Whats your Secret (Technique TALK)

Nick, a good chunk of your post is not about spearfishing technique as the thread title implies, but an attempt at preventative medicine. This seems to have become a staple of your thread starter posts and to me is a turn off. I don't know in what forum you've experienced such adverse conditions (although I can make a safe guess) but it certainly was not Speardiver. I think you may be in the habit of copying and pasting the same post across forums, if this is the case consider editing it a little to make it more Speardiver forum oriented. Apart from your instructions on internet etiquette I do enjoy your writing style, so thank you for sharing.

Advice for the forums where it applies.. Members will say what they want whether enlightened or nonsense regardless of your warnings, it's the nature of the beast. If you see something that yanks your chain (as I felt I wasted a small piece of my life reading your instructions) then retort and unburden yourself, or simply ignore it. I also think you may be creating the opposite effect than what you intended, when trolls see that something bothers you they will try to push your buttons.

For spearfishing technique, if your water is clear enough a mask with mirrored lenses may make a difference for spooky fish.

I don't have any clue on Chinese sea fish behavior but I can tell you with total assurance that you can dive to 100' with 1:30 breath hold. My Aeris says that.

Regarding to shallow reef spearfishing, flashers help if there are mackerel around. Chumming also improves your chances a lot. And like a famous Chinese used to say: "be water my friend".

You seem to have figured out the master class stuff all by yourself [emoji106] I don't know anyone who dives as much and in such harsh conditions as you described, so carry on sir!
Fish calls are the only thing that seems missing from your arsenal, but I know nothing about the ocean you hunt in so have zero advice. Personally I bought a mirrored mask and it did nothing that I could perceive, so it hangs in my spearfishing room, yes I have a spearfishing room [emoji1]

a modest suggestion from my Med Sea experience...

you should plan to hunt only one specie by staying in the water several hours
enter in the sea just before the sun raise in the dark
wait++ in ambush
be a fish
be unaware of the other fish whatever the opportunity
focuse on this specie only
observe this specie habits and behavor inshore day after day
which stone? which current? which predation? which sea condition?...
.....
take the fish of your life!;)

It's hard to answer this. Different fish or even the same fish at different depths and or conditions requires different hunting technique.
And face it, there is a lot of luck involved. You can be the best hunter, breath holder with the baddest ass gun. But if the fish are educated, it's hard.

Can you be more specific? Try narrow it down to species. You have different ones there, I know. But jacks are jacks, and snappers are snappers...etc etc.

Yep.

I've done a fair amount of diving in Indonesia with pretty heavy fishing pressure and sadly where locals do fishing with explosives. At least you are NO WHERE near China and Cinese fish whatever the hell they are.

Both Hank & George pretty much covered what I would say. I recently had an opportunity to spearfish ion reefs that were heavily fished by the locals - truth was fish were spooky as hell and nothing was going to allow me to spear them. Based on your descriptions of your gear, area, conditions, abilities, etc. my only additional comment is - you are successful in tough conditions. Enjoy it, lay on your hammock on fish less days, enjoy your family, and enjoy the occasional fish the ocean gods and Neptune send your way.

Enjoy what you have - many of us should be so lucky.

I live and fish in Maui and the situation is similar with reef conditions and fish wariness. Here you cannot, I repeat cannot chase fish. You make a move toward them and they split. The only exception is when you get uku to feed on chum. The you can approach and shoot. Just be super efficient about it. Out here flashers ( both throw and stickers on your find help). Another thing is when you see uku chopping up a nice fish helps. Also we have small mackerel called lai. Super silver skin Even jar hanging on your belt kui seems to attract predatory fish. I need to sart using them like a throw flasher and see how that works. Throwing sand helps. Grunting sometimes works for me but it definitely is a learned art and I need to improve my practice of it. Hiding in caves, tucking yourself by rocks and being as quiet as can are all super important. And of course keeping your gun tucked close by your side as possible at all times. Hope this is a small help

Shouldn't drink beer watch baseball and try to type at same time. Doesn't work well

The conditions here are very different...

But I've noticed that fish tend to be a lot more curious when I'm just checking out a stingray on the bottom, or playing with a tiny crab on the bottom, or filming some colorful reef fish with my head mounted gopro. I guess what I'm trying to say is that they get more curious when you're simply "having a look around", as opposed to hiding stealthily.

I've always maintained that fish (like many other animals) can sense your intention and body language very quickly. I suppose I'm lucky that here in the Arabian gulf, fish don't tend to be too scared of divers. We just have to worry about being able to see the fish in the super green and murky waters.

Quote from Nickmal

I will keep my gun tight because I realize it does spook fish by quick movement or leading ahead of me as I come over the top of a reef shelf.

Wow some of you face the exact same issues I do and I really appreciate the confirmation of our like circumstance and similar approach to hunting. Your right most of this has to be learned by doing but the insights I am getting help relieve the helplessness I feel sometime because I start to doubt my whole approach assuming there is some magic bullet I don't know about

I swear that A fish can read, analyze, and assess body language to determine your threat quotient. Several time I have taken a shot and miss or hit once the gun is discharged the fish linger seeming with the knowledge that you are no longer dangerous. I am not asserting they understand you have an unloaded gun but that they see, sense, or intuit that you are not focused on them. Once I get my gun reloaded the theatre is empty. I have my hunt on and they book.

