Posts by Dan

  • Why are you a spearfisherman/woman?

    If I don't go diving for a long time I feel like I'm going crazy. No other outlet balances me so completely like huning in the water. I suppose other people find the same thing in other pursuits. I've tried a lot of activities but found nothing that comes close to spearfishing. Sometimes I really look forward to diving and enjoy every minute of it. At other times I get frustrated spearfishing and hate it, it becomes like hard work. But I always go back to it anyways because I don't like being the kind of person I become when I haven't been in the water for a while.


    It's not so much about taking a life for me. I like the fight but I know I will win so there's no mystery there. I understand that I'm getting my rocks off at the expense of another living thing and I don't relish that idea. I guess it's a weakness of sorts but I've learned to desensitize myself or psychologically skip the killing part. It wasn't always like this for me. In the beginning I was too consumed with wanting to get the fish (which I wasn't able to do always) to care. Now that I'm confident in my skills the drive went down and gave room to compassion.

  • Bull shark, freshwater shark

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_shark

    Quote

    Bull sharks have occasionally been seen in the Mississippi River as far north as St. Louis. Even more rare, due to cooler waters, bull sharks have made their way up the Illinois River and into Lake Michigan such as an encounter off the coast of Chicago, Illinois. In that incident the shark was verified by U. of Illinois biologists as being a female 6 feet 9 inches and weighing over 300 lbs.

    http://conservationreport.com/…ke-michigan-shark-attack/

    Quote

    According to the Global Shark Attack File, in 1955 George Lawson had his right leg bitten off by a bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) while swimming in Lake Michigan near Chicago. The attack was unprovoked and by surprise. The incident log does not mention any other attacks from Lake Michigan, so it appears the incident was an aberration. However, freshwater shark attacks, although rare, are possible.


    Bull sharks have been recorded in the Mississippi River, but it has been claimed that a series of dams and locks known as the Illinois Waterway, which connects the Mississippi River with Lake Michigan, should prevent bull sharks from entering Lake Michigan. Furthermore, Lake Michigan bathers should not be too concerned, because bull sharks prefer warmer waters.

    Of course now this info also has to be considered as possibly false.

  • Bull shark, freshwater shark

    The Lake Michigan shark I think is real, I read it on another site and it was more documented. I'll try to find it again. The Minnesota and Wisconsin was pretty well written, I missed the end :)

  • Bull shark, freshwater shark

    Quote from monster slayer

    They live also in the Nicaragua Lake in central America. A freshwater LAKE, so go figure. It´s interesting how those sharks made it til there and evoluted to be endemic of the nicaraguan Lake.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_shark

    Quote

    Initially, scientists thought the sharks in Lake Nicaragua belonged to an endemic species, the Lake Nicaragua shark (Carcharhinus nicaraguensis). In 1961, following comparisons of specimens, the Lake Nicaragua shark was synonymized with the bull shark. It had been presumed that the sharks were trapped within the lake, but this was found to be incorrect in the late 1960s, when it was discovered that they were able to jump along the rapids of the San Juan River (which connects Lake Nicaragua and the Caribbean Sea), almost like salmon. As evidence of these movements, bull sharks tagged inside the lake have later been caught in the open ocean (and vice versa), with some taking as little as 7-11 days to complete the journey.

  • Bull shark, freshwater shark

    I also knew about the sharks swimming up the Mississippi but I was shocked to find that bulls have been found in Lake Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsine! http://wildlifemysteries.wordp…rangest-shark-story-ever/

    Quote

    The question of how far up a river a bull shark can live has often brought debate. Although one was found over 2,000 miles up the Amazon in Peru, it is thought that bull sharks cannot survive very far up North American rivers, and they certainly could never be found in the cold rivers and lakes of the Northern tier of states. Or could they?....

  • Bull shark, freshwater shark


    One of the things I used to enjoy about the large bodies of freshwater that we have up north is being able to swim in them without worrying about sharks. As rare as shark attacks are I'm still always conscious of sharks when doing something in the sea. To put it in perspective I wouldn't let my child splash around in the shallow waters of the Haulover inlet sandbar nor swim to the buoys off Ft. Lauderdale beach. I myself do not want to be in saltwater unless I'm in predatory mode ie. spearfishing. It would seem that freshwater far removed from alligator habitat is a welcome relief from that nagging paranoid feeling that comes with swimming in water with next to zero visibility.


