﻿Hey there and welcome to another edition of Coatesmans Workshop
In this video I am going to be covering two different aiming techniques
as well as a simple trick to help you never miss and build your confidence in taking the shot
In the last video I covered 8 tips to ensure that your gun was shooting straight
I suggested if you haven't seen it go and check it out in the link above over here. The link is also in
the description below make sure that your gun is shooting 100% straight
right let's climb into it
before we go any further if you don't have a issue with aiming and you are dead accurate
Don't watch this video, changing the way you shoot can be a long lengthy frustrating process
so if you've got your guns dialled in and you shooting straight don't watch this video
Take the eight tips on ensuring your gun is accurate from the previous videos stick with that
even thinking about a different approach can screw up with your mind and your shots let's look at
some aiming techniques and how and when to use them essentially guys take two different types of
shots either way I'm down the barrel or they just point-and-shoot the point-and-shoot relies more
on instinct and you don't aim at all from what I've noticed the guys who use the point-and-shoot
technique they normally hunting on the reef and where they're showing fishing close quarters
with the fast-moving and have time to lift the gun up and I'm down the barrel and the
guys aiming down the speargun are more the guys shooting guns and open water or with very big spearguns
Bluewater water hunting where you got loads of time to line up down down the gun and take the shot
let's look at both techniques and how to master them plus the pros and cons of both
let's start with the most common and that's gonna be aiming down the gun this technique is pretty
self-explanatory you would like any gun or rifle using the Line of Sight down the gun at the target
most guys they aim over the top of the speargun by first place in the speartip on the target and
then lifting up the handle and taking the shots once everything's lined up another alternative to
this is to come in from the side horizontally so you'd you place the speartip on the fish and then
you bring it in from the side this is really good for fish swimming in from your right hand side or
few left-handed coming in from the left this is actually quite handy because you can be sure of
the height of your shot when coming in from the side it's hundred percent guarantee that
you've got your your heart right and if you check your gun to see if it's shooting the right height
that's a good way to do it but either way you shooting the gun like a rifle you looking down
the gun and taking the shot the pro's to this technique is that is pretty easy to master
and if you have a time and an easy target you can line up and make sure your shot the cons
of aiming down the speargun like a rifle is it can take too long in Bluewater situations where your target
is cruising along like Spanish mackerel & Wahoo these are good examples you have loads of
time you can line up easy on that fish and take a shot especially if you have a big gun
or when you're rush still don't have time you might lend up squeezing the trigger when you're
not a hundred percent certain of your shot when aiming down your gun your gun is extended out in
front of you so if there's a Shoal of fast-moving fish you having to track your gun through the
water to keep on target and it's difficult to even change target lets say you are in a shoal
and when you start doing this you also making big cumbersome movements it's it's just a bad habit
and difficult to actually make The Subtle changes I see a lot of guys they will dive down
the put the gun out in front of them to line up on the first fish they see and then they look around
at all there's another fish and now that the other putting the gun back and trying to make those
adjustments that's when you can make mistakes and you're not really efficient in the water
having your gun out in front of you when you're diving is a very very bad habit you know this
only limits your maneuverability and fluidness in the water and increases your profile if you think
about it if you've got a big gun and your speargun is extended out you are almost twice as long
as you would be if you didn't have your gun out you know so fish also feel your intentions so if
you've got your gun out pointing at them they can lot of fish feel like I lack of a better word like
self-conscious in that kind of way I don't like that the guys in the med specially there with the
fish are really difficult to hunt they believe that the fish will stay a certain distance from
the closest point and if you look at a Flopper that's my closest points and that's this is a tiny
little gun that's a meter further away so that fish was gonna be your whole gun distance and shaft distance
further away from you then if you kept your gun close in to you until the last moment so if you
hunt with your gun out in front of you all you're doing is she keeping the first further away you
increasing your profile more difficult to maneuver in the water and other negative to owning down
your gun is that you so focused on a man that you forget to actually lock your elbow this is
something I found myself doing mostly when I'm on the bottom hunting on the reef and I'm lying on
the bottom looking up at a fish taking a shot and I'll do something like this and my elbows bent and
then when you take the shot there is this recoil that recoil takes up a lot of energy out of your gun
and also that recoil is never in a flat plane so it's gonna the projection of your
shaft is gonna it's gonna affect the projection of your shaft and that's gonna affect your accuracy
so this one of the negatives of aiming down your guns that you can actually be so focused on aiming
at you forget to either lock your elbow and your wrist when taking the shot another
potential issue with aiming down the gun is that a treat take the shot you can actually obscures
