Spear Fishing

[needsmorecowbel]

Anyone on the Forums do much slinging/ spearing?

Stu

[charangohabsburg]

I'm trying to find out what spearing exactly is and how it works. I hope this article will lead me to the correct answers, respectively to some instructions on how to start with this Spears fishing... I have no idea if someone of the forum already does it - I don't.

[Alastair]

Hi Stu,

Unfortunately you are about 25 years too late

Was the sport of my 20's and 30's, but I've pretty much given up now.

Last dived about 8 years ago, but as the gear wore out, I've had other priorities for the spend, (not to mention the creeping effects of age)

[auscab]

I'm the same as Alastair,
30 years back, loved it, did a lot around Phillip Island , kilkunda and one trip up the coast to Qld, snorkeled all the way
started of with a sling then got a good speargun , lots of campfires with fish and sometimes crayfish for dinner
A few years back took the family out and snorkelled on the Great barrier reef a few times.

Then I got my own car discovered how to party gave up diving and guitar got married and worked to hard , still have my wet suit to let me know how friggin thin I was

Just a week back I was invited out with some friends on a boat , they dived [tanks] for crayfish and I watched, One guy was about 45 the other two about 60 and 69 years old. the 69 year old told storeys of a life of diving all over Australia

Have you been doing a bit ? and where ?

[auscab]

I'm trying to find out what spearing exactly is and how it works. I hope [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britney_Spears]

Britney would make a good mermaid Markus

I dont know about the bald bit though, as long as she didnt do that
A bald mermaide ?
thats me laughing at my own joke

[needsmorecowbel]

Well I've only been out twice but I definitely have FAS not dissimilar to WAS or TAS. I did some in Merimbula in this lovely spot around a semi sheltered headland off Tura Beach's most northern tip. Grouper took me by surprise when I was scouring the reef. Gave me a bit of a fright having a metre long fish dart in front of my face then go "whoops a human" and sink below. I don't freedive to crazy depths as I am quite fond of air so I just kind of hang around the surface and stay in the shallows ( to about 4m). In 2 days of fishing saw some large school fish. Caught a blackfish/ rockfish and a leather jacket. Had this hilarious moment where I lined up probably the biggest fish I would have caught around the 55-60 cm mark. Only to have a bigger one pop up behind it. The split second of me freezing up deciding which one to go for was enough time for them to escape hahaha.

[charangohabsburg]

Britney would make a good mermaid Markus

Not sure...
My first google-result I clicked on was the spanish wikipedia where she looks "less fancy" (and much older) than a mermaid

Anyway, there is no such a thing like spear fishing over here. When I was about 13 I tried fishing with a rod for a few times but gave up very soon. I only had caught a dead, stinking eel. Spear(s) fishing sounds more interesting though.

[needsmorecowbel]

There seems to be a conspiracy. The Spear fishing forum is the same look/ layout as the ANZLF.

[needsmorecowbel]

Also stinking eel are the rarest. Similar to a golden ticket in Wonka Bars

[auscab]

One of the great days diving we did on the way up to QLD was at Merimbula at the spot you went to. we took of from the rocks just past the jetty and went out,we had fluked a day when it was extremly clear, we could see the bottom way down at 45 to50 feet with a guess, big white round boulders littered the floor with these big fish swimming around,the best I could do was possibly 35 feet down, this was the peak of my diving at the age of 17.

Another strange thing on the same trip was when we went to Canberra,we went to some river possibly an hour out of the city, on a hot day, the river was clear enough to see even without a mask, we got hold of a decent size rock and were walking in to the water on one side of the river down the slope upright ,stepping over logs and rocks seeing all the way ,to come walking up the other side , and then back again, its a wierd way to expierence a river with clear water.

[charangohabsburg]

Also stinking eel are the rarest. Similar to a golden ticket in Wonka Bars

The sad part is that today the European Eel is a critically endagered species. So a dead, stinking eel today would be something like a piece of rotten BRW (while BRW is "only" classified as Vulnerable).

Happy spear fishing!

[Alastair]

Hi Rob,

My diving days were mainly on the kwa-Zulu-Natal coast in South Africa, but also from Cape Town to Mocambique. Generally fairly murky water, and rougher seas than the Oz east coast, but that also served as "natural conservation", as both the spearfishing and boat angling were limited in impact.

Freedive spearfishing was my passion, which I followed up to State level, but I also was into scuba, and underwater hockey.

