Bought a small boat to use for spearfishing/fishing. Enough room for 2 divers, perfect rig for small trips close to shore. It’s so nice to be able to just hop back into the boat and rest/eat or drive to a new spot.
Nice calm day out on the sea today, and managed to catch my largest cod so far, weighed in at 12.3 kg😊

I recently finished rigging a 4 banded conventional 140cm speargun. Been trying to fine tune it and make it consistent and reliable for tuna. I acquired the actual gun for free, just had to pay for parts and rig it myself. I decided to put 14.5mm small ID bands from MAKO on the gun; recommended by multiple people at Spear America due to mass of the gun being lower compared to other brands. The band holes are drilled for 5/8 or 16mm bands.

I have been getting consistent line wrap on the gun. Video attached. It is set up with 2.5 wraps for breakaway. Some potential causes I am thinking:

- Bands have too much play in the holes
- Slip tip not tucked properly. (I have been tucking it under the line wraps on the anchor, similar to how it is recommended on Andre inverted rollers.)
- Bands too long
- Wishbones too long/short
- Wishbone inserts are too heavy, causing the ends of the bands to fly in front of the muzzle and get tangled in the shooting line. (stainless steel, picture attached)
- Shooting line anchor at muzzle is too far off of the gun, causing a large angle to be made in the shooting line and wrap in the bands.

Please let me know your thoughts. I typically shoot rollers and inverted rollers, so would like some knowledge from guys who prefer conventional setups. Thanks! (All pics included at end of video)

Posted a few days ago to playa subreddit but just got a bit of hate, so posting here.
Does anyone spearfish there or has in the past. I will be staying at a family home that has a private beach and spearfishing is allowed.
What to expect, what species. Maybe you have some charter recommendations as well.
Appreciate all advice.

Hey spear buddies!

We’ve mostly been doing shore dives for this adventure, but we’re looking to step it up and figure out how to find productive spots away from the coast specifically ones that hold fish over 5 to 10 kg like cobia, amberjack, Spanish mackerel, mahi mahi, groupers etc

Besides the obvious (and nearly impossible) task of getting someone to hand over their secret GPS coordinates, and aside from using a standard fish finder, what alternative methods or techniques do you use to scout out and locate new offshore spots?

https://makeawave.co/tom-ireson

Hey guys

Every year in September I sign to make a wave to give money to rural communities in Indonesia!

This year I’ve had the privilege of being one of there first spearfishing people to do it!

Today was my first day and I won’t stop till the end of September!

So if you wanna come donate to me!!!!!

Thank uuu

First time i am capturing a catch on camera. I am still fairly new to spearfishing, with this being my overall 8th hunting-day over the last 2.5 years.

The day before i always aimed to high and went home empty handed. Under water i couldn't really tell where my aim went, but going back through the recordings helped. The next day I aimed lower, got the catch and secured lunch.

Lunch was a rucola base, with lemon, orange and olive oil dressing. Fish was pan-fried in butter (lots of it) and garlic.

I'm only spearing for my second season now (started last year) in the north Adriatic. Although my diving sucks, I've had some nice catches mostly from the surface (up to 80cm/6kg bluefish two weeks ago) and am pretty satisfied with myself given it's been only two summers, and that I'm 100% self-taught apart from a one day of freediving course some years ago.

I go spearfishing a lot in summer (almost every day). Of course, I dive alone. It's either that or not diving 99% of the time. I know (knew???) not to push myself and all that. 95% of my catches are from the surface.

But I do dive. Not a lot but 2-8 times in a ~4-hour session, usually to 5 meters, sometimes 6. I reached 8 meters a few times as a test and could comfortably and orderly surface, though I couldn't stay down on the bottom more than a few seconds. I was hoping that little by little, I would make it to 10m, which would be my solo maximum. Last time I dove to 8m, i reached the bottom, but could go even deeper if I had more water under me.

So yesterday was a nice hi-viz day and I found a place that looked like 10 meters and thought I'd try. I had just come from work to the dive with three coffee cups in me, which for some reason I completely forgot about when I dove later. I was already very relaxed as the sea was calm and I'd been surface ambushing for an hour without moving around much. So I did some prep and went down.

