Posts by Liquid

I've been reading a lot of Stevens fish reports. All of them since the beginning actually. I continue to see Nates replies... It really stings every time. Was he overweighted? That's what I keep thinking to myself. I never met the guy, but I feel he's taught me more about spearing and diving than practically anyone else. He left a deep impact on my diving thought process.

I have the snake river prototyping red lens. It's badass, you can REALLY tell the difference. I'll post some pictures when able. I usually don't dive too deep though ~40.

The bigger question is what the color already is. We get a Crap ton of green water here. SRP says magenta is better for that, but the red one seems to do just fine (SRP is expensive tho, expect to pay 90$ for filter +adapter)

My roommate has the phantom. Well built, solid gun. The writing on the side is coming off a bit, but everything else is pretty much like new. Plus we really put our gear through hell. I used it all last dive(7hours), and it worked well. The accuracy was a little off, but I think it is because of a minute bend in the shaft. Can't go wrong with a phantom imo...and if anything does Dan is there to fix it ;P

Welcome! I too would love to see some of your builds.

I think it's a little bit of both. I think it's less of a genetic predisposition and more of how your tubes are formed physically. When a child is born the tubes are horizontal with the throat, as we develop they become more vertical. It would make sense the degree to which they become vertical, and how the tubes become that way effect the diameter of the hole opening. This would clearly make it more or less difficult to open them just with muscle contraction and tension alone.

Perhaps there is a genetic association though. Like those that can curl their tongues.

Voluntary tube opening. Essential for hands free equalizing.*Tensing and stretching the muscles pull the eustachian tubes open. Some divers get good enough at this technique to hold their tubes open for continuous equalization.

Same thing with me. I always just thought I had to blow sooo hard to equalize. Especially inverted. Then I went to a diving ent and he said I had a chronic sinus infection. He gave me antibiotics and nasonex. Easy sailing since. Sometimes I can even get a little vto action

I actually think some fish are attracted to it. On many occasions I've shot and had fish actually come closer to check out what it was.

Has anyone had experience with both the Speardiver phantom and the hammerhead evo2 that would be willing to provide pros and cons and there experience with both?

I have to agree. My roommate and I both took it. I got snagged on the shooting line of the floating gun of a holed up grouper after a failed attempt to retrieve him. I got caught 5 ft from the surface low on air. The single thought that came to mind when it happened was "it's ok if I black out, Nick is right there." I was able to stay calm because of it and able to untangle myself. I knew he knew how to handle such an event. I practiced it with him many times in the pool, and the ocean. I couldn't say for sure I would have panicked if we didn't, but had I not taken the class I think the situation would have been different. And mine too, was 300$. Increased my static by a minute, helped me understand what was happening in my body when diving, and of course preparing me for accidents and how to deal with them. What I didn't find necessary, and what I did find a waste of money was the 70$ extra to get taken out on a boat to dive a line to get the certification...(especially because my ears were shit and I wasn't able to equalize past 20' that day.) The 300$ though, I don't have many hard feelings about. If it was 100$, then I'd recommend it to anyone who occasionally dives, or is interested in spearfishing/freediving. But the cost makes it such by the time you take it, you probably have already researched half of the information they provide you(like the things already listed in this thread)

I know the 75 is just a hole gun, but I use it as a quasi pole spear as well.

Simple: dry barrels provide ~25% more power, or 25% less loading resistance, depending on which way you want to set it up. The one I wanted to get was 100cm, with a dry barrel it should be equivalent to a 120-130 band gun (at least at low depths) . Considering everything though, I think I'm going to get a band gun.

I have a seac asso 75 and love it. I just want more range. Most manufacturers don't make dry barrel pneumatics, and if they do it's 400+ . The one I specified is dry barrel, and with shipping is 240$, equivalent to what I'd pay for a railgun of the same capacity. So that's where the dilemma really lies.

I'm looking for a gun with more range that won't break the bank and is a good buy. I'm a big fan of pneumatics, for some reason they just seem easier to load, but I'm tempted to get a band gun.

I'm having an internal battle between getting this specific pneumatic and a nice railgun in the 100-120 range.

Salvimar Vuoto Air 100: stock loaded with a dry barrel, supposedly hits 5-6 meters (also if anyone knows any US resellers of this gun it'd be appreciated. Scubastore from AU has it for 160, but then its another 80$ for shipping!)

My roomate has a phantom 120 from Dan and loves it, but truthfully I find 120 it to be a little long. I'm a small guy and loading it is a pain. How much power is going to be lost if I get a 100 vs 120(relatively speaking)

Do you guys have any other recommendations for either category?

Any advice and opinions appreciated.

Thanks.

Honestly when I took mine through FII, the main focus was on physiology when diving and practicing safety techniques in the case of LMC or SWB. I found it invaluable in my ability to deal with problematic situations, and to better gauge my limits. That's just my personal experience however.

