Spearfishing intro

[Irrelevant]

OK, so maybe it's because it's cold out, still snowy, and i just got back from Kauai, but I want to get into spearfishing this year. Here in WA you can head to the salt and freeze your _ss off or go for carp (common, not grass). They're the only freshwater fish open for it.

So here's my question, where do I start? I have a cheap mask, snorkel, and fins. That's it. I figure I'll start with a 3-prong pole spear, but I have no idea on the length. Nor on any of the tips or tricks for holding my breath or clearing my ears (I always just gut the pain), are their beginner resources that are better than others? I mean there YT... then you can spend a lot of time floundering there and walk away without gleaning much value.

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Funny, I was watching freshwater spearfishing videos last night thinking this exact thing and coming away with the same questions. I don't have answers yet, but I am following this and will share what I learn in my own research.

 

[Wrong Burgundy]

OK, so maybe it's because it's cold out, still snowy, and i just got back from Kauai, but I want to get into spearfishing this year. Here in WA you can head to the salt and freeze your _ss off or go for carp (common, not grass). They're the only freshwater fish open for it.

So here's my question, where do I start? I have a cheap mask, snorkel, and fins. That's it. I figure I'll start with a 3-prong pole spear, but I have no idea on the length. Nor on any of the tips or tricks for holding my breath or clearing my ears (I always just gut the pain), are their beginner resources that are better than others? I mean there YT... then you can spend a lot of time floundering there and walk away without gleaning much value.

Great plan. Spearfishing is a really interesting, fun, scary endeavor. You are most of the way there with the mask/fins/snorkel. If you plan on spearing anywhere that is not tropical, I would look at a wetsuit (2-3mm thick) and you may want a weight belt to help with your dives, but that may be jumping ahead a bit. From a spear standpoint, pole spears are a great intro and frankly you can spear A LOT of big fish with one. I have a 9' Gatku setup, and it is sweet. I would steer you towards a slip tip vs. a 3-prong, but that is just personal preference. I tend to find the slip tip to be more secure when fighting even a small fish and needing to get to the surface. Once you pierce the fish, they are on for the ride. A fish on a prong tip, especially a marginally speared one can thrash their way off it with not much effort. And if you are going after carp, be prepared for a fight unless you stone them on the first shot.

Try to always dive/spear with a buddy. Shallow water blackouts are a real thing, and can happen to anyone. A 3mm wetsuit and weight belt is a nice addition for anywhere outside of the tropics/warm saltwater. You'll be out spearing longer when you are warmer, even in the summer in a "warmish" lake, pond, etc. Cut-resistant gloves and a stringer are useful.

We have a few places in MT that permit Northern Pike spearing, but Baja is hands down my favorite destination. It is really cool to spear a fish like a 4 or 5 lb. Pargo that will be ceviche and tacos in a few hours. And all of the other things you see are just as good as the spearfishing -- sea turtles, dolphins, rays, etc.

I consider myself a rabid amateur spearo, but take your time, figure out your pole spear, equalizing your ears for dives and if you can, spear something in shallow water, like 5-6 feet so you can be on the surface with your snorkel and wrangle the fish from there without having to go down 15-20 feet or more. It is an awesome sport.

 

[SwordFish]

So you want to do some freshwater spearfishing eh? I don't have any experience with freshwater but a lot with salt. First is getting a mask that fits you. No leaking. Price won't matter if it leaks. Basic snorkel is fine. You don't need a purge valve. It can be nice, but just one more thing that can leak. Fins should be comfortable and match your diving conditions. Not too stiff and not too weak. Length is also determined by where you might be diving. In really shallow you might be more comfortable with a shorter fin. I highly recommend going to a pool first and learning the basics for free diving. And please learn to equalize your ears. A blown out eardrum isn't fun. There are a few books on free diving and probably a few videos on YouTube regarding the basics. When I was a kid I saw some visiting pearl divers from Japan demonstrating their free diving techniques at either sea world or marine land. I was fascinated even though I couldn't swim yet. I am happy to share my 40+ years of spearfishing knowledge with anyone that is interested. Anything to help shorten the learning curve.

 

[PNWGator]

The dangers of free diving are real. Get professional instruction in order to build a solid foundation from which to build your skill set.

Based on my research and reaching out to exceptionally experienced blue water hunters, I recommend starting here:

Immersion Freediving

immersionfreediving.com

 

[theat]

I've done quite a bit of spearing for pike in Montana and spent a week down in the bahamas last month mostly focusing on spear fishing. Definitely one of my favorite warm weather pursuits. Most of the places I go, I don't have to dive down much, but I do it anyways even though it doesn't seem to increase my odds much at all. Water clarity/visibility is the main issue for most of the pike spearing that I do and in the lakes where it is legal in Montana, the further you dive, the murkier the water gets. Often below 15-20' it is so murky that even with a powerful dive light I can only see a few feet. I have the majority of my luck just snorkeling on the surface slowly cruising over patchy weed beds in 6-15' of water.

