Posts by Dan

Ingredients.

1. Two bullet nose lobster buoys $3-$7 each depending where you buy.
2. Length of PVC pipe 1" diameter $1.50 for 12ft
3. Nylon rope, $7 for 30ft if it's "Rob Allen" or next to nothing if you have old clothes line lying around.
4. Two stainless steel washers 1.5" diameter $1 each west marine.
5. Stainless steel swivel $??
6. Round lead weight that was tapered on both sides. I cut off the tapers to bring it down to 2lb and make it a perfect cylinder $10. I'd mold my own to save on the cutting work.
7. A 1ft length of some kind of hose from Advanced Auto parts that is just perfect for the flag pole $2.
8. Flag and pole.

Tools.

1. Drill.
2. A hole saw to match the diameter of the lead.
3. Drill bit the diameter of the hose.
4. Hacksaw.

I think the pictures speak for themselves. The lead ballast keeps the the flag upright. It also keeps the the buoys from rotating on the pipe. For the flag drill a hole the same diameter of the rubber hose into the widest part of the buoy. Cut the hose so it sticks about 1" above the float and glue in place. The inner diameter is perfect fit for the flag so suction keeps it in there even if the float gets turned upside down with the flag underwater. A stringer can be clipped to the back loop. If more flotation is needed use bigger buoys, different sizes are available.

I put the float in the water and it performed well.

Pantoja and I talked about safety procedures when diving from his boat. These are things we know for a long time for ourselves but we decided that it's time everyone abide by them no exceptions. I'm posting this as general information so our friends and future friends can refer to it.

Float lines and floats.

Everyone must tow a float that will support a dive flag properly. Use a reel if you want but you must have a float and flag. If you're not aware of the advantages of a float.. it's difficult to spot divers when there are four people spread out in the water. Especially when there's chop. It's also not fair to the divers who make the effort to tow a float. If we need to get to a diver that we can see fast we don't want to worry about unseen divers that can be in the way of the boat. A float can save your gun in many situations. If all that is not enough to convince you it's also the law so when you're diving without one you're breaking it.

Tagging along with a diver that has a flag when you don't is also out. It's lame when you look back and you've been pulling fish that someone clipped onto your float without saying anything. Pull your own fish, the drag can be significant.

I'm trying to respect individual choice of equipment so past having the float and flag the following are recommendations based on our experience. The float should be streamlined and not a typical scuba diver's buoy that has the lead weight two feet below the surface, this causes entanglement with other people's lines. The Rob Allen float with a ballast and flag is a nice streamlined one. An inflatable float like a Riffe is also a good choice but has more drag in chop. I've made one out of two bullet nose lobster buoys held back to back over a length of PVC pipe total cost $7 apart from the dive flag. We're talking about making up some floats for people who show up without one.

A good practice worth mentioning is coiling the float line after each dive. This reduces drag on the next dive and eliminates a very long trailing end which can entangle with other lines more easily. This also helps pinpoint faster the location of the diver relative to the float.

Engine off when picking up divers.

Before a diver climbs on the boat the engine must be turned off. If you want to get on the boat and the engine is still on ask for it to be turned off by simply yelling "engine off". If you don't mind getting on the boat with the engine on go ahead it's your deal but if you're driving turn it off in the first place or at the least when asked.

I'll relate a short story. I was getting on the boat, the engine was on. There was some chop. A wave hit the boat as I was right beside the prop, someone lost their balance and put their hand out to steady themselves. They put their hand directly on the accelerator and the engine revved up. Fortunately I didn't get hit by the prop.

That's it for now. Remember this is for the well being of all of us diving, dive safe.

Today Pantoja, myself and Larry went out again to the same area to see if we could reunite with the school of mangroves. There were all the same people; sea turtles, mackerels, bait fish, and of course the mangroves. We had top to bottom vis in 70fsw with a very negotiable north current. Within a couple of hours however the murk moved in and we moved off chasing the good vis which we found north of our first spot. Then it became overcast and rained but it did not phase us at all, the water was warmer than being on the boat.

