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Stalking

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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aquaholic21

New Member
Feb 8, 2009
20
1
0
Hey guys!

This is the first year Ive really been able to consistantly hunt and I'm def lovin it even more now that I can get out more often. Im a college student in south florida so naturally Im doing a lot of shore dives in about 10-20ft of water.

I was mostly just wondering about stalking. I hunt with a pole spear so getting close to the fish is obviously extremely important. I normally will try to follow the fish on the surface and dive down as smoothly and quietly as possible but a lot of the time I just cant get close enough.

How long can you stalk a fish from the surface before they start to wig out?

Any other tips on stalking or spearing with a pole spear?

Thanks!
 
I'm in a different part of the world, but I've never seen a fish that would let me follow it for long once it saw or sensed me, especially from the surface. I tend to swim away from the fish 90degrees, then try to get up underneath it.
Up here we don't see fish from the surface- we dive to the depth we need to, then start hunting from the deepest point, working our way up the drop-offs and walls.
 
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Try just diving down and staying still! Just hold on to a rock and dont move. One your bottom time will be longer as not swiming and burning up your air. Two the fish will come to you!!!!
This is the method 99% of spearos use 99% of the time.

O and do this even if you do not see a fish from the surface.
 
Reactions: Mr. X
From my limited experience, it is much harder to spot a fish from the surface as they melt into the background. Fish are much easier to spot looking up towards the sky where you can pick out darker silhouettes. If you dive down and try to be inconspicuous as you can, you will be surprised at how many fish come back and have a look around.
 
Reactions: Mr. X
DB is a great place with spearo's from all over the world. However I think that the question you are asking is mainly dependant on the vis and the type of fish you hant. In Europe (excluding the Med) with our generally poor vis we can't exactly compare to Florida. When I was in Boca Raton the vis was amazing, crystal clear would be an understatement.

I hunt fish by stalking and although the fish are very wary you seldom see them from any distance not because of this but because of the poor vis.

To get close we hunt in the weed and in shallow water. We call it going "indian", as in Red Indian, crawling up on the cowboys.

Not much help to you but maybe of some interest .

Dave
 
Definitely go down to hunt. If not you're not stalking you're chasing and the fish sense that. Sometimes I even look away from the fish and use peripherial vision unitl they come in close. I also think calm, soothing thoughts--seems they sense the preditory energy otherwise.
 
Reactions: Mr. X
Cool! Thanks for the tips. Next time I go out, I'll def try a defferent approach. Ive seen some spots with some good structure so I'll probably just post up near them and see how the fish react and what comes out. Hopefully something worth eating!

What about if you see a good sized fish swimming away from you? Whats the best way to approach a fish in that situation?
 
Swim fast and aim for the back of the gill plate. Odds are the spear will go in behind and out through the head insuring a kill and no break off.
 
I would stay close to the bottom as possible and stalk the sea fans for hogfish. You have a better target if the fish is parallel to you rather then below or above you and move fish swim along or near the bottom.I used to swim through the reef dragging a hand in the sand if i knew fish were around you just stay there for a second and they investigate the stirred up sand for food.DO NOT make sudden movements especially if your using a sling and you should not make an aggressive posture towards the fish.It may be superstitious but I always found that thinking happy thoughts instead of thinking about nailing this fish infront of me always helped, I think they can sense it when your aggressive towards them.
PS: if your using a sling GRAB the fish ASAP after its shot or pin it to something so it doesn't come off, if you cant do that just let the spear go and he can fight it while you get air and come back
 
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Reactions: Erik
Best way to do this if the fish wasn't spooked too much is to kind of lure it in.Like I have seen people use white palmed gloves opening and closing their fists to flash the fish and gain its curiosity.If you chase it 9/10 they will dart off...this can actually be beneficial if you can convince the fish to dart into a nice coral head or rock that you have access to. Another way to do it is to just stop when they start looking like their going to bolt and they may come back turning their broadside to you for a shot.
goodluck
 
Reactions: Mr. X
There are some great insights in the posts above. I like the idea of stalking. A few of things I have tried which feel like stalking to me and are a lot of fun include:

- slipping silently through stringweed (indian-style as OMD describes). Foxfish used to write about this so when I find it I usually give it a try. I found one location that would regularly (but not always) hold small groups of decent sized mullet. However, I couldn't hit one until I switched from a 90cm speargun to a 75cm speargun - & then I rarely missed.

- same as above slipping through rocks/boulder in shallow water. Some of the largest fish I have seen have been in shallow or very shallow water.

- laying on top of a rock shelf or reef just covered in water, with snorkel just out of the water, looking down or across an open area. It feels like playing cowboys & indians, acting as an indian laying in wait above the pass like in old western movies. Found a few places where this was practical. First time I tried it in Cornwall I was astonished to see long grey silver (too murkey to be sure what it was) fish cruise by within 20-30 seconds. Another couple came by a little later. I wouldn't wait around getting cold too long but give it a few minutes if you feel like it.

