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I got some floppers and pins from Dan a while back, and they work great. He had both solid pins, and the ones with a little hollow in the end which are a little easier to "mushroom". As it turned out, the pins were just a hair longer than I needed, so I ended up grinding off the hollow end and using them as solid pins. I actually like them better this way, as I think the installation looks neater, and in the future, I would just ask for solid pins.

It's near Venice. There are a few of us who shared the cost and will share its use. The bay doors are for boats. The living area is up top, so that if another hurricane comes it doesn't get wet unless the whole area is under more than 15 feet of water.

You guys in Florida are lucky, and unlucky, with how easy it is to get to the diving spots. I live 2.5 to 3 hours from the camp, and right now it's a 60 mile run to blue water. It's great diving here, but it's not easy - maybe it's great diving here because it's not easy.

couple more pics

yea, you know a fish camp.

Glad you like them David. That foundry does nice work.

Headed back down to the coast in the morning. Getting close to finishing the camp - just trim and paint left. Will spend one day on the water, hope to continue the magic of the past couple weeks.

The tuna was shot using a homemade float (about 45 pounds of floatation) with a cam cleat, and a riffe bungie. The tuna took me and the float down to about 30 feet before I let go - the board went to about 80 feet before coming back up. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that the riffe bungie handles getting squeezed by the cam cleat without damage.

The tuna was 93 pounds.

The mahi was just under 54 pounds - a new state record - with my small snapper gun using a flopper. Fortunately, I hurt him badly with the shot.

Here are a few pictures from trips in the past couple weeks.

Thanks for the endorsement Dan. It's funny how so many of the ideas that I tinker with ultimately fail because I tried to make them too complicated. I remember when I made the first wood model of the pinch weights. I figured there must be a flaw that was obvious to everyone but me, because the idea seemed so simple!

It seems like it has taken forever, but the shipment of the new pinch weights is finally here. These are the same 2-lb size as the old design, but based on feedback from California divers, they have a little more rounded and streamlined shape. I have to say the foundry did a great job. The quality is better than anything that I could produce.

So far as I know, these fit all of the mainstream belts including Cressi, Omer, Rob Allen, Sumora, and others. The only belts that could be a problem would be those that are less than about 1-3/4" wide, as they might not fill the belt cavity completely enough to stay locked in place. Even with the belt hung vertically, they stay put.

For anyone who never saw the older version, this is how they work. The inside of the belt slot is narrowed at the middle to create a "pinch" point. When the belt is stretched, it gets narrower, and the weight slides along easily. When the belt is relaxed, it expands to fill the belt slot, and the weight stays locked firmly in place. This little wooden model shows what I mean. You will need to taper the end of the belt a little to get it started, like in the last pic.

They are still $7.50 each, and I can get about 40 lbs in a $12 flat rate shipping box.

Thanks again to everyone who has been so patient with me while I worked to get things to this point. No more waiting on me to pour a batch in the driveway. There should be plenty to go around now!

I agree with the point up approach for the exact reasons you listed, plus others, and that's generally the way we do it. With the added precaution of removing the slip tip when we remember to.

That's certainly an option, but in this case he wanted it seperate from the real, and easily removable. I find that lots of people have multiple guns that are similar, and want the ability to move the mount to any of several guns.

Paul is stationed in Okinawa, and asked me if I could make a camera mount to fit his Riffe Euro. I figured probably so, but I didn't have a Riffe Euro handy to take dimensions from. He didn't have dial calipers to take accurate measurements, and was also concerned about the mount sticking up high enough to interfere with the bands on the open track. So here's what we came up with. I sent him some of the moldable shapelock plastic, and he made a two-piece cast of his gun, in the area where he wanted the camera to mount. He sent that back to me, and I used it to get accurate height, width, and corner radius measurements to fab his mount, and to keep the height above the gun to a minimum. I realize it's not exactly rocket science, but it still feels good when you find a way around a problem!

Isn't the length of the bands also a consideration in your favorite setup?

My little bay gun handles 3 (5/8") bands pretty well shooting a 5/16" shaft that is 48" long. Length from the muzzle to the middle shaft tab is 38". It does kick a little, but the recoil is nicely in line and does not seem to generate any substantial muzzle jump, and I have plenty of short range power for thick headed snapper. I seldom have the opportunity at longer shots, though, so I do not really know how the accuracy would be at the limit of the shooting line.

I envy that clear water! Looks like a standout day.

Dan - I have the same concerns about posting fish pics and reports. It's not that I worry about people finding our best spots. It's more that most people don't event know there are decent fish in the area, so it's typically not crowded. Because my haunts are so easily accessible to small boats, I worry some about letting too much out.

No promises . . .

Quote from pargo

Good story Jeff. Maybe it was moved a little by a storm and you couldn't see it because of the bad vis.

Maybe, though it seems unlikely that it would have survived a direct hit from Hurricane Ivan a few years ago, only to be moved by something much less severe. Another possibility is that it was washed out by the passage of a large ship, as it was only 32' deep and not far out of the normal passage area for ships in and out of the Naval Base. I lost one of my favorite wrecks (an overturned fiberglass boat) when they towed the aircraft carrier Oriskany out to sea a couple of years ago. I could only surmise that the propwash from the big tugs either buried it, or tore it loose such that the tide could move it.

Core - We often see mangrove snapper, though they are usually too small to shoot. Also lots of sheepshead and flounder at times. Lately I have been seeing more red grouper, though all too small so far. Yesterday, I saw four species of grouper on a single wreck, which was a first for me (Gag, red, scamp, and Nassau). I've never seen a Nassau inshore before. There are lots of Spanish mackeral in the bay, but it's fairly unusual to see them on a dive unless you get buzzed by a big school. I have also seen cobia, jack Crevalle, African Pompano, and triggerfish, but only rarely.

Wanted to Alvin, but visibility on the bottom was only about 10', with snot at the top that limited vis to about 6'. Biggest problem was that the top snot made it REALLY dark at 50'.

Quote from pargo

That's a monster snapper. I wish our muttons would get like that. Say Bill, isn't this kind of a dive report? Can we put it in a regional section? Where did you guys dive? The Miami section is the only active one and I'd like to get the other sections going.

Probably right Dan. This was in Pensacola Bay.

I'll add a little more detail, just for Alvin <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> We started the day looking for one of our old standby wrecks that always hold snapper. It barely registered on the bottom machine, but Dad decided to dive it anyway. It was gone. Nada. No trace. How does a pile of junk that has been there forever just disappear?

So we moved on to the wreck where we had seen tons of snapper the previous week. No fish on the bottom machine, and couldn't get a bit on the rods. Not shaping up to be a great day.

So we slowly idle over towards one of my better grouper spots, watching the sidescan sonar as we go. We mark up something that looks promising, and stop to fish for a while. We pick up a couple of almost legal snapper, so Wood Guy goes over the side to see if anything bigger is home. Turns out to be a big metal dumpster, but all he scores is the smaller of his two fish. While he is down, I idle around and mark a second target that shows a few more fish. We get a few promising strikes on the rods, but no hook-ups. My turn, so over I go. JACKPOT! It's an 18' sailboat, intact, and sitting upright on the bottom. Monster snapper are swimming through every open hatch and the cabin door. I tag my limit with a couple of 8-10 lb snapper and a nice grouper, but the big red only shows up while I'm occupied stringing a fish. Back on the surface, I tell Dad that he really needs to see this wreck. He goes back down and shoots his personal best!

Great new wreck, and I can't wait to go back!

Here's another picture of that wetsuit, taken this weekend. I don't own one, but it looked like a good suit to me.