Posts by jaguigui

"I play better soccer than you!" LMAO! "break yourself fool! whatsup? bang bang Whatsup?!" great vid.

Good write up. Read this after I JUST ordered the Speardiver small ID black rubber, so i'm pretty happy and excited to try it out. I guess i'm at the stage of diving where its fun to always try and tweak your gear to get to try and get a step up or improve the performance, but as you said, its fun but costly. But its what we love and i'm happy to experiment.

Hau, go down South or East side (be careful, super choppy at times).
Better fish on those sides, a little dumber.

Resurrecting an old thread,
Just wanted to share what works for me:
(1) banana muscle milk (there's no dairy in it so sinus issues aren't provoked)
(1) can of coconut water (very hydrating)
My advice is don't overdo it on the coconut H20 cuz it can cause diarrhea. Lol.
After dive: fish and beer

damn, that gun is sexy

No problem Hau. I love sharing my culture and displaying things that Guam has to offer.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with the Chamorro and English names of the types of fish over there, but i may be of some assistance. Guam has some reef fish that you might not find in FL (correct me if I'm wrong) or even in Hawaii, and vice versa. I would definitely try to sample some of these fish before leaving. I'll make a list for you. Also, two of my favorite ways that fish can be prepared is fried and a special Chamorro dish called "kelaguen"(any type of meat mixed, usually raw, mixed with lemon, salt, onions, hot peppers, and sometimes grated coconut) its similar to Ceviche. Most of our pelagic fish are the same as the ones found worldwide with the exception of Dogtooth Tuna.

Anyways, here's a list of reef fish that I would definitely try before leaving Guam, i'll provide the English and Chamorro names:

-Mafute (Emperor Fish) *my favorite fried fish
- Sesyon (Rabbit fish) *spines are venomous an hurt like a bitch, but one of the best tasting reef fish, also the "y" in sesyon is pronounced like a "z"
- Atuhong (humphead parrotfish) *one of the best fish to kelaguen
-Hamala (Sweet lips) *excellent white and flaky meat
- Matan Hagon (Bigeye emperor) *hard to spear, excellent to eat
-Tataga (Bluespine Unicornfish) *a Chamorro favorite to eat right of the bbq grill, if your adventurous, you can try what the old school Chamorros do and eat the stomach contents of it, its basically eating seaweed over hot rice, hahaha.

A trip to the Guam Fisherman's Co-op might also prove a valuable trip as you can put the images to the names of these fish, try out the kelaguen they sell (i believe its made of marlin), and just try and get some more info.

let me know if you got any questions!

Justin

*edit* Dan, if this is inappropriate for this thread or feel it needs to be moved, by all means.

Hau, sorry I keep interjecting, just tryna help out a fellow spearo in my homeland, but check out this place called Marine lab in the village of Mangilao. It should be calm this time of year. It's a great spot, be careful of the stonefish on the reef over there though.

Hau, check out the southern end of Guam, specifically the villages of Merizo and Inarajan. there's a sunken ship in one of the channels right in front of the church in Merizo. I think the depth is around 50ft. Also, if you get the chance to go to Cocos Island off of Merizo, you should try spearing out there, not a lot of development, low population, mean current=big fish.

Hau, I would suggest contacting Ray Flores of Fa'nu'i dive shop in Guam. He's an avid spearo and a cool guy and can definitely provide you some insight on some good spots. Also, try the Chamorro food when your out there, i dont think you would want to leave after. haha!

Has anyone tried out the ulusub handle and compared it to the AR-15 hogue grips?
I'm currently using the zombie green hogue grip on the AR-15 frame and was just wondering
if there's a considerable difference between the two.

Willing to hear pros and cons if anyone has any info to share.

Thanks guys!

thanks for sharing Dan!

Wow, just got my post deleted on spearboard.
I was just referring Jon, behslayer (ulusub builder), to get in touch with "woodguy" over here on
speardiver because Jon is looking for a USA source for teak blanks and I saw woodguy's teak blanks for sale on a thread.

Damn, thats kinda f*ckd up and silly. I mean where's the harm in a simple referral?
geez

I don't believe sharks are legally protected over here. It is frowned upon and bad juju to shoot sharks out here because of the Hawaiians' connection to them. A shark is considered an au'makua, kind of like a family god or spirit, I may be wrong on the literal translation because I'm Chamorro and can't provide a detailed insight into the Hawaiian way of thinking, but in general, it is frowned upon to spear a shark over here in HI.

