Spear Fishing Fresh Water

[Mergie Master]

Why are fresh water fish so much more skittish than salt water fish?

I've never spear fished in the salt so I have no experience. But I have watched a ton of videos and the divers swim up to within 10' or 15' of the fish and shoot it.

Last year a friend and I decided we'd spear fish in Russell. The water was a good color and about as clear as you can get around here. My friend owned the equipment so we dove in, split up and started working our way around off the bank. I know you aren't supposed to shoot game fish. But they don't even need that law cause you aren't going to get close enough to one to shoot it. Even catfish and carp are too skittish to spear fish for, at least in the daylight. The only fish we could get anywhere near was little finger long bream.

The guy that was with me has spear fished in the salt and he said it was just weird how you couldn't get anywhere near enough to a fish in freshwater. He said he'd never seen fish so skittish, but he had never tried it in freshwater either.

There's got to be a reason they are skittish, but I haven't figured out yet. They seem way more aware of their surroundings and way more alert. This makes me think they are more "intelligent" or whatever the right word would be.

We finally resorted to flinging lures at the bank. If not we would have come out empty handed.

[Tater]

Freshwater fish might see 15 different species in their lifetime. Saltwater species see 15 species between blinks. Also, no migrations in freshwater. Saltwater fish are constantly having new species move in and out.

[gooseaholic]

There is also a good possibility that a saltwater fish has never seen a human before.

[Mergie Master]

Both of those are good guesses. Tater's I think is best and led me to another thought...

Of all those species that saltwater fish see some of them are probably very big, things like porpoises, sharks, rays, etc. Mostly they don't present a real threat to the fish. So when something as big as a human comes up they don't just naturally bolt because something big is there.

Also when a freshwater fish hauls ass he goes all the way to the next county. Saltwater fish I've seen in the videos sometimes get spooked but they only bolt about 20' and stop.

[Palmetto Bug]

I find it strange that some fish, spottails in particular, are much more spooky to boats than bream and bass. You can pitch to freshwater bass that are practically under the boat yet spottails, especially in shallow water, can be difficult to get within casting distance and they don't like trolling motors.

Recently, I've been very impressed with how quickly bream learn. I started fishing my pond for the first time this Spring. It was stocked about 18 months prior. The fish have been eating fish food pellets from a timed feeder. They don't seem to know what a cricket is but they'll pounce on the pellets. I tied some files to look like pellets. They were deadly for about two weeks. Then the fish learned and ignore them unless I fool them by throwing it into the middle of a feeding frenzy.

One thing I've noticed with ocean spear fishing is that the fish seem to almost ignore you until you pick the one you want. As soon as you decide, they seem to also know and they get more evasive. They pay attention to eye contact.

[murraywader]

Freshwater spear fishing is easy. Mergie you are moving too fast....

[GMAC]

Go at night while the fish are asleep. A cheap plastic flashlight will work for hours underwater. Or so I've heard.

[dmatheny21]

I find it strange that some fish, spottails in particular, are much more spooky to boats than bream and bass. You can pitch to freshwater bass that are practically under the boat yet spottails, especially in shallow water, can be difficult to get within casting distance and they don't like trolling motors.

Recently, I've been very impressed with how quickly bream learn. I started fishing my pond for the first time this Spring. It was stocked about 18 months prior. The fish have been eating fish food pellets from a timed feeder. They don't seem to know what a cricket is but they'll pounce on the pellets. I tied some files to look like pellets. They were deadly for about two weeks. Then the fish learned and ignore them unless I fool them by throwing it into the middle of a feeding frenzy.

One thing I've noticed with ocean spear fishing is that the fish seem to almost ignore you until you pick the one you want. As soon as you decide, they seem to also know and they get more evasive. They pay attention to eye contact.

I remember when we were kids playing in the canal that runs through Summerville. We found a popping bug in a tree, we had never seen one or used one. The next two weeks it was deadly on the bream in the canal and our local pond, then it just dropped off. Weird how they adapt.