I would definitely recommend a thin wetsuit for any fresh or northern ocean spearing. Even if the water feels comfortable when you get in, it usually gets pretty cold after 20-30 minutes of slow snorkeling. I also prefer slip tips or swivel single tips with a single or double folding barb. I used to use 3 prong tips, but lost a few pike with them that were able to thrash their way free. The 3 prong tips do work good on smaller fish and lobsters. I have both a cheap gun as well as several pole spears and for the type of spearing I do, I prefer the pole spears. Guns are definitely better for blue water spearing. There are a few different companies that sell screw apart travel pole spears with interchangeable tips. The aluminum ones seem a bit nicer than the fiberglass spears.

This is a pike I speared last summer. Only got him through a gill plate and had a 15 minute struggle in the lake and after he came off against the bank before I really had him secured.


If you are into spearfishing, I highly recommend the Bahamas. They don't allow spearguns or the use of scuba gear for spearfishing. Lots of fun peaking into crevasses in the reef looking for stripers, grouper, coral trout and lobsters. The only bad part was the very aggressive sharks. I had dozens of sharks darting within 4-5 feet of me during my 6 days there last month. We quickly started bringing any fish or lobsters we got back to shore immediately, but some sharks seemed much more interested in us and not our catch.

 

[Mica Man]

Lot's of sound advice given here. I've used the three prong pole spear or "Hawaiian sling" to skewer many a tench, sucker, or pike minnow here in the lakes and rivers of Idaho. Lot's of fun as a teen spearing fish with friends on lake CDA, and still having fun doing it in my 40's.

 

[Irrelevant]

I've done quite a bit of spearing for pike in Montana and spent a week down in the bahamas last month mostly focusing on spear fishing. Definitely one of my favorite warm weather pursuits. Most of the places I go, I don't have to dive down much, but I do it anyways even though it doesn't seem to increase my odds much at all. Water clarity/visibility is the main issue for most of the pike spearing that I do and in the lakes where it is legal in Montana, the further you dive, the murkier the water gets. Often below 15-20' it is so murky that even with a powerful dive light I can only see a few feet. I have the majority of my luck just snorkeling on the surface slowly cruising over patchy weed beds in 6-15' of water.

I would definitely recommend a thin wetsuit for any fresh or northern ocean spearing. Even if the water feels comfortable when you get in, it usually gets pretty cold after 20-30 minutes of slow snorkeling. I also prefer slip tips or swivel single tips with a single or double folding barb. I used to use 3 prong tips, but lost a few pike with them that were able to thrash their way free. The 3 prong tips do work good on smaller fish and lobsters. I have both a cheap gun as well as several pole spears and for the type of spearing I do, I prefer the pole spears. Guns are definitely better for blue water spearing. There are a few different companies that sell screw apart travel pole spears with interchangeable tips. The aluminum ones seem a bit nicer than the fiberglass spears.

This is a pike I speared last summer. Only got him through a gill plate and had a 15 minute struggle in the lake and after he came off against the bank before I really had him secured.
View attachment 213533

If you are into spearfishing, I highly recommend the Bahamas. They don't allow spearguns or the use of scuba gear for spearfishing. Lots of fun peaking into crevasses in the reef looking for stripers, grouper, coral trout and lobsters. The only bad part was the very aggressive sharks. I had dozens of sharks darting within 4-5 feet of me during my 6 days there last month. We quickly started bringing any fish or lobsters we got back to shore immediately, but some sharks seemed much more interested in us and not our catch.
View attachment 213530

View attachment 213531

DG is there anything in the awesome bucket of life you don't do? Jeez

 

[theat]

DG is that anything in the awesome bucket of life you don't do? Jeez

There are plenty of things I would change about my life, but I do take advantage of any relatively cheap outdoor related activities that I can.

I know you make it over to Montana on occasion and if you are interested, I could take you to a couple of my pike spearing spots sometime. I only know a couple guys that go spearfishing and making our schedules work is tough, so I go alone mostly. Definitely more fun and safe having someone else along.

 

[Irrelevant]

There are plenty of things I would change about my life, but I do take advantage of any relatively cheap outdoor related activities that I can.

I know you make it over to Montana on occasion and if you are interested, I could take you to a couple of my pike spearing spots sometime. I only know a couple guys that go spearfishing and making our schedules work is tough, so I go alone mostly. Definitely more fun and safe having someone else along.

