How to rig a BCD for spearfishing?

[dumpsterDiver]

Mako 120 with a reel and shooting everything from flounder to cobia and grouper

Spearfisherman use many different configurations. It sounds like you are starting out. You should be good at diving before you try to shoot fish, especially cobia... they can swim around you, wrap 400 line around your neck and kill you before you even know there is a problem.

I'm only exaggerating a little. I use the same gun for scuba spearfishing, but I would recommend that you remove the reel. There is much less to go wrong if you have a single wrap of 400 lb mono line between the fish and the gun. A reel spooling out can make a terrible mess and present a significant entanglement hazard.

Reels are useful for freediving in many situations. I know some extremely expereinced scuba hunters (mostly commercial fisherman) and a FEW use reels on scuba guns. This allows them to shoot kingfish and let them run, without tearing off. For a new spearfisherman, I strongly encourage you to remove the reel and go for simplicity.

As for how to clip the gun to yourself... I never do that until the hunting is done, and I (almost) always remeber to unload the bands. I use the clip on the gun handle to attach to a chest D-ring. If you have the gun clipped off there and it accidentally fires,, say the stringer finds its way into the trigger guard, the recoil of the gun will slam the butt into your face and may remove teeth or worse.. Don't clip a loaded gun to your self.

As for the stringer, in many places I will not use a stringer because there are too many sharks.. I use a bag or send them to the surface on an smb. If you want to clip a stringer off, put a clip on your waist strap and the side of your hip.

I also use an Air 2, have no octopus and always take a back mounted pony bottle (over 60 feet).

The best way to learn to scuba spearfish is to NOt do it. Find someone who has been doing it for 10 or 20 years, beg them to allow you to buddy up and carry the stringer (and no gun) and you will learn so much faster than making all the mistakes yourself.

 

[Playacar]

You shouldn't ever have your gun attached to you while hunting. The only exception is if you are using a riding rig. Look it up if interested. It is great if you are on air hunting rigs or are around structures. It is basically a set up where if sh*t were to hit the fan, you let go and only lose a spear and not the entire gun.

 

[acteg]

I clip stringer to my gun. Hold gun in my right hand. Smb and finger spool on my left hip d ring. I also run a small pole spear from my shoulder dring through my left hip d ring. Octo comes under my right arm and hangs on my neck with an octo necklace. Flashlight on right shoulder dring and held captive by a bungee. Knife and kill spike on right leg. Trauma shears and lifeline on left side of belt. I almost never clip my gun or my stringer to myself. Normally at the end of the dive I put my arm through the bands and over my shoulder then send up my smb. Once I get to the surface I connect my spool/smb to my gun and pass up gun/stringer/smb all in one.

 

[BadaBing]

I would recommend that you remove the reel. There is much less to go wrong if you have a single wrap of 400 lb mono line between the fish and the gun. A reel spooling out can make a terrible mess and present a significant entanglement hazard.

^^X2^^

Use 2 wraps of heavy mono line and keep it to that. Any more line than that will cost you time and cause you danger.

You can clip the stringer to your hip, but once you have a fish on it don't ever clip it to you, either carry it along or send it up on a float sausage. I carry 3 small stringers clipped to my hip, each with a small float sausage. When I start shooting I remove the first one, put the fish on and carry it. If the vis is bad and I'm worried about a shark sneaking up on me, I'll send it up. If not, then I'll carry it until I have a few fish on it, then send it up and start working on the second stringer. Don't clip the gun to yourself either, unless you're doing it during a safety stop. Even then I don't think it's a good idea because if a shark comes along you're going to want to have that gun to poke at him.

I always take a back-mounted pony bottle with me as well. The fact is that when you're spearfishing you often get separated from your buddies. I like having the totally redundant air supply.

As someone else pointed out, try to remove as many potential line snags as possible. You shoot a fish, especially a cobia, and they can wrap you up fast.

If you want to become a good spearfisherman, first make sure you are a good diver. It's real easy to get buck fever when you see and shoot a fish and start exerting yourself, and I've seen folks huff a HP120 like it was a snack. You're not going to spear any fish if you're not in the water, learn to manage the increased task loading while still achieving your max bottom time. This may require you to upsize your tanks.

Have fun, some big boy hogfish off the Ga. coast.

 

[lemke]

Stringer attached to your gun? Great, now the sharks have pointy teeth AND guns. We're doomed. LOL

I actually DO occasionally attach a stringer to my gun... however there is a 100'+ floatline between the two. And only then if my buddy topside is removing fish as they come up. I have heard more than one story of spearos suddenly being drug through the water at a modest speed.

 

[Playacar]

Hey lemke. How far out do you go from Port O?

 

[lemke]

Really depends on visibility... last weekend, blue water was 9 miles out! I'm usually combining line fishing with spearing, so anywhere from 9 to 54 miles out. The Falcon Rig is farthest rig we hit, then the East breaks is 7 miles beyond that.

 

[Playacar]

That's crazy 9 miles?! It takes a while out of Galveston to hit blue. Let me know if you are ever in need of a buddy.

 

[lemke]

Will do! One of my fishing buddies is a diver, but I have hard time getting him motivated... crazy. I'll PM you to get some contact info. I actually live in Richardson (north Dallas), but I keep my boat in Victoria.

 

[Playacar]

Awesome man sounds good! Small world I have family in Richardson