# Newbie



## hedden2005 (Sep 16, 2009)

I just recently got interest in spear fishing. I bought a JBL 38 special northwest triple sling speargun. Its will be here tomorrow  I just got orders to go to okinawa and will be leaving in March 2010. I want to get some dives under my belt before I get there! If anyone is new or just wants someone to freedive with let me know! I need some dive buddies! Oh and if you have any advice you can giveme about the area feel free to chime in  Thanks

Josh


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Well one thing I can say is







.


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## Gator (Feb 8, 2008)

I'd be up for that. New to spearing myself and trying to get my diving chops back after being out of it a few years. Let me know when you're thinking about going Mike


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

Welcome to the forum.

As far as freediving goes, there are not a lot of freedivers in the area. Everything is too deep to freedive. So we strap on tanks and blow bubbles.


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

Just about every site is at 70+ feet deep. There are the jetties (Pensacola and Destin)but no spearing is allowed. There used to be a couple of sites off Pensacola Beach but the hurricanes have either scattered or covered them with sand. I believe you can spear off the Navarre fishing pier since it has been damaged by Hurricane Ivan. I'm sure someone who's familiar with beach diving will chime in. The USS Massachusettsis an underwater and archaeological preserve. The remains of the battleship rest in 26-30' of water and the turrets are awash most of the time. High slack tide is the best time to dive it. Be careful as several boats have hit the turrets. I never dove the site. I'm not sure about spearfishing there. 

http://www.museumsinthesea.com/_docs/Massachusetts_brochure.pdf 

If you're new to feediving, make sure you freedive with someone who is experienced.

Good Luck and Welcome to the Forum.


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## hedden2005 (Sep 16, 2009)

Yeah ive heard about the navarre pier being a decent spot to dive. I just got my gun in today so im going on Saturday morning to test it out! Cant wait ! Everytime I go snorkeling at the beach I see some big sheeps head so hopefully I can land one of those bad boys! Oh and the main reason im just doing free diving is I got orders to Kadena AB in Japan! And you cant use tanks there and everything is pretty shallow so just tryin to get some experience before I get there! Im going out Saturday morning so if anyone is down for the pier or something let me know!! Thanks for the advice so far  Keep it coming!


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## hedden2005 (Sep 16, 2009)

We went out yesterday and didnt see anything to shoot at! Rougher than crap out there but saw the turtle and 2 big rays! Better luck for us next time


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## Capt CodeBobbie (Oct 30, 2008)

If you get an Alabama fishing and spearfishing lic. you can spear the alabama point jetties... Tons of grey snapper right now...


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## hedden2005 (Sep 16, 2009)

Nice ! That sounds like a pretty good deal!! How far from Pcola is the Alabama jetties and where is it located? Not too familiar with bama but I would love to try that out!! Thanks for the info!


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## Capt CodeBobbie (Oct 30, 2008)

If you are familiar with where the wal-mart is outside the back gate of NASit should be pretty easy... The road that runs along the side of Walmart is Sorrento and if you follow that road North (i guess , away from pensacola) you'll eventually come the the jetties... It's about 20 mins up the road... When you come over the second big bridge look left and you'll see the jetties sticking out into the gulf... I recommend humping all the way out to the end of the jetties... I've even seen some nice cobia outat the end, early in the year... Wait for good conditions....a north wind at high slack tide is the best i've seen it... good luck and don't forget to get the proper licenses... I bought mine on-line and printed it right off... I think it was 50 for the license and 8 for the spear permit... It's a good spot to learn and practice... That's where I take people when I'm first teaching them to spear and its a great time when the conditions are right...

:usaflag


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## beprowlin (Aug 10, 2009)

Do you need a spear permit on your fishing license to spear in Florida?


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## wirebiter (Jun 4, 2008)

No you don't need a spear permit for Florida. A regular fishing license covers you for spear fishing. The only thing you need a special stamp for is lobster, but you won't see those free diving. The bugs are on the wrecks in deeper water.


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## hedden2005 (Sep 16, 2009)

So anyone down for freediving and spearing some fish?


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## GROUPER321 (Jul 30, 2008)

Well in my opinion some of the best wrecks to freedive are the O, good hoo's there, the freighter,mass really good starter one and you can spear it lots of black snapper,grouper, shot a 15lb spanish a month ago. navarre pier got my first gag a year ago this time, you just got to keep hitting it steady, the fish are moving up and down the coast. Most of the big fish you will find are in deeper water by boat, but you dont need scuba gear I do both and most of your bigger red snapper in 35 to 75ft are in the first 30ft of the water colum. Alabama point is a great place when the water is clear, just rember to have a buddy with you so you can keep a eye on each other.


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## PorknBeans (Nov 21, 2007)

id be down for some freediving. I dont have much to put in to the cause at the moment but im eorking on it. I have never been but have wanted to for a while now. If anyone can give me advice on a good starter gun or watever gear is best then please share. I appreciate any info


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## hedden2005 (Sep 16, 2009)

We are actually going to hit up Navarre tomorrow A.M. and see whats going on out there! 



As far as starting out....You can find lots of info on Deeperblue.com and spearboard.com under the free diving area! I use spearboard alot because its pretty active and I get all my answers from other well experienced free divers. 



