question about shafts

The only difference is the position of the flopper (espoleta). As far as I'm concerned they're arbitrary names and there isn't any real standard for what they mean. However most people when saying Hawaiian mean the flopper opens down and Tahitian opens up, a few people think it's the other way around. I don't know the Spanish names for this.

My main reason for using the Hawaiian (flopper down) is because when the flopper is Tahitian (on top of the shaft) it tends to open and stick up just as you aim for a fish. It's distracting enough for me to not want to deal with it.

Yo uso Hawaiian (espoleta abajo).

Those are fine if you hunt medium sized fish. If you are going after something bigger, a detachable or slip tip is better. If you insist in hunting with floppers,make sure to aim for the gill plate

Monster, I'm curious what weight range do you consider medium size fish. If I were to say medium I'd be thinking arbitrarily 5-30lb.

5 - 10 pounds are mid size according to my standards, anything bigger and you will get a high rip off rate with floppers, unless you stone them or hit´em on the gill plate

Large is a fish good enough to feed a whole (mexican traditional) family

OK I thought my numbers were going to be too low for you. Up to 35lb is no problem with a flopper shaft. You run the risk of bending the shaft but not so much losing the fish. It does have to be a holding shot and right behind the gills is an excellent spot but it will hold in many other spots as well. Look at Straight Shaft got a hefty cubera with a tailshot and complete pass through. Well at least on the fish we have here. Maybe their Mexican cousins are tougher

Which are the species of medium size fish that tend to rip off of floppers in Mexico? Here muttons go very crazy when shot. I don't know if the big muttons go as crazy as the little ones.

Some Marlin had been landed with H: Floppers around here. I had stoned or landed fish over 20 pounds with H.F. Still i have had a high ripoff rate too. I just don´t aim anything bigger than 10 pounds with a flopper now. It´s a matter of personal preference. i know South africans shoot them with high success, good for them, i prefer detachables or slip tips with strong cable over Floppers any day of the week .

Rip off the flesh not the flopper though. i don´t trust floppers very much...

I only use 3" floppers and like Dan, prefer the Hawaiian setup (flopper down). I agree with the bent shaft occurrences but it's a lot easier (for me) to remove the shaft from the fish after subdued. I guess I prefer a single flopper setup as opposed to the detachable slip tip due to the type of fishing I do, where I encounter and mostly pursue pan-sized fish...although as you may have seen, an occasional bruiser will swing by to say "hello".;)