Posts by makoa

Nicest stuff I've seen in a while!! Congrats and thank you for sharing!

Aloha!

On Naviti Island in Fiji we were hunting the reef when the village elder came swimming in with a huge puffer on his pole spear. He simmered it in coconut milk for hours and served it to us. It was awesome! Then in Mexico we were hunting with a local diver and he specifically targeted the white puffers with brown spots. Again, the fish was amazing. Of course in each case we watched our native bruddahs take the first bite! AUWE!!

And the tingling?....couldn't tell if it was the puffer or the constant grog ceremonies we had with the village elders. Of course, I had the longest, deepest, and most relaxed dives EVAH while in Fiji...compliments of the constant Kava mellowness.

We even thought of custom designing a "scabbard" for our shorter roller guns out of pvc, but it's just too bulky.

Just took a look at this thread due to an idea my boys and I have of riding our dual sport adventure motorcycles down through Mexico with the thought of diving every spot down Baja or the west coast of mainland Mexico. This idea would seem to make carrying a gun and shaft doable on a motorcycle. I just saw the new version of the traveler gun at James and Joseph's in San Diego and got to handle it. The butt stock remains a constant length but you can choose variable stock to muzzle lengths to basically have a short version for reef and poor viz to a 130cm for blue water. I was hoping to find a review on it from someone who has used the gun. While the concept is great for backpacking through the pacific/ Indonesia etc, and for packing on a motorcycle, My biggest concern would be flex and a tendency for the gun to develope cracks after use from being under tension....like Dan said.

Anyone have experience with this gun or concept? Can any one imagine any better way to combine the kick-butt adventure of off road motorcycle touring AND Spearfishing at the same time? :cool2:

As always.....ALOHA!

Makoa

NEW RELEASE: Video of final days in Mex.

Spearfishing Mexico 2: Hecho en Mexico

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg6Ti4In0R8

There was so much more footage to include. My passion is spearing, not movie making. The video is not so great, but it's a small representation of an epic Father and Sons trip and the adventure we lived.. Had three of my 5 boys with me.
It's amazing how a trip like this puts life back into perspective...even over the daily trips to the water that become routine. As I post this I'm reminded that in spite of all the opinions and knowledge shared on the forums regarding gear, set-ups, muzzle styles, and mathmatical equations, in the end what really matters is getting out in the water and living a Salt Life, spearing fish and putting food on the table. Mentoring your kids and watching the stoke grow is what I live for. I wish I had spent more of my dive time filming their shots. Oh well, like I said, my passion is spearing fish not filming. Maybe on the next trip. :thumbsup2:

Mahalo for visiting this post and for watching the vidz

Aloha,
Makoa

Aloha Cuz,
I use a 7.5 Rob Allen or Spearmaster spring steel shaft (can't beat the cost and strength) at 140cm on my Aimrite 110 roller with 14mm small id bands. I love the set up. I've gone to 7.5-8mm shafts on my guns with this rubber and I've always been a fan of little shaft overhang. 140 cm on a 110 puts the shaft flopper just past my MVD muzzle.

I stopped buying SS shafts after having lost a few in tight ulua houses at Laupahoehoe pt. One I recovered a year later when I shot one omilu that holed up same place. I saw it up inside a tight reef crack. When I got it out I was surprised to see the deterioration of the SS. After a year or so in the waTer the shaft had holes and rust. It was a Riffe shaft...not cheap.

Post results of your shaft upgrades.

BTW, if you're poking Mu, your stalking skills are maika'i!

Makoa

But he was two wraps away....max range, shaft penetrated the lateral bone stoning him but didn't pass through. Two wraps in clear water...definately:thumbsup2:

Quote from hank

I agree on the 14 mm, small ID bands.

The shorter single wrap kind of makes sense…but if it's a good size fish, it's going to run out line on your reel anyway unless you stone it. I don't see a disadvantage with single wrap though. And I have shot a few good size fish farther away shooting down on them from a ledge. But we have great vis in Belize.

