# Spearfishing Questions



## polar21

How do you guys attach your stringer to yourself?

How do you attach your speargun to yourself? I see when alot of people shoot fish it looks like they just drop the speargun and pull the fish in and put it on the stringer. 

This will be my first time spearfishing so I am a complete FNG...


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## DreamWeaver21

I attach the stringer to a D ring on my BC with a brass snap hook. I don't attach the spear gun. The gun floats but the spear sinks. When I shoot something I let go of the gun but hold the line and the gun just floats up out of the way while getting the fish on the stringer. It can be quite a bear getting the spear out of the fish.

Get the fish on the stringer first and then get the spear out.

Also, depending on the shot it can be better to swim to the fish instead of trying to pull the fish to you . When you try and pull the fish to you, you can pull the spear out and lose the fish. Another tip, when you shoot something and the spear is through the fish, grab the spear past where it went through the fish so that the tip can't come back through until you have the fish on the stringer.


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## buckeye83

Make sure you are very proficient in reloading your gun. You can easily waste bottom time trying to figure it out. I learned the hard way!


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## jamesw21

Wirelessly posted

Where you going for the first time?


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## coolbluestreak

I use a setup from ocean rhino (I think), I came with super heavy mono, a couple crimps and a clip. It works pretty good and you can kind of set the length of the setup before you crimp it, that way it's not too long or short. 

Btw, not all guns float. Even a wood gun doesn't float until the shaft is out of it.


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## polar21

I dont know where we are going yet, just depends on the seas and how much time we have that day. 

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I have a wood gun so I dont know if it floats or not.


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## sniper

I have my stringer connected right to my bc, one of the lower clips so the fish isn't in my face while on the stringer. I clip my gun to myself too with a coated 7 strand, crimps and a clip. I figure if I ever get into a bind I can easily enough cut the shock cord with my knife.


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## coolbluestreak

I was in the boat last night so I took a picture for ya.


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## Mattatoar

Stringer is clipped to weight belt on two points to keep it tight on my body and not get hung up when I'm slithering through a wreck or over rocks. I carry some parachute cord in a loop to hang it below my belt when I am hunting off the bottom. This lessens the chance that Mr Toothy will mistake my andomen for bleeding mass of lunch before I know he's around.

Keep a mesh bag in a pocket for bugs or odd stuff you find like reels, weights, jigs, watches. wallets... all things I have found.

Gun; mount a spare shaft to make it negative (sink) all the time and give you a back up in case the shock cord has an issue, you are in a target rich zone, or something weird happens like the spear point of your primary gets lodged in a big cobia or AJ skull... something will happen sooner or later and spares are a good thing when you are at 120 feet on your last tank.

I'd rather NEVER have my gun float away..... again.

BC: clips, double ended brass one.... everywhere!!! Cheap at feed/horse tackle places like Tractor Supply.


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## markhsaltz

Be careful about clipping gun to you . It has pros and cons...Pro, you can use both hands to work with fish. 
Con and this is a big one... Unless you have lots of experience, will power, luck if you get lucky and shoot a decent size fish it will drag you down and or thru things that can cause harm and even death. I know ALOT of people do it here but that doesn't make it right. The best time to clip gun to you is when you are using a riding rig.. Goodluck, becareful have fun but be informed...


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## Dragonfire21281

*Riding rig*



markhsaltz said:


> Be careful about clipping gun to you . It has pros and cons...Pro, you can use both hands to work with fish.
> Con and this is a big one... Unless you have lots of experience, will power, luck if you get lucky and shoot a decent size fish it will drag you down and or thru things that can cause harm and even death. I know ALOT of people do it here but that doesn't make it right. The best time to clip gun to you is when you are using a riding rig.. Goodluck, becareful have fun but be informed...


 
+1 for a riding Rig:thumbsup:


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## coolbluestreak

coolbluestreak said:


> I was in the boat last night so I took a picture for ya.


 I figured out this weekend that my stringer setup is about 2" too long.


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## amnbowser

1. I like to keep my stringer up next to me. Having it dangling down like some people do is nothing but fishing for sharks. I feel much safer having my fish up next to me letting the shark know that the fish are mine and not theirs. Sharks look for easy meals and if they have to choose between a dangling stringer or taking on a 6 foot thing with a peice of steel or alluminum strapped to its back making a bunch of bubbling noise well you make the call. 

