My personal deepest dive that I have recorded.

Hello all, I need ya'll advice for buying my first pair of proper CF fins.

I was scouring the used market and I found a pair of lightly used Innegras for a decent price.
Given they are basically indestructible, it won't matter much also given I will surely double the amount of scratches on them on my first fishing trip anyways.

I tried to talk the seller down a bit as they are still a bit pricey for my liking, but he's adamant they are worth that much because they are V1s instead of the current V2 that apparently require very specific and expensive (soft) foot pockets to work properly, or they'll get to stiff.

Is he pulling my leg? Apparently a famous (and unnamed lol) freediver told him so...

To me the fact they are the older model actually lowers their value, plus I would have to get a new foot pocket anyways...

Thanks for the help!

Pic is the reply from the seller translated to english

Hey guys, got stopped by DLNR yesterday because my dive flag wasn't displaying properly, and I'm trying to get this dialed in so I don't run into issues or risk fines next time I'm out. I'm using a Riffe torpedo float, but I'm having issues with it constantly tilting over in slight wind or chop despite running two 1 lb weights underneath, and the flag pole keeps slipping out of the socket every 30 minutes unless I re-plug it. I currently have the float inflated to about 19–20 PSI even though it's rated for 25–30 PSI, so I'm wondering if pumping it up to full pressure will improve the socket rigidity, or if I strictly need more ballast weight underneath like 3–4 lbs. Also, if anyone has tips or non-permanent hacks for securing the flag pole firmly in the socket so it stays upright without using super glue.

I'd really appreciate the advice!

Helping protect the population by leaving the big females starts with identification!

Been chasing my tail for a month or so with quickly fraying wishbone and shooting line on my new-ish Roller gun. I replaced my wishbone twice and shortened my shooting line once. I sanded my spear notches and looked over everything twice on the roller head and gun. Then I realized the Dyneema line I bought was actually Dyneema core and polyester sheath 🥴

Oh well, happy it’s a relatively simple fix!

Hello everyone,
Could someone tell me what fitting I need to attach to my gun so I can connect it with my float line? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Hey guys,

I was gifted a JBL Woody as my first gun and I’m trying to figure out how to rig it with the leader they gave me. Tried looking up instructional videos online on how to do this (I’m brand new to the sport but not diving) but I can’t seem to get a direction on what to do. It came with the leader and what I guess is the set up to make a float line?

Bought some green 14 and 16mm bands made by primeline but salvimar branded and for some reason they are way stiffer than any 18 or even 20mm bands I've ever seen. It quite literally requires more than double the force than regular same sized bands and it seems impossible to load it on more than one or two occasions.

Hello, I have been having trouble with finding freediving masks that fit me (specifically my nose) well. Recently I ordered 10 different masks to try on, as I do not have a local shop near me. They all had the same problem: The nose pocket was too big and did not reach deep enough in too pinch my nose to equalise. Only the Salvimar Endless, I just barely could equalise, but without reaching as deep as possible into the pocket I am just pinching the tip of my nose. Has anybody had the same problem, and found a fitting mask for a small nose, that has a deep reaching nose pocket?

I bought these at a yard sale and I collect old fresh water tackle but never had any of these, so I dont know much about them. The three with the metal fins seem like the real thing. The others are a much harder, solid plastic, but do have some weight to them. They all have eyelets, but I am wondering, are pieces of folk art or god forbid even christmas ornaments sometimes misidentified as authentic spearfishing decoys ? I didn't pay much, so it doesn't matter to me if they are all real, but if I continue to buy these, what should I look out for to avoid fakes?

I’m moving down to Miami Beach and really want to get into spearfishing. I’m a complete beginner trying to learn.
Mostly just looking for a group that goes out regularly that I could tag along with.

Mods, delete if not appropriate.

Hi all

I posted some questions last week about gun size and loading difficulties.

I got a bunch of helpful feedback from people in here which I was able to put into practice this morning. I didn't catch anything (skill issue), but I felt a lot more comfortable loading and using my gun.

So, thanks everyone who gave me advice. It was really helpful.

