SCUBA vs. Freediving for spearfishing

[alexrom1207]

I just do freediving...I'm actually not even certified to do scuba. Anyway I was talking with a scuba guy who does a lot of spearfishing and he was saying if he sees 2 to 4 decent fish per dive that's a good day. When I go out I usually see 10-15 decent fish, get close enough to shoot 5-8 and if I'm lucky hit 4. So here's my question.
How many fish do you see per dive that are worth shooting when you are freediving vs. when you are doing scuba. Those members who have fished the same areas both ways will have particularly helpful responses.

It may be best to also explain where you're diving (I'm on the east coast of the U.S. Rhode Island) so obviously I'll see less fish than someone doing reef diving in Florida. I'm just curious how big a difference all those bubbles make.

Also if anyone uses a rebreather....a little pricey I know but just in case....and has tested that to see if it makes a difference that would be fun to know also.

Thanks to all who respond.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

It depends a lot on locale and species. If you are diving deep wrecks and reefs off of Florida, or on the Middle Grounds out in the Gulf, you are going to see a lot more grouper and other bottom fish with scuba simply because a freediver can't get down to them.

If you are diving oil rigs off of Louisiana, you aren't going to see many warsaw grouper unless you can get down below 200 feet.

In California where I live now, a freediver will see far more white sea bass and yellowtail because they are sensitive to the noise and bubbles. Years ago when I used scuba, I almost never saw those species. On the other hand, I saw a lot more halibut because I could cruise over the deep sand bottom looking for them, and I can't do that freediving.

 

[riffehunter717]

some times it depends on weather the fish are used to scuba divers having spearguns or not, some of the wrecks are speared so much by scuba that its hard to get within thirty feet of something worth shooting

 

[Marwan]

i mainly do freedive spearfishing, but some of the people i know go on scuba..besides any discussion on species, bottom type, morality etc... personally i find i a bit more dangerous then freediving and you are generally more restricted by a time limit in the water..
I know that it sounds strange..but there are lots of things that could go wrong in scuba..first too many things to deal with, buoyancy, gauges, computer, speargun, time etc....
for scuba, you should avoid yoyo diving (varying depths up down up down), which could be easily overlooked when youre hunting and more focused on fish, exposing you more to DCS..
again as you focus on the hunt you could potentailly overlook stuff, air supply, time etc.. and generally as you can breath underwater, you could be under a false sense of security to take bolder shots on bigger fish...
last year one of my friends shot a small (15kg) dogtooth tuna at 14m while on scuba.. he was dragged, buddy in tow to 30 meters BAM like that, only because the bottom was at 30 and tuna usually do that after they are hit..he got tangled to his buddy and they both got pulled, of course you can imagine how that scenarion could have had danerous repurcusssions..bear in mind that using a float/floatline will rarely work for scuba so thats another disadvantage
I also find scuba hunting restrictive in that you can hunt so far as air and time will allow..versus freediving where you can spend 4-5 hours ...
i must say im not by any means an experienced scuba hunter (i never did it actually), im sure that people who do it will have a good way to handle all the points i mentioned..so i would recommed that if your area/species etc... will eventually swing you in that direction, make sure you understand all the related safety issues, so that you have a good time and stay safe..
good luck

 

[riffehunter717]

i mainly do freedive spearfishing, but some of the people i know go on scuba..besides any discussion on species, bottom type, morality etc... personally i find i a bit more dangerous then freediving..I know that it sounds strange..but there are lots of things that could go wrong in scuba..first too many things to deal with, buoyancy, gauges, computer, speargun, time etc....

exactly! bottom time, air supply, and accent rate can get out of hand if your not careful

 

[Bill McIntyre]

i mainly do freedive spearfishing, but some of the people i know go on scuba..besides any discussion on species, bottom type, morality etc... personally i find i a bit more dangerous then freediving and you are generally more restricted by a time limit in the water..

Interesting. I freedove for a couple of years before getting my first tank in 1954 and then was mostly a scuba diver until 1997, but I feel that scuba is much safer than freediving. On a freedive, I'm always within a minute of so of dead.

 

[riffehunter717]

Interesting. I freedove for a couple of years before getting my first tank in 1954 and then was mostly a scuba diver until 1997, but I feel that scuba is much safer than freediving. On a freedive, I'm always within a minute of so of dead.

Thats true too, but if you have a problem with scuba you can not surface immediately due to nitrogen build up. a fish could take longer to handle than you thought, sharks could get out of hand, but you still need to accend slow and make that safety stop.

so, short story short they both have their advantages and disadvantages

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Thats true too, but if you have a problem with scuba you can not surface immediately due to nitrogen build up. a fish could take longer to handle than you thought, sharks could get out of hand, but you still need to accend slow and make that safety stop.

That almost never applied to me. Back in those old days, it was common practice to stay within no decompression limits. I could ascend any time that I wanted to.

 

[riffehunter717]

That almost never applied to me. Back in those old days, it was common practice to stay within no decompression limits. I could ascend any time that I wanted to.