Here are pics of the catch. Noteworthy is the fact that all the fish are Pantoja's except for my one trigger, at least it's the bigger one Fishing with Pantoja is an exercise in humility as on the majority of days his catch exceeds anyone else's. I never got to see the school of mangroves as I was working the bottom about 100 meters away parallel to Pantoja. I got to see three good sized fish on different occasions: a mutton, a mangrove and a gag that all had one thing in common. They all slowly cruised ahead of me just out of range.

Early start this Saturday morning with Pantoja, Rolo, Davie and Adrian. Forecast called for 2-4 and didn't disappoint, we had 3-5 right from the start to the finish. Vis was top to bottom in all spots 45-65fsw. Some current but negotiable, the wave action more than the current made it difficult to move around. The sea however gave up some nice fish for us. I'm no good at this time when it gets anything more than 3ft so I spent more time on the boat than in the water. Sorry to bring down the boat average guys.

There were a few stories with regards to fish taken but they weren't mine so maybe the guys would like to share. I bumped into a couple of sea turtles of different species. They seemed interested in the company and in Davie's words "were looking to get laid". I concur, they were probably hoping we were doable.

Heading out in the morning.

The day's catch.

Davie with best mutton.

Adrian with best mangrove. It was a piglet, maybe 10lb.

Pantoja with a taxed red grouper.

A familiar scene on Pantoja's dock, everyone cleaning fish.

Pantoja myself and Freek headed out today around 8:30am. The sea was an oil slick and a big ray sighting right out of the inlet felt like a good sign. We did a few spots over reef from 60 to 30fsw. There were some sharp thermoclines starting at 10 feet from the bottom which precluded me from doing any aspetto as I was wearing a rashguard top and shorts. Vis was greenish with particulate but you could make out the dark reef patches from the surface at 50fsw which made staying on top of structure possible. Pantoja managed to get a mutton spine deeply embedded in one of his fingers that he couldn't get out and should require some DIY surgery once he gets home. Around 2:00pm some chop kicked up and the sky became overcast. It was time to go home. Everyone got some fish, hogs and muttons.

For me what made the day stand out was breaking in my new gun which I built with Davie's help. I used it on two previous outings last weekend but wasn't able to land anything. My very first shot was on a good size yellow jack from pretty far away. The shot was good and traversed the fish from the left top and out near the gill plate on the right. But I had this strange feeling that something was not right so I didn't put pressure on the line. The fish kept swimming in a large circle along the bottom not trying to shake the shaft. After three circles I decided to pull on the line a little and out came the shaft, the barb did not open. The fish took off and I swam after it at full sprint with the fish always at the edge of visibility. After about 100 yards it got ahead of me to where I couldn't see it any more and I gave up the chase. This made me lose confidence in the gun and I missed two or three subsequent shots.

Over the next couple of days I did a few modifications. I tuned the flopper to my satisfaction, the shaft was new and the flopper factory tuned in a way that I didn't like. I sawed off the last inch of the trigger which due to its shape was not in optimum position for me to squeeze, and fabricated an extension out of some scrap 3/16 ss plate. I then had a local welder do an excellent job of attaching it to the original trigger stump.

Today everything worked properly and I was able to land this 12lb yellow jack and a couple of hogs but those were at very close range. I was on the bottom at around 45fsw, one of the few times I braced myself against the cold, waiting for hogs to come in. There were about six of them heading straight for me and I was waiting to spot the biggest one when some shapes materialized above me a little lower than mid water. I forgot about the hogs and started up and saw a school of yellow jacks. I was not in good position and as I was bringing up the gun to line up with the biggest one it changed position and moved ahead of a smaller one. I changed targets and fired on the smaller jack. To my surprise I got a double. I had two good sized jacks, one on the line and one on the shaft. I remember thinking quickly, holy shit if I land two of these at once! but I knew right there that it was not probable, these fish fight pretty hard. Each jack took off in a different direction and the one on the shaft tore off.

Same place as the cudas

Welcome to this episode of myth busters. I just finished playing with the RA shaft.

Results:

The 7.5mm RA shaft was as easy (and that's being conservative) to bend over my knee as the 9/32 Riffe shaft.

As far as getting it back to straight, considering it was one simple bend in one direction it was more difficult to get it straight than the 9/32 Riffe shaft. The Riffe shaft assumes straight easier.

The only advantage to the RA shaft as I see it is the price and the well tuned flopper. Considering however that if it were to be manufactured with a couple of full size tabs and a square notch the price would probably go up significantly, that advantage is therefore offset.

