Posts by behslayer

Some guys will splice this. But for general use seems way overkill. I used to use a simple overhand knot. then I could pull a little slack through so the knot hung either behind the fins or behind the shaft. No worries to cut it off and rethread.

Yes.. We caught and released many times Marlin over 600lbs this year. They're a nuisance for us as we are fishing for Tuna. When we get a Marlin we crank down the drag, put on gloves, and Handline the fish to the boat as quickly as possible. Usually less than 20 mins, and release. This allows us to get back to fishing and the Marlin the bet chance of a healthy release. A guy caught and landed and kept a Blue Marlin almost 900lbs near to where we were diving. Divers have had a few encounters this year with Huge Marlin attacking their speared fish, and also another team of divers out of Montauk had a similar situation to mine where the Marlin was chasing a Bonito which was trying to hide in the Armpit of one of the divers and he was being stalked by a Big Marlin. His dive buddy opted for the shot and placed a solid shot on a 600lb Blue Marlin. It dragged him for 2 miles in what he said was an "extremely tough fight" He landed the fish. A World Record. Chris Miller is a Fisherman born under the docks in Montauk. He processed this fish expertly and none went to waste.

Sharing a story from our new blue realitas.

There’s a story to that Yellowfin.
I was out fishing a Temp break about 100 miles out on my brother’s boat. We had put a few nice fish in the boat during the night and early morning and now we had a chance to dive. The boat was still fishing two chunk bait rods shallow and chumming. Me and my dive buddy from Bali and Marthas Vineyard Davo Holdsworth were diving right underneath the hull. Coming up ft from the boat. There were fish everywhere. Nice YFT busting the surface in the distance. Big Shoals of Skipjack and Bonito in Blue 100’ vis 80+ water. Primo.
I’m breathing up on the surface a few ft from the boat and Wham! I get smashed in the arm. Unsettling slow motion. I turn my head to get a face full of Tuna belly. WTF! I instantly think about a shaft. Davo must have shot this thing. The fish is now on my shoulders trying to hide behind me. No Shaft. Shit. Look out for fishing line and hooks. 1 second has passed. No line. Oh. Freeswimming Fat YFT on the surface. Shoot that. I grabbed the muzzle of my Long gun to try to pull it around, but the fish was so close that it wasn’t possible to reach the handle. Whitewater. This fish is going nuts. Then I look down. I see a Huge Bill slashing ft away from my chest. The YFT is on my back. This Marlin reminds me of a giant Bull Snorting pissed off that it can’t get it’s dinner. This is not a good situation. I look to my Dive buddy and tell him to get out of the water. Instead he angles off and laces that Tuna in the head off my shoulder. Blood and the tuna takes off and then all hell breaks loose. The Marlin chasing the tuna. The tuna trying to hide behind us. The most aggressive and incredible moves. Lines. Shafts. And then the Marlin snags himself on one of our baits and takes off at 100mph and shortly breaks off. We subdue that tuna as quickly as possible and get in the boat. Nuts. How big was that Marlin? Big enough to eat this Tuna. Check out the marks on the fish.
What did I learn? In this situation I was glad we were not using Cable Shooting lines. At one point I did have my gun aimed right at the head of that Marlin, but at that moment I didn’t feel threatened. Things could have easily gone sour in many ways. We were lucky the boat was Right there. I’m a big fan of making the boat the center of the drift in Bluewater diving. If the engine’s off the fish don’t mind it at all. I’ve shot plenty of nice fish right under the hull in Bluewater situations.
Anyways. Just a fish story.

Cool, Glad you guys got this story over here.

Since then there's been a lot of discussion, and a lot of others have come forward with things they were not really proud of or happy about but that's how diving is sometimes. It's not always perfect. Stuff happens. Mistakes and poor choices are made. And it turns out a lot of people have let go of guns.

