Summary:

Gloves

Gloves not only provide thermal protection, they provide essential environmental protection for your hands. Protection from reefs, corals, fish, wrecks, as well as your own knife while you are dispatching your catch.

• Open cell neoprene gloves are very comfortable, but they are impractical for spear fishing. They do not provide enough protection and are easily damaged.
• The less expensive closed cell neoprene gloves with Armara (a leather-like material) inserts on the palm and finger are much more durable, offer great protection, and provide greater sensitivity. The increased sensitivity allows for a better “trigger feel” and is preferred by…
  

  Click here to read more...

Summary:

Weight Belts

A weight belt is an essential piece of equipment as well. A common misconception is that a weight belt is only worn by SCUBA divers, but they are very important to free divers as well. The different sizes and types of wetsuits, as well the ever varying body types that go in them, all have various impacts on the buoyancy of the diver. It is ideal for a diver to be neutral when submersed, but neutral buoyancy (will not float up or sink deeper) usually cannot be achieved without the addition of weight. The most common method of…

Click here to read more...

Summary:

Knives

A knife is a very useful spear fishing tool which serves two main functions. One, the knife will be used to dispatch a catch as quickly and humanely as possible. Two, a knife will be used to free a diver from entanglements such as netting, monofilament lines, ropes, etc. When choosing a knife look for a sharp pointed, dagger-like, blade with a serrated edge and/or a line cutter on one side. A smaller blade of approximately 4” (10cm) is preferable over the larger and bulkier options out there. The smoother and more streamlined a knife is, the less drag…

Click here to read more...

Summary:

Fins

There are two major types of fins on the market today; open heeled and close heeled. Open heeled are more common among SCUBA divers, but there are a few free diving specific versions of open heeled fins available on the market today. The advantages of open heeled would be the ease of donning and the ability to wear hard soled dive boots with them. This is useful when diving in an area where access to the sea is restricted by rocks and rough terrain as the boots will protect the diver’s feet and the fins can easily be donned…

Click here to read more...

Summary:

Stringers

Stringers are necessary to carry your catch if you are not diving from a live boat (boat w/ driver following). If you are diving from a live boat the diver would just signal the boat to come pick up the catch each time a fish is speared. When diving from the beach / coast, a stringer would usually be hung from the divers float, or can be hung from a weight belt. Weight belt attached stringers are not recommended in areas where sharks, barracudas or other aggressive fish are present.

There are two main types of stringers. The style…

Click here to read more...