Thanks for taking the time to respond

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You are very correct, fish do know when you are disarmed [emoji6]. All of us face the same challenges fishing, is there bait fish where you are? Like in the evening's do you see small bait fish pressed up along the shore line? I know some of the most successful hunters growing uo would wait for sunset and wait at the edge of the bait balls..yup yup Check out the geography of your coast line as well, if you see a bit of the coast line with large boulders falling into the sea shore dive from there.

It's hard to monitor for us because we have to travel 15 miles out to the barrier reef, but we don't hit any spot more frequently than once every month or so. What we don't know, other than by observing the fish behavior once we see them, is how recently someone else was hunting there.
If you dive in front of your house on the same spot every day the fish are very familiar with you.

And as you mentioned, more than a few times I've shot a jack or some less desirable fish, and as I'm taking it off the shaft and gutting it, three large cuberas or dogs will swim right up and watch, almost at arms length. But as I reload, they go, "uh oh.."....and are gone in a flash.

The Philippines is different because the fishing pressure there is as intense as anywhere. 80 million people in an area the size of Arizona.....and they love to eat fish. I have watched Jake dive down there....40 feet or so, and EVERY fish just bolted in all directions. EVERY ONE. Amazing.

Oh, mirrored masks may be good for clear, blue water hunting, but looking for fish at 50 to 70 feet down....can't see them. I have a mirrored mask that is still like new after......7 years? Never gets used.

The best technique I have found for catching more fish is traveling to places with more fish and less pressure.

On a more serious note chum can be very effective and sometimes a necessity. I used to think it was cheating but I have since outgrown that naive thought. One technique we have used successfully was to drop a chum box on a nice spot, mark it with a gps and a buoy, then move down current on the reef drop another then go back up current of the first spot and start drifting. It's complicated and doesn't always work as smoothly as described but giving the chum a minute to sit undisturbed can help. Also Chum balls for like for yellowtail work well.

I personally have never found a mirror mask to be helpful like others have mentioned.

In SFL deeper seems to be better but not always.

uneducated fish. Case in point. Today we went to a spot where a big school of dog snapper come in to "roost" in holes in a bit of a cut in the reef. I know they come in as the sun starts to drop so we were lolly gagging around....waiting. I saw a few off in the distance so I dropped down and laid on the bottom.If you can lay on the bottom in 25 feet up to 1 min 40 or so, you have a better chance.:....anyway, here they came. about 150 dogs from 3 lbs up to maybe 7 or so. I waited and BLAM !!!!. Got the lead big one. As I was trying to take it off the shaft the other 150 were just hanging around. All within range. But they moved off....just about the time I got the fish off the shaft and was reloading. Yep. Unreal day yeah yeah.....pictures....it's coming. :thumbsup2: That's Andre with my dog and his hog. I shot the dog right through the face down the body.

Quote from hank

It's hard to monitor for us because we have to travel 15 miles out to the barrier reef, but we don't hit any spot more frequently than once every month or so. What we don't know, other than by observing the fish behavior once we see them, is how recently someone else was hunting there.
If you dive in front of your house on the same spot every day the fish are very familiar with you.

And as you mentioned, more than a few times I've shot a jack or some less desirable fish, and as I'm taking it off the shaft and gutting it, three large cuberas or dogs will swim right up and watch, almost at arms length. But as I reload, they go, "uh oh.."....and are gone in a flash.

The Philippines is different because the fishing pressure there is as intense as anywhere. 80 million people in an area the size of Arizona.....and they love to eat fish. I have watched Jake dive down there....40 feet or so, and EVERY fish just bolted in all directions. EVERY ONE. Amazing.

Oh, mirrored masks may be good for clear, blue water hunting, but looking for fish at 50 to 70 feet down....can't see them. I have a mirrored mask that is still like new after......7 years? Never gets used.

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I've had a Riffe mirrored mask once and used it only a few times to be retired as a shaving mirror later,lol I know all about pressure on fish from my times in the Pacific islands.Why don't you keep your fish scraps and guts and "teach" your fish! Select a spot where you know thats not so popular with local fishermen and start going there same time every day and feed your scraps and dont shoot them there for a few weeks and soon you'll having a gathering. Again, feed them your sraps same time every day for a few weeks, after that I would feed 6 days and shoot a few day 7. I practiced it with good success in heavy outf fished areas. Good luck.

Very cool plate of fish. Thanks for sharing. I usually don't go just for one species although I probably should. HA! I dive local reefs mostly here so if a halibut presents itself or perhaps a bass, sheephead or rockfish I will pull the trigger. Maybe thats why I dont get the white sea bass. I feel I learned the most out of diving in Hawaii then I have in California. The clear waters offer a different perspective that one might not see while diving murkier water. Any equalizing noises seem to scatter fish, eye contact scares fish, a stiff body scares fish, I try to be more relaxed and fluid. I have tried smashing sea urchins, banging rocks, tossing sand, and chum but maybe I am too impatient cause those techniques don't work well for me. Although I have had success with waving my fingers with a light colored glove at fish. I try to use the reef and kelp to my advantage and try to dive between and below rocky structures which seems to attract fish. I use the kelp as a underwater blind and try to sneak around thicker kelp. I have tried diving bombing on top of fish and sometimes it works other times (especially parrot fish) they tilt sideways to get an eye on you and bolt. I have also had fish stop to look at me while I charged them at a full swim and others just swim away. I just try to vary things cause sometimes one thing wont work but others will. I am currently using an amber lense which I like cause my eyes stay a little more dilated when I am at the surface which allows me to see better in caves and darker water. I am also red green color blind so the extra red in the lense helps me except with the calico bass. They seem to blend in well unless I can silhouette them before they see me.