Spear fishing in fresh water???

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

this is like six ******s (for you Brett gday) conversations happening at once - very "Pulp Fiction"y

michael (chemmy),

don't carry a powerhead - it is illegal for a snorkeller/spearing - give the shark ya fish thats all it wants - the shark that will get you is the one you don't see. Up on the reef where visibility is huge & so are the tiger sharks a phead could be justified ..... maybe.

I have speared since I was 14 yrs old & never needed one. I have speared up north, Cape Moreton, South Africa, Smiths etc, all over Straddie, every piece of wet rock on the coast & the Tweed. I have never been seriously worried by a shark. I have seen heaps & some big uns including a big Grey Nurse on the Amity Rock Wall.

Once you start thinking about sharks when you are spearing you lose the game. You increase your heart rate & oygen consumption & make erratic movements. You are far more likely to die driving to the beach - worry about that.

chris

[chemmy]

scott15

hahaha your realy funny you know that >

[Scott15]

lol thanks michael. dont ack as if you dont no me

Scott

[Mick]

(sing)...it was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well.... (pulp fiction)

No power heads chemmy, but I wish I has one the other day when this huge diver whiting came at me with snapping jaws. I was scared Sh1tless.

Ohio Reaf sun, well done for last coments. Sianara, Mick sun.

[NQCairns]

I have still to read half the posts here I have been a spearfisho on and of since I was 12 I have left a LOT of unnessary carnage behind me in my teens with a spear in hand.

This thread has got me thinking in my natural closed circuit kind of way .
What is wrong and what is illegal seems to no longer have have anything in common.
Is it wrong if a person at a infrequently visited reef shoots/catches and keeps a fish that is illegal to do so? The reef would never know the difference! What about on a highly visited reef near a city? would that then be wrong and not only illegal?

Is it individually wrong if a person sprays weeds with leftover petrol? it is illegal.
What about dumping 4L of motor oil down the back corner of the yardis that wrong? not just illegal! What about if the entire populuation dumped their oil around the same back yard would that be wrong as well as illegal!

To me when our gov is bent on confusing the issue by legislating against behaviour that is not wrong (like RAP) does no real harm etc and calls it illegal no wonder society is stuffed on so many levels. Right and wrong no longer exist for anyone who consider's themselves an upstanding member of society, the only test that matters is whether it is illegal or not. If anyone knows of another accepted test? i dont!
To the original poster! here is the scoop -by todays accepted standards take no notice of good old right and wrong only legalities. If you want to do target practice on 40 butter bream ask yourself only is that illegal! legality is now our only standard (just ask our betters in power) our society coverts today. So go for it because it certainly cannot be wrong to do something legal just as certainly as it cannot be right to do something illegal or can it.

[devocean]

Power head are legal in Australia and you can buy them very easily as long as you have a firearms liscence. They are only allowed to be used for dangerous FISH there is no mention in laws about sharks. As a spearo you may use them and carry them on a boat or in the water with you. They are in fact quite safe. You dont have to be wearing scuba to use one that is a croc.

[devocean]

When I say legal in Aust I meant queensland but if I lived in SA I think I would be invcesting heavily on a nice 12 guage or 300 mag powerhead

[Daintreeboy]

http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb/11416.html#gear

I don't think this is very clear. In one section it states powerheads are not allowed yet in the other says divers can use them to protect themselves from sharks. What is a diver? ONLY someone who uses SCUBA or anyone diving? Or are spearfisherman just called Snorkellers?
Cheers, Mark

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

as the intention of the spearfisher is to hunt, it would be a difficult cae to argue that you did not bring that weapon into the water with the intention to do harm ... it is illegal to hunt underwater with a powerhead

[devocean]

You need a speargun to operate a powerhead. You cannot hold a speargun if you are wearing tanks or any other type of breathing apparatus except for a snorkel. So it is illegal for a scuba diver to operate a power head because they cant hold a speargun but a freediver can. Powerheads are pretty useless against fish because you actually hjave to poke the spear into the fish the gun cant be fired. As most spearos will tell you you dont get the opoortunity to poke a fish with a gun very often. Sharks are different they will swim right up to you and you can poke them away with the gun hence a power head is effective on sharks but pretty usless on fish.

Check out the adrenaline spearfishing website where you can purchase them. Like I said before you need a firearms liscence. By the way they rae not hard to make either. Hope this clears it up a bit better

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

you do not need a speargun to operate a powerhead. An appropriately fashioned rod is fine. There are countless designs.

Back to the post - you don't need one Michael - you don't need one Michael - you don't need one !

[Daintreeboy]

Devocean it is actually legal for SCUBA divers to use one, in self defence against shraks. That's the way I read it. I was just questioning how the rule applied to 'snorkellers' for self defence. As Chris said you don't need a speargun to use one which is how and why SCUBA divers can do it.
Cheers, Mark.

[baldyhead]

Is it also true that said powerhead has to be locked in a steel box permanently attached to a vessel when not actually in use?????

[crayman]

Nice start Chemmy
I have worked as a pro-cray diver and an avid free diver. If you get a chance to take a trip up north(reef country) You will be amazed at how quick some fish are. Nice shot The head is always a good option. The biggest fish i ever speared was a big mack about 16kg and that was a buzz. If you don't hitthem in the head they go for ever. Bottom fish are good for a feed and to learn on try the palagics that will give you a real test. As for that raefpud! does dive i doudt it. He probably affariad of sharks and sea snakes.Good luck with it a good lung builder in the pool or were ever you swim is to take a breath every 2 then 4 then 6 strokes and so on until you are around 10-12 strokes good idea for someone to watch you just incase you push to hard and black out. It works.

[crayman]

Powerheads are allowed to be carried by all divers but must only be used to defend yoursself from dangerous fish. Like tiger sharks up north. When big tiger sharks come into shallow reef as deep as 30m they er normall a little edgey and as an x pro-diver i have seen a couple but never had to use a powerhead always been able to push them away gentle with end of my cray spear around the nose and underside. Me personnaly would only use one if last resort. My old boss did once and the aim has to be right on target or you could end up in more trouble.12gauge for the big shaerks is a definite.