QUETZAL:I would like to here suggestions on how to spend less time and effort getting these guys on the boat.
Q,
Besides a great shot, proper equipment will make a huge difference in taking down AJs or other pelagics.
Although legal in federal waters, I'm not much into PHs, and you can't use them in tournaments/rodeos anyway.
A good reel on your gun can keep you safer by reducing the risk of entanglement greatly, whether freediving or on scuba.
Another way for accomplished scuba freeshafters...yeah, I said freeshafters... is to carry one or two side spears in shaft holders, the quick load type from Quiver or Spearfishing Specialties. With a freeshaft a good shooter can place a more accurate kill shot than all but the absolute best big line guns, and reload in a few brief seconds, then pump another shaft or two into the fish. It gets pretty tough for even the biggest AJ to swim away with 3 shafts hanging out one side of his head. If not DOA by that point, they kind of slowly circle like a jetski when you've fallen off. This technique works best around structure just off the bottom, and obviously you need decent visibility. I wait for a shot where the escape routes are mostly covered and I have a good chance of pinning the reef donkey quick if not stoning him outright.
Chad
(Readers, please don't give me the old "you shouldn't shoot a fish you have little chance of capturing" line. It would just show you've never been there and done that.)