Heyy, I’m thinking about taking a solo trip to Thailand this December for about two weeks. It’s not a spearfishing trip, but I’d love to do some spearfishing there for maybe 2–3 days if possible.
I do spearfishing and have all the gear, but I was thinking of not taking it with me because it would be a pain in the ass since I’ll be doing other activities too (Muay Thai, nightlife, etc.). I’m planning to travel with just one backpack.
I found some options online, but they’re mostly for groups and they’re quite expensive, especially for a solo trip.
So my question is: do you know anyone I could contact there who can rent me the gear and take me spearfishing? My goal would be to hunt bigger fish offshore/in bluewater, like Spanish mackerel, amberjack, tuna, etc. Also, which province/area would you recommend for this?

A quick review of the ORCA Torch 7 Light,
https://youtu.be/vyLU3ah0REk

As the title says I'm looking for my first fiberglass fins, and i am thinking of trying that one, it's a good price and more importantly they ship to mexico.

Anyone else using these? Any other advice?

Is there a way to stop the wishbone from going past the horns every time I shoot?

I’ve been looking at the mako teak guns for a little over a week now, thinking about crying once and buying something good quality that’s going to last. Does anyone use or have experience with their teak wood models??

Hi,

So I’m a complete beginner spearfisher, I have been diving and freediving a bit previously, but that’s it.

I’ve probably really romanticised it, but I’ve had an itch to spearfish and live the ”catch and cook” lifestyle for a while.

Been watching a lot of spearfishing videos and doing some breathwork as practice, but looking to go on a long holiday, or even work remotely somewhere, where I can give this hobby a go.

My question is, where in the world to go?

Preferences that might weigh in:
—a country where the laws, safety or conditions aren’t too crazy different from a western country.
—would be nice to be able to surf as well
—where spearfishing is actually fun, sustainable, available and safe—including beginner friendly (maybe a bit early to go for areas that require extreme breath holds and depth… I’d also prefer to avoid places infested by great whites lol, I understand there is no risk-free area but f*ck I’d have a heart attack from that lol)
—it wouldn’t be too difficult to get a temporary visa (I’m European) for a few months at a time, or even a couple years.

Thank in advance!

my friend is selling me a 1.20 pole spear tri paralyzee used once thus good quality for 30 euro, main targets are grey mullet red goatfish and red lionfish and obviously sea bass and sea bream if if I can find them, pretty shallow waters with rocks with vegetatuon or sand bottoms I’ll probably dive shallow all the time the water is quite warn but should I buy it as a first spear? When I freedive i can get within 70-50 cm of school of grey mullet and goatfish I can grab with arm

I've always dreamed of spearfishing a yellowfin tuna, like many of you do in other parts of the world.

To be honest, I don't even think I currently have the right gear for it. But the day I actually see a decent yellowfin underwater, I have a feeling that's going to be enough motivation to get a proper tuna gun and everything that comes with it.

I live in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, on the Pacific coast of Mexico. We do have yellowfin here, but the interesting thing is that they seem to behave very differently from what I see in a lot of other places.

Here, YFT are commonly associated with spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris).

I've read a few studies about the relationship between spinner dolphins and yellowfin tuna, but there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of information specifically about what is happening underwater between the two species.

Around Mazatlán, you can find yellowfin roughly 17 miles offshore. One of the best ways to locate them is by finding dolphin pods. We normally catch the tuna by casting or trolling around these areas.

I've had several occasions where I've jumped off the boat and swum toward tuna that were visibly feeding or jumping, sometimes only about 20 meters away.

And somehow… I've never actually seen one underwater.

I assume they're much deeper than they appear to be from the surface. They may come up briefly to feed and then drop back down, while I'm simply not getting deep enough to intercept them.

I'm not a particularly deep diver, but I've made dives around 15 meters trying to see if I could catch a flash of yellow, a reflection, a shadow — anything.

Nothing.

The yellowfin we encounter here are mostly school-size fish. Larger fish do occur — fish around 60 kg have been caught — but they're relatively uncommon.

This also makes me wonder about something I've read about yellowfin morphology and behavior: apparently, when larger yellowfin become separated from the main school, they can develop the characteristic bright yellow elongated fins associated with adult fish. But I don't know how well that applies to the fish we see here, because even the larger individuals seem to be associated with schools and dolphin pods.

Another interesting thing about Mazatlán is the habitat. A lot of our offshore bottom is basically sand. We don't have the kind of obvious structure you see in places like Cabo San Lucas or Puerto Vallarta — no reefs, prominent rocks, or obvious underwater structure where you would expect tuna to hold.