When you have no personal experience with something trying to make a decision based on what others say is always iffy. So if you like, discount my experience and keep on believing what you want. I will say conclusively that I'm no longer interested in RA shaft as long as I have the option of buying Riffe or similar. This experiment cost me $80 so take from it what you will. At least I learned that I can make a notch if I need to, that I prefer a shaft with one tab and that Tin Man can do an awesome job of welding on a sharkfin tab.

One last observation. This shaft almost did have the last word sucking a final $3 out of my pocket. I attempted to cut through it with a hack saw to see if I could use it for a sling. In under 5 minutes I went through two hack saw blades, dulling them to uselessness with nothing but a scratch on the shaft. I guess this supports Tin Man's finding that on a hardness scale the steel of the RA shaft is harder than the Riffe. I conclude that hardness isn't really a major factor in how bend resistant the shaft is. I did end up cutting it fairly easily with the grinder.

I will not be able to continue using this shaft. The corrosion at the notch happens very fast and aside from making me worry that it will eventually deteriorate the notch to the point of not being safe it is making the trigger mechanism corrode as well. Although it appears to be only surface corrosion on the mech the Riffe trigger mech has never corroded before and I had three of them which I never even bother rinsing after use.

I have not been able to check the shaft against a big fish. I was told by an experienced spearfisher and gun builder that it will bend like any other shaft provided the forces are strong enough.

I believe the tab will reliably support two short 5/8 bands.

The flopper on the shaft is very nice and comes perfectly tuned. If the RA shaft is left in original condition and the original notch does not corrode it is probably a good shaft, especially considering the price.

I do not believe that there is a coating that I could apply to make the machined areas of the shaft corrosion resistant.

The only other idea I have of adapting an RA shaft is by threading the rear end and creating a stainless steel adapter which will screw onto it and contains a notch and a tab. With the forces acting on the shaft at that point though and considering the small diameter I do not think it is likely to work.

I have some good experience straightening shafts which essentially entails bending them over my knee. I am familiar with the amount of force I need to exert to bend a 9/32 (7mm) and a 5/16 (8mm) shaft. Since I have no further use for the RA shaft I'm considering trying to bend it over my knee. It will be a pretty good indication to me of its strength and ability to go back to straight afterwards. If I do it I will let you know.

Tin Man did the welding work on the tab and it turned out very clean. I then did the notch. It took me about an hour to do as it was all done with files. None of the power tools I have gave me the precision I needed and I almost f*cked it up, but I caught it in time and continued with the hand tools. It was somewhat tedious as I had to make adjustments over and over again on the top part for it to finally click in the mech smoothly. But it is doable and was a good learning experience. Then I did a quick bluing job. The tab did not accept the bluing and remained shiny.

I used the spear on an outing and it performed fine. I only fired twice during the whole day. Once I stoned an AJ and on another shot I had one tear off, I don't know why. At the moment of lining up and shooting I didn't think about the different shaft at all which is a good thing. I love the fact that it only has one tab, very convenient. The bluing however didn't work very well. There was oxidation all around the back of the shaft.

I cleaned the oxidation off and applied bluing again this time doing it more carefully. The pic is what it looks like before exposure to saltwater. Overall I like the shaft but that depends if it will rust after every dive. I can handle some surface rust on top but rust in the notch makes me nervous. If RA would make these shafts I would buy them. Of course I need to use it more and get some good size fish to see if the shaft is more bend resistant and if the tab will continue holding.

I've been reading a few times now how people are saying that the RA shafts are more bend resistant than all others. Also they are made in 7.5mm diameter, this I've been wanting to try for a long time as I find the 9/32 shaft flimsy and the 5/16 heavy. The problem is that I really like my American mech hip loading wood speargun and don't want to change to a pipe gun.

I asked around a little and no one makes a 7.5mm shaft for an American mech. Since the RA shaft has the diameter that I'm looking for plus it is said to be a stronger shaft all around, it makes sense to me to try and modify it.

I think it is within my capabilities to work the rear of the shaft to the same specs as an American shaft. I could probably treat it in some way afterwards to avoid corrosion in that area.

