Frustrating day on the water

So I thought today was going to be a great day, I was going out on my friends boat and going to let him borrow my odor and teach him a thing or two about spearfishing. 7:45am he calls me and tells me the trip has been scrubbed. I figure what the hell ive got the gear ill go do a solo beach dive at the closest beach. The water is perfect when I get there at about 8:30. Jump in and on my way out I spot a nice mutton in about 9 fsw just laying in the sand, I breathe up and dive down and about a millisecond before i let go it spooks. get out and find a ledge in about 12 fsw and start working north, I see an undersized mutton and a barely legal hog but never had a shot. I find a nice little ledge so I dive to see if anythings under it and right as im putting my face up to it to check way in the back a small nurse shark decides it's time to leave and darts out towards my face. Startled me but that was all. Continue working north until I find a nice cut that drops to about 25' at the bottom. I turn east to swim along it and below me is a 6' nurse swimming west - no big deal. I get to the end and decide to double back and dive to check along the edges/overhangs - nothing. As im starting my ascent to the surface I notice all the fish that were behind me are darting past me.... I think "great another shark" so I unload my polespear in case I have to poke the shark away. I turn and its a spanish mackeral thats damn near the size of my boogie board (32") swimming about 4 feet from me I load as quick as I can and he cruises right past. I surface and chase him thinking "wtf am I going to do if I shoot this thing I have a polespear with no floatline.... Eff it im willing to give it a try" unfortunately couldn't get close enough to it to get a shot off while still holding onto the spear - looking back probably a good thing. While in pursuit of the mac I had seen 2 big groupers cruising the bottom a short way off figured I'd swim around and see if I could locate them but to no avail. Head back to the beach frustrated thinking "damn I really wish I had a gun". its about 1130 I check the meter and my phone, friend says hes on his way so I await his arrival put more money in the meter and head back out with him now. figure we'd work our way back toward the same cut and see if anythings there, on the way we see a yellowfin grouper and 6 small macs. swim around all afternoon and were about to head in and a 3' king goes cruising by, he squeezes the trigger but the spear deflected off! old pos ab biller that could use some work. decided that this is just ridiculus and start in toward the beach; on the way see a hog that worked us until he finally took off outta sight. The one highlight was I found a nice red grouper on a really shallow reef and after he holed up i shot him and brained him and put him in my little net. Get to shore with at least one fish for dinner:thumbsup2: check my mesh net and the bastard isnt in there!!!!!!!!! turns out the backside was open and he fell out somewhere:angry5: IT WAS JUST A REALLY FRUSTRATING DAY FOR ME TODAY! spent 7.5 hours in the water with nothing but pruned fingers to show for it!

P.S. sorry if i've wasted your time just had to vent and the g/f just goes "oh that sucks". grr she just doesn't get it

If I go through with it and get a gun, does anyone have any suggestions? my friends biller is an overpriced POS ive used a 120 mako and its gigantic but pretty nice for the money. anything else to look into?

Quote from Dan

Hey Mike, it wasn't a waste, you learned a lot of things. A pole spear is great when there's a lot of fish to choose from, in an area where other divers are also limited to the use of a pole spear. But here, if you want to makes sure you'll have fish to take home you'll need the best tools for the job, and even then some days you get nothing.

I'll give you a deal on a pursuit speargun if you're interested. I guarantee the gun is powerful and accurate.

Yeah that old "right tool for the right job" quote kept running through my mind, i felt inadequate haha. Are you referring to the gun I handled at your house or another one? Can it be outfitted with a reel or would I need to use a floatline?

Quote from Dan

... Although I strongly recommend you use a float line.

might I ask why? I dont think I could tie the floatline to my boogie board and feel confident in it and id hate to add another line to the mess im already hauling around.

yeah I copied your board but I think I did a crappy job cuz everything is loose. Do you sell the big clips so that I could attach a gun to my line easily and detach it when Im done for the day? If you want PM me a list of what Id need with a price tag. Its slow at work so it may be a couple weeks especially if i go through with getting this boat.