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Floppers, slip tips, and holding a fish

Explainer · Last reviewed 2026-08-18

The tip decides whether a shot fish stays on the shaft, which makes it a welfare question before it is a recovery one — a fish that tears off is a wounded animal that is not recovered.

A spear that passes through a fish and holds it is doing its job. A spear that passes through and pulls out has injured an animal that then dies unrecovered, which is the worst outcome available in this discipline and the reason tip choice is not a preference.

A FLOPPER — also called a barb or a wing — is a hinged tab on the shaft near the point. It folds flat going in and swings out behind the fish, so the shaft cannot withdraw. Single floppers are standard; some shafts carry two. It is simple, robust and adequate for most reef and rock fish.

A SLIP TIP is a detachable point on a short cable. It penetrates, then the shaft pulls back and the tip TOGGLES sideways behind the fish, held by the cable. Because the holding element is a small toggle on a flexible line rather than a rigid shaft, a large powerful fish cannot lever against it and tear a hole.

WHY THAT MATTERS ON BIG FISH. A rigid shaft through a large tuna or wahoo gives the fish a lever a metre long. It rolls, the hole enlarges, and the shaft comes out. This is precisely the situation slip tips exist for, and it is why blue-water divers use them and reef divers frequently do not need them.

THE COST is complexity: a cable, a joint and a tip that must be reset after every shot, and more things to inspect and to fail.

The welfare argument, stated plainly

Spearfishing's strongest environmental claim is selectivity: the species, the size and the number are chosen before the shot, and there is no bycatch. That claim is only as good as the recovery rate.

A fish that is hit and lost has been killed without being taken. It does not appear in anybody's catch, it is not counted, and the diver may not even know it died. Tip choice is one of the three things that decide how often this happens — the others being shot placement and whether the fish reaches structure.

The practical implication is that matching the tip to the quarry is an ethical obligation rather than an equipment optimisation. Shooting large powerful fish with a flopper suited to reef fish produces lost fish, and choosing not to take a shot that is unlikely to hold is a legitimate and under-used decision.

Practitioner consensus

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • BSAC diving safety guidance and annual incident report — British Sub-Aqua Club (Water-safety or diver-training authority)Relied on for: Diving practice and equipment selection appropriate to the quarry and environment.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Good Fish Guide — Marine Conservation Society (Conservation authority)Relied on for: Context on selective harvest and the assessment of fishing methods by their impact.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Inspection, because both fail quietly

A flopper that has become stiff with salt and corrosion may not deploy, which turns the shaft into a plain spike. It is checked by opening and closing it by hand before a session, and it should move freely.

A slip tip's cable frays where it passes through the shaft and at the swage. A frayed cable is a lost fish and a lost tip, and it is the component that gives least warning because the damage is usually inside the joint.

Both are rinsed in fresh water and both are replaced rather than nursed. Tips are the cheapest component in the system and the one whose failure costs an animal.

What the tip does to the shaft, the line and the fish, in that order

A tip is usually chosen by asking which one holds a fish better. The more useful question is what each one does to the rest of the system, because the tip is the point at which the load enters everything else.

A FIXED FLOPPER TRANSMITS EVERYTHING THROUGH THE SHAFT. The barb hinges out behind the fish and the fish is then attached to a rigid metal rod. Every movement the animal makes is a lever acting on that rod, and the rod is attached to the shooting line. That produces two failure modes: the shaft bends, and the hole in the fish enlarges as the shaft levers in it until the barb pulls through. Both are worse on a large or a hard-swimming fish and both are worse the further the shaft is from lying along the fish's line of pull.

A SLIP TIP REMOVES THE LEVER, WHICH IS THE WHOLE POINT. The tip detaches from the shaft on penetration and remains connected by a short cable, so the fish is attached to a flexible line rather than to a rigid rod. It can turn, roll and swim without levering the wound open, and the shaft is no longer a bending member.

BUT IT MOVES THE LOAD ONTO THE CABLE AND THE CRIMP, and that is the trade. A slip tip introduces a small assembly — tip, cable, crimp or swage, and its attachment to the shaft — which is now the single point through which the entire fish is held. Every one of those components is small, under high shock load, in salt water, and easy to inspect badly. A slip tip that fails at the crimp loses the fish more completely than a flopper ever would.

AND BOTH FAIL QUIETLY, which is the reason the inspection matters more than the choice. A flopper's hinge pin corrodes and the barb stops deploying reliably. A slip tip's cable frays inside the crimp where it cannot be seen and the assembly parts under load. Neither announces itself before the shot.