I didn't want to dilute the message of having "Let go" going through all the things I should have done differently. But one other point of learning here has to do with Knives and cutting the lines you are bringing with you into the water. I was holding on to the gun with my left hand. The line was coming out of the reel straight down to the fish. I slashed at the Dyneema Reel line twice. I did not hit the same place on the second cut so it was another fresh cut. My knife had some big and staggered Serrations. It was a Dexter Bait Knife. Almost new, and fairly sharp. But when I tried cutting lines after this here in my shop standing on land it was still surprisingly tough to cut through those lines. In my case I had the option to Let go, but if this had been a Halfhitch around my arm etc.. I'm not sure I would have been able to cut through nearly as easily as I had thought in the past. Every diver should have a good sharp knife. Every diver should take that knife out and give a try cutting some of the lines you might encounter and see how it performs and how it works best, or whether it should be replaced.

Thanks for posting this here too. I hate all this crap. It's terrible that our dive community has to be fractured.

Aduh lucu sekali. Djo man Wetsuit? Hanya ada satu seperti itu yang biru ada gambar Wahoo. Dulu say kasih sama Pak Fendi. Pasti kenalan sama dia?

Mantap man beh Janky Wuso Bibir Oran! Enak sekali.

Kalau lihat Pak Fendi titip Salaam sama dia dari Jon/Uluwatu. Sudah dua tahun aku pindah ke USA.

Funny that the offspring of a Penal colony would take the name Seppo as a screen name. Mate. There's been some controversy. Earlier this year I ran into Cameron K at the supermarket and he mentioned that Indonesian Customs had started confiscating Spearguns. But the latest I heard was that Andre The Man Wicaksana went down to the Customs office. (A place he and I have spent a fair amount of time in) and they said no problem. The Best is to contact Wayne at Andre Australia or Andre himself 08123811414 (in Indo) and ask him. Go check out his shop when you are there as well. Tell him Big Kleng sent you. To answer otherwise is only to the best of my knowledge, which is that it is okay to bring Spearguns into Bali. Do not take them apart.. then they look like parts for a gun. which can be a firearm. Don't fly through Singapore or Hong Kong.

Two Single Band Guns. One Conventional. One using the Roller Head with a fixed point of attachment. The Roller Gun will have more power and more range. The reason being that the only difference between the two is that one has band stretch the entire length of the gun, the other has band stretch only 2/3 of the gun. Same gun. One Band. One Pull. Roller Wins. Do I get the cash?

And the Winner is.

Benjamin Baker

We are going to select the Raffle winner in one hour.

more pics

some more pics

This gun will be raffled this week in support of the Gil Gacula Memorial fund.

A little over one year ago, I was in the workshop with Peter Correale building a Gun, when we heard that Gil Gacula had passed away. It was like a kick in the stomach. I never had the chance to meet Gil in person, but I am a huge admirer of his Skill and Style in Gun building and his willingness to share his knowledge with others. Gil was a fantastic Gun Builder. In my opinion, he is one of a few who merged Form and Function and developed the Style of what we now consider the American Speargun. Gil was a Stylemaster.

Gil left behind a wife and four young children. I want them to know, that he was special enough to reach people he had never even met.

We are going to follow the lead of Woodguy and Tin Man and make this gun a Raffle Drawing.

Raffle tickets are $20. or 3 for $50 payable by Paypal to Ulusub2@gmail.com Please use the "Gift" selection so that there will be no charges incurred. Ulusub will have a Raffle drawing on Friday this week to announce the winner. All proceeds will go to Darlene Gacula. The shipping is included in the Raffle, and is limited to USA addresses.

This gun is inspired by feedback we have received over the past year from guys like Marko, Peter, and Tony who have been using the 140RH for WSB, Yellowtail, Cubera, and Mutton Snapper. This gun is slightly longer at 144cm. Shoots a 5/16" shaft with 3 bands. The Reverse Mechanism was donated my Tin Man. It features a snap in/out Safety and a very smooth draw. The Handle is a Right Handed Target Shooting Handle. Vacuum Impregnated Tung Oil finish. Gun comes with a Bluewater Reel with Ulusub Monocore line. Shaft, Bands, etc. Ready to Shoot. I'll take some more pics.

If you've ever looked to a video clip that starts off with "Hi, my name is Gil" Please help support this cause.

Thanks to the other builders who have donated to this cause. Ulusub will be making a second gun for Gil in the upcoming months.

