Posts by Dan

Thanks for the nice review and beautiful mutts.

No

It may seem like a small difference but the words were carefully chosen, "freedive spearfishing" is not the same as "freediving and spearfishing". Freedive spearfishing means breath hold underwater hunting. Many who practice freedive spearfishing want to be distinguished from, and dare I say frown upon, spearfishing using scuba. This is where you've landed and are now caught in a subcurrent of egos and other intrigues you've yet to discover

Truthfully you're not likely to find a freediving buddy here. But there is some great information about freediving in this thread http://spearfishing.world/free…mpetitive-freediving.html. I think you'll have better luck at Deeper Blue forum, and if that works out for you strangely enough you were directed to the right place in the first place.

Quote from sdeisen

I thought it was a self help/yoga/ free diving forum??

Love it, you nailed down the niche perfectly. A FROGA forum section would without a doubt boost traffic.

Wow! shades of the roller gun thread. I won't allow my words to be twisted so I'll spell it out; IF SOMEONE DOESN'T LIKE SPEARFISHING (evident by them stating "I don't like spearfishing") THEN SPEARDIVER IS NOT THE RIGHT PLACE FOR THEM.
Speardiver is a SPEARFISHING forum, and more specifically freedive spearfishing.

Quote from Dude george

not everyone wants to or should be out shooting

Yes but everyone in this forum better be. "If you're not with us you're against us"

Quote from Subcurrent

Hi, I'm Rob!

I'm looking for a buddy who is safe but doesn't mind a little adventure and murk. I like to explore the bottom.. ..and the unknown. I'm definitely a supporter of sidemount and will definitely be training for it in the future.

Hi Rob!

Is sidemount something like spooning?

I know exactly what you mean, the nylon webbing strap is integral with the old round floats and can't be replaced once it wears out. The new RA floats use a different system of attaching the strap and it's easily replaceable.

That's what I was getting at, for me even a small boat is better than a pwc. That's why I went with a RIB.

Teaspoon, I love that rack it's great use of space, and considered it for my RIB but figured it makes entry from the transom more difficult. What's it like?

The grouper shot played out perfectly. Seemed like it was pretty far away?

I think a pwc is a cool way to spearfish. There was a time when I seriously looked into it and considered buying a 4 stroke top of the line pwc. After riding it and envisioning where I would put everything and how I'd maneuver myself on it (I'm 6ft 215lb) my conclusion was that I would only buy it if I could not afford even a small boat, for reasons of comfort/space. By afford I mean not only the initial cost of the boat but also maintenance and storage.

Good to know.

Up to 50lb I would use it without fear of losing the gear. You can probably use it to take even bigger fish if you plan the shot, handle the line well and can swim after the fish. But I don't think AJ and cobia tend to sound deep when feeling the pressure of the float. I could be wrong depending on the location.

The float in the video is the old round Rob Allen 11L hard foam blown float with ballast (I included the ballast in the buoyancy calculation).

A 50lb fish that doesn't sound straight down will pull it down a little primarily on the first run and then it will stay on the surface. Remember the fish is dragging the gun too. For bottom fish that hole up normally it's not an issue because they hole up near where you shot it, and the float is already at the surface. I don't have experience diving in 120ft and meeting a grouper up at 80ft.

This is a buoyancy test I did with the old Rob Allen 11L hard (foam blown) float. Buoyancy is minimal at 21lb in saltwater, but in my experience it's fine for bottom and pelagic fish up to 50lb. The 11L float is now discontinued and the new 12L Rob Allen float replaced it, increase in buoyancy is most likely minimal. The new 12L overblown model is the one I now use. It comes with a ballast ready for a flag. The overblown float will righten itself when turned on its side much better than the regular version, as the new model Rob Allen floats no longer have a round profile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1suSbc9riE

Thanks for the nice comments guys.

Actually I normally work faster than that. I was going a little slower so people can catch the details.

The pointed tool is optional, you can push the band over the insert without stretching the hole in the rubber first. But it goes in easier after the tool.

Hank, these inserts work for all bands. I don't want to think of making bands with anything else now. The "step" of the insert is held very well behind the constrictor knot. When I finish a band I always pull hard on both ends to settle the retaining (overhand) knot, at the same time testing to make sure the inserts don't pop out. I never had one come out yet.

BTW the "special edition" silver rubber is all gone. The next batch will be blue over black in 14mm, 16mm and 19mm, ready in about 2 weeks.

The Cressi Nano mask is now available with mirrored lenses $79.99 from FreediveStore.com. I consider the Cressi Nano to be one of the better masks in the ultra low volume micromask class because of its nice styling and fitting a wider range of faces. I tested the mirrored mask and the darkening effect is minimal. For those who don't know mirror lenses hide the diver's eyes masking predatory intent. This may help get closer to weary fish that would otherwise react when they see the diver's eyes turn to them.

I love pictures of ghetto gear.

Very cool. What do they do with all those conches?

Solid rubber bands for your speargun = less hole = more rubber = more power, and no water intrusion into the band affecting performance and deteriorating the band from the inside.

Speardiver high performance %100 natural latex "no hole" rubber tubing for spearguns actually has a hole, it's about the diameter of a pin. It's somewhat difficult to insert knotted wishbones into this tiny hole. This rubber is really meant to be used with the Speardiver wishbone system. These wishbones are fantastic and change band making into an easy process. All you do is drill an 11/32" hole into any piece of wood, set the head of the plastic wishbone insert in the hole with the tapered stem sticking up, lubricate (with detergent) and stretch the hole in the rubber with a pointed tool, lubricate insert's tapered stem and push the band over it. It takes 5 seconds and no wishbone insertion tool or pliers required.

Speardiver Spectra wishbone line is ideal to use with the wishbone inserts. Insert the wishbone line through the hole in the head and out the side, with a lighter burn a glob on the end of the line and tie a single overhand knot. Do the same for the other end of the band, now pull hard on both ends of the band and the Spectra knot will settle into the hole and out of sight. The wishbone line can be easily pushed to expose the knot again and undo it, to thread the band through closed speargun muzzle holes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFEtbkdrYrc