I have a friend who is a really keen spear fisherman. He is obsessed with it and it's a way of life with forums, meets and a culture all of it's own.

I recently read a book he recommended, and regardless of your view on spearfishing, I'd recommend to anyone to read: 'The Last Of The Blue Water Hunters' by Carlos Eyles.

This whet my appetite to give it a try, but I'm still a little divided in my opinion - and here's why:
I never want to get to the stage that my enjoyment of the sport would mean I'm spearing fish I don't want to eat.

That said, in prep for giving it a try I've started eating fish for the first time in my life. I've been loaned a huge spea gun which is sitting at home and I'm not sure about giving it a try.

Does anyone on here spear fish? Any views?

Bri

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hello Bri

A little past the rigours of serious spearfishing now but once an addict fishing mainly along Dorset's Purbeck coast targeting mainly bass,pollack and mullet with occasional forays for flat fish.I was a member of the Bournemouth Sub-Aqua Club for several enjoyable years.There were a group of folks there who spearfished competitively and I signed up.We would train in the pool by playing Octopush a kind of underwater hockey with a lead based puk.I found spearfishing a fantastic experience and we would spend hours in the water fishing the tidal currents.Lots of tales as you would imagine but certainly not a piece of cake and not likely to damage fish stocks.We all used Marin walking stick type band guns which we found to be more accurate and easier to load in the water as opposed to bulky compressed air powered guns of the time which was 70's and early 80's.My old Marin is still on the wall in a pub and my old compressed air gun is somewhere in the loft lol.Great pastime for fitness and you get to see a whole new world.Have to say though it is not as easy as just jumping in the water with a mask and snorkel armed with a speargun.There is a lot more to it especially when fishing deeper water.I recognise there is a stigma in some quarters attached to spearfishers which I never really understood in its purest form.I am talking free diving on surface air here not using bottles.I have scuba dived and snorkelled in tropical waters but never spearfished there.

Best JP

Yep - the catches can sometimes look a bit ego driven and selfish, but again it all depends on how many these guys are taking a season, if they are actually eating them and in comparison to sea anglers, how this fairs.

My mate will never buy supermarket bass as the nets are always bound to lead to by catch.

Bri

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As long as they are eaten...

I refer you to my blog about how I feel about killing for fun.

A Flyfisherlady's Life: Fishing Trips III: Looking for Eloy

A Flyfisherlady's Life: Fishing Trips IV: Of Bonefish and Boneheads..

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Couldn't agree more...................birdsnest

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Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

There is an interesting look at the spearfishing tribe in the book On the Run, which is an account of following and fishing the striper migration run on the US east coast from Maine to Carolina. It's definitely it's own culture out there, as if striper anglers weren't big enough nut jobs, spearfishing them takes it to a whole new layer on the nut job cake.

Striper spearfishing has to be done by free diving (no SCUBA) because the fish are so wary. So basically that sets it up as it's own deal right there, the spearfisherman that was interviewed talks about taking advantage of time stuck in traffic to practice holding his breath. In pursuit of the 5 minute mark. Problem being you have to be careful not to black out during practice . . .

I admire the kind of devotion it takes to take on a sport the hard way, kind of like bow hunters, you don't just turn up one day with a bow and think you're going to take a deer. Just to get the opportunity to take the shot takes a monumental commitment. Bigger challenge, bigger reward.

Grouse

Grouse

For a period of about 3 years I spearfished practically 4 days out of 7. Free diving only, it was a great way to keep in shape, it honed your senses, it was a fantastic way to observe marine life, and it put very fresh fish, which I love to eat, on the table. Living on a small island in the Pacific Ocean certainly helped, surrounded as I was by first a fringing reef, and then, farther out, where the lagoon meets the Pacific, reef walls plunging to 8,000'.

For me, it was hunting for food in a pure form -- you stalked your prey, you made sure you were in a position to take a clean shot, and you pulled the trigger only when you are sure that that fish is the one to take home. I normally shot 2, maybe 3, fish for myself, unless there was a village feast or wedding to feed, then it was fill the basket time. I never shot for fun, although I practiced quite a lot, stalking and pulling the imaginary trigger.

Here're 2 pics from a recent holiday. This was lunch on a deserted beach for SWMBO and myself.

lunch for two? you must have big appetites!

On more serious note, I am just back from another visit to cayos in cuba, and speargunning is now becoming the norm for locals, whereas before, was handlining for food, even the skippers of the trolling boats stop at lunchtime to speargun lunch. they kill 5 0r 6 red snapper, but only 1 or two needed for lunch!
i suppose the rest go to feed many famillies, but wont be long before the stocks are decimated.
regards
bert