Snorkeling on Key West's Middle Grounds, an area southwest of Key West, you can see the best of what a living coral reef has to offer, without diving down at all. There are purple fans, giant parrot fish, some sharks, zebra fish, porkfish, barracuda and tons of other types of reef fish. There are buoys for your boat, and a short swim towards the marker stick will take you to reef that's just a few feet below the surface. Easy! What's also kinda cool is that the Middle Grounds are not a Sanctuary Preservation Area, which means you can do a little fishing. For me, it was the perfect place to try my first time at spearfishing. It's not really sportsman-like to fish at a marked reef with buoys for snorkelers and divers, however. It's too easy and it bothers the swimmers. But for beginners at spearfishing, it's ok to do it just once.
With gun pointed out in front of you (don't forget to release the safety switch before you dive), swim fast at your target. Middle Grounds is a good place for beginner spearfishing because it's not deep and there are tons of fish. If your target escapes, there's probably another nearby. Bar jacks get big so they make nice targets. Plus, there's often a lot of them together so you get multiple targets. They swim right up to you sometimes, too. Perfect!
Don't forget to take a deep breath before you dive down. It's easy to get so excited about shooting the fish and thinking about how to manage the gun that you forget your diving techniques. Try and wait for the fish to turn sideways to your spearpoint. You want to try and shoot it right behind the gill plate. Get up as close as you can without scaring him away.
I'm a beginner, and I'm a girl, so my gun is weak. I shot my first fish on the backbone because I was too exicted to wait for him to swing sideways to me. If your gun is weak, what happens is if you shoot it in the back, you'll hit the bones like I did and your spear will probably bounce off. That's only if your gun is really weak. Try to make your gun as strong as possible without using accuracy. If you power it up too much it will become less accurate. The fish will jump and swim away so you might as well wait for a better shot next time. You can shoot them from the front, too, according to a poster I saw in a dive shop. Aim for just above the eye, I guess for the brain. Sideways seems much easier. Best is to have enough power on your gun so that you can blast 'em in the spine.