2 I never attach my gun to my person unless I am just treasure hunting for novice divers equipment or accending. 

3. I have to give a different opinion on having a floating gun. One thing is for sure it needs to either float or sink. Having a gun in your face when you are trying to handle a fish is a bad recipe. I have had it both ways if you are spearing in the middle column either works. But for me I like a gun that sinks. Here is why because sometimes you have to unclip to get your spear out of the fish. If you do this and you aren't paying close attention guess where your gun goes when you unclip. You guessed it straight up I have had this happen to me and trust me you will only do it once. Now if the gun sinks it's normally going straight to the bottom where retrieval is a breeze. Now if you are hunting the rigs where it's to deep to get to the bottom well then that's another story. 

Of course these are just my opinions but I do my fair share of spearfishing and have learned some things the hard way.


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## coolbluestreak

amnbowser said:


> Of course these are just my opinions but I do my fair share of spearfishing and have learned some things the hard way.


 All very good points!


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## WhackUmStackUm

Wirelessly posted

I attach a stringer and send the fish to the surface on a liftbag.


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## Mattatoar

One of the things about spearing is that a lot of people have a lot of experience and come up with different approaches. I never feel like I have it mastered because there are so many ways to do things.

Obviously, no set up works best for every condition just as no single gun is right for all shooters. Stay flexible, solicit ideas from others, and keep it as safe as you can.... dangling a mass of bleeding flesh from your body through the open ocean.


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## Clay-Doh

markhsaltz said:


> Be careful about clipping gun to you . It has pros and cons...Pro, you can use both hands to work with fish.
> Con and this is a big one... Unless you have lots of experience, will power, luck if you get lucky and shoot a decent size fish it will drag you down and or thru things that can cause harm and even death. I know ALOT of people do it here but that doesn't make it right. The best time to clip gun to you is when you are using a riding rig.. Goodluck, becareful have fun but be informed...





amnbowser said:


> 1. I like to keep my stringer up next to me. Having it dangling down like some people do is nothing but fishing for sharks. I feel much safer having my fish up next to me letting the shark know that the fish are mine and not theirs. Sharks look for easy meals and if they have to choose between a dangling stringer or taking on a 6 foot thing with a peice of steel or alluminum strapped to its back making a bunch of bubbling noise well you make the call.


Couldn't agree with those statements more. Very good advice. And DreamWeavers advice...get the fish on the stringer (and hook it onto the wreck if you can), then get your spear out. You'll only make that mistake once when your fish swims away sideways after coming alive and slipping your grasp!

And a danglely stringer is just that...a dangley. You don't want dangleys when your spearin...you want as few things as possible for that fish to try and wrap your shaft line around. If I didn't love my split fins soooo much, I would get rid of them due to the fact of line even having got up in them.

And last of all....riding rig riding rig riding rig. I will never have my spear attached to my gun. Doesn't make sence for any reason, and I still have not heard a pro argument for it. But plenty of pros for riding rig.


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## coolbluestreak

Clay,
How long have you been using the riding rig?

Last weekend it seem so natural to see you clip and unclip the gun to/from yourself that it looked 2nd nature. I'm scared that some time I would forget and let go of my gun and it wouldn't be clipped to my BCD.


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## CootCommander

Riding rig is the way to go, however if you've been used too your spear being attached to your gun you will probably forget to keep a hold of the rope. Ask me how I know lol


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## Clay-Doh

Ha ha Coot...yes, I did that a couple times in the beginning too. Lesson learned. For newer spearos it's an easier transformation.

Jeremy, September 2008 is when I switched to the riding rig. Had seen the HellDivers using that setup, but never fooled with it.

1st diver, Lil Rich (Spearfisher) told us there was a 7' bullshark on the spot about 95' deep we dropped a buoy on, natural limestone bottom, but a lot of nice fish.

Sean Mclemore and I decided to drop down, and if we didn't see him, we would put a few fish on the stringer.

We get down and no shark. Nice legal red snapper swims by, nail him. Not a kill shot though, and he starts struggling. In comes the Tax Man... snatches the fish, and my spear shaft. Starts draggin me around the bottom. With the drag of the water was all I could do to hold on to keep from losing my gun. Sean just kneels on the bottom laughing his ass off. 

Shaft and fish slips out of the sharks mouth, I start yankin it in. He comes back around and charges it so hard, the snapper flys off the shaft and up in the air (water).

I pull my shaft in while the shark circles again, grabs the snapper, and enjoys a free meal on me. I get my gun reloaded, the shark is sticking around waiting for the second course, and I charge him. I was so pissed I lost the fish, but more importantly, almost lost my $600 gun. Fortunately for me, the shark decided to run. Glad he didn't decide to make an example out of me.