And tell me about skinny. I was still using my 1978 suit when we came here in 2001. Took a bit of doing to get into it by then.

Had a couple of dives at Tathra, and at Narooma, up to 2005, but not since then. Highlight was snorkelling on the GBR when we went up there in 2003. Amazing how quickly you can get back your depth capability, when you have perfect conditions

[needsmorecowbel]

That would be a scary place to spear. Visibility would have been pretty low. I lost my dive camera on its maiden voyage. Freaking kicking myself so hard.

[Kerplunk]

Hi Stu,
I see you're already on the SFD forums -> excellent move. They're a good mob.

A word of advice though; just make sure you use the search function on that forum to try and find an answer to whatever question is on your mind before posting a new thread about it; the SFD regulars are pretty good with answering questions, but the sheer amount of newb's we get coming through asking questions that have already been answered many times over in the past, just because the newb in question is too stupid, or just too damn lazy to do their own legwork can get on people nerves a bit, and if you do it too often, you'll end up being ignored.

Okay, now a few things if you're planning on keep up with the spearing:

1) search for and read up on "samba" and shallow-water blackout. Don't kid yourself, freediving is dangerous if you mess up - several people drown doing it every year, and even the experienced freedivers occasionally succumb.

2) If you can afford it, get yourself a decent float and flag.

Now.

Heck, even if you can't afford it, get one now anyway.

It'll be tempting to spend the cash on a speargun instead, but while a speargun will improve your chances of taking a fish, a proper float and flag will keep you alive.

It's something you can hang onto and will keep you afloat if you get accidentally swept out to sea and are too exhausted to swim anymore.

But more importantly, it's something a boat or jetski driver can see in time to avoid running you over.

Snorkelers are hard to see from a distance, and in chop, you're almost invisible. Boats and jetski's are a bigger risk than running out of swimming energy, and while plenty of their drivers are real gents, there's still a lot of ignorant idiots and hoon's out there. You only have to get hit once and it's curtains, or spending the rest of your life as a vegetable, for you. This risk is real. Someone without a float and flag almost got run over by a large charter boat a few days ago. If you don't have the cash for it now, I'm sure your parents will be happy to stump up for this if you explain what it's for and the reasons for it.

3) If you're using a weight-belt, you may also want to rearrange the weights so that they are slightly biased towards the front of your body; as when you're swimming (face-down) and you breath out, the tension on your weight belt will be at it's slackest, and if the weights are biased toward your back, the weight belt will slowly slip around your body as gravity drags the bulk of the weights towards the lowest point (and swimming face-down, this is your navel), so that the buckle is now somewhere towards your back.

If you get into trouble on a dive and need to suddenly ditch your weight belt, you'll waste several seconds trying to locate the buckle, and when you do, it'll be much harder/more awkward to open from that angle. If you've only got a few seconds of air left, this can make all the difference. When I was a newb, I weighted the belt towards the back by mistake (thinking that way if I got into trouble, I would float to the surface face up). When I came in from the dive and found the belt had rotated, it was really difficult to get to the buckle and open it. That freaked me out and since then I've changed the weight to a slight front-bias as I think it's more important for me to be able to ditch the belt instantly if I get into trouble. On the other hand, a weight-belt biased towards the back may help you float face-up if you black out underwater and rise to the surface afterwards. It is however up to you to determine which of these things presents the greatest risk to you and act accordingly.

Okay, hopefully you already knew this stuff anyway, and if you didn't, hope that it hasn't freaked you out too much; just my 2 cents to try and make sure you're safe out there.

Markus, I don't think you'd have to travel too far to give freediving/snorkeling/spearfishing a go. Some of the oldest and best brands of spearfishing gear come from Europe and the products are developed and tested there - the Mediterannean is supposed to be awesome!.

Cheers all,
Al.

[needsmorecowbel]

I don't really ever go further out than to 4 metres depth. Don't have dive weights. I just stick around 10-20 m from shore typically. It's more spear snorkelling than spear freediving. And I don't really see the point of a gun... I find the chase more exciting with a hawaiian sling. You have to outwit the fish more often than not or get really lucky (seems a bit more of a fairer fight). I don't have the experience or the lung capacity nor the desire to swim in water more than 4 metres deep. Plus my ears are terrible with diving in the deep end of swimming pools so I usually just swim around with the snorkel and flippers just floating around having a stab at a nice sized fish if i see it. I bought a flag. I should have attached the camera to this. But stupidly i figured the thing would stay on my head. RACV might come to the rescue and cover the cost of the camera...Next time will have to go out with someone who knows what they are doing. Might just leave spear fishing for Merimbula and go up there once a year.