    Enter the bull shark. The bull shark is best known for its ability to live in freshwater and aggressiveness. It is the only shark I believe that has other names pertaining to the bodies of freshwater where it is commonly found; Zambezi river shark (Africa) and the lake Nicaragua shark (Nicaragua).


    Remember Jaws the movie? It was loosely based on a true story where in 1916 a shark (presumably a bull) swam 27km up the Matawan river in New Jersey attacked three people and killed two of them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J…ore_shark_attacks_of_1916


    Interesting sketches of the victim's injuries http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=195



    Quote

    The arrows mark the general vicinity of the attacks, about
    a mile and a half up the creek, and 12 miles from the ocean.
    ( The Parkway wasn't there in 1916 ! )

    Quote

    The remains of the pier at the site of the attacks.

  • GUNS,GUNS,GUNS!!!!

    If a gun does exactly what I want it to do then my backup gun will be the exact same gun. I don't believe in having different guns for the same conditions. %99 of the time I'm hunting the same conditions. My main gun has some flexibility as far as being able to use it in low viz (needs to track faster) and in tight conditions such as in a wreck (compactness), as well as for larger fish in open water that are further away (reach) or closer but require good penetration (power).


    This is the gun I choose http://spearfishing.world/spea…ially-enclosed-track.html



    Stock - %100 teak 5 vertical laminates and one horizontal laminate on top.
    Stock length - 152cm.
    Stock width - 3.3cm
    Stock height at enclosed track - 4.4cm
    Stock height at open track - 4.1cm
    Finish - 3 coats of penetrating epoxy.
    Band stretch - From furthest band hole to tab 117cm.
    Bands - 2 x 16mm.
    Shaft - 165cm, 7mm, single flopper bottom position, one pin and a dog house.
    Trigger mech - Neptonics Reef with automatic resetting line release.
    Handle - One piece Ipe fastened to the stock using a mortise tenon joint and epoxy. Contoured palm swell on the right side. Covered with Herculiner for grip.


    Some of the points that are important to me.
    1. The handle is designed by me and is perfect for my grip. The back part of the handle allows me to track up effortlessly. The reach to the trigger by the index finger is ideal, just past the first joint.
    2. Enclosed track about half way. At first I regretted that the gun came out like that, but since I've seen the top portion of an enclosed track running the length of my other gun chip off near the front.
    3. Automatic resetting line release. This saves so much time.
    4. Hip loader for ease of loading.
    5. Length, the gun is at max length that I can reach the bands and load without stretching them first.
    6. Open muzzle for quickness of loading and ability to use tabbed shafts.
    7. Muzzle accepts a shark spike.
    8. Tab is as close to the mech as possible thus increasing band stretch. All commercial shafts put the first tab too far away from the mech losing about 2" of band stretch.


    There's no substitute for a gun that you make to exactly your specs. Past that a speargun is just a glorified slingshot :)

  • Lobsteritis...

    From what I remember in and around Havana lobster was off limits for Cubans. All lobsters were destined for visiting foreigners.

  • WTB - Riffe Comp handle

    The skeleton tang is not small but it's pretty straight forward. Also it doesn't have to be a skeleton, it can be solid. Unfortunately I can't show you a pic of it now. There's also a small rod that is set perpendicular into the tang that the grip slips over and then the rod fits into two holes in the grip to keep it in place. Later I'll be able to give you better specs and photos of the tang.


    Here's what the Riffe stock looks like under the handle. My guess is that the purpose of the recess is to take the stress of the screws in a situation where force is applied to the gun (pulling or pushing) while you're gripping the handle.


  • WTB - Riffe Comp handle

    Jeff, your idea is money! I know I'd buy it. But that handle is tricky because the stock is CNC'd to accept it, the handle has some funky contours on the inside. A new handle would have to take into account covering any unsightly recesses in the stock and also allowing for the safety lever which some people want to keep. Getting rid of the safety is the first modification I'd do to a Riffe gun.


    Also I would concentrate on a complete handle not shapelock. Alternatively you could make a skeleton frame, we have very affordable rubber grips in various colors that could be used to slip over it. They are ergonomic, grippy and comfortable.


    I had 3 Riffe handles that I sold on SB a couple of years ago, I think for $10 or $15 each.

  • Making lemonade ....

    Those are the ones I was talking about except I've never seen them climb. They're comfortable in the water and I've only seen them close to the water on the ground up until now. There are a lot of them.