Posts by Forsberg

    Everything is bigger in The USA.... Or is it?


    This is probably the only fish that we have in the cold Scandinavian (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland) waters.
    I just wanna return som fish-carma, for some of the fantastic adventures all of you have shared with me, thank you.:thumbup:


    12 dudes were going from Denmark, to Saltstraumen, Norway. The top species for us to hunt was the halibut, cods, Pollock, flounders, wolfish and saith.
    We had 7 days of fishing at 10-20 meters of deepth in the 11 degree Celsius water.


    The first day, the monster of my dreams gave me quite a battle.
    The current had just turned, and the clear water from the open sea was streaming in, making the water flow pretty fast. So fast that you would never be able to swim against it.
    We had a boatman, and he was watching us as we were drifting fast with our bouy, rigged with a breakaway system.
    This was my homemade 125 doubleband guns virgin ride, actually virgin shot I realized that same night, while drinking a beer reliving the situation.
    There were a lot of cods swimming, and hiding behind the stones as I was sliding 2 meters above the seabed. I wanted the focus on the halibuts, as a codkill would mean 30 mins of realoading and sailing upstream.
    at about 10 meters i see this flat-fish laying on the bottom. Since you judge the distance from things you know the size of, i totally misjudged the distance to the bottom. Thinking it was in the very shallows arround 5 meters deep.... Diving down, and down and down... the fish became bigger. And at, what must have been arround 5 meters, i shot the gun virtical down and nailed the fish to the sand!
    Silence... no reaction.... WHAT?.... dive down and take a look at the fish.... no reaction! Had i just shot dead, what should be the best fighting muzzlemachine of the north?
    Well, i guess i could lift the fish a litle and grab the shaft in the flopper end?! So i did, and as I tipped the fish to grab the shaft, it turned ballistic, taking allmost 35 meters of floatline, passing through my hand before i could return to the surface from the 10 meters of deepth.


    In the surface, in the hassle, i forgot that the gun was rigged with beakaway... I grabbed the gun before right next to me, and now it was game on! I was waving and shouting at my boatman... and the bouy was telling him that i had something big.
    The force of this fish was gigantic. I pulled me up the stream, and after a while, say 10 min. i had a second gun with another bouy, to secure the kill.
    Only problem was, i couldn't barely outswim the current between the bouy and the fish. I didnt want to let go of the fish, since the shaft was single flopper and it needet to be keept tight, not to fold in. I was swimming for 15 mins, before i began diving, scouting for the fish. The water was still under 15 meters, but the high concentration of CO2 in my blood was just killing my downtimes, went to 10m constantly maxing out my fins sinus curves. 20 secs downtime... and surface time keeping the line tight.
    Now the fish stopped swimming.... no current down there, when you are a hallibut on flat ground, hydrodynamic and all! But still hard times keeping me at point over the fish.
    After a few dives, 2. shot well places behind the gills, upper side. More swimming action, this time with me in the boat.
    After 30 mins. The fish was in the boat, and feel-good-fish-drugs was just flowing in my veins!


    We took out the otoliths, and came to the conclusion that this fish was arround 12 years of age.
    Weight: 31 Kgs
    Length: 140 cm


    Regards Søren




    Its incredible, this dude is a good freediver and allso a spearfisher.


    It is very importent to say that this way of diving requires education in freediving or at least an instructor. Never try to do this alone!
    Every year several spearos drown in Spain alone.
    This is because they dive deeper (below 25m) and therefor are more likely to get a shallow water blackout.
    For those who dont know what this is, this video is a must see.



    NSUC: Samba and Blackouts on Vimeo

    Good point Dan.
    I want full value on the lenght of my guns.


    Actually i would guess that the closer to the middel of the spear the notch is, the more likely it is to break or bend at that point. I would explain this with the more movement in that part of the spear, when the spear is wobbeling, just like the arrow on a bow!


    So i am, like you wondering why you would put it so far down the shaft.


    Let the eneginers do the talking here :)

    Welcome. I'll be over in denmark in march is it worth bringing my gear over to spearfish?


    Right now theres not a whole lot of action.


    There will be more action late march, start april, since the cods gather in large numbers before they are to lay their eggs. But you will have to be prepared for around 5 Celsius water and then you will need to go to some specific spots were the cods are known to gather up.


    Except the cods, the seatrout will be leaving the freshwater and nighdiving will be a possibility.


    Beside from those to species, theres not too much going on "down under".


    Send me a PM if you wanna go, if im free on the day you need to go ill gladly take you out for some hunting. And in case i cant go, i might know the right person to take you out!


    And welcome Søren :)

    Normally the European Championships are held in the southern part of Europa, in warm clear waters.
    This year is different. The competition is in Finland, were many of the Danish hunters will have an advantage over the skilled, deep diving, long-breathholding latino divers. :):) (they are good ^^)
    The challenge here is the temperature and most of all the lack visibility in the water.


