Question from a young gun

[cmburch]

Okay, that is very funny!!!

Some also mark their floats or boards. I am going to silicon glue an IKEA plastic measuring tape to my board.

 

[Chad Carney]

It's interesting hearing different views about marking guns.
I've never come across guys that mark a gun for the wrong reasons... Pat's "poaching hashers."
It's usually well-meaning rookies.
Johnoly you certainly don't fit either of these groups... but you've sure made your gun butt ugly!

I've never had a marked gun and I almost never shoot a short fish, but crap... I did it twice last Friday.

I had not pulled a trigger in a few months, and the first mistake was my initial 40' freedive on a wreck in about 12' of visibilty. 2 cobia made a quick pass tight together. Cobia rarely give you a second look and are rarely ever short, so I shot the lead fish in the head and it went out through the gill, not really hurting him. The boat came over and I had them measure and release him right away. He was about an inch shy of 33" and appeared to swim away fine, but I wasn't happy about it.

The second mistake was many freedives and 3 scuba dives later with just one hogfish each in the box at this point. In better visibility, about 25', there were many small gags around, and then finally a bigger one took off immediately and I hit him from about 20' out with a freeshaft. It was a very good shot that almost stoned him, but once in hand he looked borderline. When the shaft was pulled out he came to life, and if I could have measured him there and released him he might have joined the ranks of the lucky humpback groupers with PHD's. I released him from the boat later and it was too late... so I might put a single mark on my gun for the first time.

Thinking my eye was off that day, I only shot real good sized fish from there on. I was happy with my 2 gags that went about 8 to 10 lbs.

I'm still always learning.

Chad

 

[ONESPEED]

I know that this will become less of a problem with more experience but just wanted to see what you guys had to say.

You nailed it with that sentence. Until then, my rule of thumb is if you have to ask yourself if the fish is legal, it's not.

I'd say you're already ahead of the game in your hesitance to pull the trigger on borderline fish, well done. :thumbs_up:

 

[Wayward Son]

when I started shooting here, I used a sharpie to mark my guns. as a practical matter I found it didn't really help that much & I still end up passing on fish that I prolly should shoot. That red grouper last time out comes to mind...

Over time, the sharpie marks wear off, or they can be removed with a little alcohol or WD-40.

When hunting larger species, grouper, AJ & such, a friend once said "When I'm surprised at how big they are, then I know they're legal". He doesn't shoot any marginal fish, they're either pretty nice or he doesn't have them.

 

[PatMyGreen]

I'm still always learning.

Chad

Amen.

I hate that my posts come off so "holier than thou", Chad has infinitely more experience in matters of diving and spearing than I and seems perfectly capable of using the English language to make a point without sounding like a pompous ass.

Great post above Chad.

 

[Wayward Son]

the way that I thought of to make it a useful training aid works like this:

Before the shot, estimate the length of the fish. Shoot the fish. Then measure it immediately against the marks on the gun.

As others stated, I am not advocating "shoot 1st & measure later". I'm saying you should be reasonably confident that it's a legal fish. At that point, estimate the length, then find out what it actually is. This can be a way to train your eye to more accurately estimate size. I do NOT shoot fish that I don't think are legal.

 

[Johnoly]

Now on the otherside of the ruler/hash marks/notches of barely legal fish, are those times when you see a fish that you know can be shot. Your heart rate quickens, but your breathing slows down, and you position to get just the right angle to line up a stone shot and the fish makes it to the cooler. That is what spearfishing is all about !!

 

[Chad Carney]

J,

Nice hog for the skinny coast... he was probably distracted looking at your yard stick!
He looks a little tattered... did you beat him with your gun?

C

 

[White Knight]

All I can say is fish look bigger underwater. Consequently, I usually only shoot fish that I believe to be "bigger" than the legal size by at least 10%. After a while, your eye will adjust. Just remember, most legal size fish will look "huge" underwater. Also, mistakes happen so don't panic if you do pull a fish up to small and someone sees you. It does happen from time to time. No one is without error in all parts of their life and anyone that would make you feel uncomfortable or ruin your day diving by screaming at you because you brought up a fish slightly too small needs to take a chill pill.

 

[cmburch]

My buddy got a citation in Mendocino for shooting an undersized fish that he did not keep.

I hope no California game wardens monitor this section.

I speared an undersized fish my first month. It was due to inexperience and no reference to judge underwater. Lucky back then most of the fish that I like to eat did not have size limits. Now most of them do have size limits and they tend to increase every few years. Many of our target sportfish in NorCal are groundfish. Many do not move much and have ample time to judge size. It is pretty easy to judge just by the large head sticking out of the rocks since sometimes can not see the entire body.

As spearfishermen we should be concerned as Chad and Pat views imply. And take extra precautions to ensure that the fish is legal before spearing it.

In California, spearfishing use to not have the same closures as H&L. Why? To get 10 keepers, H&L may catch&release many more fish. The trauma to some of the fish is great, so survival can be low when being released.

Catch before Release - California Spearos can be sure of their fish and that it is legal before spearing. So we catch our fish first and do not have to release with the resulting trauma.