Stalking Techniques

[Mad Scientist]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering how all of you guys go about stalking your fishies...

I mostly hunt sheephead out here in Southern Cali. My usual technique is to make a bunch of short dives along a reef until I find a spot with a reasonable group of fish. Often times I will come across a group of 5-10 fish all in one section... When I find a spot like that I will stop and breathe up, then make dives to the bottom (typically 25-30 ft) I will then just sit on the bottom very still for a minute or two... During that time, I pick out the biggest one and I wont try to hit anything besides that particualar fish, even if I have a good shot at another one. Eventually my targeted fish comes close enough for a good shot, and you know the rest.

Im sure everyone has their own way of doing it.... Anybody use special techniques such as baiting, smashing urchins, flashers, etc... I suppose my technique is simply patience...

Happy Hunting!
Rico

 

[Jay Styron]

You might want to look back through the spearfishing archives here. I think we've had a post on this before. It's got a lot of good info. If there's any specifics feel free to ask.
Jay

 

[Hapakid808]

Try dive bombing for sheephead. Theyre pretty slow so use a short gun or a pole spear works too. Just when you see a school breath up and go directly down on top of them. It conserves a lot of energy but most of the time you end up with more fish cuz you can stay out longer.

 

[Bill]

technique

Rico
All that's Hawaii kine diving. I'm having a terrible time trying to learn it. My favorite way to get Sheephead was to know the spot exactly, dive 50 feet outside and crawl back on the bottom. It works best when the viz is less than 10 feet. It got me a couple of trophies.
Aloha
Bill