Fishing Victoria Forum

Been curious about taking up spearfishing since I like both snorkelling and fishing.

Wondering if anyone could provide any recommendations for
- good equipment to purchase as a beginner
- safe places for initial dives (thinking Mt Martha)
- places that'll do lessons/courses

5mm open cell wetsuit, cheap weight belt with 10% body weight in led, open cell socks are a MUST in our waters imo, grab some thick gloves so you can handle nasty stuff without getting cuts, any old knife, flippers, snorkel/mask will do the job for now. Dunno about gun, i just use a sling and my bare hands lol.

Dunno about PPB other than mornington/mt matha.

Adreno do lessons. I need to look into it myself. I'm horrible at free diving.

At Indented Heads on the Bellarine PPB there is an Abalone Farm -They grab sea water from one of 2 Large Pipes that goes from the shore for about 250 meters out.
Its about 2 meters deep.If you swim next to the pipe you can spear big Fathead that hide there
If you go to the Indented Head boat ramp pier its to the R/H side of there about 400 meters out from Pier.Its marked with a big Yellow Bouy
Be a little bit carefull as there are Blue Ring Octopusses there sometimes
Another place is Steels Rocks at Portarlington

denis barden wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:33 pm

At Indented Heads on the Bellarine PPB there is an Abalone Farm -They grab sea water from one of 2 Large Pipes that goes from the shore for about 250 meters out.
Its about 2 meters deep.If you swim next to the pipe you can spear big Fathead that hide there
If you go to the Indented Head boat ramp pier its to the R/H side of there about 400 meters out from Pier.Its marked with a big Yellow Bouy
Be a little bit carefull as there are Blue Ring Octopusses there sometimes
Another place is Steels Rocks at Portarlington

I seen my first ever blue ring the other day, granted it was dead and on a jetty...

who would kill a blue ring and leave it on a jetty?

Kimtown wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:47 pm

I seen my first ever blue ring the other day, granted it was dead and on a jetty...

who would kill a blue ring and leave it on a jetty?

The same low life that kills toads and leaves starfish to cook on piers and in rock pools above tide level.

Brett wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 06, 2019 7:02 pm

Kimtown wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:47 pm

I seen my first ever blue ring the other day, granted it was dead and on a jetty...

who would kill a blue ring and leave it on a jetty?

The same low life that kills toads and leaves starfish to cook on piers and in rock pools above tide level.

Yep, unfortunately that's the world we live in.

Brett wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 06, 2019 7:02 pm

Kimtown wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 06, 2019 6:47 pm

I seen my first ever blue ring the other day, granted it was dead and on a jetty...

who would kill a blue ring and leave it on a jetty?

The same low life that kills toads and leaves starfish to cook on piers and in rock pools above tide level.

Any idea on the most humane way to dispatch the pest starfish? (the orange Pacific Seastar)

There's not a lot out there on how to humanely dispatch them.
What I did find was either drown them in fresh water for 20mins or freeze them.

I used to spearfish a lot when i was a teenager off the headland at Forster, NSW where i used to live.

I have considered getting back in to it down here, i have all the equipment other than a gun and my boat is set up for diving and swimming off with a ladder on each side of the stern. However i dont have a wet suit that currently fits me lol, and that video of the Great White off Altona a few years back is also a bit of a turn off.

SteveoTheTiger wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 13, 2019 6:09 pm

I used to spearfish a lot when i was a teenager off the headland at Forster, NSW where i used to live.

I have considered getting back in to it down here, i have all the equipment other than a gun and my boat is set up for diving and swimming off with a ladder on each side of the stern. However i dont have a wet suit that currently fits me lol, and that video of the Great White off Altona a few years back is also a bit of a turn off.

Honestly, whites almost seem too majestic and clever to attack anyway. Every video you see of them in the wild they seem to be more intrigued and inquisitive of boats, anglers, divers rather than aggressive.


Honestly think i'd rather come across a white than a giller in the water when i'm diving. I've seen my fair share of 7 gillers absolutely maul fish and other sharks that I've had on my line. They are extremely aggressive and very, very stupid, I have little doubt they would hesitate taking a bite if you were in the water with them and they were hungry.

I also believe that Whites get a pretty bad wrap being the largest predatory fish in the sea. I reckon most unrecognizable bites would get put down to Whites when it's just as likely to be something else like a 7 gill or tiger.

Having said all that, I really don't want to come across a white while I'm diving either lol. A small (4.5 foot) black tipped reef shark followed me around snorkeling in Fiji and that was eerie enough.