Free Diving Spear Fishing

[SHARP]

As an add-on to Skygear's post, the general rule of thumb is that you should have the water line straight across the mask when you "stand upright" in the water, if you're lower in the water you need to drop some weight, if you're higher in the water you should put on some more, but there's always personal preferences.

[tuer502gt]

And be careful of shallow water blackout...

[skygear]

FOr sure.

[SHARP]

^^Seconded!

[tuer502gt]

Like the deeper you go the more pressure makes you feel like you can hold your breath for ages, and then you start surfacing, and that all vanishes, and u get light headed and black out in the shallow water and die.

So... don't dive alone and make sure you have a quick release weight belt, and if you feel yourself getting light headed, take all the weight off, your wetsuit will take you to the surface and your buddy can flip you over if you passed out so you can breathe again.

[DiStOrTiOn]

be careful fish don't spear you

[Haiti's Space Agency]

Originally Posted by DiStOrTiOn

be careful fish don't spear you

nah man cant be scared of a little spear on a fish. u are the alpha male here! yu r evolved with big brain and fancy weapon gear. just gotta be fearless and fuck that fish up with the gun yu have. cant let a damn fish boss u around, just gotta have heart and determination, dont let no damn fish scare its just a damn fish animal like a damn dog or horse cant be scared doe gotta put on the big boy balls and step up to that fish and shoot it with the spear

[Malcolm Equis]

arent u worried about drowning?

going unconscious?

getting stuck?

[Malcolm Equis]

Originally Posted by tuer502gt

Like the deeper you go the more pressure makes you feel like you can hold your breath for ages, and then you start surfacing, and that all vanishes, and u get light headed and black out in the shallow water and die.

So... don't dive alone and make sure you have a quick release weight belt, and if you feel yourself getting light headed, take all the weight off, your wetsuit will take you to the surface and your buddy can flip you over if you passed out so you can breathe again.

pretty sure thats called deep water blackout

shallow water blackout is when you dont go below 10 meters and blackout due to Co2 levels being too low due to hyperventilation.

deep water blackout is due to depressurization

[DiStOrTiOn]

Originally Posted by a224

dont let no damn fish scare its just a damn fish animal like a damn dog or horse cant be scared doe gotta put on the big boy balls and step up to that fish and shoot it with the spear

[skygear]

Damn, glad to see everyone shitting on a decent thread again. I appreciate it you two.

[skygear]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_water_blackout

[DiStOrTiOn]

Originally Posted by skygear

Damn, glad to see everyone shitting on a decent thread again. I appreciate it you two.

I am actually being very helpful bro


What if me posting a picture of bigass human-eating shark changes his mind to not go into the ocean, thereby saving him from a horrible death like by dolphin gangrape, octopus molestation, nigger orca whale attack, or death by jellyfish bitchslaps?


this is the most helpful advice anyone could give imo.

but hey if impaling a few fishes because you're too fucking poor to just buy them is more important than self-preservation then fuck you

[dysik]

have you had much experience with the ocean mate? its really not as dangerous as you think... and im probably in one of the most dangerous ocean spots in the world.

[SHARP]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Equis

arent u worried about drowning?

Not really, if I do nothing I go back up to the surface.

Originally Posted by Malcolm Equis

going unconscious?

EDIT: Scratch that, Skygear already posted an excellent link regarding SWB.
No, I'm not worried I might go unconscious, I'm well aware of the danger.

Originally Posted by Malcolm Equis

getting stuck?

Yup, somewhat, I stay well clear of nets if they're marked, and I always check for discarded nets, wire, or fishing line, but luckily it's very rare to come across such hazards where I live.

[skygear]

Ok distortion, Carry on then. The danger is in the person pushing beyond there training. You can't expect to "jump in" and hit 80' on the first day. It takes time and training your body and lungs, proper technique. The money for buying the fish isn't a factor here. If we can spend ~1k or more on gear, we can most certainly afford whatever we want to purchase at a market taken from the sea. Attacks on divers as a whole are very rare. Fatalities normally come from blacking out and drowning or the bends (SCUBA). Recently there was a free diver that was speared in the head by accident from his friend. Guess what, he lived, taking a break from the sport for the rest of the year but will return to it next year after he fully heals.

THe link I posted was a last ditch effort before my laptop died. I hit "POST" then the laptop died completely.

I was going to quote a few passages form the wiki, but hopefully people got the chance to read it.

I agree on the getting stuck SHARP, most of the places divers get into trouble are near PEIRS or where theres a lot of people rod-n-reel fishing. Castnets, Fishing line, and occasional rope are the only real hazards I've run into. Its a hefty fine for commercial fishermen to NOT mark their gear. So the buoys are clearly marked. Even the wrecks all up and down the coast have been pretty well cleaned from any major snags. A month ago I ran into a few divers with torches cleaning up some metal hang ups on a wreck. Startled me at first, then I understood what they were doing with the hand and body motions underwater.

[Venom]

I've seen things like these lurking about the waters which would probably require a full enclosed suit.

[skygear]

I ended up picking up some of the Sea Pearls http://www.seapearls.com/weights/unc...lace_thru.html

Decided to get the naked ones in the 5's and 4's already put a coat of BLack 3M enamel on them and will put another couple coats. Goal is to Camo them also. So I need to grab some of the similar colors to my suit from the local hardware store.

I placed a call to my gear connect and have the vest in transit.

Wrist Dive computers/ watches are my next major investment. I can't decide on them though
Suunto
Tissot
etc...>???

[SHARP]

Originally Posted by skygear

I ended up picking up some of the Sea Pearls http://www.seapearls.com/weights/unc...lace_thru.html

So, how much weight did you buy, and what did it cost you?

Originally Posted by skygear

Decided to get the naked ones in the 5's and 4's already put a coat of BLack 3M enamel on them and will put another couple coats. Goal is to Camo them also.

I just ran my vest over with an OD...

Originally Posted by skygear

So I need to grab some of the similar colors to my suit from the local hardware store.

You lucky bastard you, over here we can't get spray paint in useful colors easily, last time I needed a matte OD for example, I had to trawl through a ton of stores before I finally found one (cost me an arm and a leg too).

Originally Posted by skygear

I placed a call to my gear connect and have the vest in transit.

Yay for you, I'm drinking beer, making ankle weights, and slowly melting away.
Can't wait for a review though, so hurry up and go shoot some fish when the vest arrives.

Originally Posted by skygear

Wrist Dive computers/ watches are my next major investment. I can't decide on them though
Suunto
Tissot
etc...>???

Can't really help you, I prefer to have the option to simply say "sorry hon', I had no idea it was this late and there was this fish you see" (and that'll totally excuse me for showing up several hours late, I think), so I don't have a dive watch.

Happy huntin'.

[skygear]

The weight was ~$50 I picked up 2@5# & 2@4# for a total of 18#...


The watch is more for my personal Logging of dives, depths, personal breath hold times, etc. I want it as a safety device, not really for the actual time. I thought I was around 50' on dives, Nope, turns out after borrowing a buddys computer, I'm more between the 70'-80'. Thats a huge difference and major issue that I wasn't able to get a proper estimate on my depth.

[dysik]

32m are you fucking KIDDING me! thats insane man props! is that just a dive down and up or are you actually spearing aswell?

i might have to look into those books you were talking about... im not too sure but i would estimate my dives to be 10-15m max :/

[Gun Lover]

I'm not gonna take pictures of all my stuff, but spearfishing is great fun.

It just feels great to go out on a truly active hunt. I've had way more fun spearfishing than deer/dove hunting.

That sucks that you've gotta don those dive suits; the gulf is usually warm enough that I don't ever wear mine. Have any of you ever used SCUBA equipment with the spear? That's something I've always been dying to do out here; biggest problem I forsee is shooting too big a fish and it pulling me all over for a little while.

[constantinople]

Do you still get the same effect of having to fight a massive fish on a rod and reel? I'm pretty sure that's why most people go fishing, or at least I do. That's the only turn-off I have to spear-fishing is that it seems too quick.


It took me like 2 hours to land about a 6 foot shark one time, I doubt it would take 20 minutes with a spear-gun...