The difficult part is welding the sharkfin tab on. I could get away with one tab also using it as the line anchoring point. It would be great if RA would manufacture them but it appears that they don't. Would it be possible to weld on these tabs?

A description of the RA shafts.

Quote

Railgun shafts are engineered from ultra tough oil-quenched carbon spring steel. Highly durable tri-cut tips ensure efficient penetration. Once ground and polished, the shafts are zinc plated to combat corrosion.

Myself Pantoja and friend. Sea relatively flat. Damn cold in the morning on the boat, it seemed warmer to be in the water. The vis sucked. You could barely make out the outline of bottom structure at 50+-. Made it difficult to follow it from the top. Worse than that there were no fish, it was a desert out there. Except for a hammerhead that showed up and was very curious, came within 4ft of me and was eying me up from one side of his flattened head. We decided to call it a day early and on the way in stopped in some shallows to salvage the day. I just have one more thing to say, that colorful fish in the middle is mine.

BTW today I used my new weights for the first time, wow!! Wasted years with the other weights.. I have lower back pains sometimes when diving from the weight belt, I didn't even feel I had it on. I usually take it off to make it easier to climb in the boat, didn't have to do it. I think they are lucky, two fat yellow jacks made my day.

Pantoja, Rolo, and myself with Pantoja's boat (La Santa Fe).

The day started out with flat seas and stayed calm all day. Vis a hazy 25ft. A mild surface current going north with a vicious thermocline at around 45ft and a strong current on the bottom going in a different direction to the surface current. Combined with the bad visibility it was disorienting and difficult to stay on top of bottom structure. We did all reef today from 30 to 60ft, with a brief venture to blue water which produced nothing.

Rolo got an octopus, a big one, the second one I've ever seen in these waters. There were sightings of big muttons but they were spooky as usual, may be an indication of things to come. A pic of a beautiful barracuda that Pantoja shot. I saw the rob allen float go zipping on the surface and knew he had something on. This barracuda was very healthy with nice clearly defined markings and exceptional coloring, truly a beautiful fish.

I also tried my camera underwater for the first time.

I went to sunrise beach and talked to a lifeguard about spearfishing regulations. The regulations have always been vague for that beach and even more so after the installation of the new parking meters all the way to the end of the beach (which was commonly the entry point). The parking meters brought with them more lifeguard towers or was it the other way around? The lifeguard was very forthcoming and I got some good info which I will relate here.

First I'll give the official regulations.

1. Point of entry for persons swimming out and carrying a speargun has to be north of lifeguard tower 15. This tower is 100 yards south of the brown building which I always thought to be marking the boundary.

2. Point of entry for persons paddling out with a small water craft such as a kayak, paddleboard, surfboard etc. extends further south of tower 15. I don't know how far south as he named a street that I didn't know. This means that if you put your speargun out of sight inside the kayak you can enter practically anywhere.

3. Speargun must be unloaded until in the water and away from the beach.

4. If swimming from the beach (no water craft) with the intention to go past the bouy line (100 yards) you must:
.....A. Have a float and flag.
.....B. Be wearing an inflatable life vest.
.....C. Be with a buddy. This means no solo diving.

5. If entering with a water craft A. B. and C. are not required but then coast guard regulations apply such as having a life preserver on the craft and a dive flag. A boogie board is not considered a water craft so if you're seen paddling it out you can be stopped.

Unofficial regulations depending on the lifeguard and your manner of presenting yourself.

1. You can have the inflatable life vest not inflated and strapped to a float.

2. Lifeguards go on duty at 9:45am. If you go in the water before this time the rules cannot be enforced.

3. Returning to the beach, even if the lifeguards are on duty, can be done at any point. The regulations are to control water entry not landing. You can't be denied landing. This is with the understanding that if you are arriving at the beach at a certain point it is becasue you couldn't make it to another.

Note to new divers - Be weary of boat traffic anywhere past the buoy line especially on weekends. I will not shore dive on weekends. I was told by the lifeguard that yesterday a diver was run over by a boat. The diver received cuts to his hand from the boat propeller.

This is a picture of Wally Gibbins, an Australian spearfisher and a Tiger shark. Although the shark was killed with a powerhead I think it is still appropriate because Gibbins invented and made that powerhead and used it with a pole spear. Also it's an old picture at the time of which I would think taking a shark of that size freediving was very challenging and took a lot of cojones.