If for no other reason, this is why freediving classes should be taken. Purely to train for the unexpected dangers of this sport, and how to handle them appropriately (god forbid) if they ever should arise.

I've had mine for a good few months and love it. I only picked up a small pneumatic because I'd be out cruising the surface and see barracudas or large grouper that was just too spooked. I love the hunt though. Fast, reliable, but it is really long

I recently purchased a SEAC Asso 75 and finally got to use it. what a great day Sunday was. Current was just a slight push north, water like glass. Heres the story...

We started out the day early. My roommate Nick prepared the boat, I ran down the street to pick up my friend. We hit the boat ramp at about 8:30 and by 9:30 we had arrived at the first spot. It was his first time snorkeling, so we stuck him with the float+dive flag ;P . It's one of our favorite spots, lots of small coral heads surrounding a gigantic coral head in about 30' of water. For the first thirty minutes we cruise around, see a few chub, bunch of porkfish, the usual suspects. I don't see much in the way of hogs or anything else at this point so I say screw it and head to the monster coral head. I take a few dives and can't see anything but some black margate hiding under there. I ask Nick if he wants to go hit up the next spot, and he replies no, that he just saw a hog in his peripherals and wants to see if he can get it. So we stay, a few minutes later he dives the coral head and comes up, saying he saw a nice grouper look at him straight in the face before holing up. I take a few more dives but it's dark, and very tight under there with a huge internal space(coral head looks like a mushroom). I don't see anything and question his judgement. He says he's positive so I take a few more minutes to breath up and really get myself in there. As I do, I finally see the tail. Looks like a nice size, but it was dark. I head back up to the surface and let him know I saw it. I take another breath up and head down once more, gun loaded and prepared. I hit the bottom and crawl in as far as i can get, just enough to see the tail + 6 or so inches. I bring the gun up, aim at the thickest part I can, and let her rip. Immediately she starts to try and hole up more and at this point i've been a the bottom for about 40 seconds. I struggle to retrieve the fish and cannot. I float the gun and head up to catch my breath. The next few dives Nick and I both try and retrieve the fish from the hole. She's in there pretty good alright. After letting the fish(and silt) settle a bit I head back down, grab the shaft, jam my arm as far into the hole as possible and get a firm grip around the caudal fin and pull her out. A nice red grouper emerges and I head to the surface, then the boat with it.

I brain the fish as I'm heading to the boat, and leave the knife in. As I approach the rear of the boat, the fish comes alive and the knife comes up, spiraling down the 35' or so to the bottom(Doh!). On it's way down though I see 3 slender fish attack the knife! Not sure what they were, but there were quick. Nick and my friend Tim reboard the boat and I dive to the bottom for the knife. I retrieve it, and had the bright idea to use it as a flasher. I told him to drop the knife in about 5 seconds after entry, as I should be on the bottom by then. I take a dive and wait at the bottom . and wait. and wait. and after about 30 seconds I realize no knife is coming haha. So I start to look around and I see a little hogfish, so I figure, eh, why not. Line up a shot and hit her from about 5 feet away. When I come up Nick is having a discussion with a Kayaker, hence no knife... but i got a small hog so I didn't care

We head to the second spot and dive for about an hour before I spot a nice sized grouper hanging low in the open. I try an get the top on him but it's a no go. He spooks and keeps an eye on me for the next 5 minutes, while I shuffle perpendicular towards him. I make a dive and he swms quick and holes up underneath this large slab. I look but can't see him. Nick heads over, and I inform him about where the groupers holed up. We spend the next 10 minutes trying to find this grouper which evades us. We give up and keep heading on when Nick sees a grouper lying on the bottom. It looked awfully white and we had trouble identifying the fish from our position. We lose sight of the fish once more and about another five minutes later I spot the fish again. I wave Nick over and he takes a nice shot at it and after a short fight, and bending his shaft a little, we retrieve a large black grouper. We were stoked and headed in since our cooler was now filled

All in all. Red Grouper - 23" Black Grouper - 28" Hog - 13.5" and 7.5lbs of lean meat

Welcome!

For a while I was running 8 minute miles 2-3x a week. Definitely saw an improvement by 10-15 seconds. I've just recently added yoga 2-3x a week into the mix with varied results. I see a large improvement in recovery Times. I'm no longer nearly as winded when I surface, however I still need a good breathup to attain any sort of decent bottom time.

I'm also the type to need a long warm up. I don't get into my groove until about two hours into my dives.

Supposedly they taste just like regular hogs. I've been tempted to pop a couple big ones as I've heard fwc really doesn't know the difference. Frankly I'm not willing to take that chance, and it's just wrong. If they were legal to take, I'd definitely grab them.

Quote from LunkerBuster

Dude that is a great hog for any accounts but with a pole spear you should be doubly proud.

Remember we can shoot Spanish hugs here in fla. Just a reminder
Thanks for the report

You mean Can't. Right?