    I want you all to see the trailer, that my freind Matti Pyykkö has shot for this event. (He allso filmed spearfishing movies from Norway. Youtube Streamfishing at norway)


    I was competing in the Nordic Championship 2009, in Finland. And i was challanged by the conditions.


    Enjoy a litle different spearfishing:


    [VIMEO]55724933[/VIMEO]


    Søren
    Denmark

    I think the resolution is somehow making some troubles with the pictures? Is it blurry on your screen as well?
    Test:



    Problem solved

    Welcome Søren!
    Were you by any chance in Kristiansund in October last year? I met a few Danish guys that were leaving when we were settling into the KDK-house for a few days, and I remember at least one of them was a gun builder.


    YES i was, i took the time to admire your ulusub gun... if that was yours! What are the odds? The video is from that same trip just 3 days before meeting you in the KSK-house! Did you have some good fishing with Ørjan?


    A Dane and a Norwegian, meeting in Kristiansund, and reuniting at an American forum! This is getting wierd!


    Were are you living in Norway Anders?



    Dan: For the 9 mm suit with longjohn panties, for diving at arround 15 meters, I usually dive with arround 11-12 Kg of waights. West and belt. The downside of this kind of diving is that you have to use alot of effort to get down, and the movement is kind of limit, since the neoprene is getting stiff by the increased thickness. Yes the suit is open cell.



    Søren
    And by the way, Anders. Winter is here, and im still a gun builder ;)
    The latest gun i have build is a 100% Wengé gun... The worst project ever when it comes to processing the tree! It was horrible... but the thought was: Let the beuty of the tree do the work.




    Welcome Soren, :thumbup: great to have you mate. Do you know Anders from Norway?


    Fantastic pictures, very nice fish. I have never dove in water that cold, just fell through the ice once skating.
    Some day I hope I get the balls to try it.


    All the best, Don



    Hey Don Paul.
    I dont know Anders from Norway, but i can see he catch som decent fish up there. Im going to Saltstraumen near Bodø Juli 2013, maybe i should give him a call before doing so.


    Don Paul, if you ever get to Denmark, ill love to give you the grand tour under water. And the warm suit is no problem - i have an extra :)
    You dont need the balls for the cold water, the system down there will shrink anyway. Save them for the 1½ meter of visibility that haunts the westcoast of DK.


    Regards Søren

    The polespear was alot of fun, but the acceleration was to slow. I had to aproach the fish and sneak in to abot 1 meter... pritty frustrating with fish all over, too shy the get near! My best guess how to solve this issue is the total waight of the spear and for me to get som more muzzels in my hand to hold the bands. Other ideas?


    You would think that a 18mm diameter would track easy in the water. However this was not the case, when its loadet, you have the entire spear behind you making quite hard to track fast.


    What you say about the wood finish is right. OnkelHedde is the best at wotking with spearguns in DK, and the finish i absolutely amazing.
    I agree that a wood finish is more butifull, but my experience is that its not possible because you need more stiffness than what wood can provide. The solution could be a massiv core of carbonfiber? Its allso cheaper than the new carbon fiber "sock" that we will try aout with in the next project.


    According to the speed, i had an engineer calculating on the acceleration, and the result is that you can only optimize the speed by 0.25% using the carbon fiber. So the only reason for doing so, is only really stiffnes and easy tracktion.

    A litle picture from the Danish Championships... me wating for start. The only one with a polespear.
    People would laughf at me and say "whats up stoneage boy... getting any fish?"
    And i would say, "wait till you see my catch..." I would have made it top 5 if the tip didnt bend the last hour of hunting... The bend of the tip made it unaccurate.



    Welcome to the forum Soren. Very interesting to hear about spearfishing in cold water. If you have pictures we'd love to see them.


    Which 9mm wetsuit is preferred by you and your friends?


    Thank you.


    I have plenty of pics and can show you some videos as well, that should give you some idea of our huntinggrounds :)
    Right now im using an Omer suit, but i find it a litle too "stiff". My next wintersuit will be a Polosub yamamoto 45, 8 mm. Its more flexible and warmer, but the durability is weaker.


    This is from Norway last year:
    Norge 2011. - YouTube


    And som pics from Denmark, fishes and some competition pics - polespear style :)



    This one is from Norway.






    Hello fellow hunters.
    Im an active spearfisher from Denmark. I fish the cold waters of Denmark and Norway on a regular basis. The Denmark has arround 7300 km of coastline. So you never have to travel very long to get some new fishingwaters. This is allso the same reason why Denmark has a great history of sailing. With stone reef rich waters you can imagine that we have quite alot of wreks in the shallows.


    We have a great variaty of fish that we can catch, and every fish that has the waight were you wouldeat it, is a good for eating.


    The waters is 0 degrese celcius in the winters, were we use 9 mm wetsuits and up to 22 degrese in the summer.


    We mostly catch: Flounders, turbot, cod, seatrout, mullet, garfish, makrel and seabass.


    In the winter i build my own guns and the new deal is a polespear.


    Most fish are caught from 0-10 meters.
    If you wanna know more, just send a message.


    Regards Søren