Preping to dive for spearing - I'm a mess

[OTGav]

I’m after a bit of advice about helping my performance underwater when spearing. I don’t get in the sea as much as I’d like, about once a month and only started spearing a short while ago really.

When doing some buddy training in the pool on dynamics, I’m very relaxed, loads of time to breath up – life is comfy and all is easy.

Give me a gun, float line etc. and I’m diving like I never heard of relaxation. I’m in the water floating or a bit of paddle around and I WANT MY FISH – hang on, there’s something now, go now and dive on it, go go go get that fish!
It’s not like I’m stressed by swell or being in the sea – sun is shining, whales are singing, life is good.

The bottom structure is usually a little hard to see due to depth and vis, working out what is a pattern of reef vs. the pattern in my eye is deceptive.

The choice of when to dive when in a little current and with no strong indicators of what the bottom structure is like does stress me a little – my level of ability means I don’t dive again and again with short intervals and I don’t go deep. So if do a speculative dive now to see what’s there and see something interesting it will be a few minutes before I can go pick up that fish I just saw on the 1st dive? I should just rush things and get it now otherwise it will be gone or I’ll miss hitting this spot again………………Or maybe this reef is just out of reach and I’ll be 10m off a shallower spot that I could have got in amongst.

Dismal bottom time, and a lack of fish that could/should have been.

Something about diving with the extra gear and for a purpose other than just mooning around underwater is pushing my buttons, and the usual relax and breath up until ready to go style of preparation seems impractical somehow. I’m rushed, jerky and slightly desperate mess at depth – no wonder the fish take one look at me and head for the hills.

Any thoughts on how to think about preparing for each dive that fits in a little more with the dynamics of being out spearing rather than pure freediving? Hints to relax etc.?

Thanks

Gav

 

[The_frogger]

Get yourself a nice new broom handle and go train with it and all your gear at the pool. Tie a short line and a float behind it so it creates a little drag. You might give a few swimmers a laugh but it will help a lot to get comfortable in that swimming position and dealing with equipment in water. Also when you go fishing, make sure you use a surface timer and set yourself an unbreakable rule for example 4min as a minimum relax/breath up between every dive no matter what. No fish is worth a blackout on the way up just because you are stressed or in a rush to dive.

Don't put too much pressure on yourself to get x number of fish, or the biggest fish of the day or whatever. Fact is we won't starve (hopefully ) if we come back with nothing and so it's important to sometimes step back from it all and just enjoy being in the water. Being in the frame of mind that you are being very selective about what you shoot (only shooting the best possible specimens) also helps you not to chase everything that swims and will hopefully help develop calmness.

 

[OTGav]

Being in the frame of mind that you are being very selective about what you shoot (only shooting the best possible specimens) also helps you not to chase everything that swims and will hopefully help develop calmness.

Fortunately/unfortunately I'm already in this mind set - shooting a perfectly legal good sweetlip isn't part of the game, has to be something that will taste good, fillet well and is a size for the plate.

So what do I see hanging around the end of my spear? Sweetlip as far as the eye can see :head

Thanks for the advice - all good food for thought.

 

[Mark Lamont]

I just read someones "Signature" in DB that talks about success being a self measurement. It would seem to me that if you're in the ocean and having fun then you're having a successful dive. One mentor talking about scuba equiment in a sales meeting and it's infinate details once said to me and others "scuba is just a vehicle". How right that is. All that we think is of little importance in diving. If one loves the ocean then all the equipment and trophy fish or other stuff is of little importance. The old watermen and women started with a mask made from the speedometer glass of an old car and a wooden pole with a prong on the end. Their enthusiam ensued and if not then they just stopped this sport. Vance Carriere is a great example. He persisted for 3 years of heavy diving seeing fish being brought into the boat day after day and sometimes was dishearted. But he never quit and persisted and endured a lot of critical fools. He did everything wrong possible but his love of the ocean finally over came.
As far as relaxing, seems that just comes with time in my opinion. Adrenaline is there for a reason.
Enjoy. Being new is fun and the newness fades.