Currently it's illegal to spear sharks in Florida, but it is legal in other states and countries. I believe it should be legal for a few reasons; it allows the spearfisher to defend his catch without the moral hindrance of the shark going to waste if it's been killed. Sharks are good to eat and have a lot of yield. Spearing sharks will take pressure off other species as one shark has more meat than many other harvested fish put together. Most importantly it allows a diver to confront a shark with a predatory mindset which puts the diver at less of a risk than if he were to react defensively.

Here's some interesting shark spearing footage.

This a short review of the Blue Visions video. Filmed around Australia it features spearing a big variety of species. There isn't much in the way of narration or dialog but if you want to see fish getting speared this is hard to beat, the video is long and has tons of great spearing footage.

Based on the way you present the issue sounds like a great idea to me. More so if it's connected to the the price of gas and will stop the prices from going even higher. I've only been off shore here a couple of times and on each occasion the water clarity was unbelievable. Having the kind of fish habitat you have in the Louisiana rigs combined with that visibility would be mind boggling.

On the other hand I remember reading that the Mississippi river and the nutrient flow have something to do with the abundance of life on the Louisiana rigs? Also who's to say that they won't create laws prohibiting fishing the rigs. I understand that LA is pretty loose when it comes to those things, Florida is seems to be the opposite.

This is a thread for reviewing spearfishing videos. Post your review, favorable or unfavorable.

Here's a list of spearfishing videos I have, all in DVD format, when I have time I will back review some of them.

Australia and New Zealand
Immersion Spearfishing The NSW North Coast – Part 2
Immersion Spearfishing The NSW North Coast – Part 4
Extreme Blue Water Action - Bluewater Hunting International
Diving Adventures In Vanuatu - Bluewater Hunting International
Spearfishing Safari Coral Sea - Bluewater Hunting International
Spearfishing In The Coral Sea - Bluewater Hunting International
Blue Visions
Deep Blue

Mediterranean
Triumph Over The Sea - Alberto March (Spanish)
To The Limit - Alberto March (Spanish)
Sprearfishing The Strait of Gibraltar Vol. 3 (Spanish)
Spearfishing In Fall (Italian) - Spearfishing In Cadiz (Spanish)
Underwater Spearfishing With J.B Escapez
Spearfishing World Championships In Porto Christo 1992 (Spanish)

Africa
African Spearfishing Diaries Vol. 1
Extreme Spearfishing In Gabon (Spanish) - Michel Reboul Productions
Big Game Spearfishing In Senegal (Spanish) - Michel Reboul Productions

Florida Bahamas and Caribbean
Oceans In action
Oceans In action II
Spearfishing The Palm Beaches Florida vol. 1
Livin' In The Florida Keys

Brazil
Spearfishing In Brazil With Paulo Pacheco
Pesca Sub Brasil (Spearfishing Brazil Portuguese)
Pesca Sub Brasil IV (Spearfishing Brazil Portuguese)

Central America
Searching
Spearfishing In Panama (Spanish)

California and Mexico
Blue Spearfishing The Californias
Gone To Baja Treasures In Gonzaga
Blue water hunters - Terry Maas


Hawaii
O'ahu Still Get Fish
The Best Of HSD vol. 2
The Best Of HSD vol. 3
HSD Hunting With The Hana Pa’a Crew
Legends Of The Blue
The Reef And Beyond

Freedive And Spearfishing Instruction
The Spearo's Guide - 23six (2 disc)
Freediving Made Easy - Terry Maas
Ultimate Spearfishing - Pipin Ferreras
Ultimate Spearfishing III Back To Bottom Hunting - Pipin Ferreras (Spanish)
Ultimate Spearfishing IV Breaking The Barrier - Pipin Ferreras

Other
Spearfishing The World
The Art Of Spearfishing
With Just One Breath - Pipin Ferreras (Spanish)
Blue Planet Seas Of Life Tidal Seas And Coasts
Blue Planet Seas Of Life Open Ocean And The Deep
Blue Planet Seas Of Life Seasonal Seas And Coral Seas
Blue Planet Seas Of Life Ocean World And Frozen Seas
Air Jaws And Air Jaws II
Attack! Maneaters Sharks And Crocodiles

Some covers.