Shafts and tips
Tackle · Last reviewed 2026-08-10
The part that reaches the fish, and the part that decides whether it stays on — a slip tip and a fixed flopper solve completely different problems.
Safety
Fish welfare — Can cause injury needing treatment
A shot fish that comes off the shaft is wounded and not recovered. Undersized tips, blunt points and poor shot placement all produce this, and it is the welfare failure specific to spearfishing.
What reduces it: Use a tip adequate for the fish you are engaging. Keep the point sharp. Take shots at a range and angle where placement is certain, and decline the ones where it is not — which is the advantage spearfishing has over every other method, and wasting it is a choice.
Entanglement — Can cause injury needing treatment
A sharpened steel shaft under tension, handled at close quarters in the water and on a boat, causes serious puncture injuries.
What reduces it: Treat a loaded gun as loaded. Handle shafts point-away on deck. Do not swim towards a shaft under load, and let go rather than following it.
Precautions that always apply here
- Never spearfish or freedive alone.
- Dive one up, one down: one diver down, one on the surface actively watching, every single dive.
A shaft is a steel rod. What is on the end of it decides what happens after the shot, and that is a more consequential choice than the gun.
A FIXED FLOPPER is a hinged barb near the point that folds flat going in and stands proud coming out. It is simple, robust, and adequate for most reef and rock fish. Its weakness is that the shaft stays rigidly through the fish, so a large fish working against a straight lever can tear the hole open and come off.
A SLIP TIP separates from the shaft on penetration and toggles crosswise inside the fish, connected by a short cable. The shaft then falls away and the pull is on a small toggle rather than a long rod. That transforms holding power on large fish and is the standard for blue water — at the cost of complexity, expense and a mechanism that must actually be maintained to work.
A PARALYSER is a multi-pronged tip with no barbs, used with pole spears for small fish, which stuns rather than penetrating deeply.
The welfare dimension is real and belongs here: a shot fish that comes off is a wounded fish that is not recovered, and tip choice is the main determinant of that.
- Category
- Spearfishing equipment
What it does
Carries the energy from the gun to the fish and holds the fish once it is there. The shaft handles penetration and flight; the tip handles retention. Retention is where shots are actually lost, which is why the tip is the more consequential end.
How to choose one
- Match the tip to the size of fish you will genuinely engage, not the size you hope for.
- Fixed floppers for reef and rock fish; slip tips where the fish is large enough to work a shaft loose.
- Thinner shafts fly faster and bend more easily; thicker shafts are more durable and slower.
- A slip tip is a mechanism. If it is not maintained, it is a heavy fixed tip with extra failure modes.
- Sharpen the point. A blunt tip is the commonest and most easily fixed cause of a poor shot.
What the numbers mean
SHAFT DIAMETER, in millimetres, typically 6 to 8 mm for reef work and heavier for blue water, trading speed against durability. NOTCH TYPE — shark fin or American — describes how the bands engage. TIP TYPE: fixed flopper, slip tip, or paralyser. THREAD or PIN indicates how a detachable tip attaches. SHAFT MATERIAL and temper determine how easily it bends and whether a bent shaft can be straightened or must be replaced.
Care, and how it fails
Shafts bend when they hit rock, and a bent shaft flies badly and never fully recovers. Check straightness by rolling it on a flat surface. Rinse everything in fresh water. Slip tip mechanisms corrode and jam — dismantle, rinse and check the toggle actually releases, because a slip tip that does not slip is worse than a flopper. Keep the point sharp and check the cable and its crimps, which are a small part carrying the whole load.
Why the shaft is chosen after the gun and before the fish
The shaft is the part of the system that has to survive everything the gun does to it and everything the fish does afterwards, and both ends of that constrain it.
DIAMETER TRADES SPEED AGAINST STIFFNESS. A thin shaft accelerates faster and reaches further for the same power, and flexes more — and a shaft that whips in flight is inaccurate at exactly the range where accuracy matters. A thick shaft is slower, straighter under load and far harder to bend on rock. The correct diameter is therefore a property of the GUN's power rather than of the diver's preference: an overpowered gun with a thin shaft is a gun that bends shafts.
NOTCHES AND THE LOADING SEQUENCE. Multiple notches let a shaft be loaded with one band or several, which changes power without changing shaft. It also means a shaft can be loaded to the wrong notch, which is a real and common error and produces either a weak shot or a band under more tension than intended.
FLOPPERS AND SLIP TIPS ARE A DECISION ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE HIT. A flopper is a hinged barb that opens behind the fish, is simple, has nothing to lose, and holds a moderate fish reliably. It tears out of a large fish that runs, because the hold is the flesh around a single point.
