Help from a member of "Spearboard"

[captron]

post on the Spearfishing Planit

 

[Aquaviolator]

Just adding my two cents....I had to email and request my account be fixed so I could post on Spearboard too. Once I did, it was fixed in a couple of days. That said, a word of caution. Being that this is a SCUBA blog, I am assuming you SCUBA when you spearfish--at least some of the time. Spearboard "is not" friendly to SCUBA divers. They consider someone with a tank on their back to be one step above a child molester. You will not be welcome. They do not make SCUBA divers feel welcome. At least that has been my experience. It is sad; I had hoped that spear fishing was spear fishing. Evidentially, not......

Well thats good to know and why I don't live in the Bahamas! Nothing against the Bahamas, I love it there...I obviously don't spearfish there.

 

[CivilE]

I am in the same boat as the OP. I emailed spearmax a couple of times (a while ago) and never heard back. Oh well. I decided that I would frequent Spearfishing Planet instead...

To Tony's credit, I received an email from him stating that he read my post here and enabled my account on spearboard. He apologized for the over site

 

[White Knight]

A couple of Spearboard quotes. I can provide the actual links if need be. You decide. Ya,,,,I really felt welcome by the group!

1) There is an aspect of the public access front that many spearfishermen are NOT looking at...ands that is the OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN. If you are a fat, wallowing 320lb slob who uses a tank, you are not physically able to lub your largess up and down the hill at Salt Creek or Crystal Cove. In fact, if you look at the physicality of the members of each side of the sport, the scuba divers are in general not as healthy, and there are many more who do not take care of themselves as well physically. These air tank attached turtles NEED easy access to lug their gear down to the beach. In fact, most of us DO NOT SCUBA because it would be a pain in the ass to haul a tank down the trail at the pipe, or at Doinator- it would be life threatening. ..........

2) I have nothing against scuba divers, but as a whole freedive spearfishermen will always have a bias against scuba divers, because of the greater physical challenge demanded of freedivers. I respect the scuba divers who take a few fish in very deep water or hard to reach places. But in depths where freediving is possible and frequented, you will not receive any congratulations from me as a freediver, unless you prove to me that you are so physically challenged (lardass, old age, or other medical reasons) that scuba was your only option.

 

[Deep VI]

A couple of Spearboard quotes. I can provide the actual links if need be. You decide. Ya,,,,I really felt welcome by the group!

1) There is an aspect of the public access front that many spearfishermen are NOT looking at...ands that is the OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN. If you are a fat, wallowing 320lb slob who uses a tank, you are not physically able to lub your largess up and down the hill at Salt Creek or Crystal Cove. In fact, if you look at the physicality of the members of each side of the sport, the scuba divers are in general not as healthy, and there are many more who do not take care of themselves as well physically. These air tank attached turtles NEED easy access to lug their gear down to the beach. In fact, most of us DO NOT SCUBA because it would be a pain in the ass to haul a tank down the trail at the pipe, or at Doinator- it would be life threatening. ..........

2) I have nothing against scuba divers, but as a whole freedive spearfishermen will always have a bias against scuba divers, because of the greater physical challenge demanded of freedivers. I respect the scuba divers who take a few fish in very deep water or hard to reach places. But in depths where freediving is possible and frequented, you will not receive any congratulations from me as a freediver, unless you prove to me that you are so physically challenged (lardass, old age, or other medical reasons) that scuba was your only option.

There are always going to be a-holes, Spearboard included. My personal experience has been great. Although it does seem that the Cali sections can get a little hot. Take it with a grain of salt. If you look in the FL sections you will see that it is extensively SCUBA based spearing. Ironically enough I've trolled around Spearfishing Planet and didn't like the tone of most of the posts. To each his own I guess.

 

[cmburch]

I would have to say that those quoted sections do look bad. But if the whole thread is looked at it is almost as if highlighting an individual's incorrect biased views.
Split off thread--Laguna and SB need to step up - Spearboard Spearfishing Community
(California Moderator ZenSpearo is also a SCUBA diver)

For example, this is an individual's incorrect assumptions about a tournament. It does not mean that SCUBABoard is against spearfishing.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/socal/298574-2009-spearfishing-nationals-leo-carillo.html

The second quote probably does not seem to realize that California divers whether freediving or SCUBA diving hike the same cliffs and dive the same waters. Freedivers are lazy because we do not carry as much gear and have less to clean-up at the end of the day. We also get to stay in the water longer since we are not limited by tanks. That is why as I get older I freedive every weekend and SCUBA dive less frequently.

 

[White Knight]

Well....I'll let it go. Others may have had better experiences, but in my opinion Spearboard California is not welcome to SCUBA divers. Hope everyone else has better luck. This is a small world we all live in.

 

[Aquaviolator]

Just visited the site, take back my original post. A very informative site with alot of scuba info regarding spearfishing. My apologies for not visiting the site before posting.

 

[Killer&Griller]

Hope everyone got their account straightened out........... if not, give me a shout and I will call Tony for you.

Spearboard and Spearfishingplanet are the same format and both are decent sites. Planet members don't seem to vent as much. There is alot of knowledge on both sites. SB does seem to have a group that is more PC than what I would like to see. I have stopped posting trip reports because of guys complaining about the amount of fish I shoot....... not worth the headaches.

As for the Cali guys not being friendly to scuba, their just not friendly...........

 

[diverlen]

Hope everyone got their account straightened out........... if not, give me a shout and I will call Tony for you.

Spearboard and Spearfishingplanet are the same format and both are decent sites. Planet members don't seem to vent as much. There is alot of knowledge on both sites. SB does seem to have a group that is more PC than what I would like to see. I have stopped posting trip reports because of guys complaining about the amount of fish I shoot....... not worth the headaches.

As for the Cali guys not being friendly to scuba, their just not friendly...........

Killer&Griller, I must respectfully disagree with most of what you have said. I find SpearfishingPlanet members to be mostly "know-it-all" and if you post anything they disagree with, they are quick to put you down. I am not from the west coast but I find many guys out there to be the most helpful of both sites. Can't figure out why you would say they are not friendly. Maybe you can educate me on that one.
Finally, regarding trip reports, well there are very well-defined rules regarding trip reports and if you violate those rules, your pics are taken down by the mods. What is wrong with that?