your target and you cannot see the exact spot that you gonna you want to place the shaft so
this can be an issue so you what happens if you'll end up just aiming at the general area on a fish
as opposed to a specific spot you might have had that specific spot in mind when you start it ain't
but at that point when you taking the shot you cannot see that spot because the gun is in the way
another thing is that it's also easy to over aim and because of that you know he is aiming down your
gun you can't see where it is so you like you second-guess yourself you look you know and as
soon as you start second-guessing yourself that's when something changes the fish moves or
you're not sure about your shot and then after squeezing of the trigger because you're feeling
rushed or you are under pressure as I'm sure if you've done any amount of Diving you would
have experience that to some degree you are aiming you you're lining up on a fish and then you go
not sure I'm not sure and then you flip of got to take the shot you take the shots
and you fluff it and it was just purely because you're taking too long aiming let's look at the
point and shoot the 'point and shoot' method doesn't rely on aiming but rather hand-eye
coordination to place the shots it's pretty much the same as taking a poll or a stick and coming
from the hip and pointing at a target and then if you look down you find that you're pretty much on
target it's it's quite uncanny how easy that is so just take us to take a poll or a stick
right now where you sitting pointed at something and then look down
and see if you are on target and you'll find that nine times out of ten yeah she pretty close
this shot is particularly good when you hunting on the bottom where you need to keep your gun
concealed for as long as possible and you wanna just reach up and take the shot especially at fish
that are coming in and approaching the main pro's of the pointed shoot that you keep your speargun
concealed until the very last moment before taking the shot this allows the fish to come and closer
most guys hold the gun upside down and keep it underneath them this is why non-ergonomic
handles are actually better because you wanna be able to have this group slide around in your hand
like this so you go from one position to the other with with 1sleak movement anyway
this is very different to when you've got your gun out in front of him you're tracking
waiting for the moment to take the shots when you keep your gun underneath you you are anticipating
when the best moments going to be you can see I come up to the ledges and bronze are in the distance
They are too far away for the shot so I have to close the gap and point-and-shoot
it was nice and far it's watch that again in Slow Mo I've actually seen his bronze bream from
further back, I approach the ledge I knew that they were too far away from the ledge so I'd have
to get over the Legend Take the shot as I approached the ledge guns drawn back in
wait for my opportune time come over you see them starting to move close the gap shoot
and you can see that line was just passed single rap range, good range
not an easy shot
in the beginning you might blow few shots but as you get better at anticipating those situations
and looking for those opportunities are you gonna become better and better at taking those shots and
I believe that's what makes a really good s pearfisherman is the ability to pick out the right
moment to actually take their gun put it out and make a good clean shot The 'point and shoot' also means that
I should take the shot your extending with your arm so you gonna come from here and you gonna be
extending As You Take That shot so this means that in most cases your elbow and your wrist in your
shoulder there all activated and actually know they gonna be able to hold the recoil of the gun
even if your elbows slightly bent because you in a forward motion as you take That shot it's unlike
that example I showed you earlier were you on the bottom and you aiming like this
your wrist and your elbow are not actually engaged your focus is on maneuvering the gun and that's
where you'll end up with that horrible recoil that sends your shaft flying in all directions before
me you want them probably the biggest pro to the point and shoot is that your focus is actually
on the fish and the spot on the first that you wanna take take or place the shot as opposed to
aiming down the barrel of a gun I find when I'm aiming down the barrel of the gun
it's more difficult to pick up points on the fish when you pointing and shooting you actually
pointing at a specific spot and once you get this technique right you'll find that your shot
placement gonna be a whole lot better okay so what are the cons with a point-and-shoot well firstly
if you use a bit cumbersome wooden Guns or even longer is like a 130 or 140 like Rob Allen
Allen Speargun it's very it's more difficult to point and shoot with bigger guns well thats just my experience
another downside to the point and shoot technique is if you miss it's almost impossible to
tell if it was you or the gun that missed the shot so when you hand me down the barrel of the gun
you can always be a hundred percent certain if it was your only badly or it was speargun
a point-and-shoot it's almost impossible to tell and that can be a real problem so
which is better the point-and-shoot or the aiming down the Barrel technique well
actually neither the I like to use a combination of both techniques depending on the situation
the point-and-shoot is by far more difficult and I have to constantly reminding myself to
practice that keep my gun in and try use that technique
on the build-up of as I'm shooting a fish at it just allows me to be a better Hunter often what
I'll end up doing is I will try anticipate the short like I would as a former actually do a pure
point and shoot but then at that last moment as a drawn-out I'll just do a subtle aim down down