PS - Most of my fishing is done in the Gulf around rigs. There are scary ass big man-eating fish out there, including hella sharks. I probably wouldn't want to be swimming around by those big pilings trying to shoot fish. Maybe if you were hunting like mangrove or some snapper or something it might not be too bad but say you speared a big amberjack or something and it just drowned your ass? What then?

[Malcolm Equis]

2. Rapid depressurisation. Because deep water blackout occurs as the diver approaches the surface without necessarily showing signs of distress, depressurisation is clearly implicated in the cause. Consciousness depends on a minimum partial pressure of oxygen in the brain not on the absolute quantity of the gas in the system. (See pulmonary alveolus for details of gas pressure in the lung.) At the surface, the air in the lungs is under 1 atmosphere of pressure; at 10 metres, the water pressure doubles the pressure of air in the lungs to 2 atmospheres. Recreational deep breath-hold dives can often go to 20 metres, competitive deep dives can go much deeper, and the current free-dive record exceeds 200 metres. Ten metres is easily achievable by a reasonably fit and competent swimmer. Most people go unconscious when the partial pressure of oxygen (ppO2) in their lungs, normally 105 mmHg falls below ~30 mmHg. Ten metres of water effectively doubles this to 60 mmHg putting the diver above the blackout threshold until they hit the 30 mmHg limit on ascent. A ppO2 of 45mmHg at ten metres will pretty much ensure a blackout between four metres and the surface. S.Miles termed this latent hypoxia. Although quite comfortable on the bottom the diver may actually be trapped and unaware that it is now no longer possible to ascend safely through the shallow layers above and a diver pushing the limits may expect to go unconscious without warning just as he or she approaches the surface. Rapid depressurisation certainly answers the question as to why victims black out so close to the surface and without distress but it is still unclear why it happens at all. A physiological explanation dependent on pressurisation of the body is required. Two theories have been put forward as to how this might work:

[skygear]

I have used SCUBA to spearfish. Personally not my thing. I like to free dive and feel I am more agile in the water that way. If theres a fish you want with extra weight on(tank, bc, regs etc.) you can't really Lunge towards your fish in an energy effective manner.

Depending on my stress levels, I can stay down ~3min more or less. Spearing and all. I don't really pay attention to the depth on a normal basis, the time under is my important number. I take my total time I can hold my breath, time it takes to get down, subtract that times 2 and I'm left with an approximate bottom time.

so- hypothetically -
3min breath hold, 1 min down, 1min up, leaves 1min bottom time.
3-(1+1)=1

As for the suits, I'm most areas, the first 15' are a great temperature, after that its cold and uncomfortable. Half of the FreeDive breathing technique(s) are to be in a comfortable state. If you are worried about the temp of the water at specific depths, you are less likely to want to be at those depths. Theres where the wetsuit comes in. You get to a maintain a constant temp no matter what depth or water temp.

Being comfortable and stress free are the keys to successful deeper dives with longer breath holds.

The biggest part of spearfishing, just like land hunting, is proper shot placement. Most of the time when you shoot the fish you "stun" them. With larger fish you use a "Tuna Line" attached to your float. They can fight all they want and its all in vein. On the bigger fish you use a "slip Tip' on your spear.

[Gun Lover]

Originally Posted by skygear

I have used SCUBA to spearfish. Personally not my thing. I like to free dive and feel I am more agile in the water that way. If theres a fish you want with extra weight on(tank, bc, regs etc.) you can't really Lunge towards your fish in an energy effective manner.

Depending on my stress levels, I can stay down ~3min more or less. Spearing and all. I don't really pay attention to the depth on a normal basis, the time under is my important number. I take my total time I can hold my breath, time it takes to get down, subtract that times 2 and I'm left with an approximate bottom time.

so- hypothetically -
3min breath hold, 1 min down, 1min up, leaves 1min bottom time.
3-(1+1)=1

As for the suits, I'm most areas, the first 15' are a great temperature, after that its cold and uncomfortable. Half of the FreeDive breathing technique(s) are to be in a comfortable state. If you are worried about the temp of the water at specific depths, you are less likely to want to be at those depths. Theres where the wetsuit comes in. You get to a maintain a constant temp no matter what depth or water temp.

