Spearfishing - Equipment

Equipment

This is a list of equipment commonly used in spearfishing. Not all of it is necessary and spearfishing is often practised with minimal gear.

Speargun

see speargun.

Polespear

Pole spears, or hand spears, consist of a long shaft with point at one end and an elastic loop at the other for propulsion. They also come in a wide variety, from aluminum or titanium metal, to fiberglass or carbon fiber. Often they are screwed together from smaller pieces or able to be folded down for ease of transport.

Hawaiian slings

Hawaiian slings consist of an elastic band attached to a tube, through which a spear is launched.

Wet Suit

Wetsuits designed specifically for spearfishing are often two-piece (jacket and high waisted pants or 'long-john' style pants with shoulder straps) and are black or are fully or partially camouflage. Camouflage patterns include, blue for open ocean, green or brown for reef hunting. Commonly they have a pad on the chest to aid in loading spearguns. Sometimes they have reinforced elbows and/or knees. Often they have an "open-cell" interior, which offers superior warmth because of its very close suction fit to the skin (consequently lubrication is required to put on an open-cell wetsuit). Nylon exteriors are generally used to protect the spearo wetsuit from reefs but more delicate uncovered "smooth skin" wetsuits are sometimes used when diving from boats, because they dry quickly.

Weight belt or weight vest

These are used to compensate for wetsuit buoyancy and help the diver descend to depth. Rubber belts have proven to be a particular popular design for spearfishing worldwide, such that most spearfishing equipment manufacturers now offer them.

Fins

Fins for freedive spearfishing are much longer than those used in SCUBA to aid in fast ascent. Typically a closed foot designs is used by freediving (snorkelling) spearos, usually worn with neoprene socks, while open foot designs (which allow diving boots to be worn) are more popular with SCUBA divers.

Knife

A knife should always be carried as a safety precaution in case of the diver becoming tangled in his spear or float line. It can also be used as an iki jime or kill spike.

Iki jime or kill spike

In lieu of a knife, a sharpened metal spike can be used to kill the fish quickly and humanely upon capture. This action reduces interest from sharks by stopping the fish from thrashing. Iki jime is a Japanese term and is a method traditionally used by Japanese fishermen. Killing the fish quickly is believed to improve the flavor of the flesh by limiting the build up of adrenaline in the fish's muscles.

Buoy or float

A buoy is usually tethered to the spearfisher's speargun or directly to the spear. A buoy helps to subdue large fish. It can also assist in storing fish. But is more importantly used as a safety device to warn boat drivers there is diver in the area - usually by being large, brightly colored and flying a dive flag (the red-white "international" flag in the USA or the blue & white "alpha" flag elsewhere in the world). A typical spearo dive float will be torpedo-shaped, orange or red in colour with a volume of between 7 and 36 litres and display a dive flag on a short mast. However, other designs, such as inflatable mini-dinghy, planche (box), Tommy Botha (big game) and body-boards are also used.

Floatline

A floatline connects the buoy to the speargun. Often made from woven plastic, they are also frequently made from mono-filament encased in an airtight plastic tube, or made from stretchable bungee cord.

Gloves

Gloves are valuable to spearfishermen who desire to maintain a sense of safety or access more dangerous areas, such as those between coral, that could otherwise not be reached without use of the hands. They also aid in loading the bands on rubber powered speargun and protect the spearfisher's hands from the teeth and spines of struggling fish.

Fish Stringer

Usually a length of cable/cord/string/monofilament terminated by a loop (and sometimes a swivel) at one end and a large stainless steel pin/spike at the other. The pin is typically 20–30 cm long, 4-8mm diameter, with a sharp point at one end, and with the cable threaded through a hole, usually in the middle. Can alternatively be a large, shaped loop of stainless steel. Used to store speared fish on. Usually attached to the dive float or around the waist of the diver. The pin can optionally be used as an iki jime spike, to dispatch speared fish.

Snorkel and diving mask

Spearfishing snorkels and diving masks are similar to those used for scuba diving.