CATCHING YOUR FIRST FISH
We’re finally ready to hunt and catch our first fish. But first we need to find it. As we’re starting out, we’re going to be targeting a small to medium sized temperate water fish. Now generally speaking non- pelagic species live and feed around rocks, headlands, reefs, and structures. So that is where we’re going to look.
Most rocky headlands that surround beaches or cliffs are home to a range of fish species. Be mindful that these smaller fish tend not only hang around the rocks, but also hide under rock shelves and in small rocky caverns. So as we’re swimming we’re also going to regularly dive down and keep an eye out under the rocks.
Once we’ve found our fish, its important not to spook them. So we’re not going to duck dive right down on top of them, but instead we’re going to dive underwater 5 to 10m away and approach the final few meters from underwater. When underwater we’re going to stay as calm and relaxed as possible, such that we blend in to our environment, the goal here is to get the fish to ignore us. We’re going to find a nice rock or something to porch ourselves up against, line up out shot, only once we’re confident we’re close enough and calm enough, we’re going to fire.
Holding our speargun, we’re going to return to the surface.
Now assuming that we’ve landed the shot and caught the fish, we’re going to pull it in. Slowly and careful pull up your line, if you’ve gotten a bad hit and the fish is still alive, you’re going to need to use a dive knife to kill the fish.
Once you’ve reeled your fish in, unhook your speed spike from your speargun, and clip your speargun onto your weight belt or vest. Feed the speed spike through the mouth of the fish and through the other end, and feed it along your floatline. Once the fish is secured on your line reattach your speargun to the speed spike, and reload.