Spear Guns & Hand Spears

Maximise your spearfishing chances with the right equipment

When you're spearfishing, the gear you use can be the difference between landing the big one and coming home empty handed. You'll need to get yourself a snorkel and mask, and a wetsuit - then of course, you'll need a speargun or fishing spear. Let's take a look at the different types of spearguns and hand spears available.

Spearguns

There are two main types of spearguns and the best one for you depends on what kind of fishing you're planning on doing and what fish species you're targeting.

Band spearguns use thick rubber bands to power the gun and operate similarly to a crossbow or slingshot. Band spearguns excel once they get to a metre or more in length. Because you're able to load multiple rubber bands to arm the spear gun, banded spearguns have a power advantage over pneumatic spearguns.

For this reason, band spearguns are more popular generally and are the speargun of choice when fishing for bigger fish. However, they are more difficult to load, especially when using more than one band.

Pneumatic spearguns are powered with compressed air instead of a band. There is a chamber inside the speargun that stores the air which is compressed as you load the spear. Small pneumatic spearguns are easy to use but they get more difficult as they get bigger as more force is required to push the spear into place to load the speargun.

A small pneumatic speargun will often have more power than a band powered speargun of the same size. They're often faster to reload and are generally a pretty reliable option for spearfishing in shallow reefs, or anywhere with tight spaces. The downside is a pneumatic speargun won't usually float.

Hand spears

Hand spears, or pole spears, are a great first step if you're just thinking about getting into spearfishing. They're easy to use and cost less than a speargun. Hand spears have a rubber loop connected to the end of the pole and this is what you use to propel the spear through the water. Let's take a look at the different materials hand spears are made from.

• Aluminium- These are generally entry level spears, aluminium is perfect for beginners who want to try spearfishing but don't want to spend much.
• Fibreglass- Fibreglass spears are often mid-level spears. They're durable and flexible, enabling them to flex, not bend or break when they hit a fish.

Find the Right Spear Guns & Hand Spears at Anaconda

If you'd like to know more about what you need to get started with spearfishing, drop into a store and speak to one of our expert team members. Check out our Store Finder to find a store near you.