Being comfortable and stress free are the keys to successful deeper dives with longer breath holds.

The biggest part of spearfishing, just like land hunting, is proper shot placement. Most of the time when you shoot the fish you "stun" them. With larger fish you use a "Tuna Line" attached to your float. They can fight all they want and its all in vein. On the bigger fish you use a "slip Tip' on your spear.

Good shit!

Yeah, I happen to suck at the freediving aspect, that's why I'm keen on trying SCUBA. I find the thermoclines are much more numerous and dramatic in lakes as opposed to the gulf.

As for shot placement, I couldn't agree more. It feels like shit to accidentally shoot a sizeable fish in the ass just to have him in death throws for the next 10 minutes.

I was actually surprised the first time I snagged a good mullet. All I saw was the glint of the spear disappear followed by a loud crunch, no movement. I'd apparently shot it right through the top of the skull, instantly killing it. No unneeded suffering

[skygear]

Heres a few shots of my gear in a pile.



If anyone needs a few closeups I'll have my gear out for a little while. I'm doing a gear check, cleaning, and prep for tomorrow.

[DiStOrTiOn]

all that equipment won't save you from the niggers of the sea:









so have fun getting raped by sea niggers

[skygear]

No need to bring Tacho's to the table... er a, into this.

[SHARP]

I was out yesterday with a colleague, we didn't see any fish but it was a nice trip anyway.
I did however learn a few things I already knew but haven't had the time to fix. Softer fins seems to be in order so I'm grinding down the outer ridges which appears to work as supposed, and I need a longer snorkel as I kept taking on water whenever a wave hit.
So I have a question, I hope someone can answer: how long a snorkel would it be practical, and safe, to use?

I mean, a too long snorkel would be difficult to blow clear, but more importantly I don't want to build up too much co2 in it when I exhale.
So far it measures 33cm from mouthpiece to the top by 18 mm inner Ø, but would it be totally crazy to extend it a further 10 cm or thereabouts?

Originally Posted by skygear

If anyone needs a few closeups I'll have my gear out for a little while. I'm doing a gear check, cleaning, and prep for tomorrow.

If you haven't packed all your gear away, I'd very much like a close-up of the rail on your gun, where your line reel is mounted, as well as the mount bracket on the reel itself.

[skygear]

I'LL snap some close ups for you.

I would just lighten my weight a little so you stay buoyant more at the surface. I dont mess with longer snorkels.

Speaking of which - I lost a fin and my snorkel saturday. I was in really rough seas with horrible vis and a rouge wave capsized my float as I was adjusting my gear. A nice 10-20 footer crashed on my head 2 miles off shore. The swim back was a bear.

[SHARP]

Originally Posted by skygear

I'LL snap some close ups for you.

Thanks a bunch, I plan on adding a line reel to my gun as it'll be easier to reload due to the fact I won't have a lot of line floating around tangling up, but I'd prefer to keep the front grip I added (extra stability during surface shots in rough water, and doubles as a "monopod" during ambush hunting), so I might be looking at some customization work soon, and need all the info and inspiration I can get.

Originally Posted by skygear

I would just lighten my weight a little so you stay buoyant more at the surface. I dont mess with longer snorkels.

I already have plenty of positive buoyancy, so much in fact that it's hard to get down without too much work, and every time a wave hits I get a mouthful of sea, rudely breaking my concentration...
Anyways, I already extended my snorkel by 8 cm, with a bit o' luck I'll get to test it live in a couple of days with a buddy close by; I'd hate to run into a bad case of hypercapnia when I'm all alone...
If it turns out it isn't working, I can always pull off the extension with no damage to the snorkel.

Originally Posted by skygear

Speaking of which - I lost a fin and my snorkel saturday. I was in really rough seas with horrible vis and a rouge wave capsized my float as I was adjusting my gear. A nice 10-20 footer crashed on my head 2 miles off shore. The swim back was a bear.

Aw man, sorry to hear, that sucks!

[1983]

Originally Posted by constantinople

Do you still get the same effect of having to fight a massive fish on a rod and reel? I'm pretty sure that's why most people go fishing, or at least I do. That's the only turn-off I have to spear-fishing is that it seems too quick.