A SLIP TIP DETACHES FROM THE SHAFT and turns sideways on a cable behind the fish, so the load is spread and the shaft is no longer a lever working the hole bigger. On a fish large enough to run, that is the difference between landing it and losing a fish with a hole in it. The cost is complexity, expense, and a tip that can be lost.
SO THE RULE IS ABOUT CONSEQUENCE, NOT SIZE. If losing the fish means a fish swims off wounded, the tip matters. That is a welfare argument as much as a catching one, and it is the honest reason to rig up rather than the trophy one.
AND SHAFTS BEND. Every shaft that hits rock behind a fish bends slightly, an accumulating bend destroys accuracy, and a bent shaft in a gun is also a shaft that can bind. Check it against a straight edge rather than by eye, and retire it rather than straightening it repeatedly.
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: Breath-hold spearfishing practice, equipment convention and the safety expectations set out by the international underwater federation.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: Spearfishing equipment and practice: gun and rigging choice, shot placement, and the handling of a shot fish, from a practitioner tradition distinct from the European one.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 equipment convention and rigging practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Where to go next
What it works with
- Speargun power systemsThe gun accelerates the shaft; the tip decides whether the fish stays on. Tip choice is the more consequential of the two and gets far less attention.
- Speargun reelsTip choice and rigging are one decision. A flopper on a fish that runs tears out; a slip tip spreads the load — and both assume the fish is attached to something that yields, which is the reel or the breakaway.
- SpeargunsGun power sets the shaft. More energy needs a heavier shaft to absorb it without flexing, and an overpowered gun with a thin shaft whips in flight and bends shafts on the rock behind the fish.
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.
Speargun power systems
An equipment relationship with a welfare consequence, stated at practitioner level.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner guidance on matching tip type to target fish size.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- BSAC diving safety guidance and annual incident report — British Sub-Aqua Club (Water-safety or diver-training authority)Relied on for: Equipment inspection and maintenance practice.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Speargun reels
A dependency between equipment, recorded because choosing one of these constrains the other. Convention, recorded as convention.
- CMAS technical and sporting standards for underwater activities — Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (Standards body)Relied on for: Breath-hold spearfishing practice, equipment convention and the safety expectations set out by the international underwater federation.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: Spearfishing equipment and practice: gun, shaft, tip and rigging choice, and the handling of a shot fish, from a practitioner tradition distinct from the European one.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Spearguns
A dependency between equipment, recorded because choosing one of these constrains the other. Convention, recorded as convention.
- CMAS technical and sporting standards for underwater activities — Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (Standards body)Relied on for: Breath-hold spearfishing practice, equipment convention and the safety expectations set out by the international underwater federation.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: Spearfishing equipment and practice: gun, shaft, tip and rigging choice, and the handling of a shot fish, from a practitioner tradition distinct from the European one.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Understanding it
- Corrosion, maintenance and pre-dive inspectionShafts bend, tips corrode and bands perish. The inspection that matters is not a general once-over — it is bands, line, knife and quick release, because those four act on somebody who has no air.
- Identifying fish underwaterA shot is a decision made before it is taken. Tip choice and shot placement both depend on having identified the fish and judged its size correctly underwater.
What these connections rest on (2)
Practitioner consensus — 2 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.
Corrosion, maintenance and pre-dive inspection
An explainer carrying a mechanism the equipment record depends on.
- CMAS technical and sporting standards for underwater activities — Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (Standards body)Relied on for: Breath-hold spearfishing practice, equipment convention and the safety expectations set out by the international underwater federation.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: Spearfishing equipment and practice: gun, shaft, tip and rigging choice, and the handling of a shot fish, from a practitioner tradition distinct from the European one.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Identifying fish underwater
A practitioner claim linking equipment choice to the identification skill the discipline uniquely requires.
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated practitioner guidance on declining shots where identification is uncertain.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Good Fish Guide — Marine Conservation Society (Conservation authority)Relied on for: That knowing what a fish is precedes any judgement about whether to take it.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Instead of this
- Floppers, slip tips, and holding a fishThe tip decides whether a shot fish stays on the shaft, which is a welfare question before a recovery one.
- Shafts, threads and shaft diameterDiameter, stiffness and mass decide whether the gun's energy becomes penetration or vibration.
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.
Floppers, slip tips, and holding a fish
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
Shafts, threads and shaft diameter
The component record and the reasoning behind choosing between them.
- FAO fishing gear types and fishing technology information — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Spear and harpoon construction and specification.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly