Posts by Dan

For bad vis, like 6ft, and holes or shooting inside structure I'd like to use a Mares Cyrano 700. It's a 70cm air gun with a 7mm single flopper shaft. I rigged it with two wraps of stainless steel cable so a big fish can't cut the line over sharp metal structure. It's hard to beat a pneumatic for short range punching power and the absence of bands makes it very maneuverable in tight quarters. One disadvantage is that it's nose heavy and if I carry it in ready to shoot position, which one must do in poor viz, my hand and forearm get tired. One further mod I need to do is to add some kind of form fitting flotation to the front of the barrel.

Removed the safety and ground down the trigger which created a nice clean hole for attachment of the float line to the mono double loop. Took off the handle and wrapped tape around the handle stud to eliminate play in the handle.

Ground down and reshaped the loader to fit properly into the handle. The big trick was positioning a metal receptacle in the loader because otherwise the spear point gets stuck and costs a few seconds to remove. The ready made loaders that come with this metal cup are always too big to fit in the handle. I made the cup from a piece of 8mm shaft by using different size drill bits to create a cone shape. It is held tightly inside the plastic loader with epoxy. Works very well.

I wanted to see how well I could work the plastic. I ground down the sights and using sanding and Tin Man's steel wool method got the plastic looking almost original.

Drilled a hole and put a stainless rod through it and bent it to form a retainer for the flopper. A notch on the flopper accepts this retainer and stays put nicely. In holes many times a fish will get skewered in strange angles and the shaft gets difficult to remove. With this feature its slides right back out the way it came. The SS cable is braided and crimped.

The original line anchor is also theoretically supposed to hold the shaft when the gun is not in use. This doesn't function well as the shaft is not held tightly at all. Also the resulting line anchoring point is weak. I ground away the shaft retainer and drilled a hole as the new attachment point for the shooting line. I integrated a bungee into the hole. The bungee eliminates the need for a spring between the sliding line anchor on the shaft and the retaining ring.

The bungee has the stronger and easier to disconnect pigs tail snap and swivel combination. The cable is braided and crimped.

This is what a 20lb cuda did to the inferior conventional 400lb :rolleyes1: snap after wrapping the cable around structure.

Since the above pics were taken I found another alternative to the sliding plastic line anchor and ring. This little sliding line anchor does the job of both and makes the spear more streamlined. It fits perfectly into the muzzle the same way the ring did keeping the shaft nice and centered without play.

The piston adapter on the butt of the spear is ground down for a looser fit into the piston. This reduces the loss of power when the shaft leaves the piston. It also allows me to remove the spear from the gun while it's still in loaded condition. Last I changed the line release to the right to be consistent with my band guns and allow wrapping of the shooting line the same way; holding the gun with the left hand and wrapping with the right.

All I'm missing is the flotation device I previously mentioned. If someone sources one please let me know.

I wouldn't mind seeing some close up pics of that gun.

I don't have experience with big wood guns but this is what I would do. First I'd check the shaft against a good straight edge and make sure it's straight. Then I would make sure that the flopper is not bent, maybe even take it off. I'd check for the shaft to have at least 13" of overhang, any shorter and I'd change to a longer shaft with proper overhang. Then I would put two 5/8 bands on the gun and see how it shoots. I just can't see it not shooting straight like that, theres not much to it unless your handle is really far under the plane of travel of the spear, then I'd bring it closer.

Once its shooting straight I'd start to add power to see where it goes erratic. When you find the point where accuracy starts to suffer you know you need to add weight/volume to the gun.

With that said I believe in dedicated guns. The idea of having a gun where if you need more power and range you can put on side stocks and stuff is good in theory but in reality you never end up doing it back and forth. A gun should be built for the intervals which you jump from target species to target species although there can be some overlap. For big power and range a gun should be designed for that from the start because this makes a gun bulky in the first place and if you start adding shit to make a smaller gun do the work of a big gun it's going to be even more bulky. If there is no possibility of buying the correct gun then of course go ahead with the modifications.

You know sometimes I like those wired guys too, when I want to challenge myself. Just have to be careful with them and not go too far. They're most often beginners anyways and are more likely to hurt you with spastic movements than with any kind of legit technique, they're also fun to beat and frustrate.

Glad you could make it make yourself at home. I remember you like the air guns, looking forward to your posts here.

Dan

jejeje

Can you imagine putting a shaft into one of these carp in murky water?

Seriously though aren't men always better than woman when it comes to the extreme limits of performance in whichever field?

Whatcha talking about? The camo makes you practically invisible against that background of cacti.

Beautiful fish, the spots look like a black. Is that you monster?

With regards to tattooing fish, may clear something up http://spearfishing.world/showthread.php?t=93

I never knew fish could be tattooed so a little online research came up with the following http://www.dgukenvis.nic.in/news03-47.htm

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TUTICORIN Sept. 17. For the first time, the Fisheries College and Research Institute (FCRI) here has come across a ray fish with peculiar markings, probably by acquired by tattooing done by researchers or scientists. The tattooed fish was caught in the trawl net of a fisherman 30 km south of the Tuticorin coast at a depth of 160 metres recently...

...The left side of the dorsal region of the fish is marked with number `3', while the right side is marked with a letter `S'. The fish measures 47.7 cm in length and weighs 500 gms. Experts at the FCRI say that the marking by tattooing is usually done by scientists in fisheries research institutes to study the growth, food habits, reproduction, migration pattern and racial studies of the species. Since tattooing technique is widely done by research institutes abroad, the FCRI has written to South African, Sri Lankan, Australian, Singapore and Malaysian High Commissions in New Delhi to find out whether any leading fisheries research institutes in those countries had tattooed the fish for biological or migratory investigations...

...According to V. K. Venkatramani, Professor, Department of Fisheries Biology and Capture Fisheries, FCRI, tattooing is usually done on juvenile fishes and left in big tanks till the tattooed part is healed. After healing, the fish would be left in open seas to study its migration or biological features. Experts say tattooing is done on a large number of specimen of a particular species. Once the tattooing is done, information is passed on to other fisheries research institutes. Tattooing is considered to be the best technique since it is harmless and the dye mark would be retained permanently on the external body of the fish.

On another more bizarre note http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/lawbanningfishtattooingenenfor

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Law Banning Fish Tattooing Unenforceable.

October 15, 2007
OKLAHOMA – The Oklahoma City Council upheld a law barring the artificial coloring of fish this week.
The law was challenged after a pet store owner who was found selling fish with “I love you” tattooed on their scales. The fish came from Quality Pets of Oklahoma. Company owner Don Fleming said his fish are dyed using the same techniques as the major chains – like Petco, PetSmart and Wal-Mart – which involves injecting the color into the fish or dying them in a dye bath.
Fleming says he was forced to relinquish about $1,700 in fish. So he went to Oklahoma City Councilman Gary Marrs to have the law challenged.

That's when Cynthia Armstrong, state director of the Humane Society of the United States stepped in.

Armstrong contends that artificial coloring is inhumane – whether by dying or injection. She also said that even dye baths – which are legal – are damaging because the fish drink the chemicals. This can lead to high mortality rates and weakened immune systems for those that survive.

But Fleming disagrees with that level of severity. Unfortunately, there's no definitive research on the subject to tip the scales in either direction.

City Councilman Pat Ryan was the sole objector to the compromise – which would continue to allow dye baths. That's because its difficult to tell what method was used for coloring.

But the other seven council members decided to maintain the compromise. That's because Quality Pets employs 115 people – and taking those jobs away is not in the city's best interest.

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Pretty sick IMO.

My best guess is that if you threw it in the cooler or gear bag there was a piece of paper there with writing on it that came in contact with the fish and the ink transferred on. In this case however the numbers and letters would be mirrored.

What was the weight and length of the fish approx.

Davie, yours has a rounded tail.

I don't know what kind of grouper it is. Taking this at face value I see something that looks like numbers and letters but I question why you wouldn't take a closer photo of this "tattoo". Lets see where this is going

Thanks for that, evokes in me memories of Cuba. It's been too long.

I didn't, couldn't find any reference to it online.

Here's the metal version.

Yes, I remember in Cuba it was the same way, and the shafts weren't even stainless.

Self explanatory. You could probably make these inserts yourself.

On the competitor series the handle is held on with two screws. Remove the screws and the handle pops off. You will see the safety bar seated in its groove. Just take it out and replace the handle and screws. Should be the same for the standard series.