Spearfishing kit - What and where? (part8 - Gloves & Dive Knife)

We have covered our feet with fins and socks, we have covered our body with a wet suit and we have covered our face with a mask. One of the only things left exposed is our hands and this brings us to the need for gloves. The sea has some pretty abrasive and sharp things just waiting for your exposed flesh!

When diving in a decent swell you might find the need to hold on to a rock. When handling a fish you have just caught you would want to protect yourself form the sharp dorsal spines and gills common on many species. So there are many logical reasons to don a pair of gloves, but what gloves?

Most wet suit manufacturers also produce a few variants of neoprene gloves of varying thicknesses. Although these do their job in protecting you from the elements they come at a sacrifice. Wearing a pair of 5mm neoprene gloves is like trying to thread a needle while wearing a pair of boxing gloves, you loose allot of your hands sensitivity and accuracy. But when you are hanging on a rock encrusted with sea urchins you might see the sacrifice as worth the effort. 

Neoprene Spearing Gloves

One of the most noticeable areas effected by the loss of sensitivity is your trigger finger, you don't want to be swimming along and accidentally pull the trigger of your gun. For this reason I opt to not wear a glove on my right hand (trigger hand). I can hold on to the reef with my gloved left hand while still maintaining sensitivity and accuracy with my right trigger hand.

These neoprene gloves are not cheap. You can expect to pay in the region of about R500 - R600 for a good pair. It's for this reason that I opted for a cheaper option. I am sure you can remember your mother pottering around in the garden with a pair of fabric gloves? Well these double up as a very good alternative. You could also use a pair of crayfish gloves as these have the added benefit of a non-slip palm surface that might assist you in holding on to your catch while stringing it. These gloves you can pick up from your local fishing tackle store for as little as R30!

Crayfish Gloves

Another item that should be in every spearfishermans kit is a dive knife. Almost all the areas you will dive will also be frequented by traditional line fisherman, many of them leaving the remnants of their efforts by means of   fouled fishing line. Many of the deeper reefs are also frequented by commercial long-liners, their line is substantially thicker and stronger than average and can pose a serious danger to a spearfisherman especially if there are hooks still attached. Find yourself caught up or entangled in this line and you will be ever thankful for your dive knife. Another use of a dive knife is to kill the fish before stringing them. This is not only humane but it also avoids the now distressed fish attracting sharks.

If a whale can become entangled so can you!

There are a few variants of dive knives out there, but most of them will suffice. I like the feature on my Kershaw dive knife that has a line cutter at the top of the blade that makes it easier to cut fishing line. Make sure the knife has a decent sheath that is easily attached to the inside of your leg or upper arm. Make sure the knife is out of harms way as your float line can easily become entangled in it.

A knife also doubles up as a tool, be it a screwdriver or just to pry off a muscle to use to chum the water, it is a very versatile and useful part of your kit.

Kershaw Dive knife with line cutter

Spearfishing kit - What and where? (part7 - Buoy, Floatline, Stringer )

when referring in an earlier post to the different style spear guns I mentioned the use of a buoy & float line. These items are generally more popular with shore entry divers as it provides them with the security of attaching their catch to a buoy/float that is held a few meters away. While boat divers tent to find them cumbersome as well as them having the luxury of a boat to load their catch on.

The buoy/float however serves another purpose in my opinion other than just to hold the stringer containing your catch. They are normally brightly colored and for good reason. Most of us will opt for a natural colored wet suit and other gear so as not to spook the fish. With this gear you as a diver become very difficult yo spot in a decent swell never mind behind the breakers. Using a buoy/float that is easily visible will help the skipper of a boat to spot you should you need assistance as well as avoid drifting to far off your position.

I also found that while diving out at Cape Recief, a shore entry that required a decent 800m swim to the reef it was my buoy that kept my wife sane on the beach. I have also heard of divers diving in high traffic areas that have had very close misses by other ski boats due to not having a buoy.

Buoy/Float with an Alpha (diver down) flag

The stringer is attached to th buoy/float to secure your catch. It is generally made of a stainless steel spike about 200mm long with a cable attached to the middle of the spike. The other end of the cable is then attached to th buoy. This spike is then threaded through the gills of the catch to secure it to the buoy/float. It might be a good idea to attach a decent swivel between the buoy/float and the stringer as the swell might cause the fish and stinger to become entangled in your float line.

Stringer

Float line is basically just a nylon line (rope) that is joins your spear gun to your buoy/float. There are a few different options available for color and thickness. Try to get a line that does not float (yes, this might sound odd), as a float line can easily become caught up in a boats propellers. You often find that when diving the bright color of the float line might spook some fish. To defeat this you can setup a "ghost leader". There are different designs but it is essentially just a thick piece of clear fishing line (3-5mm) attached to the float line for the last 5m and then attached to your spear gun.  

Various colors of float line

Spearfishing kit - What and where? (part6 - Weight Belt)

As you have seen from previous posts, a spearfisherman carries a decent amount of equipment, from wet suit to fins, mask and snorkel. All these items displace water and therefore increase your buoyancy, this is counteracted by carrying weights.

There are two main different types of weighting methods. Firstly let's look at the traditional belt. Most spearfishing/freediving specific weight belts are made from rubber as most spearfisherman/freedivers spend allot of their time descending head first into the ocean, as depths increases so do pressures, with pressure your wet suit will compress as well as your body, this will leave a standard webbing weight belt loose compared to its initial fitting on the surface. With a rubber weight belt one can fit it with a slight bit of elasticity to compensate for the decreased body size at depth. The rubber weight belt can be used with conventional scuba diving lead weights.

Rubber Weight Belt

Conventional Diving Lead Weights

The one drawback of a weight belt is that the weight is centered around your waist while most of the bodies displacement is due to the torso. This brings us to the other weighting option, the harness. The weight harness fulfills the same purpose as the weight belt but enables a diver to distribute the weights so as to attain a certain buoyancy of certain areas of the body. One can also use wrist or ankle weights to further fine tune weight distribution.

Weight Harness

When deciding how much weight a person needs to take on a dive there are a few things to consider. The rule of thumb is 10% of your body weight but this changes depending on the depth you are planning on diving. Remember that you wet suit as well as your body compresses under pressure at depth, this results in less displacement of the body and therefore less buoyancy. You would therefore need less weight when diving deeper, exactly how much less would be a matter of individual trial and error. Another important thing to remember when donning your weights, be it a weight belt or harness, is how easy it is to release should you need to do so in an emergency. Weight belts do not have loops for securing the slack of your belt, this is so it is easily accessible so the belt can be release with just a tug of the belt. Most harnesses have equally easily operated safety releases, make sure they work smoothly before descending for your first dive.