Hand Spears, Pole Spears & Hawaiian Slings

Hand spears and Pole spears are the forgotten sibling of the speargun but their place in the water will never be replaced. They're the best entry point to underwater hunting as they're most suited to diving around rocks and are very easy to shore-dive with.

The advantage to a handspear is that the user defines how much load is applied to rubber because to load a hand spear you pull the rubber as hard as you can and grab onto the spear, anchoring the rubber with your hand. 

On a speargun this anchor point is defined by two welded tabs, therefore it's not possible to effectively de-power your gun. This is important when hunting around rocks as you don't want to shoot something hiding under a rock just a meter away at full power as you'll end up donating your shaft to a rock.

There are countless advantages to a handspear, perhaps as many as there are advantages to spearguns but they're not designed for the same style of hunting so you must consider how you want to hunt before considering what you want to hunt with.  Regardless of this, there's always room for a hand spear in your kit as they're light, cheap and small.