People always look at me funny when I say, “When it comes to learning to spearfish, an experienced underwater photographer has a big edge over a seasoned land big game hunter.” It’s because the underwater photographer is an excellent diver, whether scuba diving or freediving and already knows how to get close to underwater wildlife for a great shot. The land hunter needs training to become a very good diver and get educated about underwater wildlife.
Early in August, I took two interesting couples on several dives, where their training before and during made the diving successful. First were Wayne Tu and Yen Bebe, both IADA Master Freediving Instructors from Taipei, Taiwan. Finning down to 105 feet at the bottom of the shallow Tenneco Towers for them was a breeze. Catching two lobsters out of long honey holes with multiple exits was tougher for Wayne because he had only lobstered where he could grab them by hand. However, he quickly mastered my snare and with extreme breath hold ability, had time to bring home dinner! Wayne also spearfished in Florida waters for the first time. Despite not knowing our species, his day was highlighted by shooting a big grouper in 70 feet, but the thin line on his new 7mm shaft broke right away and it took off down the reef. He and Yen checked the entire reef on many dives, but it disappeared.
Richard and Stacy Boyd are from Columbia, SC and are scuba divers getting back into the sport and learning to spearfish. They took a pool refresher prior to coming down and an ocean diving brush up with me. I can relate to problems they had with their aging equipment because lately, so have I. Fortunately with spare parts, tools and equipment knowledge, we made several repairs and kept diving. Stacy gets my most improvement award! I always recommend new spearfishers try freeshafting with guns and slings, so we practiced target shooting by taking multiple shots at flattened cans and they quickly became very accurate, even on long shots. Many line gun shooters rarely pull the trigger because by comparison, it’s a hassle to re-rig, often causing missed shots. Fish were few and small in our warm shallow water, but Richard’s good sense of dead reckoning on their last dive, helped me find and recover a beautiful Lewmar 22 lb plow anchor with 30 ft of chain the next day!
Good divers are always learning!
Capt. Chad Carney
(727) 423-7775
www.floridaskindiver.com
email: chad.carney@yahoo.com