It took me like 2 hours to land about a 6 foot shark one time, I doubt it would take 20 minutes with a spear-gun...



PS - Most of my fishing is done in the Gulf around rigs. There are scary ass big man-eating fish out there, including hella sharks. I probably wouldn't want to be swimming around by those big pilings trying to shoot fish. Maybe if you were hunting like mangrove or some snapper or something it might not be too bad but say you speared a big amberjack or something and it just drowned your ass? What then?

What if you made up a rig with an airbag attached for you spear gun?

just some compressed air and a pull pin then a lead line so you can swim around using your snorkel and let the buoy do all the work for you.

A

[skygear]

It was a $500 set of fins and a $30 snorkel so yeah, almost a $300 after taxes and shipping that I lost.

[SHARP]

Originally Posted by 1983

What if you made up a rig with an airbag attached for you spear gun?

just some compressed air and a pull pin then a lead line so you can swim around using your snorkel and let the buoy do all the work for you.

A

That's more or less how the big game spearos do it; get down and tag a target with a barbed spear connected to a buoy (aiming for a kill but often that's not enough), get back to the surface to reload and get a breath before they dive to set a kill shot with an un-barbed spear and then bring it up.

Originally Posted by skygear

It was a $500 set of fins and a $30 snorkel so yeah, almost a $300 after taxes and shipping that I lost.

Pure and utter fuckles, but deep down I think we all know that we sometimes must sacrifice something to the sea from which we harvest...
It's not quite the whole "circle of life" thing, but in a somewhat poetic way shit happens, and if we'd never run the risk of losing gear, we'd never get the chance to experience first hand what's going on, in a world most people have never seen...

[skygear]

FOr sure, its just it couldn't have happened at a more inopportune time for me. I have the new SporaSub One AIR in the 80 reserved and its the same ammount to pay it off as it is to get the replacement gear I lost. So now its ~$600 to be back at square one. I already paid part of it off and its not even officially available ANYWHERE in the world. My hookup is going out on a limb and I cant faulter on the deal. But without my basic gear, I cant even use anything.

I'll make a trip to the truck for the pics of the rail for you in a couple hours. Its completely open and the string keeps it down. I had a MAko with with a completely enclosed track. That was an interesting gun. used it twice then it was taken from my truck in the Outer Banks.

[SHARP]

Thanks, but it's the reel mount rail/bracket I need a pic of, it sounds like you're about to photograph the shaft rail/muzzle.

[skygear]

I have someone on another forum that wanted the rail, muzzle.... Yeah Basically I got close ups of the whole gun. Some for here and others for another board. Uploading......

[SHARP]

Just got done eating fish-delicious-fish, shot only a few hours ago at about 5 meters...
A mate and myself went up to the North coast of Sealand as there should supposedly be awesome to hunt, when we got there and even before we'd suited up, we spotted a couple of porpoises playing, and fish jumping so we expected at least a bit of life out there.
For a little under an hour we didn't see anything worth spearing besides the mullet or sea trout I spotted heading for the hills as we swam out, but visibility was pretty good for Danish standards this time of year, roughly 10 meters or so, no waves to speak of, and the current wasn't too bad.
Unfortunately neither of us own a dive torch, and we were pretty busted by the time we got up, otherwise we might have stuck around doing some night time shallow water ambushing on trout as they come in to feed at night.
Oh well, today's score ended with 3 X plaice @ 0.7-0.8 kg (mate got two, I got one) and 1 flounder @ just a tad over 1.3 kg (shot by yours truly).


^^That's a 1.5 liter bottle.

EDIT: And I just threw on a line reel shortly before we left, WHOOP-WHOOP!
PS: A 41cm snorkel isn't too long, I didn't die the least bit.

[skygear]

THe reel looks great on there. so do the fish. Not having a Torch really does put a damper on things. The one I want is ~600 but its like a 60w-100w bulb under water. WOW!

I still didnt get my FIN in the mail yet so I might just go natural this weekend . Got to pick up another snorkel. This time I'll keep 2. 1 as my main and the second for the backup.