Hi guys,
I have not used a forum in a very long time, I had a bad experience with spear board about 4 years ago and just had enough of talking with what I like to call sofa spearos.:crazy:
I remember a few of the members on speardiver from spearboard and I'm glad to see its the good guys that have moved over to here:thumbsup2:, which is the main reason I have decided to join this group. I'm looking forward to being involved with a community of people that actually do spearfish more than type and that have the experience and/or brain power to string a conversation together with out talking about how cool each other are and how Sh#t everyone else is.
I have been spearing since I was young, I have speared in a few different environments around the world and a few different countries, not nearly enough though....... Wife, mortgage etc
I grew up shooting small fish in the U.K, cod, pollock, wrasse and of course bass! I then moved to Thailand and shot reefies and a few pelagics but not billfish or wahoo. I then started to travel and shoot much much bigger fish about 5 years ago and have been doing it since. So although I have been spearing for nearly 20 years I have only been spearing the big stuff, 50kg +, regularly for about 5 years. I do still enjoy shooting small fish with a small gun, especially for food, but I wouldn't travel for it and I don't get as excited about it as I do the big stuff.
I went through a stage of chasing just dogtooths but I have been back into the reefies again for a few years now and I'm pretty much settled in that pigeon hole for the time being. I really enjoy hunting grouper, snapper, mangrove jacks and mauri sea perch and of course GT! I still hunt blue water for mahi, wahoo, YFT as and when I can, and Spanish mackerel is the staple fish to shoot in Western Australia, where I have been working for the past 3 years, but when I travel over seas it's generally for big reefies and when I'm home, Thailand, it's small reefies.
My favorite fish to shoot is GT.
My favorite fish to eat, so many, but a few would be West Australian Dhu fish, sashimi YFT, lemon steamed coral trout, pan fried Spanish mackerel with raw mango sauce and Napoleon wrasse ceviche.
I use rail guns mostly, I like them because they were a natural transition from the pipe guns I grew up with and they take some real abuse and still work everytime. They are cheap, easy to maintain and enough power for most of the fish I shoot. I am a religious reel gun user, I use paxman reels, if I'm hunting marlin or big yft I do use a float system but I use reels for 99% of my hunting. Best fish with a reel gun to date is a 65kg dogtooth and a 150kg+ grouper
I own and use 2 roller guns as well, have been using rollers for a few years now, and just made a 96cm 32mm O.D roller. They have both good and bad points in my opinion and are best used in certain circumstances. I like them because I can squeeze them into holes and caves for big reefies that would normally be out of reach from a 150 railgun. Best fish to date with a 96cm roller is a 40kg GT
I do own an Andre 145 which I use every now and again on trips but it tends to collect dust mostly.
I'm looking into doing Mexico in November, funds are limited at the moment, and will be chasing big grouper and of course cuberra, any cheaper option? Flights are 3,000 bucks from Perth!!
The things I am looking forward to getting from this forum are down to earth reports on the spearing in fellow spearos countries and info on new gear, there's always room for more gear lol. The other thing i really enjoy is cooking seafood and im looking forward to learning new recipes from the group. I hope to spear with new friends either in my home country or theirs.
Things I can offer would be info on diving in areas I have visited and of course an open invitation to anyone that wants to visit my home or Western Australia and take them out for a swim. A sympathetic ear on a windy day :laughing:
Anyway, I just noticed how long this intro is so I better call it quits.:@
Rusty
