When was the last time you did maintenance on your spearfishing equipment?

By Rusty Miller

Yesterday a friend of mine asked me, when are we going spearfishing again? I had to think about it as we where discussing it, it’s been a couple years since the last time he and I went spearfishing. It’s been a while for me because I get so busy teaching scuba classes that I don’t even have time to go diving for fun anymore.
That brings me to this article today and the question I have for you is when was the last time you did maintenance on your essential spearfishing equipment? All of my spearfishing stuff is kept inside my house in my closet so I think that it should be OK. Well, that might not be the truth. So I had to get my spearguns out of my closet to check them out.
I keep my spearguns in my closet instead of tin the garage because the environment is more controlled, plus I have what are called socks over the end that completely covers the bands to keep dust and any other stuff off of them that might decay the bands.
I still went through them and pulled on the bands to make sure there where no small cracks that could cause a malfunction while I was using them. Fortunately they are still new looking and in good shape.
I checked the spears and trigger to make sure they functioned properly and gave a good overall look to make sure the wood stock was not cracked or had a dull finish on it. Everything looked in great shape so I’m ready for this summer, providing I can find the time to go.
The other pieces of my spearfishing equipment like my stringer loop I looked it over real good to make sure it didn’t have any rust or strange little hair line cracks on it. I also checked my reel to make sure the string on it had no frays or knots in it. If you use a reel to suspend your stringer from, I would recommend you unspool it completely to do the check then spool it back up and secure it.
The last piece of equipment I check is my shark shield. I never go spearfishing without it. I fully charge it up about every three months even if I’m not using it. I also have a little shark shield tester that I will check it with to make sure it is working properly. So far I have had the SS for about 6 years and it still works like it is supposed to.
Well for now if I get to go spearfishing I should be ready to slay the big one that always gets away. Until next week, keep making bubbles.

Russell Miller #59999