Stalking technique or fishing location more important?
Hey everyone I was hoping to get a discussion going about spearfishing techniques and try and revive this section of the FS forum. I have been diving for just under 2 years here on the southeast section and haven't gotten those quality fish that I constantly see people bringing in online.. I am a beach diver with a paddle board and freediver so I'm limited to the areas I can go to.
So my question is;
Does it take a better stalking/swimming technique to get the good fish (grouper, big snapper and other tasty fishes) or is it completely dependent on the location? Any other thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!
So my question is;
Does it take a better stalking/swimming technique to get the good fish (grouper, big snapper and other tasty fishes) or is it completely dependent on the location? Any other thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Replies
So you need to be where the fish are. When I am looking for groupers, I look for areas where there are lots of grunts or lane snappers. As I am swimming along a reef, I look for the areas where there are lots of little fish. Once I find the little fish, the bigger ones seem to be there also.
I try to lay very quietly on the bottom and usually, more times than not, I will have a hog or snapper swim up to me to see what I am doing there. The little hogs are the most curious, but even the bigger ones will come into range if you stay long enough.
I find that when there are others around, and they are thrashing their flippers or not being very stealthy, I see the bigger groupers haul butt away. It is hard to get the bigger ones, as they are skittish and tend to flee when the sense a diver. That is probably why they are bigger, but if you are very very quiet, and ready to shoot, you can get them.
But back to your question, you need to be where the fish are first. If we hit a reef, and I don't see many fish in a few minutes, then we don't hesitate to move to another one. Someone said that fish have tails and move around, one day, a reef may be very good, then the next week, not a fish to be found.
This year I am taking a different approach to scanning for fish and stalking the reef and so far it has been a little more successful. I've seen more grouper this season than all of last year.
When you spot a good fish how do you approach it to get a shot off?
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What would you have done and what works best you think?