Your first month of spearfishing
Spearfishing has a real learning curve — but the first month is mostly about learning to be calm underwater, not about shooting fish. Here's what that progression actually looks like.
By The JustBeginning Editors · Published May 24, 2026
Most people imagine their first spearfishing experience as a clean, cinematic dive — drop under, find fish, come up with dinner. The reality of month one is something different: you’ll spend most of your time learning to be calm, slow, and efficient underwater before a fish ever comes into range. That’s not a flaw in the process. It’s the process.
Here’s what the first month actually looks like, in roughly the order it happens.
Week 1: Safety first, gear second
Before anything else: take a freediving safety course. Not a scuba certification — a breath-hold safety course from an AIDA or FII certified instructor. It runs four to eight hours and covers the two things that matter for spearfishing safety:
Shallow-water blackout. When you hyperventilate before a dive (which beginners do instinctively, thinking it loads up oxygen), you lower your CO2 trigger to breathe without actually increasing your oxygen stores. The result is you can lose consciousness underwater with no warning and no sense that anything is wrong. The prevention is simple: don’t hyperventilate, and always dive with an active buddy watching you from the surface. These rules aren’t suggestions.
The one-breath-up rule. Wait at least twice your dive time at the surface before your next dive. If you dove for 30 seconds, rest at least 60 seconds before the next attempt. Breaking this rule — rushing back down while still oxygen-depleted — is the main cause of spearfishing blackouts.
Take the course before you get in the ocean with a speargun. It also gives you your first real breath-hold practice in a controlled environment, which is where the skills actually build.
Week 2: The pool session
Before your first ocean dive in full gear, do at least one pool session. Wear everything: your wetsuit, weight belt, fins, and mask. The goals are:
Dial in your buoyancy. You should be neutrally buoyant at about 10 feet — not sinking to the bottom, not floating up. In a 3mm wetsuit in a typical pool (freshwater), most people start at 6% of their body weight in lead. Saltwater needs a couple extra pounds. Add weight in half-pound increments until you sink slowly when relaxed and float gently to the surface after a full exhale. Write down what worked.
Get comfortable with the fins. Long freediving fins are awkward until they’re not. You’ll bump into walls, struggle with turns, and feel ungainly. That’s normal. The kick pattern is a long, slow, full-leg movement from the hip — not the ankle flutter of snorkeling. Practice this until it feels automatic.
Test your mask seal. Submerge your face and confirm the mask doesn’t flood. Equalize a few times. Learn what equalization with two fingers on the nose pocket feels like. You should be able to clear your ears comfortably before 10 feet.
Weeks 3–4: First ocean dives
Your first ocean dives should be shallow — 10 to 15 feet — in clear, calm water with good visibility. Bring the speargun, but the goal of these first sessions isn’t catching fish. The goal is learning the environment.
Slow down. Every beginner moves too fast underwater. Fast movement burns oxygen, spooks fish, and makes equalization harder. Trained spearos descend almost imperceptibly slowly, moving like something that belongs in the water. You’re not trying to chase fish in week three — you’re trying to become invisible.
Watch the fish, not the speargun. Reef fish have pressure sensors that detect water displacement. If you’re moving toward them quickly or awkwardly, they’ll be gone before you raise the gun. Approach from below when possible (fish watch above more than below), stay horizontal, and stop well before you’re in range to let the fish settle and become curious.
Take your first shots. When you finally take a shot, you will probably miss. This is not a failure — it’s calibration. Missing tells you about range, angle, shot timing, and the unpredictability of moving fish. Most beginners need 10–20 shots before they understand intuitively how the spear moves through water.
A hit on your first legal fish — whatever size it is — is a legitimately big deal. It means breath-hold, approach, timing, and aim all came together at once. Don’t underestimate how much had to go right.
What you’re actually training
The skills that matter in spearfishing are not markedly different from archery or any other precision-under-pressure activity. But they have to be practiced in a medium that is physically demanding and which punishes anxiety.
Breath-hold. Your resting dive time in your first few weeks is probably 30–50 seconds. After consistent practice, most spearos get to 90 seconds within a few months. You don’t need long dives to be effective — a calm, efficient 45-second dive at 20 feet beats a panicked 90-second dive every time.
Equalization. If you can’t equalize smoothly, you can’t get to the fish. Practice the Frenzel technique (closing your throat with your glottis and using tongue movement to pressurize) rather than the Valsalva (pinching and blowing like you’re on a plane). Frenzel works at depth without effort; Valsalva stops working past about 30 feet.
Reading water. Where are the fish? Structure — rocks, ledges, weed lines, baitfish schools — concentrates them. Time of day matters (dawn and dusk are most productive). Current and visibility change everything. This is the slow-building knowledge that makes an experienced spearo look like a genius in unfamiliar water.
The rhythm of a safe, productive dive day
Most experienced spearos follow a pattern that beginners should mimic from the start:
- One diver in the water, one on the surface watching actively (not just floating)
- No hyperventilation before dives
- Rest fully between dives — rushing the surface interval is how blackouts happen
- Call dives early when you’re tired — hypoxia impairs judgment before you notice it
- End the session before exhaustion, not after
The buddy system isn’t a formality. It is the safety net that makes the sport work. If you’re ever alone in the water — even shallow, even calm — you have removed the one protection that matters.
Ready to put the gear together? Our spearfishing gear guide covers the four things worth buying first — speargun, wetsuit, fins, and mask — and everything you can skip until month two.