So You Shot a Fish - Now What (Spearfishing For Beginners)
So You Shot a Fish - Now What (Spearfishing For Beginners)
Every new diver builds up a bunch of skills to get to the point where they can finally shoot a fish. They have to get the gear, learn how to load the speargun, learn how to freedive down, and actually get close enough to a fish to shoot one. After all that, there is still the question of what you have to do once you've put a shaft in the fish. This is a quick guide going over a few scenarios that new divers may run into after they shoot a fish.
The Stone Shot
If you are lucky, you can “stone” the fish. Stoning a fish is slang for shooting the fish in the spine or brain. Stone shots kill or immobilize the fish immediately. There are several reasons this is the best thing to do. First is that fish are surprisingly strong for their size. Even some smaller fish are able to move large spear shafts through the water when they have been shot. Stoning the fish prevents you from having to make multiple dives to retrieve your gear. It also prevents the fish from damaging any of your equipment.
Another reason to try and stone the fish is that it makes the meat taste better. When a fish struggles, it builds up lactic acid in its meat which makes the fish taste different and more fishy than when they just stop struggling. Lactic acid also breaks down the meat, causing it to decompose quicker, which means that even if you don't get the stone shot you should dispatch the fish with a knife to the brain as soon as possible. The reality is we don’t always get the stone shot we want, and that is where the following factors come into play.
Rocking Up
When reef fish are threatened or injured, they swim into structure. This is called rocking up. This is one of the reasons many divers attach reels or floatlines to their spearguns. These allow the diver to come up to the surface without having to leave their speargun on the reef. If you are lucky or skilled you may be able to retrieve your fish from the structure on the same dive you shoot it. Most of the time, you will have to come up to the surface, breathe up, and make multiple dives to pull the fish out of the structure.