Posts by Guest

Thanks. And likewise, If you guys are ever up this way and want to dive the bay or Gulf, give me a shout.

We have an anchor that holds well in the sand. The problem with using the boat is two-fold, I think. First, the wnd and current are seldom in the same direction. So anchoring the boat with the required accuracy can be tough. Not impossible, but not easy. One technique that we use when H&L fishing small targets is to use a small secondary buoy (like a Coke bottle), tied with about 20' of line to the marker buoy. This gives you two reference points to line up on, and a fair estimate of wind and tide direction. The large pilot house on our boat really catches the wind, though, so it's still hard.

The other issue with anchoring the boat is the difficulty of assisting the diver. Short of cutting the anchor line, or letting it all out (600' on my boat), there would be no way to promply get the boat over to someone who was drifting away while struggling with a fish. We're inshore, and only 1/4 to 1/2 mile from shore, so they are not in danger of drifting out to sea. But boat traffic can be a real hazard

I often hold my breath while on the bottom. Sometimes, after a minute or so, the grouper will poke their heads out of the structure to see where the guy blowing all the bubbles went. Bang. I have also been successful on occasion, by holding my breath for the last 15' of the descent, if I could see the structure that early. There is no doubt in my mind that freediving would be very successful, when possible.

I would be curious to hear how you might go about it. Figure you have a target like a small sunken boat, about 15' long and 4' wide, on a featureless bottom in about 40'. Visibility is about 15', so you are blind for the first 25'. The current in the bay is never zero. I know what you are probably thinking, but even right at high and low tide, there is water movement. Sometimes, the surface and bottom even have light currents in opposite directions!

It's impossible to get a marker buoy to sit exactly above the target. You have to allow a few feet of slack line to keep the weight firmly on the bottom, which means the buoy will be 15-20 feet down current of the actual wreck. So, from the moment you start down the line, you are swimming into the current.

One idea that I had was to drop a heavier weight, with a sizable float, say, 50' up current of the wreck. Hold on to the float, breath up, and start a descent while the current carries you back to the target. It might take a little trial and error to get the placement of the float right, but maybe it could work?

One more obvious concern. The visibility and current would make it difficult or impossible to keep track of a buddy during his dive.

You can make the degree symbol (and about 200 other characters) by holding down the "alt" key and typing a three digit code on the numeric pad. In this case, it's "alt" plus 248. You can find the rest of the library by searching for ASCII codes.

People can and do freedive the rigs all year long. The GOM is over 1000' deep on many of those rigs, so the temperature is a little more stable. The surface does get colder, of course, but not as cold as a place like Pensacola Bay, where most of the drainage comes from estuaries and shallower water that cools quickly when the winter arrives.

All of my best Bay spots are 35-45' deep. Even I can freedive that deep in good water. The challenge here is that visibility is rarely better than 15', and you are trying to drop on a very small artificial structure, and usually in a fair to strong current. I am confident that some of you guys who know what you are doing could manage it, and probably hunt it successfully. But for me, it makes a hell of a steep learning curve.

The Gulf can be a little better in terms of clarity and current, but there also isn't much structure shallower than about 90'. The good news is that the larger snapper, AJs and cobia often hang in mid water, so someone who could reach 60-70' and hang out for just a little while could probably hunt it successfully.

I don't know when, but one of these days I hope to get down your way!

I REALLY wanted to try to freedive one of my inshore grouper spots today, but as soon as my arse hit the 57° water, I knew it wasn't happening. By the time I added enough neoprene to keep from choking on my nuts, I could hardly move. I felt like one of those kids all bundled up to play in the snow. So I chickened out and strapped on a tank. I don't know how those guys in California do it.

The old man was nursing a bad head cold and couldn't dvie, so he ran the boat and it was just me in the water, trying to see how many spots I could hit before the cold got to me. I managed 5 dives of about 25-30 minutes each, which produced a total of 8 gags all poured from the same 10-13 lb mold. No pics because A) we were racing an oncoming storm to get everything cleaned up after the trip and B) my marksmansip was embarassingly bad. I only lost one fish due to poor shot placement, but 4 of the 8 fish were considerably off target.

Aside from being cold, the weather topside cooperated (mid 60's), the visibility was good for the bay (12-15') and the current was light. Highlights for the day - two of the wrecks were covered with large red snapper in the 15-20 lb range, and we had two separate pods of 4-6 dolphins swim right up to, around, and under the boat.

Probably my last bay dive until spring, as the water will soon be in the upper 40's, with similar air temps.

Wow! Very nice job on the heat shrink Dan! How do you like the finish? It looks like a nice matte in the pics, and not too glossy, which I think was one of your concerns.

I didn't recognize the value of a second language growing up, so the only language courses that I took were the ones which were required. It's true that I never applied myself in that area, but I doubt that most Americans graduate high school with even remote fluency in an second language. As with any subject, the relative few who are highly interested and motivated will excel.

Dan - It's interesting that you mentioned French in Louisiana. Although it is a part of the State's heritage, there are relatively few native speakers. The dialect isn't formal French, but a creole blend that is different. One of the reasons that native speakers are increasingly rare was the government's hard line policy against speaking it in schools back in the mid 1900's. Kids of the time were beaten and humiliated for speaking in the "uneducated" tongue of the rural Acadians.