Hey montereyspearo!
Super jealous that you get to go out big island.
I'm living and diving over here on O'ahu so most of my advice is for my
experience over here. I think "Makoa" is from big island and he should be able to answer most of your questions, he's a member on here so I would start off by asking him.

But i'll give you some insight to some of your questions:

1.) Gun sizes range from a 90cm euro for shallow reefs and shooting into holes, 105-120 cm is used for deeper reefs where your either dive bombing or waiting on the bottom trying to call fish in. 130-150cm are used for bluewater. there are some guys that use these from shoredives on the big island because it turns to bluewater literally 50 yards offshore in some places.

2.) Wetsuit thickness: I would go with an 3mm 2pc wetsuit. depending on your size and how cold you get 3mm is a good middle ground. you could use just the top of the wetsuit and some boardshorts in the summer time and you can use the full 2pc when it starts getting colder. If you get too hot in the wetsuit, just flush in some water when your out diving.

3.) For me, I would want to get a banksboard in the future, but a really popular and durable choice is the hard lifeguard float. Its really durable and doesn't have too much drag. As for bluewater floats, I don't have experience with that, so i can't provide any input.

4.) I use a reel over here in O'ahu, but i'd probably want a floatline if i was diving out hilo side because the big game come in closer and idk bout fighting big fish with a reel, i got no experience in that department either.

5.) Fish to avoid shooting: sharks (of course, unless its life or death), humhumunukunuku apua'a (triggerfish), Hagi (another type of triggerfish, usually don't shoot this because there the first ones on the scene after someone doo doo's in the water), mamo (sergeant fish)-- not really a game fish, but if you eat what you shoot, shouldn't have problems. It's frowned upon over here if you shoot a fish that is just BARELY legal, but i'm no hypocrite and will be the first to admit that i have done it and i felt bad about it, so it was a learning experience

There's alot of info on facebook if you look up the Hawaii Spearfishing and Freediving page.
good luck and dive safe.

--Justin

Just wanted to say thank you for your service in the corps and welcome!

Guys,

Woody and his parter won the Gene Higa Tourney out here!

Congrats man! haha sorry for the derail.

Dan, have you checked out Hawaii Skin Diver's "Epic" and "Epic 2"?

"Epic" features the new-school (90's era) legends of Hawaii spearfishing such as Jason Hijirida, Travis Kashiwa, and the late great Gene Higa.
Gene's 3 prong segment really inspires me to use my three prong more often as he is plugging big parrot fish that is even challenging with a gun at times. The narration is pretty good with tips on aspetto hunting and all the lil tips therein.

"Epic 2" is the newest one and features footage from O'ahu diving off of a jetski, but the best footage is of Kimi Werner, Jason Hijirida, KB Sakuma, and Ray Flores diving in Palau. It's great footage and a little better video quality than the original "Epic".

I have both right now and I can send it to you if you wanna check it out!

Anyone got a ulusub 130 pro series, rear handle? I'm thinking about one of those

or anyone have the ulusub 50 reel?

Jon hasn't responded to my emails in over a month.

I tried the X-Vu liquidskin and it was really comfy, the shape of the lenses had the best field of vision of any masks I've tried out (beuchat, speardiver aim, cressi). It's rather bulky though and not the lowest of volume so idk how you'd like it at greater depths but it was an awesome reef masks where I could see really well with my peripheral vision. For me however, it fit well in the store, but once I got in the water it would leak around my nose and the nosepiece was too protruded for my flat nose for me to grab it and equalize properly. I'm using the speardiver aim mask now and the fit is perfect!

Updated some of my gear choices. Dan, please delete my old post and use this one instead.

Mask: Speardiver Aim Mask & Beuchat Micromax
Snorkel: AQA gull w/purge (useful when fighting current and waves crashing)
Undergarment: UA spandex
Wetsuit: 3mm Speardiver Predator (CHEE!!!!)
Socks: XL Speardiver Predator booties (double CHEEE!!!)
gloves: Salvimar Guantenma Dipped gloves
fins: hatch carbonio gft aeros & mako fiberglass
f/p's: salvimar delta one & mako
Gun: Hatch Amero 55" (equivalent to a 115cm pipe)
Reel: Spearmaster with yellow line
Grip: Ar-15 Hogue Zombie Green
Pole-spear: 3pronghawaii 8' Kumu R1 (fastest one i've ever shot by far)
Knife: Seasport mini knife
Float: Seasports Hard Lifeguard float
Stringer: Belt Kui
Weight Belt: Maui Sporting Goods Rubber belt with stainless steel buckle