Quick Links for Spearfishing Rigging: Pros, Cons, and How to Use Them

When it comes to spearfishing gear, every connection point in your rigging matters. Whether you're chasing bluefin tuna offshore or stalking white sea bass along the kelp line, the hardware linking your speargun to your floatline can mean the difference between landing the fish of a lifetime and watching it swim away with your shaft. That's why choosing the right connector is one of the most important rigging decisions you'll make.

Quick links have become my go-to connector for spearfishing floatline setups. They're affordable, incredibly strong, and — most importantly — quiet in the water. After years of testing different rigging hardware on everything from reef fish to pelagic gamefish, I keep coming back to these simple stainless steel connectors. But like any piece of spearfishing gear, quick links aren't perfect.

In this guide, I'll break down the pros and cons of using quick links in your spearfishing rigging, plus share a simple heat shrink modification that solves one of their biggest drawbacks. If you're looking to upgrade your floatline connections without breaking the bank, this is for you.

Why Quick Links Are a Smart Choice for Spearfishing Rigging

Quick links check three critical boxes that every spearo should care about: cost, noise, and strength. Let's start with cost. A pack of three stainless steel quick links runs about $3.00, which is roughly half the price of tuna clips. When you're building or replacing multiple floatline setups, those savings add up fast. For spearfishing gear on a budget, it's hard to beat.

Noise is another major advantage. If you've ever hunted white sea bass, you know that silence is everything. Tuna clips paired with swivels tend to clank and rattle, especially during a swell. Quick links, on the other hand, make virtually no noise underwater. This alone makes them a top choice for any spearfishing scenario where stealth matters — and let's be honest, that's almost every scenario.

Then there's strength, which is the number one requirement I have for any piece of spearfishing equipment. The 1/8″ stainless steel quick links I use have a breaking load of 900 pounds. That's serious holding power. To put it in perspective, when I'm rigged up for tuna with 600-pound Dyneema shooting line, the quick link is actually the strongest link in the entire chain. Your spearfishing gear is only as reliable as its weakest point, and with quick links, that weak point is almost never the connector.

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The Drawbacks of Quick Links — And How to Fix Them

No piece of spearfishing gear is perfect, and quick links do have two real-world drawbacks you should know about before rigging them into your setup.

The first issue is choking up on your floatline during a fight. When you're battling a big tuna or wahoo, you often need to clip into the floatline at different points to work your way down to the fish. Tuna clips make this easy since they snap on and off quickly. Quick links don't allow for that mid-fight adjustment. My workaround is simple: I keep an extra tuna clip attached to my float for exactly this purpose. When a big fish is on, I grab the tuna clip and use it to choke up on the line. For smaller to medium-sized gamefish, you won't need the extra clip at all.

The second drawback is grip. Try unscrewing a small stainless steel keeper screw with wet, cold hands after a long dive session — it's nearly impossible. The screw is small, slippery, and frustrating to work with when you need to detach your speargun from the floatline quickly. This used to drive me crazy until I discovered an easy fix: heat shrink tubing.

Slide a short piece of heat shrink over the keeper screw and hit it with a heat gun or lighter. This does two things. First, it increases the diameter of the screw, giving you better leverage. Second, the textured surface of the heat shrink provides far better grip than bare stainless steel, especially when wet. I use clear heat shrink so I can still visually inspect the screw for any signs of corrosion underneath.

Recommended Spearfishing Gear and Setup Tips

Getting your quick link setup dialed in is straightforward, but a few details make a difference. Start with 1/8″ stainless steel quick links rated to at least 800 pounds of breaking load. Avoid zinc-plated or galvanized versions — they'll corrode fast in saltwater. Stainless steel is the only way to go for any spearfishing hardware that sees regular ocean use.

Pair your quick links with quality floatline and shooting line. I run Riffe floatlines and high-strength Spectra or Dyneema shooting line rated to 600 pounds. This combination gives you a rigging system where the quick link is never the failure point. Remember, your spearfishing gear chain is only as strong as its weakest component. If you're running 400-pound mono shooting line but your connector is only rated to 250 pounds, your entire setup will fail at 250.

One more tip: inspect your quick links before every dive trip. Check the threads for corrosion, make sure the keeper screw tightens fully, and replace any link that shows signs of wear. A $1 quick link is cheap insurance, and there's no reason to risk a trophy fish on worn-out hardware. Rinse all your spearfishing gear in fresh water after every session and let quick links dry fully before storing them.

Final Thoughts: Keep Your Spearfishing Rigging Simple and Strong

Quick links are one of the best-kept secrets in spearfishing rigging. They're cheap, quiet, and incredibly strong — three qualities that matter every time you hit the water. The heat shrink modification takes five minutes and completely eliminates the grip problem, making quick links just as practical as tuna clips for daily use.

At the end of the day, your spearfishing equipment should feel like an extension of your body. Every connection point should give you confidence that when the fish of your dreams shows up, your gear won't let you down. Quick links deliver that confidence at a fraction of the cost of other connectors.

For more spearfishing tips, gear reviews, and adventure stories, head over to SpearFactor.com. Whether you're a beginner building your first setup or a seasoned spearo fine-tuning your rigging, we've got you covered. Dive safe, dive smart, and tight lines!