Same applies with me but i always take a 5 minute safety stop before ending the dive just incase. better safe then sorry

 

[Marwan]

Interesting. I freedove for a couple of years before getting my first tank in 1954 and then was mostly a scuba diver until 1997, but I feel that scuba is much safer than freediving. On a freedive, I'm always within a minute of so of dead.

Thats fair Enough Bill, i guess it boild down to personal preference..although im much more experienced in Scuba then i am in freediving..thats how i felt about it..i guess its sort of like the car versus plane argument as to which is safer..personally i feel its the car, althought statistics may show otherwise, i know you ex airforce so chances are you disagree with me on this tooroflrofl

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Thats fair Enough Bill, i guess it boild down to personal preference..although im much more experienced in Scuba then i am in freediving..thats how i felt about it..i guess its sort of like the car versus plane argument as to which is safer..personally i feel its the car, althought statistics may show otherwise, i know you ex airforce so chances are you disagree with me on this tooroflrofl

Air Force? Bite your tongue sir! I was a Marine pilot.

As to whether car or plane is safer, it depends on the plane. I think I'm much safer in the back of the United Boeing 747, especially the one flown by my son, than I am driving the freeway to LAX.

But on the other hand the sort of aircraft I flew were a bit dicey. I lost far more friends in training accidents than I did in Vietnam.

 

[Marwan]

sorry bill
I know in the states its quite different,to me if its army and theres a plane its called airforce..
sorry mr Marine Pilot

 

[GreekDiver]

Interesting. I freedove for a couple of years before getting my first tank in 1954 and then was mostly a scuba diver until 1997, but I feel that scuba is much safer than freediving. On a freedive, I'm always within a minute of so of dead.

I agree with Bill. You can take precautions scuba diving. You have backups stuff if something fails. You dont have back up anything when you freedive besides your buddy if hes paying attention.

 

[riffehunter717]

I agree with Bill. You can take precautions scuba diving. You have backups stuff if something fails. You dont have back up anything when you freedive besides your buddy if hes paying attention.

i guess it pays to choose your buddy wisely!

 

[bgill]

I freedive/spear up here in the cold, sometimes frozen lakes of Wisconsin, USA.

I don't do scuba myself, but I can tell you this - I can freedive and spearfish ALL DAY LONG no problem. Therefore I'd think I would stand a much better chance at getting more and better size/quality of fish than the average scuba afficianado - although that depends on how deep I need to go to get to the targeted fish species I'm after. Around here that's hardly ever deeper than 35 feet and usually less than 20....

How long do you have IN THE WATER with a tank or two? Not very long from what I understand...I like to make a day of it IN THE WATER...Not fooling with equipment.

Now.... a bubble-free re-breather for spearfishing....That's another story!

 

[samdive]

isn't spearfishing on scuba illegal in most places? I'm 99% sure it is in the UK... but I could be wrong....

then again, I find far more scallops on scuba than I do freediving and I never wonder about the ethics of that, perhaps I should!

 

[Old Man Dave]

This point has come up loads of times mainly in heated arguements and put forward by the anti scuba sperfishing lobby. Not illegal in the UK or the USA or loads of other contries. Please lets not start a list as this has been done to death as well. However it is worth mentioning that some Mediterranean contries notably France, Spain and Italy do ban scuba spearing. Some contries that have bans turn a blind eye to hand collecting and stabbing with hand spears and knives but some others do not.

A point I've made before is that almost all of these bans have been introduced by other fisherman with vested interest in banning competition. Few if any were based on evidence of overfishing etc. If only we were the majority we could have banned gill netting, beam trawling or dredging and other horrifically destructive methods of overfishing. However we were the minority so they ganged up on us and banned scuba spearing.

If I could have one wish come true it would be never to see some of the arguements between free and scuba divers that have graced (disgraced) the pages of this site reoccur. Whatever peoples personal opinions (and you're entitled to them) argueing on this issue will only do harm. My opinion anyway.

Dave

 

[UK Spearo]

Amen to that Dave!

 

[riffehunter717]

well put, it dosent matter what method you use as long as you do it ethically.
one fish taken on scuba is tha same as one taken on breath hold as long as you eat it!

 

[jmccarron]

I guess it might just be how and where I learned to freedive, but I have always been under the impression that freediving is the only way to spear fish. There is something about shooting fish on scuba that makes it lack much of the sporting quality that you get from freediving. I learned about the sport working on a dive boat out of San Diego, we were primarily taking scuba divers out, but the crew did a lot of free diving- and never took fish on scuba. As far as safety goes, I think anything has it's own inherent risk level, I think what it comes down to is why you are in the water- to be in the water, or simply to kill as much as you can? I don't see anything wrong with getting out of the water without having killed anything. Part of the allure of spear fishing for me is the opportunity to pick out my fish. Don't get me wrong- I'd probably shoot a lot more (and smaller) fish if my life depended on it, but for now I can always go home and find something to eat.

I'd have to agree with bgill's post about the entire day in the water- you can only do so much scuba diving in a day...