Immediately I noticed I was a bit too floaty. I hadn't worn a suit for 2 months because of how hot the sea was. Now with a suit and not enough weights, I had to kick all the way to the bottom. It didn't seem like a big deal as I thought I'd notice if I'm running out of oxygen or using too much of it and turn back before it got critical. But somewhere in that moment, in those seconds, I guess I was just intellectually lazy, absent minded or just underestimated this dive.

When I got to the bottom it was like my brain suddenly turned on and said "guess what? No oxygen, dumbass."

In a split second I went up at warp speed, probably wasting even more of what little O2 I had in my system. At that moment I thought this would be uncomfortable, but that I would surely make it without massive risk, until maybe at 5m I suddenly started seeing "stars" everywhere. In that moment I thought to myself that I really might not make it. I was weirdly at peace, knowing I could do nothing to not pass out and just thinking to myself "I guess I might pass out now. I guess this might be it." No life flashing before eyes, no huge panic, just this.

At the same time I just kept going up. In the last meters things got a bit dimmer visually, and I remember trying to "open my eyes more" as if to stay awake, lol.

I surfaced conscious, but in pretty poor condition. My mask was full of water, I quickly emptied my snorkel and put it in my mouth in case I pass out on the surface. I tried to keep my head above water to empty my mask of water but failed several times due to exhaustion and pain as I very slowly swam to the rocks (I was still afraid I could pass out if I tried using my fins too much even on the surface).

My whole body was in a very extreme state of discomfort for a few minutes, my abdomen cramped up and one of my sinuses blown from the super fast ascent from what my dive watch said was 10.9 meters of depth. Pain was radiating from the back of my neck over the top of my head on one side, to the forehead and eye, as well as the ear on that side. This still hurts almost 48h later, just a bit less.

I slowly got myself together and 5 minutes later, continued hunting from the surface only, for another two and a half hours, and landed a double-kill of 48cm lampuga/mahi-mahi which was my first ever encounter with them (my god these are absolutely gorgeous).

I thought my sinus pain was a neck sprain of some kind from the dive and tension during the ordeal, until I googled when I got home, as I didn't think you can get sinus barotrauma freediving unless it's congested and blocked. Upon googling later, I confirned that stars are from lack of oxygen, which I had assumed just before almost drowning, and that I was indeed on the verge of passing out.

Just wanted to share this as another cautionary tale. I've had some near death experiences, but few as stupidly preventable as this one. It kind if feels like something I didn't deserve to walk away from. But it's still a very.....interesting thing to experience for me at the same time.

Apart from not having a buddy, which is simply a logistical reality for me that isn't going to change much even after this (if no spearfishing without buddy, then no spearfishing almost ever for me), my biggest mistake was too little weights and quite a bit of caffeine in my system, as well as a weird lack of the use of my brain before and in the initial stage of the dive. I guess that's all it takes to make a deadly decision, a few seconds of mental absence. And all that compounded by the fact that this body had never been this deep underwater.

Of course, it goes without saying that I will never be raising any diving bar alone ever again. This September peak season vacation that I'm starting in a week will be surface only to let my skull cavities heal, and I'm simply not going past my 4-5m comfort zone alone anymore.

Watch the video with sound. It seems like such a pathetically short time underwater to almost die from, but when I was living through it, every second had its landscape. Stay safe, friends.

Looking to get into spearfishing (Southern California). Went to Catalina last week for some snorkeling. Saw a guy walking down the road with a Hawaiian sling and got me thinking that’s something I may like to do. The size of the bass I was seeing (not giant sea bass) piqued my interest and got me looking into what I may need. I got some gloves already and have been looking at the Trident slings and the other ones on Amazon. I will most likely check out Dive N Surf in Redondo next. Does anyone that’s in the area have any recommendations as far as shops or well known spots that don’t require a ferry ride? Any info is appreciated!

Converting my 90cm railgun into an inverted roller, but I'm pretty sure I fucked up with my numbers at some point. Loading the gun to the rest tab with just one band pulls the pulley so far up I physically cannot load it to the next tab because the pulleys come into the muzzle (pictures for reference), and if I load the second band the line with the wishbone is way too hard to pull.

So, where have I gone wrong?

Inherited a 105 cm gun. What reel works with it?

I am an experienced spear fisherman in Indonesia doing a 4 day Komodo island tour from Lombok to Flores and wanted to spearfish in Flores targeting dog tooth tuna or other large game fish. Any tips or guide recommendations? Greatly appreciated.

