breathhold vs scuba spearfishing pluses/minuses

I've never fished in the ocean before but I have in inland lakes, always while freediving. How is the spearfishing different in the ocean between the scubadivers and the freedivers? I guess I always thought that spearfishing was illegal while on scuba but realize that is not the case. The only book I'm familiar with concerning spearfishing is Terry Maas' Bluewater Hunting. Excellent book. I see the fish behaving differently when I'm scuba diving then when I'm breathhold diving. Anyone do both out in the big blue while spearfishing? and any comments?

Hi. The thing with scuba spearfishing is that I think
1) people are very conscious about what they shoot. I spearfish twice a week, and 75% of the time or more, I come up without anything - just because there wasn't anything of a decent size and of good eating.
2) One of the main reasons people use scuba to spear is the depth... where I dive - Florida - most dive spots are 70ft +. Try freediving there...
3) Every state has a lot of rules and regulations as to what you can shoot - they make a lot of sense.
But you're right - outside the States, most countries forbid people to use scuba and hunt, saying its "unfair" to the fish... (if there is anything fair about hunting, let me know please...). However, you have to keep in mind that outside of the states, people will go down with a scuba and just shoot a bunch of fish for commercial purpose, or be indiscrimenate about it, and we have a lot of rules about what and when you can spear... so in the end, I think we end up having more fish than a lot of more "fair" places.

delfos:

Hi. The thing with scuba spearfishing is that I think
1) people are very conscious about what they shoot. I spearfish twice a week, and 75% of the time or more, I come up without anything - just because there wasn't anything of a decent size and of good eating.
2) One of the main reasons people use scuba to spear is the depth... where I dive - Florida - most dive spots are 70ft +. Try freediving there...

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Yes, I've been there and more..maybe not where most of your freediving spearfishermen go but most of the ones I know are hitting those depths easily and more, so depth isn't the issue. freediving to that depth isn't that hard to achieve. I'm not saying that freediving is more ethical than scuba while spearfishing.. I was just curious about the pluses or minuses of one over the other as far as getting fish was concerned.

3) ...(clipped)However, you have to keep in mind that outside of the states, people will go down with a scuba and just shoot a bunch of fish for commercial purpose, or be indiscrimenate about it, and we have a lot of rules about what and when you can spear... so in the end, I think we end up having more fish than a lot of more "fair" places.

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Actually, after I posted this I found a good post under "Pole spear vs. Speargun by Spearslinger1 (if i can quote him here)"The no spearfishing on SCUBA thing is a very common misconception around here. The BIG no-no is selling the catch without the proper licenses. I freedive now days, though, primarily because less gear means less hassle and less expense time and money wise, which leaves more of both for spearfishing. In fact I kill more fish, lobster, octopus and squid per trip freediving than I ever did on SCUBA simply because my time in the water isn't limited by the amount of air in a tank on my back and with more time and less gear I cover a lot more area. It's true that I can't stay as deep as long as I did on SCUBA, but I can still hunt down to 20 meters (65') which is as deep as the length of my longest float line. I use a shorter 10 meter line for spearfishing shallower areas. #1 (12 yr. old son) and I don't get all those species every trip, but of the fish we do shoot both reef fish and pelagics."

One advantage of freediving is that there are no bubbles to spook the fish and you look like a much more natural part of the environment.

I completely echo DA.

Holding breath:

The clip from spearslinger is pretty good. You see, free divers and bubble divers operate in different water strata and are after different game. There is overlap but free divers are often hunting amberjack, mackeral, jacks, spadefish (for novices), pompano and tuna while bubble divers are clunking along poking into holes for grouper, flounder, snapper and tautog.

The exception to this rule is Hawaii. Tuna season is coming and serious spearos will be stringing new rubber and checking their buoys and trailing lines. However, there will also be free divers who are making 60 foot dives to spear Ulua (jacks) and catch octopus which they call haku (I think). These jacks are often found on the bottom along with some other tasty fish similar to Pargo, etc. In effect, these divers are bottom fishing while holding their breath and making deep dives to poke around and under reefs.

holdingmybreath:

so depth isn't the issue

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Of course depth is the issue. My favorite spearfishing site ranges from 130' - 140'. Many folks spearfish the rigs in the 150' range. I have never seen one freediver on any of these sites, and I'm not likely to.
Rick