hi, i am new to the world of spearfishing. i thought that it might be something fun to do, since i love to hunt and i live a block away from the ocean that i see many people spearfishing in.

i just completed my first spearfishing expiditions.
some things that i noticed were that i stayed on the surface and shot down.
when i dived down my ears hurt so i blew while holding my nose and nothing happend. i am wondering if you have to go down to the level that the fish are at to shoot them or can you travel on the surface?
can you please help.
oh, i am free diving in water 6-15 ft deep, i am shooting reef fish of the coast of lanikai in oahu. i have a picasso gun with to 16mm bands.
any suggestions would me much appriciated

The reason your ears are hurting is because you need to equalize the pressure of the water around you the the pressure inside the air cavatives inside your head. its not as simple as blowing air out of your nose. some people do it differently but I think the most common way to properly equalize your ears is to pinch your nose and then simply try and blow your nose like your going to blow it into a paper towel or napkin. If done properly you should feel a "pop" inside your ear canal. you can practice in your house whenever you feel it may be needed. once you get the hang of it, it becomes very easy and takes very little air to do it.

As for staying on the surface and shooting down, yes that is what needs to happen. you can get lucky from time to time and shoot fish from the surface, but dont be expecting any trophy's.

A skill you should practice is going down to the bottom and just laying still and waiting for the curious fish to come to you. in the shallow depth your practicing at you should be able to become very efficent very fast.

Gummy,
You need to start clearing your ears immediately upon starting your dive. If you go more than a few feet underwater without clearing, the pressure difference that has built up will be difficult to overcome with a simple Valsalva maneuver and you run the risk of middle ear barotrauma. The more often you clear your ears during descent the better.
Also, check out the forum on www.hawaiiskindiver.com for more local info. Lots of local to talk about good locations.

Good Luck.

You should not need to blow hard to clear. If you cannot clear by 15ft you probably won't be able to clear. Also, if you cannot clear do not push it as you risk blowing you ear drums. There are alot of local divers in Hawaii that can help you out. Try sending a post on the Hawaii section.

Good Luck

You deffinatly need to be eficiant at equalizing to maximize your bottom time. The sugestions above are all good and will help. After some practice you will find yourself being able to dive deeper and stay longer with less effort. The less effort the less comotion you cause and the less fish you spook. Also try taking your snorkel out of your mouth before you start your decent. When you leave it in it traps air and causes the air to come out as bubbles that spook fish. There used to be a dive shop in the mall in Waikiki that I used to go to all the time. They also gave me a lot of very helpful pointers as well as invitations to go diving with them. We used to go out in Kaneohe Bay. There were plenty of big parrot fish,ulua and Tako all of witch are fun to get. It has been about 5 years since I have been back but I am sure the fishing is still good there because of all the reef and lava rocks.