I may be introducing someone to spearfishing. The first order of the day is gear. I and others are probably going to be doing more of this in the future, and it can get tedious going over basic gear again and again. So I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread to be able to refer people to, to learn about the most essential gear they will need to start.
Gear changes in dependence of conditions but the following is a pretty safe bet for all occasions. A lot can be said about each individual piece of gear but this is not the place, this is just a basic outline.
#1 and most important, a mask. Can't do anything without it because you can't see well in saltwater. It should be a good fit not allowing water to leak in, and preferably have a black skirt to avoid sun reflecting into the mask. Another desirable characteristic for a freediving mask is lower volume.
#2 Snorkel. This is another essential piece of gear that will allow you to rest on the surface without raising your head out of the water to breath, and expend only minimal amounts of energy. Keep it simple without any purge valves and dry tops.
#3 Fins. We can spend hours talking about fins, but lets just say that for any kind of deep diving long freediving fins are necessary. A good fiberglass blade is better than plastic, and carbon is the best. But just to mess around in shallow water even plastic snorkling fins will do. Actually it's possible to get down using a frog kick without any fins, but it's not something you'll want to do for a long time. The frog kick requires sculling movements with the arms and you're going to be holding a speargun in one of your hands, not easy to do.
IMO the best carbon longfins.
Good plastic snorkling fin.
To be continued.