As for what I use.... I dont even use a gun! I use an 8 ft Crist polespear with a 3/8 " band and single hawaiian flopper. I have the Omer alien mask with black skirt and use a cressi J snorkel with no purge valves or anything. I have a green camo mako wetsuit (I bought green because I am moving to Okinawa in March and its good for reef hunting). It is a 3.5 mm open cell 2 piece with hood attached! I use Mako gloves and 3 mm dive socks. I have a pair of cressi Gara 3000 LTD fins. A Mako weight belt with 12 lbs (when im using my wetsuit). And of course a float and a couple dive knifes. www.makospearguns.com is a very good website and they have awsome guns and equipment at a reasonable price. I havent found anything better bang for the buck wise. Hope this helps you a little bit!! Let me know if you have any questions!



If you would like to go out sometime I go every weekend just about so just send me a message!


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## GROUPER321 (Jul 30, 2008)

I would recomend the biller 36 teak. I have it for sale custom rigged with a spare shaft with tip. Its a great gun and thats where i would start. The wood guns are the way to go.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

If not using a pole spear, I also recomend wood all the way.


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## hedden2005 (Sep 16, 2009)

Yeah those wood ones are deff nice! I had an aluminum JBL and it was garbage compared to the polespear I have. So if you buy a gun dont make my mistake! Get that teak or wood!!!


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## 192 (Oct 1, 2007)

Save your money and buy a Riffe. I have been diving/spearfishing since '88 and those are the only guns I own...(well, I do have an old JB Biller aluminim gun I use for freeshafting...)


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## hedden2005 (Sep 16, 2009)

We are hitting up vortex to do some free diving on Saturday! Anyone want to join in then they are more than welcome!!!!


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## Sharker (Aug 6, 2008)

Bad news, trigger guns are illegal in Okinawa. You can't harvest any sealife with them or on scuba by any means, only polespear and freediving allowed. With that said I've seen it done, but you better be in a remote place and very discreet. The Japanese police don't play around.



You'll love it, its an amazing place to dive and snorkel. If you wanna spear though go at night, bigger fish and the big bugs come out. 



BTW bigger fish means 12 inches vs 6 inches, everything there is small, the Japanese keep everything. 



If you have any questions at all when you get over there hit me up, I know a lot about the island and the diving/fishing/spearfishing.


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## hedden2005 (Sep 16, 2009)

Yeah thats what I have heard so far about the island! I actually only freedive anyhow but I am getting pretty good at it! Only been down to 52 ft so far but thats the deepest I have had a chance to dive in! I can do 1:45 dynamics and 2:33 static breathholds now! When did you get back from Oki? Well if anyone wants to hit up anything here locally let me know! I am always down!!!


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## mizzle (Dec 17, 2009)

<SPAN id=_ctl1_ctlTopic_ctlPanelBar_ctlTopicsRepeater__ctl4_lblFullMessage>Welcome to the forum.


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## AKCoastie (Aug 26, 2008)

> *hedden2005 (11/25/2009)*Yeah thats what I have heard so far about the island! I actually only freedive anyhow but I am getting pretty good at it! Only been down to 52 ft so far but thats the deepest I have had a chance to dive in! I can do 1:45 dynamics and 2:33 static breathholds now! When did you get back from Oki? Well if anyone wants to hit up anything here locally let me know! I am always down!!!


Not sure when you're planning on leaving in March but I will be out there some time that month and would love to go. Haven't got my orders yet so don't know dates. I have been freediving for salmon and dungies up here in AK. Sure will be nice going diving without such a thick suit.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Freediving for salmon...now thats badass!



Keep in touch when you get down here....we'll get you out in the Gulf!


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## Stressless (Oct 2, 2007)

The new shallow reefs off Penacola Beach are in 35-50' and ought to be holding fish. That's where I'd start - will go when I get back from Buttcrack Afghanistan. 

The Lat/Long were posted not that long ago on the PFF - do a couple searches and you'll find them or they may be up on the county website by now.

Stressless


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## AKCoastie (Aug 26, 2008)

> *Clay-Doh (12/17/2009)*Freediving for salmon...now thats badass!
> 
> Keep in touch when you get down here....we'll get you out in the Gulf!


It's pretty dang fun when they're schooling up and darting by you 30-40 at a time. One of the spots we went this summer is up a river where you can subsistance fish, basically you have a 25 sockeye a day limit per person. We had to climb to the top of three 5-10ft waterfalls and swim through some wicked current. All said and done 4 of us, 2 on shore cleaning the fish and 2 in the water shooting, walked away with 45 fish combined. To top it of we had a momma brown bear and 3 cubs coming within 50 yards of us and fishing too. We are still eating the salmon from that day. 

I'll definately be hitting some folks when I get into town. Can't wait for that warm weather.


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## YinYang (Dec 20, 2009)

I'm kind of new to spearfishing and I'd love to join some people that know spots. I got a 120cm Mako Pro Predator andonly used it acouple timeswhen I scuba dive so I'm itching to spearfish badly. I'm at Panama City but always down for spearfishing anywhere of a reasonable drive!


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Keep on eye on here YinYang and you'll see post of people looking for extra riders to get out. Not as many people going out or as often now, but there still are. When it warms a little you'll see a lot of post!


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## YinYang (Dec 20, 2009)

> *Clay-Doh (12/20/2009)*Keep on eye on here YinYang and you'll see post of people looking for extra riders to get out. Not as many people going out or as often now, but there still are. When it warms a little you'll see a lot of post!


Will do... Indeed!


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