This is the only place where I feel like I can ask this question. I hope that you will take it as I intend, with honest curiosity and no political motive.

I noticed in Home Depot the other day that all of the larger signs were printed in both Spanish and English, and it made me think a bit. I'll be the first to admit that the American public school system pays only token attention to the teaching of a second language. In a global marketplace, it will become increasingly important and eventually indispensable for our kids to speak more than just English.

And yet, many on this board have a solid comand of English, even though it was not your native tongue. Maybe you learned it when you came to America (if that is where you live), or maybe you learned it in school somewhere else. I am wondering how you feel about printing signs, forms, instructions, etc. in multiple languages. Is it out of line to expect people who live in a country to speak and read the language of that country? I am not talking about airports and the like where people from dozens or hundreds of other countries may pass through on a temporary basis and need assistance to get where they are going. But how far should the government of a country go to accomodate those who are unable to read or speak the language of that country.

I would also be interested to hear how other countries approach this, from any who have traveled extensively.

Looks like it's the stuff used for banners. Do a search for "PVC Banner", or "Banner Material". I didn't find any suppliers in my quick search, but the pictures look like the same stuff.

Not quite the same, but similar. The fabric of the bags is a little tighter weave, I think, but you can still see space between the indivual threads.

I have used heavy industrial bags at work that looked to be of a similar material. In those cases, they were a PVC coated polyesther fabric. It's available in several different weights.

Quote from Marco

. . . You can also add more neoprene/silicone or any filler to the "cage".

That's a thought. I wonder how secure it would be if you attached a block of Shapelock plastic to the aluminum arm, and then molded the Shapelock to fit around the base of the camera, and then fastened the camera into its custom "bed" with straps like you show? Should be easy to get a perfect, form fitting cradle, which would probably require very little to keep the camera in place? Might not need the vertical cage support then?

Hmmm. Definite advantages to that setup. I'm going to have to ponder that for a while. The only downside that I see is that it really needs to be custom fit to the camera housing.

Thanks Marco. The slots are an excellent idea, and easily incorporated. The only reason that I used individual holes, was that I expected the user to cut off any of the aluminum arm that projected above the shaft, once he had the camera height set to his preference. With slots, you could not trim the excess, which might make loading more difficult. This is only in my mind's eye, as I have no photography experience. So it could be completely wrong.

Do you have a link the site showing the "cage" design?

Am I correct that you want an arm like the one for the RA mount? Do you want me to pre-drill a series of mounting holes? The arm is approximately 3.75" tall, by 4.75" wide. The camera mounting knob is 4" out from the gun, if you want to check those dimensions for your camera housing. Call it $10 shipped including the plastic/stainless captive knob?

$50 for the complete RA mount pictured. $30 for the complete trigger mounted arm. If you just need a bent piece of aluminum and want to do the rest yourself, then $5. Plus shipping in each case.

My Spanish? I don't think that I can even count to ten. Sounds like one of those "demotivational" posters from despair.com - "Maybe your purpose in life is to make everyone else look good by comparison . . ." <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

Dan - Sure, you could just mount the aluminum arm to the gun with screws. Alternatively, you could attach it to the trigger mech holes like in an earlier mount that I made (pics below) so as not to require additional screw holes. If you are using one of the common trigger mechs like Poseidonsub, Alexander, or Neptonics, then I think the holes are all the same.

I'm not a photographer myself, but here are a few pics of a camera mount that I just made for someone else.

It is meant to fit the 28 mm diameter barrel of Rob Allen or other rail guns, and I tried to keep it as clean as possible on the outside and bottom where the shooting line would be. The aluminum piece can be adjusted for the desired height with the range of pre-drilled holes, or even flipped upside down if desired to get the camera up above the gun. The clamping knobs need only be loosened, and not completely removed, to install or remove the mount. And lastly, the knob that screws into the camera base is captive, so it won't fall out even without the camera attached. The clamping assembly is Delrin, so as not to mar the gun, and the camera arm is aluminum with a neoprene rubber pad.

As alway, any and all constructive criticism is welcome!

No, the ponds were pretty shallow. We would generally just wade around from the shore out to neck deep, feeling for the balls with our bare feet. When we felt a ball, we submerged and picked it up. Sometimes we swam out in the deeper water, but we found that we got more balls in the shallower water anyway, because most of the errant shots fell only a little short, and didn't splash in the middle of the pond. I did lead the technological charge, though, when a cousin gave me an old wetsuit top that he had found somewhere!

Quote from seahunter49

So this is how you entertain yourself. It's 9pm.. hmm.. I feel like taking a long refreshing dip. Grab the scuba gear and head to the beach. Swim out in pitch darkness and then submerge to see the little sea critters. Swim back to shore and casually knife a flounder on the way. Jeff, you're hardcore.

As a kid, I made my spending money "retrieving" golf balls from the nearby golf course ponds and selling them to the local sporting goods store. Of course, the golf course frowned on such activity, so we went about it at night. With my background swimming in scuzzy, snake infested ponds, I guess nite diving in clear water didn't seem like a stretch. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">