And a float line is simpler but I had more fish hole up on my using that but I was using a breakaway. I couldn't grab the floatline quick enough and had fish hole up deep.
With a reel, if the fish starts to run, you can slow it a bit holding the line as it comes off the reel.

I'm not arguing with you Marco….just thinking…..sitting in this damn hotel in Ho Chi Minh…..wishing I was diving….:(

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Sorry I'm late to the conversation. Hope you're settled in and slaying fish with your new Andre.

You got some great advice by some great spears. I would listen to any of them and their experience. The only comment I would make is regarding the two vs one wrap set up. I Always use two wraps due to shooting in ultra clear vis in Hawaii. I can't tell you how many times I've taken shots at fish when I used single wrap and watched my shaft stop short and sink just out of range because I was shooting at a larger fish that looked closer than it was. With two wraps I know that my shaft will have the range allowed by the power set up of my bands...otherwise I've basically shortened my range capabilities. But that is in ultra clear water. I have made so many shots at max range with two wraps, shots that wouldn't have made it with only one wrap. Hunting blue water you're going to most likely have great visibility and will be shooting at larger fish which make better targets at longer distances. So you will definitely be shooting at fish at the range capabilities of that Andre.

Float line or reel?....yes! For Blue water and reef hunting both have their place. I always use float line when swimming long distances from shore for visibility by others, a safety float for fatigue, and a place to hang my stringer and fish. Also when I expect BIG palagics that will spool my reel I prefer a float line and breakaway set up. BUT I hate being tethered to 75-100' of line and a float when out by rocky pinnacles with ripping current as it makes it hard to hunt close to the up current sides without your float and float line getting hammered and tangled on the rocks. I will usually tie or anchor my float line on the down current side and hunt with my reel. More versatile and less drag, etc. But a float and float line is simpler to use. While reef diving a reel just makes it easier to move around coral heads, move through holes and caverns and the reel line acts just like a float line in marking where a fish has holed up or to mark a spot with lobster or octopus etc. If you're using a single gun to hunt both reef and blue water I would suggest to get a reel so you have the option and versatility according to the spots you're hunting. My dedicated blue water gun doesn't have a reel because it only gets used when hunting big palagics that require a float line and floats. All my other guns have reels, but I also can clip them into my float line...all determined by the spot I'm hunting.

Fish looks close...

Fijian "three prong",

Rollers, by design, are more involved than the standard banded guns. That's the only thing I don't like about them. So I prefer simple and clean setups. I have two shorter roller guns (in theory, shorter guns are best for roller muzzle setups) both rigged with the looped loading "bridle" on top of the muzzle. Keeping the loading process the same is important to me so that my muscle memory stays the same. In Mexico with the abundance of fish, quick loading became the key for me using my rollers. My 90 is a single stage, KISS simple set up and perfect for close in reef hunting. If I wanted less power, I would simply load the wishbone on the first notch of my notched shaft. This is harder to do if you use tabbed shafts since there is a tendency for the second/third tabs to snag the wishbone as the wishbone comes to rest on the roller muzzle "sled". On my 110 I went to a two and three stage set up so I have the option to load for a more powerful shot, but found that I really only used the max power stage without difficulty and still had succes.

I think you could set up your roller with the loading loop/bridle on the bottom side and be just fine. I just prefer to keep the bottom of the gun/barrel as "line free" as possible...there is a lot of "stuff" going on with shooting line, reels, bands, loading tabs, etc underneath the barrel and having another line or loop to get in the way seems like it would provide another opportunity for tangles. Either way, getting familiar with your set up, using it repeatedly, and getting it dialed in for you is crucial. Many on the forums have great ideas and suggestions complete with band length and preload graphs, etc, but these are only a good starting point for getting your roller dialed in. I spent a good amount of time in the water tying and retying my anchor wishbones to get the "right" feel and power preloads for my hunting. Let me say that I got to know my roller guns really well while bobbing in the ocean fine tuning the setup. Once I got it right my rollers became the only guns I wanted to shoot.

