Posts by Guest

I see your point about the hassle of a cap, but I really don't like guns laying on the deck of the boat. They get thrown around in rough seas, and it's easy for someone to lose their balance and step on one, or for something else to fall on a gun and damage it. My preference is stored overhead under my hard top, but this probably isn't practical for larger guns.

How about vertically, but upside-down? I was thinking of a set of PVC tubes, maybe of different sizes, so that each gun fit in it's own tube, and the bands would sort of cusion it within the tube? Maybe a special bottom in the tubes, that allowed the shaft to stick through, but supported the stock. That way, the weight of the gun is supported on the muzzle, and not resting on the shaft and trigger mech.

Griswold's post on his speargun storage got me to thinking about protective caps on spear shafts.

We generally hunt with slip tips, and it is easy to remove them when the guns are stored. But even the adapter or bare threaded end of a shaft could easily be a danger if you fell onto it. One thing that I have found to work well on certain tips is a 2" piece of the bright orange hose on my air compressor. It is heavy walled, and the diameter is such that it will fit over the point, but not the double floppers on a JBL slip tip. It wouldn't work on a single flopper shaft, or the adapter end of a standard slip tip, though. The bright orange color is important to me, as I can get a little excited when the bottom machine lights up with fish, and often jump in the water with the protective cap still in place.

Probably the best protector would be something that is hollow inside to fit over a shaft, but closed at the end so that it can't be pushed down if someone falls on it. If you have ever seen the protective caps on re-bar at a construction site, then you have an idea what I am envisioning, but obviously smaller.

What do others use, if anything?

If I was freeshafting PVC in the corner would be great.

Since my spare shafts are rigged with cable and some with cable and slip tips, they can get pretty messy. I've got some horizontal rod holders on the side of my boat that work well for them. They're actually not something that I have to use all that often, so they don't have to be quite as handy as the guns.

I like it. KISS all the way.

How about spare shafts? Would you just bungie them in the corners, like guns? Or maybe just bungie a piece of 2" PVC in one corner to hold all the shafts?

I needed a gun rack for my boat that I could remove after each trip. I share the boat with a fisherman, so building something in wouldn't work.

This rack will hold 8 guns of all sizes and shapes, with or without reels.

The bungies hold the guns in place at the top. The dividers at the top and the bottom keep the guns from shifting around and leaning on each other during heavy seas.

The heavier bungies at the corners are used to secure the whole thing into the stern corner of my boat.

I'm making a second one with only one divider and no bungies for longblade fins.

I got the garbage can at a local restaurant supply store.

We use flashers sometimes, but most of the time we just go where they should be.

what does FSW stand for?

Quote from pargo

Jeff, What's the biggest gun you have now that isn't big enough?

What will be the size of the new gun that is supposed to be ideal for the rigs? If you can please describe the size in terms of band stretch. From the furthest band hole to the tab/pin closest to the mech.

Chad, what is the ideal size speargun for the rigs?

How come the hell divers and such get away with using JBLs? Do they simply get closer to the fish on scuba?

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Dan - I only have two guns, my JBL Competition Mag, and my home built bay gun. Both are about 47" overall, with the bay gun having about 37" of band stretch to the longest pin.

I'm not quite sure what the new gun will look like. I learned on my trip with Chad that a chest loader of about 60" or so total length is probably as long as I can comfortably cock, at least for now. It would probably get me about 48-50" of band stretch, using (4) 5/8" bands and a 5/16" shaft. I am a little concerned that my stock may not be massive enough to accurately manage the recoil from four bands, though. I guess that will depend somewhat on how much I thin the stock toward the front for easier tracking.

There is probably no "perfect" setup, as evidenced by Chad's selection of guns. I do hope this will also be a good gun for freediving the Gulf out of Pensacola where the snapper and AJs often hold mid water over wrecks, and a bit out of range for my short guns. Though I would probably cut back to 3 or even 2 bands for thoses cases

I think that the Helldivers are mostly hunting inside and very close to the rigs, shooting AJs, cobia, grouper, snapper, and other species that hug closer to the structure. That, and they are very, very good at what they do.

The one's I've seen the most are the Standard Series and the Metal Techs. Don't forget that these are scuba shooters though.

Yes, the scuba guys get away with shooting JBL's because they don't require accuracy or range, just power for punching through big fish a close range.