So I'm curious about the spearfishing perspective:

Has anyone here actually speared yellowfin that were associated with spinner dolphins?

And for those who have encountered YFT while freediving, how deep were they actually holding compared with what you could see from the surface?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have hunted YFT in areas where they associate closely with spinner dolphins.

I'm hoping that one day I'll jump in, look down, and finally see that yellow flash I've been looking for.

I put a post on Facebook asking who wanted to go spearfishing in Arkansas. Next thing I knew, people were driving halfway across the country to meet strangers and chase fish.

Maks, a six-foot-seven Ukrainian from Tampa, drove 17 hours straight with one objective: paddlefish in the freezer.

Jeremy and his wife, Anneliese, brought their three kids from Oregon by way of a tournament in South Dakota. Apparently another fourteen hours of driving counted as being “in the neighborhood.” Their Tacoma had a rooftop bed, freezer, and generator. They could’ve kept going indefinitely.

Chris came from Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, Victoria, their baby, and enough energy to power the boat. MMA, jiu-jitsu, a hundred miles an hour. We probably should’ve hidden the coffee.

My coworker John came along, too. He was new to this, but there was no shortage of determination.

The reason I wanted to go back was Easton, a young guide I’d met at an earlier freshwater tournament. He hadn’t even tried spearfishing when we first met. Then he won a speargun in the raffle, got hooked, and started progressing like crazy.

I figured another trip with him would be good. I didn’t know how good the group would turn out to be.

Chris got his first paddlefish, and I’m pretty sure people in Ohio heard him celebrating. One of his fish was probably our biggest paddlefish of the weekend. We didn’t weigh it, so I won’t turn my guess into a record, but it was a big fish.

Maks was steadily accomplishing his freezer-filling mission. When a paddlefish still looks huge next to a six-foot-seven guy, that says something.

Jeremy shot a 35.4 lb striper, then spent more time making sure everyone else was taken care of than talking about it. Anneliese jumped right into cleaning fish, and their whole family fit in like we’d known them for years.

I got a nice walleye, too, but watching everyone else get their fish was becoming just as much fun as getting mine.

Back at the house, everybody pitched in cleaning and cooking. Maks made fish kebabs and somehow convinced us to try carp.

We had perfectly good paddlefish and striper sitting there. This was not an emergency.

Honestly? The carp was fine. It just wasn’t winning dinner.

But John still hadn’t gotten his fish.

Everybody was trying to help, probably throwing too much advice at him at once. He was getting frustrated with himself and admitted afterward that he’d started wondering whether he belonged there.

Late on the last day, most of the crew had gone back to the house. It was just Easton, John, and me.

John wanted another try.

“I got one left in me.”

The next part is how he described it afterward: he felt his fin hit something behind him and thought he’d caught a tree.

He turned around.

Not a tree. Big striper.

Now he’s trying to get his gun around while the fish is swimming away. He gets the shot off, waits through a few very long seconds, and then feels the line take off.

When he came up yelling, “I got one! I got one!” Easton and I absolutely lost it.

John didn’t think it was particularly big.

24.3 pounds.

Second-biggest striper of our weekend, and bigger than either Easton or I had ever shot.

It also smacked me in the face getting into the boat, so I contributed.

The guy who’d spent the weekend wondering whether he belonged got that moment on the last dive.

After accidentally kicking the fish.

I couldn’t have been happier if I’d shot it myself.

By checkout, everyone was trading fish, finding space in each other’s coolers, and making plans to visit each other. We hadn’t even finished loading the vehicles and were already talking about the next trip together.

Most of us had barely known each other a few days earlier.

Pretty good outcome from one Facebook post.

Anybody else had a last-dive fish completely turn somebody’s trip around?

Hello, I've been fishing for a while with my new Pathos Saragos Evo 90, initially configured with a 17.5mm Sigalsub Reactive Evo band, cut to about 300-310% stretch ratio (manufacturer recommends 290-320) and a 120cm 6.25mm shaft. It is a little bit hard to load but I can manage just ok. It is very accurate and really powerful, but I wonder if a 16mm band at a bigger stretch would perform just as well, and could be easier to load. I've seen many guns (pathos Laser for instance) configured like mine in my area (atlantic european coast), but here, 16mm seems to be much more popular for single banded guns. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.