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Tip #1: Swim out to deeper water, around 10-20 ft deep at least.

Bigger fish stay in deeper water. So if you want to catch a fish that will be big enough to make a meal, swim out to water where the bottom is at least 10-20 ft deep.

Now this is where different swimming and breath-holding abilities will come into play. If you are a very good swimmer, and can hold your breath for several minutes, you might want to go to even deeper water, closer to 40 feet or more. However, if you are just getting into spearfishing and don’t have a lot of experience free diving, then you want to keep it simple, and stay in water you can easily swim to the bottom and back in one breath of air.

Tip #2: Float at the surface, scanning the bottom for fish.

Now that you are in water around 10-20 feet deep (or more), float at the surface, slowly using your fins to glide along the surface. Stay relaxed and scan the bottom of the ocean floor for fish. Sometimes fish will be in a group feeding on the ocean floor and present easy targets. Other times, you will have to work harder to find them, and actually look in cracks and under ledges. If you see fish on the bottom floor, continue to my next tip.

Tip #3: When you see a fish on the ocean floor, dive down straight on top of it.

When you spot a fish, continue slowly finning towards it until you are directly above it. Next, take a deep breath and dive down straight for it. You’ve got to move quickly and hope the fish doesn’t notice you until it is too late for him. Although the fish sometimes do get scared away, (especially if they are in a group) this technique works better than most.

When I first starting spearfishing, I asked a friend if he had any good tips. He said that you have to sneak up on the fish, and to do this, you have to dive from straight above it because it cannot see you coming.

I have used this technique and caught several great fish that didn’t even see me coming.

Fish don’t always present themselves so easily, so sometimes you have to go looking for them, which brings me to my next tip.

Tip #4: Look for fish under ledges, in caves, near rocks, and in crevices.

Fish will often take shelter in caves and underneath underwater ledges. This gives you a great opportunity because you can sneak up on the mouth of the give, or come over the ledge and surprise the fish. When you see a large rock, ledge, cave or crevice underwater, try diving down and exploring it. Always be ready to catch any fish you see, and don’t be surprised if there are quite a few hiding out.

Tip #5: Fish are curious.

This is another tip an experienced spearfisher told me. Fish are sometimes curious if you don’t scare them. So, when sneaking up on a fish, if you do it slowly and don’t show all of yourself, you can get the fish to be curious instead of swimming away. This is a difficult technique to master, and often results in the fish getting scared and swimming away. However, that one time you get it right and that large fish just looks at you curiously before you catch it makes up for all the times the fish swam away.