 

[OTGav]

Enjoy. Being new is fun and the newness fades.

I'll try to ensure the fun doesn't ;o)

 

[Mark Lamont]

There was a book............by Carlos Eyles called Diving Free in which he goes into comfort zone and how one feels as a blue water hunter. I'm not much of a touchy feely type but I loved this book. The ocean will give up her gifts when she is ready.
He wrote another one that was entitled "Bluewater Hunters" and I hope I'm not confusing the two. But "Diving Free" is a paperback and not huge.

 

[x15]

Some tips from 45 years of free-dive spearfishing:
1. RELAX...fish have lateral lines, which are a sense organ we don't have. With their lateral lines, they can detect motion, vibration, even electrical impulses. If you're tensed up, they will sense it. I know, it's easy to say relax, but how? With me, I've always been comfortable in the water, because I was taught to swim correctly (underwater first), but even with this, experience in the water completed my "training". Don't fight the water, go with the flow and surge, stay loose. Once you can do this, you can get very close to fish without spooking them. Then, it's not really a matter of aiming your speargun to get the shot, since you are so close.
2. Keep hand motions to a minimum. Fish don't "get" hands, and it often spooks them when excessive hand movements are present. Learn to manouever with your fins.
3. Be nonchalant. By this, I mean if a very large fish suddenly appears, don't gasp and "say" to yourself "YIKES!!! This is GREAT!!!" Instead react as if you are almost bored..."ya, ya, ya, big fish, so what?" then calmly take aim and shoot. This is part of being relaxed.
4. Allow some "safety air" with each dive down. You never know what may happen on the way up. Several times over the years, while trailing a dive flag float, I've had the line hang up on ledges while ascending. This necessitated diving back down and fixing the problem. Yes, your bottom time won't be as long, but in the great majority of cases, you won't need this extra safety time, so your recovery will be sooner for your next descent. And as an added bonus, it may just save your life!
5. Kill the fish as soon as it is securely in your hands. Not only is this humane, but it eliminates violent wiggling. What I do is severe the spinal cord by cutting with the serrated portion of the knife right behind the head (what would be the neck if fish had necks). One hand (thumb and index finger) holds the fish (the eyes are convenient for this) and the other hand does the cutting. For a large fish that may be too difficult to do this, I pierce the heart. A fish's heart is located right behind the membrane just posterior of the gills. This membrane is easy to penetrate. With a large fish, you will be in a cloud of blood (if you do this right) as the fish rapidly bleeds out. Also, with fish that have no teeth (such as striped bass), you can get a secure hold by putting a hand through the mouth, and holding the gill plate.

 

[OTGav]

X15 I think you've nailed a lot of my issues, other than being a clumsy goon.

Recently I was diving a local reef, and had decided not to shoot a certain species under any circumstances (not such great eating and a pain to clean).

I find myself surrounded by them, all comfortably swimming within range of an easy shot all the time - I'm thinking "you have to be joking, you guys must know you're safe today".

3 dives later all the time with fish close by and I see 2 very tasty fish under a group of "banned" fish - "Now that's what I'm looking for! Dive dive dive" - those 2 were off like shots.

Think you have me pegged with 1 & 3 on your list (with the other points being very handy too).

Thanks

Gav

 

[OTGav]

I have to apologise for resurrecting this zombie post.

It's really a big thanks to all who posted advice. This weekend I found "it".....

Repeated smooth dives to a good depth (for me) with bottom time, relaxed elevator to the surface - even remembered to loose the stress out of my shoulders on the way.

Conditions were very good, breath-ups conducted with a smile - it's all good.


Still a long road, but I think it started this weekend ;o)

Oh and a couple of fish too, can't be bad. Couldn't be happier.

Thanks again all.

 

[podge]

This weekend I found "it".....

Repeated smooth dives to a good depth (for me) with bottom time, relaxed elevator to the surface - even remembered to loose the stress out of my shoulders on the way.

It’s good isn’t it, when all is calm and you find yourself “there”
Congratulation Sir.