living on a small island means a lot less hunting. unless you want to be sneaking around at night trying to get shots on wild hares in canefields (never tried it) or shooting monkeys (no real urge to since i happen to like the little critters, and there are no crops in my area for them to destroy) it doesnt leave you with much options, enter spearfishing.
ok so, your using a very long speargun, and you dont have much range with it (roughly 4x the length of the gun itself) but that doesnt make it any less challenging. your in an environment where you are not the apex predator, ive turned around to see large sharks just casually watching me, the only hint that anything was behind me was the fact that about 20 grunts swam underneath me doing quite a number. you have small dangers like jellyfish, you have visibility issues, if its too murky, you cant see past the tip of your gun, if the vis is great (100+ feet) it becomes a real challenge to range fish in a featureless environment, for example, in 40 foot deep water, with an all sand bottom, what looks like a 20 lb african pompano 10 feet away from you can easily be a 40 lb african pompano 20+ feet away from you, and just outside the range of your gun) my method of choice is freediving, and you really learn a lot about the behavior of your targets when you only have realistically 2 minutes in which to stalk them and get close enough for a shot. parrotfish are my favourite because they are the most challenging.
anyways, some pictures
first one is one im quite proud of, those parrotfish are mostly between 1 and a half and 3 lbs, and each one was a headshot.
preffered target, african pompanos, i usually get about 3 a year, this one was one of the larger ones ive shot.
horse eye jacks, many consider these trash fish, in barbados, these are trophy fish, great eating.
its frustrating when your first african pompano is still your biggest
ive got more pics, but scattered over several computers.. if anyones ever headed to barbados and wants to try their hand at this, ive got spare spearguns, and can usually rustle up some gear, i hope some of u guys appreciate this thread, reason im posting it is because i really enjoy reading the hunting threads, but i just cant do any myself.
ok so, your using a very long speargun, and you dont have much range with it (roughly 4x the length of the gun itself) but that doesnt make it any less challenging. your in an environment where you are not the apex predator, ive turned around to see large sharks just casually watching me, the only hint that anything was behind me was the fact that about 20 grunts swam underneath me doing quite a number. you have small dangers like jellyfish, you have visibility issues, if its too murky, you cant see past the tip of your gun, if the vis is great (100+ feet) it becomes a real challenge to range fish in a featureless environment, for example, in 40 foot deep water, with an all sand bottom, what looks like a 20 lb african pompano 10 feet away from you can easily be a 40 lb african pompano 20+ feet away from you, and just outside the range of your gun) my method of choice is freediving, and you really learn a lot about the behavior of your targets when you only have realistically 2 minutes in which to stalk them and get close enough for a shot. parrotfish are my favourite because they are the most challenging.
anyways, some pictures
first one is one im quite proud of, those parrotfish are mostly between 1 and a half and 3 lbs, and each one was a headshot.
preffered target, african pompanos, i usually get about 3 a year, this one was one of the larger ones ive shot.
horse eye jacks, many consider these trash fish, in barbados, these are trophy fish, great eating.
its frustrating when your first african pompano is still your biggest
ive got more pics, but scattered over several computers.. if anyones ever headed to barbados and wants to try their hand at this, ive got spare spearguns, and can usually rustle up some gear, i hope some of u guys appreciate this thread, reason im posting it is because i really enjoy reading the hunting threads, but i just cant do any myself.
