Posts by Dan

Muff diving and simultaneous inhalation could be the cure Get well Sergio.

Oto, it was a mangrove who thought of itself as a sexy cubera.

Pardon the nudie pic.

10-4 on the avatar.

Thanks monster.

Good point Frank.

Hmm.. I offer for your consideration a variety of alternative facial hair styles, some of which may be more conducive to the use of a dive mask. The chin curtain most obviously comes to mind, with the mutton chops a close second <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

A long while back a friend commented to me about the well known fact that the fish in Cuba are very weary/Wiley. The common phrase used to denote this is "Los pescados saben leer y escribir" Translation "The fish know how to read and write". But he used a different funny phrase, something to the effect that when the fish see the spearfisher they can tell what model the speargun is and its range This of course is an exaggeration but touches on an interesting question, do fish recognize a speargun? And if they do is it due to previous experiences of being shot, being around other fish that got shot, or is it an instinctive weariness of an object being pointed at them?

I was briefly talking about this with a friend yesterday and he said that it's just a matter of the attitude the diver is projecting, and he has a point. Focusing on a fish and starting to aim with a speargun changes the demeanor of a diver in a significant way. However, I thought focusing on a fish with a camera the diver's body language is similar yet the fish don't get spooked. This conversation took place after my experience filming the video below. Watch near the end of the vid there's a 3-4lb mutton which I got within shooting range of. After that dive I exchanged the camera for a speargun and made another dive. As soon as that mutton saw me it took off. On that spot I felt there was a lot of hunting pressure, the fish were very skittish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WAObOhWG4g

Another experience yesterday that's in favor of the fish recognizing a speargun were the jewfish. When I dove with the gun they would spook every time and make that boo-boom sound. When I dove with the camera I wanted them to do it so I could capture the sound. But try as I might they wouldn't spook, even if I made sudden motions with my free arm. You can see the camera shake when I tried this. You can also see that I got close enough to almost touch them.

My conclusion is that the sight of a speargun prompts some fish into taking evasive action, and that they do so partially due to instinct but more definitely when they've had a few bad experiences.

Luv, this is the camera I used for the pics and vid http://spearfishing.world/divi…-for-underwater-pics.html

The jewfish weren't as numerous as the last time we dove on that spot, then you had to swim through them to get to shoot anything. There must have been 15 of them, or maybe it's because I couldn't see all of them yesterday because of the vis. I wanted to capture on video/sound the boo-boom blast they make when taking off. But when I was diving without the speargun I couldn't spook them.

The vis wasn't good, in places it would open up 10ft from the bottom at 60ft, I was afraid of hitting my head on the bottom. Fortunately Rolo is a master of positioning the boat and the marker right on the money.

I thought there was when I first inserted the 2nd band without dish detergent and the safety factor of having to load one band to insert the other. But then like I said you can make the slot a little longer.

Over a year ago I had an idea about shaping the band slot of a wood gun in such a way that it would allow control of how the bands run when the gun is loaded. The idea was hatched the due to the perceived necessity to elevate the bands as close as possible to the level of the spear, so as to reduce muzzle kick. Back then I still thought it was an issue with a wood gun with two bands. The idea was that the band fills the conventional hole when not stretched but when stretched it is forced into the smaller hole thereby raising it.

Many builders opt for cutting channels/contours into the stock to control band alignment. I've never owned nor loaded such a gun, but I did make up my mind about two things. 1. These contours make the gun stock more bulky. 2. Sometimes for the bands to make use of the contours care must be taken when loading them so that they occupy their respective places, this takes more time and loading effort. I've always maintained the shape that best combines minimum necessary mass and hydrodynamic movement is a straight stick that is taller than it is wide. The addition of the stretched bands on such a gun makes the gun body round. Whereas on a Riffe Euro where the stock is wider than it is tall in the first place, the stretched bands compound the width making it IMO very inconvenient to hold.

Anyhow I forgot about all this because muzzle kick was no longer an issue. But since I started using a new gun, and I like to load both bands on one tab, a new issue came up. The bands were running/stacking over each other when loaded instead of running in a compact manner from the band slot to the tab. This is very important to me as it makes carrying the gun when loaded inconvenient, I carry it by the stock. If the bands stack one on top of the other it increases dramatically the profile of the gun body and it's hard to close your hand around it. Since this gun already has a bigger all around stock than what I normally prefer to use, the stacking bands increased the inconvenience to the point that I almost concluded I will not be using the gun. So in an effort to salvage it and make the gun more streamlined I remembered this old idea and came back to it.

