Posts by hank

  • Happy Holidays

    Merry Christmas from Belize.
    Don, nice Christmas tree. Nice present underneath. May it bring many good meals to your happy home in 2011.

  • A few from Belize

    Quote from LunkerBuster

    whoa..dogs in 8 ft of water :@ i might have to find this spot...long kayak paddle from me though :D



    looks like a great diving day


    I've been wondering about this.
    Do all schools of dog snappers do this same behavior? It seems they're coming in to hide. But why? There must be lots of holes out on the deeper walls too. I've seen them.

  • A few from Belize

    I won't go there. I kid them all the time about them not showing me secret spots. Respect.


    Here on the barrier reef the fish concentrations are mostly near the cuts. The current goes in and out enriching the local food chain, and it gives the snapper schools places to go in and hide at night. This cut is a really narrow and shallow. They wait until late afternoon and the dogs start coming in to "roost" in holes, I guess to hide from sharks at night. That's how they usually hunt.
    I shot a small cero and while I was taking it off the spear, 50 dogs were all around me just checking me out. As soon as I got loaded again, they disappeared into the not so clear water. They snuck right past me and Du Quesnay met them right at the cut entrance in about 8 feet of water. He was stoked.
    Jorge and I normally go out to the dropoffs in more midday. We find the snappers there but you have to dive to 40-70 feet to get them.

  • A few from Belize

    Went out Sunday with two guys who are the spearfishing legends of Dangriga. One is my kind of regular buddy, (the guy holding the two snappers) with his younger son on the right of the pic. The other is my dentist, who ALSO makes his own guns.....hmmmmmm....kind of like a guy from Hawaii....who has been spearfishing here since about 1955. He's 69.
    Anyway, as you can see, they will shoot a lot of different fish. Arthur has some Taiwanese friends here who have a great recipe for stingray.
    Andre was really stoked because he got 3 nice snappers. Arthur got 2 and also a couple trunkfish. They have the exoskeleton and really nice meat inside.
    These guys really know the reef and took me to one of their secret snapper holes....but wouldn't let me punch it into my GPS. hah. Andre told Arthur, "don't let him do it, he and Jorge will come and clean the place out". But I did get a vector on the island just inside and the mountains in the background.
    Andres son, Denis, 18 years old, got a nice barracuda and a yellow jack. We also got a couple nice black groupers. That's all the fish they could hold for the picture as we were coming home just before sunset. Nice day.
    Going out tomorrow or Friday for some Christmas fish.


  • Wong Shafts?

    Quote from Marco

    I like rusty spring steel shats. I don't want them for a beauty parade. Just to kill fish.


    .


    You gotta be careful with those rusty shafts. At least give the fish a tetanus shot before you eat it. :D

  • Wong Shafts?


    so send me two 63 inch, 7 mm, single barb. high shark fins, Pursuits, please. Can you get them here in time so I can open them Saturday morning? :D

  • Wong Shafts?


    I've used slip tips around the reef but they get expensive
    if I miss and hit a rock. I bent a couple up that way.


    I had one of DW's 63 inch, 7mm. I used it for a couple months but lost it on a fish that disappeared deep in a "house". It didn't really rust but I was careful about cleaning it and not leaving it in the gun between Sundays.
    Thanks for the info. I'll look into the RA shafts. I need to order a reel today too.

  • Wong Shafts?

    Quote from Dan

    I don't think you got it right Hank. All shafts will bend. If you want shafts to be cost efficient learn to straighten them :) There was a time when I thought that a once bent shaft was trash but not any more.


    I understand all shafts will bend. I'm suggesting that if you're hunting fish that are more likely to bend shafts, you're better off using cheaper shafts.
    Some bends, like total 180 curves, can't be fixed. Or at least I haven't been able to fix them.

  • Wong Shafts?

    From all this information, it sounds like the cheaper spring steel would be cost effective when hunting reefs and having fish hole up after being shot....meaning a lot more bent shafts.
    Where as the more expensive SS shafts would be cost effective for pelagics where you're not bending so many?

  • What is your favorite gun and why?

    Quote from Matt

    Yes they are! It is still alot easier to overpower them than an enclosed track gun. Also with the enclosed track you can't use a bent shaft. My friend had a slightly bent shaft on his wong and he missed everything til he changed it out.


    You actually try and use bent shafts?
    I've shot a few times with them with my Riffe and couldn't hit the side of a whale shark from 10 feet. :D Even if just slightly bent. I missed a cobia, point blank from like....5 feet away and since have given up on the slightest bend.
    I haven't tried increasing power over the manufacturer's set up. But the Riffes do seem to really kick with a new set of bands.

  • What is your favorite gun and why?

    I've only shot 5 guns in my life. (not counting some POS I bought in San Pedro that about tore my little finger off when it fired unintentionally)


    Three Riffes. C3X, Standard 4 and Standard 5
    Two Wongs. 55 GR hybrid and a 63 magnum hybrid.


    If I could only keep one....tough choice, but I'd go with the Wong 55 hybrid. Something about that gun. It shoots really smooth. I think my hit average is best with it too.


    I can rig it for blue water and it's deadly around the reefs with the reel on it too.

  • Silicone mask skirt problem

    My older buddy here has a mask .....the old single faceplate with purge valve. Anyway, he wanted to darken it because the glare coming through the top was affecting his siting. He put what looks like 452 Marine Sealant (black) on it, or maybe regular black silicon.
    It would give it strength but it looks like shit.

  • A few from Belize

    Hit our favorite wall yesterday. Water was really green but there was a nice current line where it clearly divided into nice, clear warm water. Lots of grass and weeds on the surface too along the current line. We hunted that edge for about an hour with a flasher but nothing big only a few small ceros showed up. Wrong moon.
    I was trying to hide myself back in the green water and hold the flasher out near the clear water. There was that much of a "wall". There was a big school of horse eyes, about 30 nice permit (we don't shoot them though) about 20 nice fat spade fish, barracudas, and some dog snappers and grouper on the bottom. A nice black came up near the surface following a school of 3-8 lb horse eyes. He spooked and dove for the bottom as soon as he saw me though.
    We got 2 nice dogs, 2 black grouper, 1 yellow fin or yellow edge? grouper, an 11 lb horse eye, and two barracuda. I shot the cudas for a couple guys on my staff for Christmas. These guys love them.
    I tried KitKat bars for flashers. A few fish came in but then I got hungry so that ended. :D


    Note the sweatshirt. It was really cold here yesterday. Lower 60s in the am and evening. Cold ride home.

  • Playing in the pool -or- some lessons to learn from target shooting


    20-30 shots should be plenty for siting in a new gun or a different way of rigging it.
    If I went out after that and was still missing fish, I'd try to get closer. :D

  • Playing in the pool -or- some lessons to learn from target shooting

    When you shoot at a small target like that, can you tell if you miss high or low? When I miss fish, I have a hard time identifying that.
    I practiced a couple times in one of our shrimp tanks, about the size of your pool by the way it looks. I used a piece of cardboard that was 2x2 feet. That way I could tell where I was missing.
    (the cardboard doesn't last long but for one session it was ok)