I Have Found Where I Want To Be As A Diver In The Future... Technical Spearfishing

[CuzzA]

Today I had the luxury of attending a six hour seminar put on by two well known, respected and experienced commercial spearfisherman. One of them now manufacturers spearfishing guns/gear and the other still dives/operates a full time technical spearfishing boat. I was in awe of some of the things they were seeing and doing on these deep dives from 200-400 feet as they shared a number of videos with the group. On my drive home I began to ponder where I wanted to take my diving and it was pretty clear to me, I want to do what these guys do.

I realize I have a long ways to go before I will be prepared to take on the added risk of what they're doing, but I'd like to get some feed back on the best path to get me there. I am currently certified AOW/Nitrox and have only been diving since August of last year. My diving goals this season is to do 2-4 dives per week with the hopes that I'll actually do half those dives considering weather and life.

Prior to today, my plan was to do the PADI Deep Diver course and then Advanced Recreational Trimix, but from there I'm not sure where to go or if that is even the first two steps I should take. My instructor is a full cave/technical/rebreather instructor and teaches under PADI, TDI and IANTD and the Hollis Prism and Explorer. Looking at his flow chart for training progression it would appear my next steps from ART would be Technical Diver then Normoxic then Full Trimix. At some point I would probably do Cavern for the added training of working in and around wrecks. I am also curious about CCR's and if I should forgo some courses and just go the CCR route. Of course cost is a consideration.

Finally there's the aspect of spearfishing which I believe adds a whole other set of risks and considerations. I would love to hear from any technical spearfisherman. I believe they deviate from some of the gear configurations due to the activity. For example, although on some dives they were carrying 3-5 gasses, none of them were slung in front of them. Unfortunately, I didn't get the opportunity to discuss that with him and at this point for me I don't think it really matters. When I get to the point of being able to touch those depths I would obviously look to the gentleman I met today for some guidance as well. In fact, I was offered the opportunity to dive with them once I attain the training I need.

I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I'd like to begin researching and have some direction and information from those who've done this before me and can offer the do's and don'ts. Especially the don'ts. I found today's seminar very informative because they were illustrating, mostly with video, of what not to do. I thought it was a great approach and shows being humble and admitting your faults serves as a great educational tool. I'm not trying to be zero to hero either and plan to take a methodical, calculated approach to this.

So that said, what does the board think?

 

[Wookie]

It's important to define technical diving for yourself. For me, technical diving involves an overhead environment, whether real or caused by decompression tables. Gas isn't as important of a factor, but for some, anything involving helium is a technical dive.

So, OK. Now you're a technical diver. And a spearo. Cool, time to combine both passions. But you're spearing. And sharks live in the ocean, and they are opportunistic feeders, and above you in the food chain. And have big teeth. And you're in deco. I can't imagine a worse scenario, than to have a stringer of dead fish on you side and you can't get to the boat.

 

[CuzzA]

No doubt deco and sharks, especially in Oceanic and Mako territory are a real concern. In fact the discussion of both species came up today with the consensus that neither species wants to eat your fish, they'll happily eat you. In fact in one video a Mako could care less about the fish floating on the surface, it was hell bent on buzzing the diver.

However, it's my understanding at these depths the captains aren't throwing the hook, rather running a live boat and the spearos are sending their catch up to the surface on their way up to be retrieved by the boat and hopefully with the limited amount of time you were at depth you didn't attract any unwanted attention. They are also limiting bottom time to around 4 minutes to keep deco obligations reasonable and so they can do repetitive dives.

But you're right, sharks and deco doesn't sound like a pleasant experience. Fortunately, as much as some don't want to hear this, there's way to eliminate that threat.

It was interesting to also hear that since shark fishing is essentially nonexistent over here these days that their numbers are very healthy and 20 years ago it wouldn't have been much of a concern, today it is something you need to plan for.

 

[Wookie]

I know spearos who do 400 foot bounce dives and "clean up" on O2. I advise you to get proper training before you do that, then maybe you'll rethink a little. I also know those who dive like that and don't get bent.

 

[Steve_C]

As a non-spearo but a fellow who has done some hunting in his past I would think you should do a lot of nontechnical spearfishing first so that the spear fishing part of it becomes second nature before you try doing it deeper.

 

[pafindr]

My friends and I used to spearfish on the Lowrance and the Hydro Atlantic in pompano.
My best advice is to make sure you can get kill shots or you'll be wasting a lot of time and gas very quickly. Do lots of "shallow" spear dives to get consistent and a lot of deep dives (without spearing) to make sure you have your act together. Deep dives alone can go pear shaped fast if you make a mistake. Adding spearing to the mix will just compound any mistake you make.

 

[drrich2]

What sort of prey are they hunting at depth that's different that what's usually shot shallower? Just curious.

Richard.

 

[CuzzA]

I know spearos who do 400 foot bounce dives and "clean up" on O2. I advise you to get proper training before you do that, then maybe you'll rethink a little. I also know those who dive like that and don't get bent.

As a non-spearo but a fellow who has done some hunting in his past I would think you should do a lot of nontechnical spearfishing first so that the spear fishing part of it becomes second nature before you try doing it deeper.

My friends and I used to spearfish on the Lowrance and the Hydro Atlantic in pompano.
My best advice is to make sure you can get kill shots or you'll be wasting a lot of time and gas very quickly. Do lots of "shallow" spear dives to get consistent and a lot of deep dives (without spearing) to make sure you have your act together. Deep dives alone can go pear shaped fast if you make a mistake. Adding spearing to the mix will just compound any mistake you make.

Thanks for the replies. I'm nowhere near today being capable of shooting like these guys do and combining technical diving. I'm at the infancy of my diving career. I realize this is going to take a few years of training to get to the point where I can consistently make it back to the surface safely without incident or where incidents are handled effectively and appropriately. I have no desire to dive the deepest or any of that nonsense. I do want to experience what these guys do.

What sort of prey are they hunting at depth that's different that what's usually shot shallower? Just curious.

Richard.

Do I shoot or do I run!!! - Spearboard.com - The World's Largest Spearfishing Diving Boating Social Media Forum

If you manage to get through this thread you'll find a few accounts of team members that came up with empty stringers. Not because there weren't fish to shoot, but because they were in such awe they couldn't even pull the trigger.

 

[CuzzA]

I will add you guys are all making the great points I heard today. "If you want to be a great spearo, you first need to be a great, safe diver." That is my goal. Diving first, then spearfishing.

 

[bamafan]

Well since you are in Florida I think you will find that the general route into tec diving is going to be a cavern class then if you want go into cave training. Most instructors that I know use cavern as an intro to tec type course. It will get your gear, buoyancy, kicks and trim sorted out. I would waste my time taking any other recreational course except rescue as that is a prerequisite for most agencies to allow you to start tec training. After cavern you can proceed onto an/dp and start working towards trimix.

The breather route sounds nice for deep diving but in Florida it is illegal to shoot fish on a breather unless it has recently changed. Also I think the bubbles help to keep the sharks somewhat at bay. A big blob not blowing bubbles is something they see everyday. The bubbles seem to make them a little bit more wary or at least that is what I tell myself.

Another thing you will probably need is a big enough boat to go offshore. It isn't as easy to find tech charters. The number of people tech diving is small and the number spearfishing at technical depths is even smaller. The east coast is somewhat easier than the west coast as the run to deep water is considerably less. The Middlegrounds and the Elbow are where I believe the guys you are talking about dive mostly. They are probably over 100 miles offshore for these deeper dives. Definitely not easy. I wish you luck as I would like to do it too.