This is what it looks like.

My original thought was to leave each band in its hole so I shaped one hole angling up and one angling down. I though it through carefully before cutting but I f**ked it up, I did it it the opposite way, due to the nature of which band gets loaded first, and the bands stacked even worse than before :dumb: I thought I messed up the gun for good. Then I decided to try one more thing, put both bands in the first hole.

It worked beautifully, just as planned except well I used it all day yesterday. The first band that is loaded occupies the small space. The second band runs right under it without any special loading effort. When both bands are loaded the gun is as tight and compact as can be, I'm very satisfied. And in the end there's room for a third band which I wanted anyways as an option, since the stock on this gun has enough mass to support it. It remains to be seen how this third band will run. But the main point is that for two band guns this type of slot is the shit IMHO! Getting two bands through that little hole required putting one band through the hole and loading it thereby creating space for the second band, and then lubing the second band with dish detergent. However there is no reason not to make the slot extend a little more towards the muzzle, it will not change the alignment effect.

It's a common story. I've never had scallops. If I knew what they taste like I'd be able to say if ray meat can pass for scallops. Just the fact that ray meat has no smell or taste makes it feasible to make it taste like something else.

Fillet as soon as possible. The top skin comes off first in strips, then fillet along the middle cartilage. Then do the bottom.

This Ray was spoiled beyond any fix, the ammonia smell was overwhelming. I did keep all of it and grill it on the BBQ a little bit at a time, this would get rid of some of the ammonia smell. My dog ate all of it over a 2 month period. Sergio was more diligent about cleaning his part and tells me that it didn't acquire the smell and is edible.

About a week ago we caught a much smaller southern stingray, around 25lb. This one I was diligent about icing and cleaning in a timely manner. It didn't get the ammonia smell. As a matter of fact it had no smell whatsoever, nothing. It also had little taste, which is fine by me, and easily acquired the taste of the spices/marinade. What I liked about it most was the texture, I call it chicken of the sea.

Welcome to the forum.

That would be Oto's.

LB, when you see so many cudas in one place it takes away the desire to show them off.

Those snook were HUGE. I was watching the vid and had a doubt in mind about what the size of the fish appears like to someone who doesn't know, since there's nothing in the frame to help judge scale. I asked my wife to tell me what she thought the size of the jewfish was. She indicated to me with her hands a fish in the 10lb range. Those jewfish ranged from 200-400lb. The mutton in the last frames was 3-4lb. Ironically the water yesterday had a quality that made fish look bigger then they actually were. I put away the camera after that dive and grabbed the gun. When the mutton saw me with the gun he took off quick. I felt there was a lot of pressure on the spot. The fish appeared very nervous/twitchy, and quick to escape.

This Ray was spoiled beyond any fix, the ammonia smell was overwhelming. I did keep all of it and grill it on the BBQ a little bit at a time, this would get rid of some of the ammonia smell. My dog ate all of it over a 2 month period. Sergio was more diligent about cleaning his part and tells me that it didn't acquire the smell and is edible.

About a week ago we caught a much smaller southern stingray, around 25lb. This one I was diligent about icing and cleaning in a timely manner. It didn't get the ammonia smell. As a matter of fact it had no smell whatsoever, nothing. It also had little taste, which is fine by me, and easily acquired the taste of the spices/marinade. What I liked about it most was the texture, I call it chicken of the sea.

Thanks.

Rolo, the cudas were just excellent, the meat so clean and white.

Diving with Rolo and Oto out of Fort Pierce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WAObOhWG4g

Booty

Thanks Rolo, it was great not having to worry about anything, like being on vacation

I haven't seen coated shafts with tabs but I have seen them with a hole in front of the notches. This will allow their use with a Merou handle and 400lb shooting line.

Those are yellow Jacks, a good food fish, white meat which can be prepared in many ways. The YJ is a sought after jack.

I'm curious as to your reasons for not wanting to use a tabbed or pinned shaft which will eliminate the necessity of inserting the line into the housing? Or even simply having the hole for the line ahead of the notches instead of the back of the shaft?