Posts by Dan

  • 08/12/2009 La Santa Fe - Stingray

    Pantoja is the expert here as he used take rays in Cuba. He explained that once the ray is weakened you have to approach carefully, grab the tail and with the other hand swipe the knife across the tail removing the barb. You can see him sort of trying to do that in the vid but then he realized that the ray was already missing the barb. We don't know how it lost the barb, whether it was during the fight or previously.


    The ray was incredibly strong and there was no stopping it. It pulled and pulled for about half an hour. We put four shafts in it and it only had the effect of anchoring the lines to the fish. Eventually when it tired out you can see that Pantoja jabbed it a few times in the head which I think weakened it further, although it gave one more thrashing just before raising it onto the boat. On the boat it was more precisely stabbed in the head a couple of time more which finally dispatched it.

  • Despedida teporera del foro

    Good luck, 6 months will fly by.


    ..and stay away from podiums <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">


  • 08/12/2009 La Santa Fe - Stingray

    It resembles nothing from the sea that I've tried before. You may have heard me say that I'm not crazy about fish in general, it has to do with lack of texture and fishy taste. The ray was not like that at all. The texture was like very soft chicken and there was no fishy taste. Before cooking the ray had a mild stink about it but it wasn't fishy either, yet it was like something from the sea, not unpleasant at all.

  • 08/12/2009 La Santa Fe - Stingray

    Video: Stingray




    What you're seeing in this next pic is half a wing with the top fillet removed. The cartilage runs horizontally separating the top from the bottom. Other than that and the skin the wing is pure meat. The top fillet weighed 14lb and the bottom one 8lb. After removal of the fillets I scraped off another 1.5lb, that's the little pile of meat on top of the wing. I used that to make lunch, sauteed ray. It was excellent, one of the best fish meals I ever had.




  • great lakes fishing.

    On the Canadian side it's illegal to spear in all fresh water except for the St. Lawrence river. I'm not sure about where in St. Lawrence the spearing zone starts and ends.. States side it may be different.

  • Freedive watch ??

    Good memory Alan! Yeah, it was Rinaldo <img src= " class="smiley" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x" height="23" width="23" loading="eager" data-tooltip="biggrin" aria-label="biggrin">


  • Versatile Gun

    XS comes with a threaded shaft and a screw on double barb tip which is not necessary. While having more holding power the double barb tip is heavier and possibly affects accuracy. It's also more expensive. It is better to learn good shot placement with a single flopper shaft.

  • Open muzzle line wrap - Pin vs. Plate?

    I don't think that the position of the pin as far as distance from the muzzle is critical, what's more important is the angle at which it juts out of the stock. It's tricky to devise a way for the pin to attach to the stock and not pivot. It's not just a matter of drilling a hole and pushing it in. Also if the gun gets thrown around on the boat the pin tends to hit things first and can chip the wood. I prefer the plate.

  • Versatile Gun

    Open muzzle is better. It allows for quicker loading, simpler and more streamlined rigging, and the use of sharkfin tabs.


    For scuba you want a hip loading gun, this means that it should have a butt extension. A Riffe competitor series speargun is always a good choice, Competitor #3 to be specific. The only drawback it has is that the handle is not ergonomic.


    A step up would be a deathstick, a custom built gun, if you can get Ken Jones to make the stock somewhat slimmer. I also don't know what his new handle is like.


    I will not recommend Wong because of the crappy Aimrite handle and because his guns tend to be too expensive for my taste. Not sure about the actual price of a Riffe clone.


    I don't know if any of the other custom gun makers build guns with butt extensions.