Polespears

The pole is usually between four feet and eight feet long and made of fiberglass, carbon fibre, aluminum, or wood. Longer versions often break down into two or more pieces that screw together. The tip is either threaded to accept different kinds of spear tips or already has a fixed tip attached. The most popular spear tip on polespears are the paralyzer (often called a three-prong), and the Tahitian shaft (a single pivoting barb). At the butt end of the spear is an elastic loop, usually made of surgical tubing or a band of rubber.

The spear is operated by placing the rubber loop in the crook of the thumb, then reaching up the spear shaft to stretch the elastic band and grabbing the polespear to hold the band in tension. On flimsy spears, it’s useful to twist the spear as the band stretches to keep the spear from bending. Shooting the spear involves simply letting go of the spear shaft. The effective range of a polespear is about the length of the spear, necessitating a close approach to the target.

Polespears are versatile and inexpensive, and can be highly effective spearfishing tools in the right hands.  While polespears are usually used for small reef fish, people have landed large lingcod, striped bass, ulua (giant trevally), halibut, amberjack, sheephead and other medium to large fish with a polespear.  One thing for sure is the fact that polespears make the hunt quite challenging.

Shaft Materials
Commercial polespears are made of basically three types of material: fiberglass, aluminum, and carbon fiber.

Fiberglass
Fiberglass pole spears are the heavier of the three materials and almost indestructible. The additional weight has an added advantage of packing the largest punch, but on the negative side this added weight causes generally results in less velocity in the water than the other two materials.

Aluminum
Aluminum pole spears are lighter than the fiberglass pole spears. The lighter weight results in a little greater speed in the water, but this speed does not come without a negative.  Aluminum is not very malleable and a bend in the shaft will result in a highly weakened point that will more than likely snap when you attempt to straighten the shaft back out.

Carbon Fiber
Carbon fiber polespears are the lightest of the current materials on the market. Theses shafts are smaller in diameter and extremely lightweight.  The decreased resistance due to the smaller diameter matches up with the lighter weight to result in a lightning fast spear.  Carbon fiber’s properties also allow the shaft to be strong, but have the ability to absorb flex without a permanent bend.  One drawback with carbon fiber is that when you shoot a larger fish and do not “stone” the fish you lose control over the fish because of how flexible the material can be. It is very hard to pin a 6 - 7 lb. fish against the rocks when you didn’t shoot it in the head. This limitation aside, carbon makes a great material for polespears, but also comes with greater expense.

Band Material
There are some differences in polespear sling tubing: outer diameter, wall thickness, and quality of rubber. Most bands stretch to about 25 lbs, but the larger diameter stuff provides about 40 lbs.
There are two outside diameters available, the thicker “Heavy Duty” tubing is better when you can find it. The best way to determine the strength of the band material is to look at the inside diameter of the tubing; the smaller the inner diameter, the stronger the band.
You can’t do much about the quality of rubber. The quality of bands used for polespears is generally not as good as for spearguns.  Since “soak off” isn’t as important for polespears, it probably doesn’t matter that much.

Tips
You have the choice of either a fixed tip (usually a paralyzer) or a threaded tip.  Threaded tips are generally your best choice as this opens you up to the myriad of available tip options.

Polespears come in different sizes, usually 5 feet - 8 feet in length. With some minor modifications some of these spears can reach a length of 12+ feet.

Effective use of a pole spear balances on several things. First your ability to relax and stay still in the water, and second your ability to hold your breath and keep your calm until the fish comes within range. If you are looking to perfect your spearfishing skills, a pole spear is a good place to start.