It will be interesting to see if a longer, beefier gun like my hybrid RHP will be a flop or the answer to having a great pelagic roller.

Overall

Multi stage attachment

I finally got my Speardiver Roller Muzzle. I was so impressed with the robust construction and size of the muzzle that instead of putting it on my "petite" Pathos 90 Open Carbon, I decided to try it out on my DIY 55" Hybrid Rearhandle Plus...I know, call me lolo...crazy...but I couldn't resist. I'm not a fan of the longer roller guns. I feel the true benefits of the roller muzzle are most evident in shorter guns, especially when conditions like visibility and structure require a shorter gun but the fish require the power of a larger, more robust setup.

The included multi-stage bottom attachment actually was designed well enough that I was able to install it on the teak stock portion of my gun, even though it was made for a round barrel. It is a three stage set up, but the way it's installed the stage closest to the muzzle (stage 1) will be where the wishbone will be anchored for loading. Then stage two and three will actually be where the wishbone will sit for shooting. The distance from the roller's leading edge (where the bands enter the roller) to the last tab on my Daryl Wong Shaft is 135 cm...a way longer roller gun than I ever thought was prudent. I have 14mm small id bands tied at 72 cm with the bands slightly pre tensioned while anchored on stage two. The shaft is a 7.5 mm. The way it is right now in its pre-test form, the band is still load able without the load assist, and feels as though when the anchor wishbone is moved from stage two to stage three the band stretch is maxed out. As with every gun, I won't have it dialed in until I get it in the water and take some shots with it. It will be interesting to see if it will be a power/range improvement over my standard muzzle setup ( a Tinman three band hole muzzle) with two 14mm small id bands, or if it will just have better accuracy due to less recoil.

After using my 110 roller exclusively in Mexico with such great success, and getting the roller set up dialed in, I'll never go back to a standard banded gun with my shorter guns. I still enjoy my banded large reef/blue water guns, but this will be a fun project to see if I can get the same results with a gun this size.

It seems that man of every time period goes throught the same thought process in his evolutionary quest of figuring out how to get "the one that got away". It's evident that each generation gains a technological advantage from materials and manufacturing, but the theories seem to have been introduced by the kupuna...the ancestors...of our sport and way of life, and we just merely keep coming back to their ideas but with new materials and applications...I wonder where the future generations will take it.

Thanks for sharing.

Now THATS cool.

Thanks Marco. No words to describe what trips like this do for fathers and sons. Three of my favorite things in life (other than my wahine!) Salt Water, free diving-spearing, and adventures with my sons....ok, maybe dirt bikes and guns too! :laughing3:

Aloha!

I love the woodwork and mechanical design. A wooden reel...and to think we have to buy the latest and greatest space-age material. I remember coming out of the water in Fiji with my oldest son with all our gear and respectable stringer of reef fish and being humbled by an older Fijian woman who's stringer of fish was way more impressive than ours, loaded with reef fish and octopus...her gear?...a wire hanger looking spear and an old Clorox bottle for a float!

Recently in Mexico made by an old time Mexican diver:

So I'm bored sitting in the hotel on a layover and thought about starting a thread on "Indigenous Tools" divers have come across on trips to various regions of the world. I've seen some pretty creative stuff in the pacific (Fiji, Samoa, Christmas Island, Thailand) and most recently in Mexico. All have been variations on the original Hawaiian Sling like Uncle Sonny Tanabe from home on Big Island. What have you all seen? Hank in Belize and Vietbnam? Virgili in Cuba, Others....?

Uncle Sonny Tanabe with hand made Hawaiian Sling and shafts:

Wow. Nice cuda! That's half the thrill of shooting these fish...subduing a toothy predator while connected by a piece of steel and some shooting line :laughing: