Posts by hank

  • Reel for a JBL Magnum 48 inch

    Sith, I've seen the different models of Magnums and this one has shark fins on the shafts and nylon wishbones.
    I'm gong to put a 7 mm shaft on. I tested one and it seems to hold well. And then use 9/16 bands.


    Thanks for the heads up on the leaks. I think I'll pass on the reel installation. I can't see how it will be a strong hold and a hard pull by a fish could work it loose, even with sealant, and start a leak.
    Unless JB Weld would work....??

  • Reel for a JBL Magnum 48 inch

    I just picked up a JBL Magnum for Mo. The Wong 55 is too much gun. Plus it's real expensive, plus it has my wife's (his mother's) name on it and .....well, the gun means a lot to me. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">


    It looks like a decent gun. Aluminum barrel with a 5/16 shaft...I think. There are no reel mount holes in it.
    I'm not in a hurry to put a reel on it and want Mo to concentrate on less than 20 feet of water and fish less than 5 lbs until he gets real comfortable.


    But if I do put a reel, what happens when you drill into the barrel? It looks as though only a thin piece of aluminum will hold the threads of a screw. Plus, do you have to put a good sealant on the screws to stop water from getting in and making the gun sink?


    Mo's stoked. I made a longer set of 9/16 bands and he can cock it. Ya man. The little fart has a really good eye for spotting fish....and lobster. He's a born hunter.

  • Hunting dog snappers

    Quote from sheff

    in the second picture, what species is the fish just to the right of the cuda?


    The one on the right of the cuda on the right is a dog snapper,


    The three fish on the right of the cuda on the left are, yellow jack, a white margate (grunt?) and a schoolmaster snapper.

  • Hunting dog snappers

    Quote from Dan

    Interesting post Hank. Are you using a reel or float line? Are your companions using reels or float lines? If some are using float lines the fish's behavior may depend on it.


    All reels.
    I have used a floatline drifting in the blue outside one of our school areas and the dogs were venturing out into the blue to check us out. I had a flasher and floatline. We were hoping for kingfish or maybe wahoo but after seeing about 6 dogs, Jake said, "F this dad...let's go in and get some snappers. We did ok and got a couple each.

  • 19/8/2012 Miami

    Nice fish. I won't complain about the quality of the underwater pics....^^
    Amazing contrast. Big ass fish and the skyscrapers in the background.

  • Hunting dog snappers


    By copper color, do you mean cubera? I agree, they are more suspicious. They approach us when we first get to a spot but will go hide on the bottom after that. Unless after a full moon and they're in spawning mode. Then they're not so shy, at least here.
    And even dogs....it depends on when someone else may have spooked them. You don't know who was at the spot the day or 4 or 5 days before possibly terrorizing the fish.
    And the "WHUP" or "bun" sound is what I hear the cuberas do. Just as you're lining up for a shot and make eye contact.....you hear that sound and they change direction.
    The dogs just turn and you see that little fluttering tail as they move down deep and away.
    Jake and I talk about this for hours....it's half the fun. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
    And muttons....well, that could be another thread. They're very unpredictable to me. Sometimes dumb as a cobia and sometimes spooky as cubera....

  • Organizing Spearfishing Equipment

    I put peg board on my walls. I got the idea in a hardware store in Belmopan which was how they displayed a lot of products. My wife is much happier now.
    I keep fins and weights in the boat. Scuba compressor and tanks down in the laundry room. My guitars and dive gear would take up a two bedroom house.



    Here's an updated version of the gun rack. Note the curtain rods. Bent shafts recycled.


  • Lunkerbuster's fish stories

    I need to start shooting those. I really like them but my wife complains that they're hard to clean. I showed her the skin rolling method but....Latinas....hard headed....haha

  • Hunting dog snappers

    Quote from LunkerBuster

    Nothing to offer about dogs. I find mine occasionally in holes. Rare for me


    Nice pics of the tribe though. Stellar fish


    I see them duck into holes too Judah..., but I've rarely, if ever got a shot at one inside. They can disappear into the smallest looking crack and .....gone. Waiting doesn't work. I've never seen one do more than a quick peek and duck back inside.

