Posts by Dan

Thank you Don, that was well written and the advice is noted. Sorry about the loss of your friend.

It's interesting how divers can come up with the same technique without instruction. I guess there aren't many options, you need to sink without making a splash and the only way to do it is reduce buoyancy fast, and the only way to do that is exhale. I figured out this trick very early on hunting bajonao (porgy) in Cuba, they were big and almost impossible to get within shooting range. As soon as you'd dive on them they'd take off. So I used this emptying the lungs method. Of course this was in very shallow water, maybe 20ft. In deep water you don't need to use it, I think the fish don't spook because of the greater distance. I've never done this lung emptying since, I don't remember having gotten in trouble. I always use a floatline and float, with this way of doing it after the shot you immediately have to let go of the gun and shoot for the surface. Was Bill Kroll using a reel? I'm not advocating this method, just trying to find out if there was another factor that contributed to Bill Kroll drowning.

On a different but related note, I almost always exhale a little before I dive.

I have a pretty good frog kick, I like this swimming style a lot and can dive well with it. The thing about the frog kick style that makes it unsuitable for spearfishing is that you can't use one arm. Same reason also makes the dolphin kick impractical.

I shall never again doubt your sincerity

I see another wood gun in the left corner.

Must feel strange descending into darkness. It looked sooooo long on the way up. The man's breast stroke is very specialized.

Quote

William Trubridge. He’s a competitive free-diver. He swims unaided to depths many scuba divers won’t go. He practices at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas. The calm water plunges nearly 700-feet straight down. These are perfect conditions for free-diving. He set the world record this year. Watch him dive 288-feet in 3:30. It’s impressive.

http://vimeo.com/4802703

Well I wasn't implying that you don't know all that. I was just trying to define what it is about the angled handle that's so much better. You'd think it's obvious but not all gun builders get it, case in point the old Aimrite handle; so difficult to turn the gun with that handle, the handle turns in your grip instead.

A speargun needs to be versatile, shoot into a hole, from the hip, and other unorthodox positions. When you have something so specialized it always detracts from versatility.

I like the angled handle too. It sandwiches my hand against the stock and this feels nice and secure, provides better leverage on the gun. If the handle was like a stud pointing straight down, when you need to turn it your grip will tend to slide around this stud, you'll need a much stronger grip to stop this effect and turn the gun. When it's angled you don't need to grip it as hard to turn the gun.

Same reason you prefer a mask camera to a gun mounted camera.

Nice. Looking forward to seeing your pics and vids. Let me know if I can help with the computer aspect of it.

Some pics. Not an endorsement of the idea in any way

I like taking pics and editing/enhancing them when I have the time, it relaxes me. It also happens to be a useful skill for marketing purposes. If Chad was here I'd most certainly help him with that.

Chad, noticed you went with a more extreme handle angle on the new gun, forgot to ask how you like it?

That has to do with light direction. If it's right it will create a shadow where that concave shape is. Try taking the pics on a sunny day and positioning the gun at different angles to where the sun is shining from, and taking the pics from different directions.

Why you don't show the good pics

Nice. Thanks for the vis report.

I've never used a powerful midhandle speargun. My question is, if you're swinging the rear with your other hand isn't the gun more pivoting around the handle axis than actually completely swinging through the water? In this case isn't the wrist at some point no longer aligned behind the handle? Can't you hurt your wrist shooting like that?

I heard about the new Deathstick handle. It's certainly an improvement over the old Aimrite handle and looks sturdy. I'd like it better like this though.

Interesting, did you manage to shoot them?. If so you should've have definitely taken a pic. There's been talk here about hybrids between cubera and mangrove snapper, but never schoolmaster and dog.

Fixed it. If you see any other videos not appearing please let me know.

That's a nice looking ornamental fish. I'm not sure I understand your point though.