Spearguns

Spearguns are made out of different materials, but they all work in the same manner. A spear is shot out of the end of the gun at a high speed, and it travels through the water until it penetrates a fish (hopefully anyway!). Spearguns can be powered by air or by big rubber bands, but they all work in a similar fashion. The spear is usually attached to the gun via a piece of mono-line or wire, so that you don’t lose the spear if you miss the fish. Some of the larger guns have the spears attached to the Spearfishing Float (or floats), so that you don’t lose or damage your gun, but most Spearguns will have the spear attached to the gun.

How do you use Spearguns?

Spearguns are actually quite easy to use, although they are just as dangerous as a real gun if you don’t use them carefully. A powerful speargun will easily shoot through a big fish, and it will do the same to yourself or other friends in the water if you are not careful with it. The main thing to be wary of is that the gun should never be pointed anywhere that people are swimming, and you should always carry it with care. If you are out of the water ensure that you don’t have the gun loaded, as if it fires it is likely to do some serious damage!

With an air speargun, you simply pump the canister up to provide pressure. The gun can then be fired at any time, releasing a whole lot of air. These guns are usually small (under a meter long) and are great for doing cave diving and shallow water diving. Rail Guns (Spearguns which have a longer spear and are powered by rubbers) are better for deeper water, and are much longer. Some Spearguns will only use a single rubber, whilst the bigger Blue Water Hunter guns can have up to 16 rubbers, and these will fire a huge distance.

Building a speargun

A lot of people choose to build their own Spearguns. The most common material to build them out of is wood, which can be cut and shaped how you want it. If you pick the right timber they are also very strong, and easy to build. People think that because wood is heavy the guns are a pain underwater, but in fact they are weightless underwater and except for a bit of extra drag they work very well. You can find a lot of places on the internet which will teach you how to build your own speargun.

A number of Spearguns will be able to take more than just a single rubber, so you can add extra rubbers when you feel you want a bit more range. Be aware that when you add more or bigger rubbers you probably want to extend the line between the gun and spear too, as you will have a much larger shooting range. The issue with many rubbers and a longer mono line is that it is a pain when you are shooting smaller fish as it tangles easier, is harder to load back up and can be very frustrating.
A lot of people have two Spearguns to combat this; one for shallow water diving and one for Blue Water Hunting. You want to pick a gun that is suitable for yourself, and you will have a lot of fun. Spearfishing is usually done by free divers (diving without any oxygen devices) although many scuba divers enjoy the sport too. The best thing about spearfishing is that you only shoot what you want, and you are much more likely to get fish in a small time frame than normal fishing.