Next day I made a riding rig for my gun so I would never risk losing my gun again if things went FUBAR

Didn't get much usuable footage out of this cuz I was struggling so hard and huffing a lot of bubbles while getting dragged around, but enough to show the events. And it's not HD, but here's the link to it. Just uploaded it, I thought I already had it uploaded on Vimeo but I guess not.

http://vimeo.com/34872361


Only reason I unclipped my gun from me when you and I were diving Saturday was cuz we were salvaging anchors and it was just in the way. Other than that, that gun is always clipped to me. Since the line isn't attached, I don't have to worry about the dangers of clipping a gun to you if your getting dragged around. 

I made that line just long enough so that I can reach the front of the gun to start reloading my shaft since my DeathStick is enclosed track. Riffes you don't have to worry about that.

But like Coot said...you just have to hold onto your shaft/rope. Which your used to holding onto your line or gun anyways after shooting a fish, so no difference.

In my Fear and Dread video that Scott Bartell (Firefishvideo) shot all the 2nd person perspective of, you can get a good look at it in action. At 2:00 minutes in, kill shot, so no big deal. At 3:15 minutes is an AJ that proceeded to woop my ass, and had I not had a riding rig, it would have had a much better advantage on me (and it sure didn't need it!). You can see through the following fight how convenient it is, especially if you have a kill spike like I do mounted on the end of your gun.

Here's the link to it.

http://vimeo.com/15378647

That's just my take on it anyways.


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## coolbluestreak

Dude, you got your butt handed to you!
how many out of 10 fight like that?


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## Clay-Doh

Yes I did!

Everyone out of 10 that you don't get a kill shot on! You heard what Swander was sayin too, and why there called Reef Donkeys! That's why I call it the AJ rodeo.

That one was a head shot, just not a kill shot. And just cause you got a head shot, it ain't slowing them down at all!


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## coolbluestreak

Oh boy!
let's go get some donkey meat, I just saw 1ft forcast for Saturday 23nm SE of pensacola.


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## WhackUmStackUm

When spearing big fish I suggest that you put plenty of time into developing a good kill-shot. Although it may be frustrating at first, in time it will become second nature. A kill-shot is CRITICAL when shooting big fish. It also gives you more hunting time when shooting small fish.

Think of it this way. When hunting dear, would it make sense to spend most of your time developing your wounded animal tracking skills, or learning how to drop them where they stand? What if the wounded dear was connected to you with a rope?

You will probably not put larger fish (over 40 lbs) on a stringer. Just leave them on the shaft and make your way to the boat, or send the whole rig up to the surface on a lift bag.


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## Clay-Doh

Just hard getting a bullseye on that 1" ara that stones an AJ. But of course it's always the goal! I've stoned plenty, but more often than not have a fight on my hands.

Jeremy, Jackie and I's 8 month anniversary is Saturday. Any chance of Sunday which is a 1-2' forecast also? Which would probably be better anyways since the seas aren't supposed to lay down till Friday night, and that last few times they have pushed the good forecast back a day when the front doesn't move as fast as they thought, and I wouldn't doubt that happens this time too, where Sat will be 2-3 and Sun will be the good day.


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## coolbluestreak

Sunday is a no go for me, I've got church all day.

We'll get out there sometime.


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## Clay-Doh

*MBT Spearfishing Seminar 2/10/12*

Good news. Called Fritz (one of the owners of MBT)the other day and told him about these post, and a lot of newer people getting into spearfishing with questions, and that someone had asked about a seminar up there. 

He said he will have one Friday February 10th. I'm sure they'll post a new thread with the details, but definitely mark it on your calendar. They usually have some sales that same night too, and there's plenty of experienced spearos there plus the MBT guys, and any gear you need a great chance to get some pros and cons input towards selcting what works for you.

Hope to meet you and some others up there. 

On a side note, where your waders, because that many spearfishermen in one room....the BS get's pretty deep.

Hey Whackum...have you been out recently?


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## SaltAddict

I mostly agree with the accurate stone shot theory... but I cannot tell a lie... sometimes, I just wanna pick a fight!


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## WhackUmStackUm

Clay-Doh said:


> Hey Whackum...have you been out recently?


Not lately Clay. I had Lasik surgery this week, so I'll be out of the water a bit longer. I'm dying to go though. I hope to get out in another week or two.


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## Clay-Doh

Heading out tomorrow if the seas hold. It's slick out in the gulf now, hopefully tomorrow follows suit!


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## Brandy

All my shots are stone shots.


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## jamesw21

Brandy said:


> All my shots are stone shots.


You must be high then while you are shooting...


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## Clay-Doh

Brandy said:


> All my shots are stone shots.


I have been so nice and left some very incriminating embarrasing video footage of you out of my movies. I think I need to make a movie of nothing but "Brandy Shots":whistling:


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