Did you ever take a class on diving? What your level of concern regarding shallow water blackout? I'd never heard about this until today. We used to play hold your breath games in my grandparents pool all the time as kids.

How did you plan out where to go for spearfishing? There's a couple of us from the office that all went to Hawaii this winter and all want to spearfish now.

Also, solo seems like a bad idea. And how would compare the risks of sharks while spearing vs grizz while elk hunting?

 

[theat]

I did some scuba diving back when I was a kid and a few times more recently, but I have never been certified. I have done some reading on shallow water blackouts, but not something I worry about too much with the type of spearfishing I do. I don't stay down very long and very rarely hyperventilate prior to a dive. I also take a break to catch my breath between dives. The most nervous I have been is when I choke on a bit of water and spend a minute or two coughing at the surface.

There are only a few places in western MT that allow spearfishing so that has been my primary determination for where I go. Eastern MT is much more open to it, but there are not many places that have good visibility in that part of the state.

The trip I did to the Bahamas was organized by my BIL and he picked the spot due to previous experiences while he was sailing down there. We were on an outer island that isn't very touristy. Almost always had every spot completely to ourselves and never saw anyone else spearfishing. I have friend that spent a few years living on Oahu and did a ton of spearfishing while there. Since the fish get a lot more pressure, he did most of his spearing at night. He has a lot of close calls with sharks stories so that is not something I am too excited about. It was bad enough dealing with them in the daylight! Definitely a much higher chance of encountering a shark than a grizzlies in my opinion, but 99.999% are not going to mess with you. Apparently the ones that were harassing us were Caribbean Reef Sharks and they tend to be more aggressive than most reef sharks. We were chased right up onto shore a few times and one shark almost got stuck on the beach. My sister also had to empty out her catch bag after one came at her a couple times with its mouth open and eyes rolled back. If you are in a area with lots of sharks, I would definitely plan on getting your catch out of the water and away from you as soon as possible. That friend of mine that lived in Hawaii made a floating cooler out of a boogie board that he towed along behind him. He cut out the shape of his cooler in a boogie board and glued the cooler into the hole. He then drug that along behind him with a cord attached to his ankle and tossed anything he shot into the cooler. This keeps most of the blood and scent out of the water and hopefully attract less predators.

Not my video, but gives an idea of what we were dealing with in a couple spots.

 

[Goatshoes]

You got some really good responses here. Safety is important and the best thing you can do in my opinion is spend time getting comfortable in the water and with the things (animate and inanimate) that you will encounter. Your mask, regardless of brand severely restricts your peripheral vision and it is easy to get surprised by something. Panic kills, even faster under water than above it. So get comfortable and carry a serrated knife that you can reach always. You never know when some abandoned line or even your own shooting line can entangle you.

Thats all the buzz kill I got on that topic. You'll never regret your time spent in the water. It is sooo awesome.

The only thing I am suprised at is the advice regarding such a thin suit. I dive warm California waters and I would have to recommend a 5 mil as a primary. You guys are way tougher than me.

 

[PNWGator]

Not sure I’d you’ve found Ted Harty’s other site yet or not: https://freedivingsafety.com/

He has a lot of content on YouTube too.

 

[kad11]

I got into freediving and spearfishing 2-3 years ago, so not a whole lot of experience. With that said, I tend to go pretty hard once I find something I'm interested in and feel like I've learned a lot over the past few years. Here's a shotgun blast of thoughts that may or may not be helpful:

For diving WA waters, I'd definitely be looking at a 5.5 or 7 mm open cell wetsuit - I've had good luck with Salvimar 7mm for MT, WY, and CA. I skipped plastic fins and went straight to fiberglass and don't regret spending the extra money at all. Look into the Frenzel technique for clearing your ears - this is way better than Valsalva method for freediving. I personally would go straight to a euro style pipe gun set up with a floatline and float, but nothing at all wrong with a good pole spear. Just know that a good pole spear setup isn't much cheaper than a basic pipe gun. I start doing CO2 tables (and progress to O2 tables if I'm feeling extra froggy) about a month before dive season starts and they work really well for me. I can be out of the water for 6-9 months, do the CO2 tables for a month prior, and then be diving pretty well after the first day (first day back is always a bit rough as my body adjusts to pressure, CO2, etc.)

How comfortable are you in the water? If you're already good to go, freediving should be an easy transition as long as you can Frenzel.

Shallow water blackout should be on your mind every time you go out, whether you are solo or "diving with a buddy." Your dive buddy is mostly useless unless he is within arm's reach when you hit the surface. Ted Harty's explanation of "One up, one down" diving works really well for clear water. Nothing works perfect for buddy diving in dirty water. FWIW, I've only ever dove solo and acknowledge/accept the extra risk. I'd love to find a dive buddy, just not many guys spearfishing out of Billings, MT.