the Gun before I take the shot but either way you know sometimes in quick situations
because you keep on practicing it I've taken shots when you just take shots of The Fly and
it's amazing how a creature can actually be the more you practice the 'point and shoot'
Here we have some cobia coming and I'm using a 120
so start thinking about the short straight away and then I keep the gun back chase a
little trying to work out which is the best shot and best fish to take and is the point and shoot
nice easy shot it wasn't too far away ok he's already had it open this is gonna help you be more
accurate in the water this is something I learnt a few years ago and I just call it the 'poke & shoot'
it's a technique that I've subsequently talk to guys new in the sport even some
old-school guys stuck in their ways this is a surefire way to improve your accuracy
and grow and confidence it also helps you move away from relying on aiming down
side of your gun or down the barrel of the gun and the aiming technique and move into
a more 'point-and-shoot' sort of styled shots and as well as a host of other good things
how the 'poke & shoot' technique works is right at the moment when you're about to take the shot
you shift your focus from your gun to the exact point on the fish and you imagine that you gonna
poke or push your shaft through that spot on the fish and take the shot this isn't
hard or quick movement it's more of a controlled push that's how kind of see
it in my head and I knew you lining up on the fish you picking your spot
you at that point when you go okay this is the time on it take take the shot
you pushing your shaft through that spot in the fish as you squeeze the trigger
here's an example of when I'm clearly aiming on a Spanish mackerel
As I take the shot I do the poke let's watch that in slow-mo extend out poke and shoot
'poke & shoot' actually takes the the point-and-shoot and adds an aiming
components to it it's like aiming without aiming all you're doing now as you are doing that you
are just projecting your shaft through that spot on the fish as you take the shot and
it's amazing how lethal you'll be with this shot and like I explained before you can use it with
aiming down the gun I don't you can and I try to do this all the time but what it does do when
you when you're aiming down the barrel of your gun at that point you to go I want to take the
shot you just pushing the shaft through the spot in the fish its lining up your your elbow your
wrist to shoulder so that's taken care of and you also shifted the focus from your gun to the
exact spot on the fish you want the shaft to land and that's gonna help improve your shots
whether you are aiming down the barrel of a gun or you're using the point and shoot
here is a shot where I'm aiming on a Spanish mackerel and as I take the shot I do the poke
Lets slow that down so you can see what happens so as I take the shot is here push forward with the gun
and pull the trigger I also find the whole motion or action helps with committing to
the shot while you're aiming d own the Barrel in you can take the shot at any time and it can be
difficult to know exactly when to pull the trigger and this indecision can lead you to doubting the
shots and that that said second-guessing yourself when you poking your spear through the specific
spot on the Fish you are being very decisive it's you pulling the trigger at the end of that push so
it's like the decision of when to shoot has taken away at all just part of that moment if that makes
any sense so whether you're aiming down the barrel of the gun or a point-and-shoot style diver at the
poking techniques can help improve your shots is gonna help improve your accuracy 100% guaranteed
I guess this is just a small part of the overall way of hunting
is the full stop at the end of that hunt so for me I tried to remember just two things keep my gun
in and at the right moments poke through the fish and release the shot, everything else and happens
in between we'll just follow you will start to look for the right moment to extend your gun out
sometimes it's gonna be a point and shoot style shot other times you gonna have loads of time to
spare and you gonna be lining up down the barrel of the gun at finish off the moment by focusing on
the spot and if she want the shaft too land and push the shaft through the spot and let your shaft fly
like I've said in this and so many other videos confidence is the key to shooting straight
the 'poke & shoot' technique and really help you build confidence
by helping you commit to your shorts and making those shots decisive and functional my advice
that you get into a pool or go and shoot some fish for the pot, practice applying various techniques
it will help you build your confidence the great thing is that the 'poke & shoot' you can practice this
in a pool set up at Target and practices taking those shots and starts off close with a small gun
and you'll be amazed at how easy it is to master this technique so just a quick recap it doesn't
matter whether you're aiming down your gun or shooting from the hip or even a combination of
both just remember to keep your gun in for as long as possible trying to anticipate when to take
the shot and when you do act decisively and focus on the spot you want the shaft to land
so whether you're a mean down the gun or not push forward with the gun extending the shaft
through the spot on the Fish you are focusing on and let that shaft fly this way we will ensure
that your both your wrist elbow and shoulder all engaged and your shot will be on the exact points
on the fish that you want the shaft to land with all the power and accuracy your gun can produce
use cuz they'll be no absorption of the record at all because everything is engaged I hope that you
found this video really helpful so give it a go and let me know how it goes in the comments below
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thanks so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video cheers