- aspetto (the Italian word Spaghetti & Portinfer taught us), I think the French call it something like agauchon(?). Basically what Jim286 said: dive down and lay/hang on to the bottom, usually in the cover of weed or rocks and wait for the curious fish to come into you - usually the small ones come first. Those with a longer breath hold will probably get more fish -- mine is modest but this has still served me well. DaffydRees comment about looking up working better than looking down is so true, it is far more effective. I bet I have swum over dozens of good size fish totally unaware of them, I doubt if more than a handful of fish have swum over me unnoticed.

- Len Jones booklet describes, with words & pictures, how to pursue a fish. The basic idea is to stay in its blind spot which should eventually encourage it to turn broadside to get a better view of you, that's when you shoot it. Easier said than done. Large fish here (small by international standards) generally take off like torpedoes if pursued.

- I once came across several v. large fish led up on in weed. They were hard to see but in unusually clear water I could just make them out. They had sat tight while I swam over them twice. But once I spotted them, from directly above at the surface, they could sense it and the one I had focused on took off rapidly to the left while another (possibly two others) too off straight ahead. Not sure how to handle that situation even now -- would be interested to hear how other might tackle that situation.
 
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The way I like to to it in my part of the world works well for me. I also mostly use a pole spear.
If I'm following a fish from above, I keep my distance, but the fish maybe knows I'm there. If the fish doesn't bolt it might try to hide behind some kind of rocky structure of which are plentiful here. I will then dive down, pole spear at the ready and swim around the structure. I try not to let the tip of the spear stick out passed my head to much (thus warning the fish before I can see it) So my release hand is near my hip. If all goes well and the fish didn't bolt but tried to lay low behind the rock then I have a good chance of landing it. Note I use this method even when I havn't seen a fish from above and I often get fish while they are munching on turbine shells or urchins often the fish are completly unaware I'm there.

underwater stuctures can be great for ambush and stalking. if you have them learn to use them.
 
Reactions: jimy286
as OMD mentioned, waters and fish are very different. but here is something that works for me that is not listed above:
- if you can see fish from the surface, or whilst down bellow, observe their "routes" or passes over the structure you are spearing over. You will often see they go round in larger (like 10 to 20M diameter) circles, coming back to where they start from.
- once worked out the route, let it/them pass and dive to the bottom, don't look at the fish ever, pretend to be uninterested
- you will now lie in wait, behind a suitable rock, doing an aspeto. Have gun arm semi extended.
- with correct timing and certain fish this is a winner!
 
Reactions: spaghetti, Mr. X and devondave
Good points azapa. How could I forget the circle-round. If I spook grey mullet (often in shallow water) that's my usual approach -- & remarkably, it usually pays off. Not looking at the fish only works for a short while for me -- I guess I am a little big to go unnoticed & unheeded for long
 
Ok cool! Could it also be said that if you spook a fish a bit that it could pay off to wait at or near the spot you had just seen the fish in hopes that it may return?
 
aquaholic21 said:
Ok cool! Could it also be said that if you spook a fish a bit that it could pay off to wait at or near the spot you had just seen the fish in hopes that it may return?
Click to expand...

not really, you won't know where he is coming from. ideally if you are in the right place, he will pass you giving a nice broadside shot. aim at the tip of his nose in that case, nice head shot and clean fillets :blackeye

fish are sensitive to the position of the sun, the currents, the structure and their predators. their swimming patterns look random, but rarely are. It probably takes a year or so of stalking one particular fish in one particular zone to really get them worked out! be patient, and good luck
 
sounds good! I'll just have to get wet whenever I can now and sharpen my skills. I noticed that you live in Chile! How do u like it there? You surf much there? Ive heard good things about their surf.
 
And also, I managed to get out today and do a little shore dive hunting. I managed to find a hog fish after like an hour (onshore is a little overhunted here) and stalked it just as far away as i could still see it. Idecided if I went in for it I would probably spook it so I just followed it and waited for it to rock up. I then came down on the other side of the reef and just waited for about a minute until he popped up and PSSHH!!!

So I'm thinkin this is a pretty good way of stalking fish on reefs. Any suggestions or comments?

One downside I found was that on the second fish I tried this on, I sat on the other side of the reef waitin for him to come back out only to find that he had apparently found some other way out and completely outsmarted me! Oh well, strong survive!
 
That sounds good to me. As for the emergency exit, thats a common thing to happen. I try to explore whats under rocks and look for other exits and remember them, at my regular spots. That way I can decide which way to stick my head in, 50/50 though. But I always check the rocks with no exits and often find fish holed up. Well done.

Searching under/ between rocks is a good habit to get into. I dont know about your area, but here as the water warms up different types of fish appear. Many of these seem to be territorial and wont swim away, rather they will hole up or swim around their rock or soon come back. Often these are easy targets and it is easier than stalking.
 
some good tips here generally i don't "stalk" a fish from the moment you think "stalk" you go into predator mode and fish pick that up with their lateral line, have you seen fish sometimes turn broadside for a split second then bolt/ thats what theyr'e doing picking up your primal thoughts...so first off think and say to yourself, "fish is friend', "fish is friend", then try to follow him in an oval line, that is try to veer off to one side and make a semi circle to where you guessetimate he'll be. As mentioned different methods for different areas/fish, being in boca this might work pretty well for you.
 
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