Also, I had a look at the link. It's 2mm, but has a 90kg breaking strength. A Dyneema or Spectra 2mm line would have 300-500kg breaking strength. Doesn't really matter unless you're hanging on with all your strength being towed around, your reel is spooled, and all that stands between you and the fish of your life is 60-100yds of Reel line..

Does it sink? Because we call that the Spiderweb of Death... Black sinking line.

Video or it didn't happen.

George, I like that you posted those videos. That's fantastic diving and there are heaps of learning points in these videos. I went through that video and focussed on the frame by frame around the shot. The 24th and 25th seconds are great. The fish is so close. Right at the beginning of the 26th second you shoot through the top 1/2" of the front loin of the fish. In the frame by frame it shows the line passing through only a tiny sliver of the fish. I see in the video that you are using 1.8mm Dyneema? Very strong stuff, but very thin too, and it can cut. The shot strings the fish and he takes off. It looked like the Reel line was stringing the fish? Honestly I think a buoy would have ripped off immediately. The good news is that fish survived.
That view though is awesome.. Staring down a line into the Blue. In the second shot I noticed you freespooled the reel to the surface only using the drag? I think of the Reel as Line storage. I like to use thicker line so I can grab the line with my gloves and give some drag. I saw the Reel with the second fish almost spooled. My suggestion would be that by using a larger diameter line like 2.2-2.5mm you will be able to grip the line and fight the fish more effectively.

At the same time. There are conditions when using a buoy is a Good Idea. Out in the middle of nowhere in heavy seas in a sailboat. Having a buoy would have been a Good idea. You could still use the Reel, but clip on a buoy. And get a buddy. I started making Bluewater reels for a certain kind of diving. Half the time I jump in, it's at the mercy of a bunch of commercial fishermen. They don't like me bringing a lot of gear. I can jump in on a buoy or a floating debris and have a look. I keep a buoy and bungee onboard easy to throw out. I also keep a Big Polyball with a clip on it. If I do shoot a big fish with my Reel, I will ask for that Polyball and clip it onto my gun. And they'll be there in a few seconds.

This fish below was a Battle on the Reel. It was a non lethal shot with a slip tip. The fish had a Lot of fight in him. As soon as I reached the surface I let my brother know I had shot a big Fish and he threw me the Polyball. I clipped it onto the back of the gun. I saw the shot and knew I could pressure the fish. I put a lot of drag on him a real battle of the wills. Physically very tiring. Pulling the fish up from 200ft by the reel line was tough, and that is using 2.3mm/2.5mm line I can get a grip of. There were many times I was wishing I had been using the Bungee I had in the boat, but at the same time. My buddies stopped the boat and were getting their fishing gear ready and I was able to jump in to see some whales and grabbed my gun. I wasn't planning to be in the Water more than 5 minutes. That is one advantage of a Reel.

I've landed many Wahoo over the years but never one with a Float.. My take on what happened is not that a shark ate the fish. Ofcourse that could have happened. I saw the video. It's awesome. That one fish that got away.. that happens. Whether you are using a Float or a Big Reel, that can happen.. I don't think it was because George was using a reel that he lost the fish. I think it was due to shot placement and proximity. The Shot was high and through the meat. The shot was close and the shaft went clear through the fish and was strung on the shooting line.. The fish tore itself off..

What was the shooting line? Mono?

Plenty of big Wahoo have been taken using reels. One thing about using a reel is that you need to apply some pressure so the fish doesn't run away with all your line.. It's very hard to apply pressure to thin line. Any line under 2mm is very difficult to grasp wearing gloves and can cut you.

I like Reel fishing. I like to be able to jump in and check spots easily. I like the start to finish connection. Whether you are using a reel or a float you need a holding shot. Some holding shots will not injure the fish so much and they will still retain a lot of power. This is especially true if using a Slip Tip. If I'm fishing for Big Fish with a Reel I'll keep a Polybuoy on a clip in the boat. Those are quite easy to toss and I can have my buddy clip it onto the back of my gun if I feel like I could be in danger of getting spooled. I also have a Flasher on a buoy nearby. Sometimes I'll dive with a Bungee clipped onto the back of my gun. If I want to I can clip it onto my shooting line and unclip my reel and in 10 seconds I'm shooting breakaway.