Most of them have switched to Riffes because they are more accurate and have better trigger mechs than the JBL's.

Pargo,

That's not an easy question to answer. It's different from reef diving in that the conditions and required range and power to push through big fish can change so much. We might be diving shallow stuff in relatively murky water shooting mangrove snapper, move a little to clean green water where we are hunting wahoo, or go a little farther and be in blue water hunting tuna.

I have 3 guns that I use all the time.

(1) 52" enclosed track rear handle gun with a reel. It has 43" band stretch. I shoot a 5/16" flopper shaft using 2 5/8" bands. 9/32" shaft would work fine, but we often see big cobia, which tend to make a mess of small shafts.

This is my dirty water gun, but it also sees action in blue water when I put down the big gun and grab the small one for hunting inside the rig. With all the rig legs, etc. it's nice to have a smaller gun inside the rig.

(2) 61" Enclosed track hybrid - The use of this gun overlaps with the little one in that I have it rigged with a reel for hunting in and around the rig legs, but it's also setup so that all I have to do is clip a float line to it for hunting bluewater pelagics. It is powered by 4 5/8" bands, shoots a 5/16" shaft with a slip tip (usually), and has 51" of band stretch. I generally grab this gun when I think there's a good chance of seeing bigger fish around a rig, or for a light bluewater gun. It is awesome on wahoo since it has good range and moves like a dream through the water. I shot a 96 pound AJ with this gun at close range. The fish was swimming toward me - I pulled the trigger when it started to quarter away. The shaft entered just behind the gill plate and exited near the anal fin on the other side - it went through about 3 feet of fish - it was a very close shot though.

(3) 65" molded carbon fiber gun - This is my tuna gun. It shoots either a 5/16 or a 11/32" shaft with a slip tip. It has 56" of band stretch and is powered by 4 5/8" bands. In making this gun I wanted all the power of BIG tuna gun, but wanted to minimize it's size and cross section to make it easier to swim with and handle in the water. This gun took a 194 pound tuna and a 94 pound wahoo this year.

I think all three guns are needed for all the different situations that we find ouselves hunting.

If I had to choose just one, it would be the 61" enclosed track hybrid.

It's amazing the things that you notice when you do something like that for the first time, and how clear things remain when your replay them over and over again.

The blank I have started is 1-5/8" wide, by 2-1/8" tall, by 61-1/2" long. Full length dovetailed delrin track is installed, and the enclosed track cut. Kitto M6 mech is on order, and I have a piece of delrin squared off to make the handle. I just need to figure out what the rest should look like.

I also want to try to make a slip tip. I found a couple of broadhead points like I have used on previous tips, but larger (5/16" diameter) and longer. They are made for bowfishing, and are a fair bit harder than 17-4 stainless.

Glad you liked the trip. Sometimes I get a little too goal oriented. I was bummed that I wasn't able to put you on good fish. I enjoyed reading your thoughts about all the little things.

You would like some of the things we saw last week.

We need to finish some bigger guns for you.

Thanks Dan,

I'd be happy with any one of those items.

I've learned over the last year that competition isn't for me. I'd much rather spend a day freediving in blue water with good friends and shoot a few good fish than win a tournament by shooting a bunch of fish I don't want to eat.

100 pound wahoo
150 pound tuna
100 pound AJ
30 pound snapper

To see a marlin underwater
To see a bluefin tuna underwater
To see another sperm whale

sweet! Thnks for the tip!

The energy of the cocked band, if I remember correctly, is directly proportional to length (given equal %elongation)..

Quote from hau

Is it possible for a spearo to cock say 1 bigger band to equal the power of 2 smaller bands?

How about a Roller Gun?

Hau is too modest. I know nothing about railguns, and this would never have worked out withouth his input. Sounds like you have had no problems with water leaking into the barrel then?

What would happen if the width of the spool were divided into 3-4 thinner segments using a couple of dividers? Could you reel the line into one relatively narrow section, and then when that section was full, flip the line onto the next section? The idea is that the line would pile relatively evenly in a narrow section vs the full width of the reel. So you wouldn't have to pay attention to making it wind evenly across the full width of the spool. Just watch for a section to get full and flip the line to the next section?

any report on vis?? Going out saturday and sunday.