If you’ve ever fished in other places around the world you’ll find out that there’s not many places like here. The fish here spook very easily, are over fished, and are fast as a rocket. All of that together means you have to be very calculated with how you hunt. 

In this article we’ll cover some of the most common techniques for spearfishing in Barcelona and across the Mediterranean. 

Waiting / Hiding

The waiting technique consisted of diving to the bottom finding a place to lay in wait for a fish to swim by to take a shot, and is one of the best techniques that you can learn here in the Med. This is the most common technique that we see utilized here. 

If you can dive a bit deeper this will almost certainly be the most common technique you’ll use as it’s the best way to spear large fish here (aside from grouper). The hardest part of this technique, aside from the breath hold, is maintaining composer as the fish comes in closer.

Here’s a great example of what this looks like when hunting Dentex:

If we have any suggestion it would be learn how to do this as soon as you get started here. Some places it’s easy to get big fish just diving down onto a fish and bopping it, but not so much here sadly 😂. 

Rocks and Caves

Another technique that you’ll see used commonly here is using a flashlight and checking in rock crevasses and small caves for fish to be hiding in there. That’s where people find most of the groupers that they’ll get. Sometimes you’ll find other strange species living in there too. 

The main trick to this technique is that you’ll want to make sure that you keep the flashlight close to the barrel of the gun. If not, you’ll turn the light on and by the time you can get the gun to the hole the fish will be long gone. 

FADs

Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) is any object that’s in the open ocean that causes fish to congregate near it. The way they work is they offer protection to smaller bate fish in open water. That in turn draws in bigger predatory fish. FADs can be anything from trees to weather buoys to man made structures that are in the open water.

With this technique you and the right season you can find some of the more unique fish in the Med such as mahi mahi. The biggest issue that people will have with technique is not having a boat since most of these devices will be 1+ miles off the coast.

White Wash / Surface Hunting

Fishing the white wash consists of hiding in the was from the tide near the rocks. Fortunately for here you don’t normally get large swells so it’s not nearly as dangerous as

This is probably the easiest technique that you can use but you’ll be highly limited to the type of fish you’ll get. Here in Barcelona you’ll end up mostly with mullets and the occasional sea bass if you’re fishing in the colder months. All in all this is your most entry level fishing technique, but it’s always fun to spear a couple of fish!

What we’ve found through personal experience and speaking with locals who have been fishing here for quite some time the best technique you can learn is how to dive and spend decent amounts of time on the bottom. Once you learn how to hunt from the bottom you’ll unlock the beauty of spearing in the Med.