Thread: Spearfishing

I fish a lot and hunt, and I am (or at least was) a keen SCUBA diver with nearly 1000 dives under my belt, so getting in to spearfishing makes sense. I have all the gear apart from a speargun. I'm a little worried about sharks. I don't think it is irrational, I've travelled all over the world to dive with sharks, but an encounter with a pumped up shark while holding a bleeding, dying fish on a breath hold might be a little too exciting for me.

Originally Posted by MB

I fish a lot and hunt, and I am (or at least was) a keen SCUBA diver with nearly 1000 dives under my belt, so getting in to spearfishing makes sense. I have all the gear apart from a speargun. I'm a little worried about sharks. I don't think it is irrational, I've travelled all over the world to dive with sharks, but an encounter with a pumped up shark while holding a bleeding, dying fish on a breath hold might be a little too exciting for me.

Sharks are part of the equation, although pretty easily managed. You get used to them pretty fast.

Ime as long as you aren't actively shooting larger fish when sharks are around (kingies seem to be the worst) then you will be fine.

Investing in a float boat is a good tool for peace of mind.

Really they just want the fish, and aren't fussed with you. I wouldn't let it stop you, way more danger from the many fuckwits who don't have a clue on how to safely pilot a boat than sharks imo

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Originally Posted by MB

I fish a lot and hunt, and I am (or at least was) a keen SCUBA diver with nearly 1000 dives under my belt, so getting in to spearfishing makes sense. I have all the gear apart from a speargun. I'm a little worried about sharks. I don't think it is irrational, I've travelled all over the world to dive with sharks, but an encounter with a pumped up shark while holding a bleeding, dying fish on a breath hold might be a little too exciting for me.

Understandably... I have noticed a massive increase in shark encounters in the last 10 years and am increasingly concerned one of them is going to go pear shaped. That said, it is not nearly enough to stop me doing it and I don't think it should deter you from giving it a nudge.

A couple of things you can do to reduce your chances of an encounter:

• Dive in winter. When the water gets above about 18 degrees, shark numbers in shallow coastal areas will rise steadily until the end of summer.
• Don't use fish burley. Break open kina or mussels, but using fish will increase the likelihood of seeing sharks massively. (Winter is usually a good time for fish burley)
• Shoot fish carefully. Especially with kingfish (generally found in sharky spots), wait until they are close and you have a high percentage shot. Aim for the lateral line just behind the eye (I like to go right where the gill plate meets the lateral line from side-on or slightly quartering away), hitting the brain or spine will effectively switch them off, greatly increasing your chance of landing them quickly with minimal fuss. A gut-shot kingy swimming round in circles making a racket is likely to attract a shark if there's one near by.
• Buy at plat (sometimes called a float-boat) to put your fish in. It keeps them out of the water and away from scavenging bronzies.
• Gut your fish once you get back to the boat. This is a judgement call, gutting and gilling immediately will improve the quality of your fish but is more likely to attract a shark (as well as other fish) - I judge it on time of year (winter go for gold, summer not so much), terrain (shallow boulder area great, deep scary drop off nope) vis (sharks in good vis are cool to watch, sharks in green dirty water are scary as fuck), and if I've got mates to hold my hand (even big kids get scared sometimes).