The most important thing about Reel Fishing is to have a sharp knife and to be practiced in getting to it. You should never be worried about losing your Gun.. only your line and shaft.. Line Maintenance is the number one priority when fighting a fish using a reel. I try to swim forwards so that any line I recover can drift behind me. Floating Line is a must..

A lot of nice fish have been landed using Big reels. These include 112lb Wahoo. 100lb Yellowfin. 75lb Cobia. etc.. It's a different experience than using a float. Physically it is much more challenging.

After watching this video, my opinion is the fish was lost because the shot placement was high and the fish was strung on the shooting line. Some people will use Dyneema shooting lines.. these have a serrated effect on soft flesh.. I prefer 400lb Mono. 350ft of line was taken out because the line is 1.8mm and very difficult to grab and put any pressure on. We all occasionally lose a good one. I don't think a bungee and float would have made a difference in this fish. A lower shot would have made a difference.

Aduh Beh Krapu dan Beh Compoh Compoh. Enak sekali utk Pepes. Di mana kerja?

Yes. this is true. If you are diving in an area with no drift, no currents, you wouldn't think too much about losing someone at Sea, but in many places it is a consideration. For example, the Race up here in RI. However, in any case, if you have a radio/phone and can let out a call for help immediately, it can increase your resources. In the case of a reef trafficked with other boats, you could increase your resources exponentially with a quick mayday. I think the issue we are skirting around here is whether you take the time to send out a Mayday if someone is unaccounted for. My suggestion is that sending out a Mayday even with only one person on the boat is a good course of immediate action. This immediately sets into motion more than you can do on your own. If your dive buddy turns up. No worries, Call them back and apologize. If not.. and you are alone, now in the water, pulling your buddy to the surface, trying to figure out how to get them back into the boat, or initiate CPR in the water... etc.. you already have help on the way. Here in the USA, and down there in Fla.. those guys get their quick. They may show up in a Helicopter in 2-3 minutes. In the places I've been diving for the past 20 years, there is no back up. There is nobody to call. Here in the USA you have this Giant Help button. Any shit happens. press the button first. What does it cost you in time to call, in a mayday? With only one person on the boat maybe 30 seconds. With more than one, less. How much time do you think it takes one person to haul up a friend from 80ft, get them into a boat and then initiate CPR?

The story of Davo, is important to keep in mind. We all dive in currents, drifts, or from drifting boats. With several people onboard, what could have happened was groups of divers with Buoys and Floatlines, whistles, could have jumped in at the top of the drift. At the same time the boat could have gone way down drift and Zig Zagged up. Not ideal.. but could have worked. Instead everyone focussed on the SWB, and Dave drifted into the Indian Ocean. Had this happened in a place where a Radio call could have brought in resources, the tasks could be divided and inherently safer and more effective.

My buddy Davo usually has a Carter Float attached to his weight belt. I'm guessing he had one that day as well, he had a whistle, he had a Big Urukay gun, but he was lost in the glare and Ocean and Motor sounds. I wasn't on the boat that day. In Indonesia, it's common to dive in strong currents, so if you are diving on a small island or high spot, you would start above the island and then pass on either side of it. Usually there is an eddy on the leeward side, but if you get out past the eddy, the currents can be ferocious.. whirlpools. Sure, a Floatline may have helped, maybe not, and float lines do disappear sometimes.. I've lost several to tuna. but it was the last drift and he opted not to use one. My understanding is that once the sun went down and he had been unable to contact the boat, or make it back to the smaller island, that he immediately changed his goal from maintaining a position, to pro actively swimming for the nearest attainable shoreline. Had Davo decided to pop his Carter Float and rest on it and await rescue the next day, he would most probably never have been found.

The point of the story is that the best thing you can do if someone disappears is to immediately increase your resources by calling for help. In that case, they could have had one group looking for a floating diver and one for a diver below the surface. Currents add an exponential element to the search grounds. Everyone in that boat was thinking about the first five minutes.. but in doing so, they went hurriedly to the top of the drift, and this caused them to actually lose Davo.