 

[kad11]

And please learn to equalize your ears. A blown out eardrum isn't fun. There are a few books on free diving and probably a few videos on YouTube regarding the basics.

Agree 100% with SwordFish. Definitely learn to equalize and don't dive until you know how. It would suck to get barotrauma right out of the gate and jeopardize your ability to do any diving in the future. Commit to learning the Frenzel method before even worrying about breatholds, O2/CO2 tables, gear accumulation, etc.

 

[Irrelevant]

I did some scuba diving back when I was a kid and a few times more recently, but I have never been certified. I have done some reading on shallow water blackouts, but not something I worry about too much with the type of spearfishing I do. I don't stay down very long and very rarely hyperventilate prior to a dive. I also take a break to catch my breath between dives. The most nervous I have been is when I choke on a bit of water and spend a minute or two coughing at the surface.

There are only a few places in western MT that allow spearfishing so that has been my primary determination for where I go. Eastern MT is much more open to it, but there are not many places that have good visibility in that part of the state.

The trip I did to the Bahamas was organized by my BIL and he picked the spot due to previous experiences while he was sailing down there. We were on an outer island that isn't very touristy. Almost always had every spot completely to ourselves and never saw anyone else spearfishing. I have friend that spent a few years living on Oahu and did a ton of spearfishing while there. Since the fish get a lot more pressure, he did most of his spearing at night. He has a lot of close calls with sharks stories so that is not something I am too excited about. It was bad enough dealing with them in the daylight! Definitely a much higher chance of encountering a shark than a grizzlies in my opinion, but 99.999% are not going to mess with you. Apparently the ones that were harassing us were Caribbean Reef Sharks and they tend to be more aggressive than most reef sharks. We were chased right up onto shore a few times and one shark almost got stuck on the beach. My sister also had to empty out her catch bag after one came at her a couple times with its mouth open and eyes rolled back. If you are in a area with lots of sharks, I would definitely plan on getting your catch out of the water and away from you as soon as possible. That friend of mine that lived in Hawaii made a floating cooler out of a boogie board that he towed along behind him. He cut out the shape of his cooler in a boogie board and glued the cooler into the hole. He then drug that along behind him with a cord attached to his ankle and tossed anything he shot into the cooler. This keeps most of the blood and scent out of the water and hopefully attract less predators.

Not my video, but gives an idea of what we were dealing with in a couple spots.

HOLY SHITBALLZ no freakin' way I could handle that many coming at me!

 

[Sytes]

Wow! Trav, amazing adventures! Endless, amazing!

Neffa, take an open water cert course with PADI. Sure, it's for scuba though in the first scuba course I took, it was an amazing experience that enters the relative activities of the water world. Besides, may open your world further and find a pool of dive buddies ready to spear in fresh. No sharks to contend with. Haha!

NW MT Seeley area has some enjoyable pike spearfishing opportunities. I've only done freshwater a few times. It was a BLAST!
Never heard of shallow water blackout until this thread...

 

[theat]

HOLY SHITBALLZ no freakin' way I could handle that many coming at me!

After hearing my friends stories about his shark encounters in Hawaii, I thought I would be way more nervous about sharks. For some reason (stupidity?) they really didn't bother me too much as long as I could keep an eye on them. We tried diving in a spot that had very poor visibility after a storm, and that did make me nervous. The scariest thing I encountered out in the ocean was a dog. The damn thing jumped off a surfers boat and crawled up on my back while I was snorkeling. Almost self chummed the water when I felt his claws digging into my back!

 

[Irrelevant]

After hearing my friends stories about his shark encounters in Hawaii, I thought I would be way more nervous about sharks. For some reason (stupidity?) they really didn't bother me too much as long as I could keep an eye on them. We tried diving in a spot that had very poor visibility after a storm, and that did make me nervous. The scariest thing I encountered out in the ocean was a dog. The damn thing jumped off a surfers boat and crawled up on my back while I was snorkeling. Almost self chummed the water when I felt his claws digging into my back!

The only one I've seen was in Belize when I was like 14, I'd snorkeled way further from the boat than anyone else in my family and got to the edge of one of the channels between the cayes, and then got that sixth sense, hackles on the back of my neck feeling, turned and saw a shark of unknown size, just slowly swimming up the deep blue channel.

I watched it until I couldn't see it anymore, then basically walked on water back to the boat, lept the gunnel and was sitting on the bench, fins and mask still on, before anyone could even ask me what was wrong.

 

[Stocker]

This is an awesome topic because I’ve thought about getting into this as well. We’ve got quite a few clear water sandpits around here with trash fish in them. Figured that’d be a place to start. Thanks for all the good info fellas.

Just what I need, another expensive hobby……