  • Hunting dog snappers

    Forgot...I also had a nice hog on. I hit it and my shaft went into a little hole, holding it tight. I had to surface and while I was breathing up to go get it, the barracuda on the right of the picture came in and ate about half of it. He paid dearly for that bite of hog though....haha

  • Hunting dog snappers

    Jake and I discuss this pretty often so I thought I'd bounce this around in here and see what you guys think,


    Dog snappers are one of our preferred target fish here. There are three ways that we encounter them.
    1. The "lone ranger" who you happen to cross paths with on the reef. You may spook him out or you saw him and snuck up and got a shot.
    2. The school. This is what we do the most. We have several spots where there is a resident school ranging from 40 up to 200 fish, depending on the time of year or.....I'm not sure what it depends on. Maybe someone gill netted some. After bumbling around with a school and getting one or two, we've come up with the plan of "never spook them", meaning we never show aggression. The best way is to get to the bottom and lay there but at a couple of the spots, this means laying on the bottom at 80 feet. A bit much for my skill level. But, I've found that I can drop to 60-70 feet with a kind of curled up body shape, hiding my gun and never making eye contact with the fish, and they''ll still come to me. There are always a few curious ones. Sometimes big ones.
    But, if someone makes a charge, gun extended, eyes wide open, looking at the fish....they won't let you close for pretty much the rest of the day. I think that using the method I described that maybe they think I"m actually acting in defense of the approaching fish. It doesn't seem to alarm them. Maybe they think I'm a big jellyfish? hah.
    3. There is another spot where right about 3 pm, the dogs come filing in, apparently to find holes to roost in for the night. In this spot, we just wait in ambush. If I see one in the distance I just get down, only about 15-20 feet to the bottom, and wait and ambush.


    Do ALL dogs come in to roost at night? It would seem that they wouldn't stay out in open water on the drop off. I know they come in at one other deeper spot because I've seen the school inside the reef early morning and late evening, but I"m not sure of their movements and the water is much deeper even inside the reef. (50 feet) It's a bigger area and they can sneak right past us in the normally not so great vis. That cut has a lot of water movement.


    We spent 3 hours at one deep spot on the reef yesterday. Jake shot one....er, make that two. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> He can dive to 80-90 feet and lay on the bottom. But Mo and Tino were with us. I told them just to watch but both got excited and I saw them both charging down, gun extended and wild eyed...haha. The school was unapproachable the rest of the day. I would see them off int he distance and dive down away from them to 60 + feet, look around and they were GONE.
    Anyway, we had a fun day. Still got a few nice ones, and a few school masters....barracuda. Yep.

  • Dedicated to HANK

    I"m sorry Ramon, I just saw this.
    How much do those cost? My left ear starts clogging up after about 40-50 dives in a day.
    Many thanks,.

  • A few from Belize

    Windfinder.com had it all wrong yesterday. They said, 4-5 knots all day. We left the farm and it looked calm but got out a couple miles and the wind kicked up to about 20-25 kts. Then thunder and lightning started up to the west and south of us. Shit.
    Couldn't get outside the reef, I started out, saw the waves and started screaming for my mama... so we went to a cut where there's a lot of mangrove snappers. We terrorized them for a while and got about 16 or so. Then the current kicked up so we went north to one of our favorite cuts.
    The current was pretty strong so I was dropping the boys and picking them up inside. They saw a few nice fish but the vis was pretty bad. They got the two nice barracuda and Tino got the fish of the day, a 7 lb hog.
    Nice day overall.
    The old guy in the pic isn't me. haha. That's DuQuesnay. Ever hear white Jamaicans talk? They sound like Bella Lagosi in the old Dracula movies. haha.



    Tino and his hog.

  • Fishing in the Cliff

    Nice. Great news on the Ear Muff Pro. I can't believe you're diving with a perforated ear drum though. It only takes a month or so to heal? You're hard core. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">