We're dipping into the vault this month. This Floater comes from a chat Turbo and I had with Rob Allen back in the early days of the podcast — a good decade ago now — and the wisdom hasn't aged a day.
Rob's the South African legend who reimagined the speargun for big pelagics 35 years ago.
No formal engineering background, just relentless curiosity and a glass-top table covered in matchboxes. The result revolutionised how we hunt big fish.
We dug into mackerel hunting, diving safer, and the gear noobs get wrong most. Let's get some froth on..
The number one mistake Rob sees with new mackerel hunters?
Rushing the moment.
You think you're going slow, but you're going way too fast.
Here's the dead-simple gauge he uses:
If you maneuver your gun and the bands rattle, you've blown it — that's the speed that spooks the fish. Move slow enough that everything stays silent, and you've found your approach speed.
Slow is smooth, smooth is dinner.
Keen to shoot your very first Spanish? nearly every year, Spanish Mackerel come aboard on our Sail x Spear charters. Beginner friendly, fully guided, in a no ego, target rich environment.
The most affordable guided spearfishing charter Sail x Spear Aug 17-21 and 25-29, 2026
2. Dive at Your Flasher, Not at the Fish
This one's brilliant.
You spot a mackerel that's already checked your flasher and turned away — your instinct is to dive hard at the fish.
Don't.
You'll never reach it and you'll spook it for good.
Instead, dive aggressively at your flasher like you're going to eat it. Four times out of five, that mackerel gets jealous, thinks it missed something, and comes back to investigate. Let the fish come to you.
Oh — and go smaller with your flasher than you reckon. Rob's crew downsized after watching fish turn away from the big ones.
Rob Allen with a Couta (Spanish Mackerel)
3. Use Your Watch for the Surface Interval, Not the Depth
Most blokes buy a dive watch for depth and dive time.
Rob reckons that’s the wrong reason — the real value is your surface interval.
Rest three times your dive time and the guesswork disappears (it always feels shorter than it is when there’s a fish waiting).
Better yet, here’s the counter-intuitive bit: a shorter dive needs far less recovery, so you actually get more downtime over the day AND a safety reserve in the tank. Less shallow water blackout, more bottom time. Win-win.
Rob's built gear that's landed fish well over 100kg — but he's the first to say it's "not about the gun, it's about the Indian behind it."
The kit gets you in the game; patience, body language and reading the fish are what land it.
That first monster wahoo that swam up to him?
He missed it with a little Mickey Mouse reef gun — and that miss taught him more than any fish he'd shot. The lesson cuts straight to our ethos: no amount of flash gear shortcuts the time in the water. Buy good, then go put in the reps.
How to Hunt Spanish Mackerel, tips and more Full BLOG here
Big Idea #2: The Misses Are the Masterclass
Ask Rob what got him going and it wasn't the fish he speared — it was the ones he missed.
"Why did I miss? What was the situation?"
That question drove three decades of design and hunting craft. Same goes for engineers telling him something was impossible while he'd been doing it for 20 years. Curiosity over credentials, and every stuff-up treated as data instead of shame.
That's froth that survives setbacks.
No Ego Full Froth T-Shirts Available Here - $40AUD - Limited Stock
1 Question:
What's the one that got away — the fish you missed — that ended up teaching you the most?
Sometimes the blown shot reshapes how we hunt more than the trophy on the wall ever could.
— I'd love to hear your answer in the Noob Spearo Community on Facebook | Instagram OR even better leave a voice message for the Noob Spearo Podcast HERE*<3 mins
Full froth, no ego
Want to learn more about spearfishing gear? Check out Rob Allen on YouTube - big picture + highly practical tutorials and guides
Brogan and Lawden with Coral Trout aboard last years Sail x Spear Guided Charters (7 SPOTS LEFT ACROSS 2 TRIPS IN AUGUST!)
Want to escape the Southern Winter and experience the Great Barrier Reef☝️ Sail x Spear Charters are beginner-intermediate friendly.
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