Mods gave me the okay to post this here.

Last year we rented a boat and sailed Baja, and honestly it was some of the most epic spearfishing we’ve ever done. The problem was it’s about a 350-mile sail to get into the area we really wanted to be, so by the time we got there we only had around five days to actually hunt. That’s why we’re going back for a full month this year and looking for some other spearos that want to jump on for different sections of the trip.

A few of us are going to be living on a 52' catamaran in Baja for about a month this fall, running different groups in and out during the trip. We’ll be sailing between La Paz, Mag Bay and the surrounding coastline, and people can jump on for different week-long sections depending on what dates work.

The main reason we’re going is to spearfish and chase whatever the ocean gives us — marlin, Tuna, yellowtail, mahi, wahoo, grouper, etc. We’ll also be following bait balls, seeing whales and dolphins, swimming with sea lions, exploring remote beaches and little fishing villages, and basically spending as much time in the water as possible.

Depending on the group we may run offshore out to a place called “The Ridge” and spend a day or 2 out there if the weather permits. Never been out there myself, but everyone says it’s an epic place to spear.

We’ve got an awesome chef onboard cooking 3 meals a day, and a lot of the fish we shoot ends up on the table that night.

This isn’t a packed charter boat type deal. It’s a small group of people staying on the catamaran, eating well, diving, fishing and exploring Baja together.

We’ll be there from October 12th through November 13th with a few different weeks people can join.

If anybody here has been wanting to do Baja and wants more info on pickup locations, dates or available spots, shoot me a message.

(pics are from our time last year)

Found a grouper in Chalkidiki greece, but he was way too deep in his hole, so i decided to watch him chill in 12m depth and this parrotfish came by. Took a clean headshot, there where so many big parrotfish. Winter is way better here for big fish.

Found a full abalone shell while diving big sur

I’m in the market for a different boat geared towards spearfishing and freediving. Ive always had center consoles nothing bigger than a 22 foot. I’ve been looking at a 28ft whitewater and a 30 ft Pursuit Denali. What are some opinions out there. I just don’t want to hate my pick. I will use this boat all over the coast but mostly off the Texas Gulf coast. I have all the necessary equipment to pull anything I want. My budget is $84k. Hope to hear from ya’ll!

Not sure how popular GTA 6 might be in this community, but curious if anyone knows or thinks spearfishing might show up in the upcoming Rockstar release?

Set in Florida, features lots of hunting, and they have already documented a whole underwater portion to the game. Could be fun to see the sport get some more mainstream attention.

Has anybody experience how the salvimar krypsis wetsuit compares to the cressi seppia or has anybody bought one of these suits and can recommend one of them?

Will be stopping in San Quintin for a bit to do some spearfishing, and would love to get some general tips/advice.
Is it worth diving inside the lagoon?
Is it worth heading offshore to paddy-hop or better to stick to the shallow structure at the named spots?
How’s the viz and vibe at the named spots and the island? I imagine there’s a fair bit of traffic from both charters and private boats. Are they diver-friendly? Anything to worry about with the pangueros? We’ll have our own boat so not planning to hire a guide unless highly recommended.

im relatively new to spearfishing (4-6 months) i bought a used speargun when i first started but the owner didn’t have the reel to sell it with as well, i still had to take the deal though bcz he was selling it for like $40, and ive been using the gun without the reel, and its great, but i think its time i should buy one. i read online that the mares spiro 65 can fit but i was wondering if there were any other reels that could fit on this gun, reason being is that i would have to buy it online (i live on an island and shipping can take up to 3 months) the dive shops where i live dont sell that specific reel, so i thought maybe i could use other reels that the dive shops here have in stock

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The second half of this video is all Spearfishing in New Jersey from a recent trip. This is definitely a Sharkey area so the murky water definitely made me a little uneasy. I did manage to get a striper and miss four sheepshead, which I still can’t believe.

I've always been interested in dry aging some of the fish I catch in California to see whether it improves the flavor. I've heard dry aging works best with fattier fish, which generally does not describe a lot of the reef fish we have here, but I am curious to see if anyone else has tried dry aging something like a sheepshead, calico, cabezon, etc. Anyone do this and get good results?