it.

Had this idea for a float.
http://forums.deeperblue.com/diy-homemade/97963-diy-float.html

Have a weight belt, but its a nylon one. I'll probably suffer with it till it annoys the heck out of me. Only have 10lbs on it. Still need to pick up more.

Stringer I was going to make.

Thanks for the welcome.

Goggles, yes I mean mask. Never really separated the two words before. Now I'm GIJoe.

 

[Mr. X]

Should be fine. If your belt moves about too much you might be able to fashion a crotch strap like the one Omer sell - just make sure it can't interfere with the quick-release mechanism though. Rubber Marseille-buckle belts are traditional, nice & well suited to spearing (and should be v. cheap but often aren't these days ) but aren't essential by any means.

For spearfishing, you really don't need that much gear. I guess most of us start with some cheap gear (wetsuit/mask/fins/snorkel) but you can get decent spearfishing specific gear for not much more - you don't have to buy the latest & greatest model in the funkiest, newest camo patterns. Most of the gear lasts quite well too, years, decades even - although you might loose the odd piece, especially when starting out (a dive knife, a crab bag, etc.) - so you might want to postpone the purchase of that Titanium dive knife until you've gained some experience (the cheap Omer USA mini laser spearo dagger, for example, is excellent though, don't really need anything more).

BTW Big spearo fins do make a significant difference. A good fitting spearo wetsuit is much, much warmer than a shorty 2-3mm surf wetsuit. A simple J-snorkel is perfectly adequate (best even) for most spearing. A 2-lens, low-profile spearo mask does work better (the difference between low profile spearo masks though is small) - I would suggest all black, after years of consideration , other would no doubt disagree. A spearo dagger works better than a dive "bowie" knife - but the spike of a good fish stringer (or the spike of your spear even) can be used to dispatch fish, and is often move convenient.