Ideas for streamlining floppers?

    I'm working on a polespear project, and thought it would be nice to streamline the flopper into the shaft as much as possible, since the band load (and penetrating power) of a polespear are obviously less than a speargun.


    It's pretty easy to cut down the sides of the shaft slightly, but it's the top of the flopper that really sticks up. Anything I do is a balance of better penetration, but a weakened shaft at the flopper.


    Does anyone have any pics of similar applications?

    You cut down 3 sides of the spear. Under, left and right of flopper. Then you have to use a low profile flopper like devoto or salvi. They are flat and square.

    drill a slot in the top of the spear and make a new slimmer flopper that fits in the slot. drill the spear across the slot and insert a pin.


    here are some paint sketches


    first is the spear from above, then from the side.
    then flopper from the side and flopper from above..the end of the flopper whould have to be slightly raised like RA floppers to make the flopper engage

    Interesting idea. The main vulnerability that I see, is that the flopper would have to be quite thin. Somewhere between 1/16" and 3/32", I would think, for a 5/16" shaft. If the flopper gets bent even a little, it won't work smoothly in the slot. Definately streamlined though.

    might work for small fish. . . or perhaps just the flopper could be hardened steel so it is stronger...it is so small that a crazy hard metal could be used and not bump the cost up too much

    i like to spear fish

    Omer did something on this issue on the shafts that came out with the Cayman series.
    A small cone was placed on the shaft just above the flopper that flared out just enough to cover the leading edge. I'll see if I can dig up a photo anywhere.

    I just use a small O-ring that's just a bit larger than the diameter of the shaft ....just slide it over the point and then over the flopper . Holds the wings down until you hit a fish , thenthe O-ring slides up and the wings deploy. Got the idea after looking at mechanical bowhunting broadheads.

    nice Aaron, glad you added that...I was wracking my brains about the arrow heads i had seen that did this...


    that ALS direct spear looks promising Jeff...you could make that

    i like to spear fish

    Quote from LunkerBuster

    . . . that ALS direct spear looks promising Jeff...you could make that


    Yeah. It does streamline things, but you still have a section of the shaft of a larger diameter that must be pushed through the water. I think that I'm going to cut flats on the shaft, and recess a squared off flopper, so that the total cross section of the shaft stays nearly constant.


    Only problem so far is that I'm finding it pretty tough to hammer a rounded flopper into a squarish shape. I think I'll be better off starting from scratch.

    How about no flopper? All you have to do is shoot through the fish and let the spear toggle on the other side :)


    EDIT - oops, forgot it was for a pole spear. But honestly the small distance that a polespear travels I don't think it's going to matter either way.

    Maybe. My chief concern isn't the flight of the spear through the water. You are absolutely right that a pole spear is a short range device, and the energy lost to the drag of the flopper is nothing compared that of the big ol' shaft punching through the water.


    What I am trying to maximize is the penetration. I figured that a more streamlined flopper would be more likely to push all the way through a larger fish for a more secure hold.

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