Posts by Dan

They're always up in the water column here too. And most often an indicator of.. how much you wish they'd be another kind of fish instead

Inspiring pics. Thanks for the report.

Quote from sdeisen

I would hate having that metal bar through the stock of the gun as pictured

These are not guns that you carry swimming around the reef.

I remember somebody posted once that he likes long bands, because they continue to push the shaft for a longer time, meaning past the muzzle after the shaft leaves gun

The way I see it there are two separate issues you're raising here George. One is band elevators for the purpose of bringing the band pull inline with the shaft travel path, with the goal of increasing accuracy. The other is shaping the speargun stock in such a way that when the bands are stretched everything is nice and compact. To me neither of these factors is significant for better functionality of the speargun.

There's nothing more compact than a slim rectangular shaped stock (the longer side being vertical). When the bands are stretched over it the outcome is a more or less rounded profile that is easy to grip and carry.

Unless the bands are elevated directly from the anchoring point like in this style gun, IMO it won't make a difference.

If the bands are anchored lower than the track, and are raised in any number of ways, a steel rod through the stock, or wings shaped onto the stock, there will always be a point in the contraction of the bands that will cause movement due to opposing forces exactly where you want there to be no movement. Of much more significance is recoil control via manipulation of the weight of the gun and band power. If this wasn't the case none of our simple pipe guns would be accurate. Just my :twocents:

Interesting vid. Why did they let one go?

It's possible underwater too. Just with certain kinds of fish and a low success rate. I've read that when using a hand spear underwater it's best to thrust it when the fish is facing you. The fish will turn and because the thrust is slow it's more likely to catch the fish broadside as it turns.

It's because your hand and spear generate a pressure wave that the fish can sense, never mind that this way the spear moves very slowly. When the thrust is from above the water it's a different story. I think all ancient spearfishing was done from above the water surface. I would love to see a very old example of underwater spearfishing, but I don't think it exists. This is why the Spanish term "pesca submarina" is more appropriate than spearfishing. Being under the water makes all the difference. And yes without vulcanization our modern spearfishing would not be possible. Sometimes that weighs on me

It's neat. But really useful only if you kick lying on the board. Otherwise the board is being towed too far behind to reel it in on a regular basis and check the GPS. I wonder if anyone tried lying on the banks board and kicking. The banks board already has built in bolt holes at the front of the board (to the left of the hatch), which would be perfect for a GPS mount.

From time to time I come across interesting examples of old spearfishing or spearing practices.

From Lee Valley Tools - How to Make a Traditional Folk Art Ice Spearfishing Decoy

Spearfishing decoys have been used by native ice fishermen for thousands of years and were copied by our pioneer ancestors, primarily as a method of providing essential winter table food. Eventually, this method developed into large commercial fishing activities. After the turn of this century, spearfishing was banned in Canada, but is still legal in six of the United States. In most cases, a very small fish hut (or shanty) was used to protect the fishermen from the icy winter blasts on the lakes and rivers and to allow better viewing into the watery depths below.

USE: Secured by a short jigging stick and line, the weighted decoy was lowered to the desired depth through a hole cut in the ice. Gently raising and lowering the stick caused the decoy to circle and glide, which in turn attracted the fish. Because the decoy had no hooks, the alert fisherman used a long spear to seize the fish.

Viva Rhinoliner!

That's a very shitty prospect.

Fat sheepie.

I'm sure this gun is going to work to your satisfaction. Still not too late to put a better handle on it and recess the line release.

A reverse mech will give you a couple of more inches of band pull. But the quality of materials, holding power, and smooth trigger pull, will be the same.

That said the new generation of Speardiver reverse mechs comes with a counter sunk top screw, and ribbed casing which looks nicer in my opinion.

What will make more of a difference for you, since it looks like you're using south African carbon steel shafts, is to use a reverse mono mech. This will allow you to gain band stretch and connect the mono to the back of the shaft. But not with a track as deep as you have on this gun.

Looks like a Niletec top line release mech, it's a good mechanism. Why do you think you need something better?

Nice, you don't usually see a video of a gun. I think this should become more popular.

Good clean work on this gun. Handle choice, ehh..

Sorry to hear this. I hope you heal and can use your foot.

Water's puke today from Fort Lauderdale beach. Otherwise nice and flat.

Privet Oleg. Welcome to the forum.