THE WELFARE ARGUMENT COMES FIRST RATHER THAN LAST. A fish that tears off is a wounded animal that is not recovered, and that is a worse outcome than not taking the shot. Whichever tip is used, the responsibility is to take shots at ranges and angles where the tip can do its job, and to inspect the assembly before every dive rather than after a failure.

WHICH IS WHY THE SELECTION VARIABLE IS THE FISH RATHER THAN THE GEAR. A tip that is adequate for a small reef fish at close range is not adequate for a large fish that will run, and the decision is made when the diver decides what they are hunting rather than when they see it.

Authoritative guidance

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • CMAS technical and sporting standards for underwater activities — Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (Standards body)Relied on for: Technical and sporting standards for underwater activities including spearfishing equipment practice and the conduct of the activity.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Established description of spearfishing equipment configuration, its failure modes, and the reasoning behind rigging choices, recorded as practitioner literature.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Humane Harvesting of Fish: percussive stunning and percussive equipment — Humane Slaughter Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Humane harvesting practice for fish, including the requirement to render a fish insensible promptly and the consequences of failing to.States this directlyNot yet checked

Where to go next

Where it matters

What these connections rest on (1)

Authoritative guidance — 1 connection

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • Blue-water spearfishing

    The situation slip tips exist for.

    • FAO fishing gear types and fishing technology information — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Spear tip and harpoon head construction across fishing gear types.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Related reading

What these connections rest on (3)

Practitioner consensus — 3 connections

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • A fish that comes off, and what you owe it

    One record resolves a question the other raises and cannot answer alone.

    • CMAS technical and sporting standards for underwater activities — Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (Standards body)Relied on for: Breath-hold spearfishing as a defined discipline with its own technical, equipment and safety standards, set out by the international underwater federation.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • DAN guidance on freediving safety, hypoxia and shallow-water blackout — Divers Alert Network (Water-safety or diver-training authority)Relied on for: That the safety requirements of breath-hold diving apply across the discipline rather than to particular equipment or techniques within it.States this directlyPassage read and verified

  • Corrosion, maintenance and pre-dive inspection

    A claim that this record rests on a mechanism explained elsewhere in the catalogue. It is the edge that makes the material an explanation rather than a list of equipment.

    • BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Established description of spearfishing equipment configuration, its failure modes and the reasoning behind rigging choices, recorded as practitioner literature.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • CMAS technical and sporting standards for underwater activities — Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (Standards body)Relied on for: Technical standards for underwater activities, including the equipment configuration and inspection practice expected of spearfishers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of established spearfishing equipment practice and configuration, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Shooting line: monofilament or Dyneema

    A claim that this record rests on a mechanism explained elsewhere in the catalogue. It is the edge that makes the material an explanation rather than a list of equipment.

    • BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Established description of spearfishing equipment configuration, its failure modes and the reasoning behind rigging choices, recorded as practitioner literature.FishingHQ's interpretation of what it saysCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • CMAS technical and sporting standards for underwater activities — Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (Standards body)Relied on for: Technical standards for underwater activities, including the equipment configuration and inspection practice expected of spearfishers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of established spearfishing equipment practice and configuration, recorded as practitioner consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

How this compares

What these connections rest on (2)

Authoritative guidance — 2 connections

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • Catch handling and dispatch in spearfishing

    Connects tip selection to the welfare obligation.

    • FAO fishing gear types and fishing technology information — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Spear tip and harpoon head construction across fishing gear types.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

  • Shafts and tips

    Tip choice has an ethical consequence the component record does not carry.

    • FAO fishing gear types and fishing technology information — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Spear tip and harpoon head construction across fishing gear types.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Safety reading

What these connections rest on (1)

Authoritative guidance — 1 connection

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • Hook injuries

    A claim that a piece of equipment participates in a hazard substantial enough to have its own record, so that a reader meeting the component is routed to the full treatment rather than to a warning sentence.

    • CMAS technical and sporting standards for underwater activities — Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (Standards body)Relied on for: Technical and sporting standards for underwater activities, including spearfishing equipment practice, the conduct of the activity and its safety requirements.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Environment and conservation

What these connections rest on (1)

Authoritative guidance — 1 connection

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • Selectivity and what it is used for

    A claim that a piece of equipment participates in an environmental argument, resting on the responsible-fishing and welfare literature rather than on practitioner preference.

    • Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1995 (Standards body)Relied on for: That gear selectivity and the avoidance of unrecovered mortality are central to responsible fishing, and the framework within which those obligations sit.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Humane Harvesting of Fish: percussive stunning and percussive equipment — Humane Slaughter Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Humane harvesting practice for fish, including the obligation to render a fish insensible promptly and the consequences of failing to.States this directlyNot yet checked

Sources for this page

  • FAO fishing gear types and fishing technology information — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Spear tip and harpoon head construction across fishing gear types.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.

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