[needsmorecowbel]

But I will research blackouts and look into a float.

[auscab]

Had a couple of dives at Tathra, and at Narooma, up to 2005, but not since then. Highlight was snorkelling on the GBR when we went up there in 2003. Amazing how quickly you can get back your depth capability, when you have perfect conditions

Alastair, I noticed that to
"Amazing how quickly you can get back your depth capability"

We did the GBR twice, second time we got to swim with a Dwarf Minke Whale
It was great ,it just kept cruising past under us lookin up, thank goodness Ive never seen a shark that big.

I have a freind who took his mates out to see the seals at seal rocks on Phillip island. they were in a zodiac,[two rubber air filled sides] a Bldy huge white pointer charged them and chewed in to one side,as it's chewing in he was belting it on the head. It sank the boat, and they had to swim to the rocks and wait for help, he forgot the flares so had to swim back for them. He let one off and the police picked them up.

Stu ,keep away from where Seals live



Al, a lot of good info there.

Stu , I used to watch ch 31 a show called Gone Fishing { I think thats the right name} There was this fantastic presenter, Niel Tedesco ? The most entertaining fishing guy many had ever seen ,he would fish all over the place Oz and dive as well. a free dive accident in a pool took him, very sad.

You could you tube his episodes I think , or see them on the gone fishing site.
well worth a watch, Incredibe.

[needsmorecowbel]

Cheers Rob. Yeah I don't like seals they always steal your fish. I guess swimming with them is like walking into a Lion's Den at feeding time dressed as a Cartoon Steak. When I was in Merimbula there were that many rays it was stupid trying to weave around them so you weren't directly above them/ making them feel threatened or skittish. Someone was saying that the rays at the Melb aquarium have a tendency to suck on people. So they had to get the public to wear helmets when they were scuba diving in the main tank as there was a risk that the rays could potentially scalp people. Probably total nonsense but a funny thing to talk with a stranger about in a random conversation.

[Tod Gilding]

Hi Stu, this is the only way we fish these days around my area , ( South West Rocks NSW ) if your ever up this way call in, can show you some great spots where you have to fight the sharks for your catch.
My Son is right into spearfishing,but has been working on the wharf at Euchca on the murray, he's not very impressed with spearing there he's getting withdrawals.

I hope that you have a cammo wetsuit to hide from the sharks

[auscab]

Stu
Adventure Bound is the right name for the show,not gone fishing.
The site says they are showing the best of Sat nights 7.30 and Monday 9 am

http://www.adventurebound.com.au/

There is video of one of them swimming with a great white on the home page.
Filmed at Lakes Entrance

[MBP]

Its great fun isnt it.
Can get very expensive.

It is more comfortable to have your weightbelt on the front but if you do pass out you will lay face down. You want it so that if you pass out your head will still be out of the water.

Superfrog (EDGE) make probably the best rail guns. And they are Australian made, The owner is a great guy as well.
You can ofcourse buy or make a wooden gun as well. Dont push your self and try and dive with a budy.

[Alastair]

................. Dont push your self and try and dive with a budy.

While this is good advice, the reality is if you get good, and start pushing your limits, (and the psychology of good spearfishermen is such that inevitably you will), it remains a high risk sport, especially when you start working in deeper water.

I had 2 friends (and dive buddies) die from hyperventilation blackout during my competition days, and myself survived a couple of incidents, before we developed strategies which worked to reduce risk. While I know that it is politically incorrect to offer advice which could lead someone into risk, in the interests of anyone who is likely to find themselves at risk, I am happy to discuss my experience in the hope that it may preserve someone in the future.

Don't forget, that the most dangerous time is when you first start pushing, before you learn what happens. Most first blackouts are final blackouts.

[needsmorecowbel]

Thanks for your advice Alistair, Sorry to hear about the loss of some of your friends to diving. Personally, I don't really have a desire to learn to free dive and your advice has probably steered me away from doing it (Not that I wanted to anyway). I find that spearing in the shallows is just as fun if there are plenty of fish about. I think a trip up to Merimbula each year is on the cards.