Need info on buying a Speargun

[sontek]

What makes/models of spearguns are good? What should I look for when purchasing one?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Get the biggest one you can draw back, I personally wouldn't consider anything under 48" and ended up with a 54"er myself.

I like the wooden guns myself.

Riffe, Wong, etc are great brands.

I've had alot of use out of my AB Biller and haven't ached for a pricier gun.



I use my polespear more, but thats just the nature of shore diving. Typically flounder, sheepshead, and mangroves are easier to come by than larger fish.

[Hetland]

What makes/models of spearguns are good? What should I look for when purchasing one?

If you find yourself in the Mobile area drop by Gulf Coast Divers (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mobile-AL/Gulf-Coast-Divers/167165205804) They have about four makes of spearguns for sale, and will let you shoot them in their pool (as long as no one else is in it at the time). You should really try to shoot before you buy if possible.

You can't go wrong with a 48" A.B. Biller. It's relatively inexpensive, easy to find parts for and it will do a great job killing the fish you would want to eat. It's the GMC Truck of spearguns.

The Cadillac would be Riffe. It does everything the Biller does, but looks prettier doing it, and is admittedly quieter doing it (it's a better design). You pay a premium for the looks and silence though, and honestly, I don't notice my "noisy" Biller scaring off any fish (at least not before the spear goes through their ear ;) )

If I were to buy a new gun, I would probably go with a railgun. They are shorter, lighter, and imho more accurate than wood guns (though not as pretty). I like Pleaj, but most established railgun companies sell the same thing with minor differences (heard good things about Mako guns too). As much as I'd like a railgun, my 48 Biller probably won't get sold. It's a solid, dependable gun that puts meat on the table, and the price is right.

Don't bother getting a wood gun under 48" if you want to hunt snapper/amberjacks, and don't go below 39" (90 centimeters) on a railgun. You will most likely be disappointed, and then have to go buy a bigger gun. The longer the gun, the more range and power it will have. Big, beefy snappers and aj's need to be hit hard, and in the right place or they will tear off or take you for a ride (not always the good kind of ride either).

I use two bands (5/8 I think) on my biller, or one big band on a rail gun. I just switched to a single wrap as it's a faster reload, and I'll be less tempted to take long shots I know I shouldn't be taking with less line on the shaft.

I replace my bands about once every 18 months, but ymmv. Don't forget to regularly inspect the shaft line and the rubber shock-cord thingy too. they need to be replaced at about the same interval, or more if you shoot in structure like an oil rig jacket or such.

Good Luck!

[JPENDERGRAST]

I like my Sea Hornet 52". It's a little heavier for a wooden gun, but ballasts well when in the water- which is the only place that matters! Very accurate, and plenty of power.

If this is your first gun, spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars isn't necessary... But then again, if I would have had $500k to spend when I was 16, I probably would have bought a Ferrari for my first car.

[PatMyGreen]

To give you a good answer we should really first ask, what will you be hunting primarily? If you are hunting for grouper and snapper on scuba then I don't really disagree with what has been posted above in essence but I would push more for an Ocean Rhino than the other guys have. Its essentially a Biller on steroids and comes rigged for action. Riffes are mighty fine guns as are Wongs (I own a Wong GR Gun and Daryl was a great pleasure to do business with) but they are for the most part designed as freediving guns and take longer to reload than a Biller or a and Ocean Rhino. Ocean Rhinos are designed for freeshafting and lineshafting, which is how (freeshafting) most of the Gulf commercial snapper and grouper spearfisherman hunt. Freeshafting you use a single band and no shooting line. (no the fish don't just swim off, provided you aim correctly) You carry 2 or 3 shafts and can do amazing things once you have spent some trigger time. Also Kevin's (a retired commercial shooter himself) customer service has always been top notch in the few instances I know of there being a warranty issue.

Ditto on the length considerations as the guys above. 48" shaft is a minimum. I shoot 60" shafts. Force=MassXAcceleration. So your penetration is mostly going to be based on the speed of the shaft and its mass at the time of impact.

My recommendation is an Ocean Rhino RX-5 (http://oceanrhino.com/spearguns.html#rx) with a hybrid shaft to start. You won't need another gun for scuba.

[PatMyGreen]

I like my Sea Hornet 52".
I am assuming you mean the Spearfishing Specialties (also called Ocean Rhino now) version of the Sea Hornet? Both AB Biller and Spearfishing Specialties had rights to distribue Sea Hornets in the US at one time but when TUSA bought out Sea Hornet they ended the relationship with Spearfishing Specialties, which is when Kevin (the owner) put his new gun on the market. I have the same gun with the commercial muzzle and have killed many any fish with her. This gun with the commercial muzzle is the forerunner of the current ocean rhino gun.

FYI Everyone used to measure the gun sizes different ways and they weren't always comparable. For example my old 52" Commercial Sea Hornet is actually 58" in length from butt to muzzle and shoots a 60" shaft. Where 52" came from is anyone's guess. Shaft length is IMHO the best way to compare guns to each other.

[JPENDERGRAST]

Spot on, Pat, but for some reason, I stick with calling it a Sea Hornet.

I also freeshaft when hunting the bottom. So much easier and the commercial muzzle makes loading a breeze. I did mount a bracket so that I can clip a reel on if we're hunting deep water, or if I ever run into a chance to free dive, but that's not very often.

[PatMyGreen]

Why a reel for deep water if you don't mind me asking? Freediving I get.

FYI I mean no disrespect to anyone or their shooting style. I know few things on this planet can make for an ugly flaming:angrymob: like speargun preference. I realize looking back on my posts I cam on alittle strong. I feel strongly about what I shoot and why, as I am sure you all do to and with good reasons all. One of my best friends even shoots a JBL:shocked2: (the scandal!) and we don't make him hide his gun below decks or anything when we go out:D. He does just fine too. Its much more the Indian and less arrow, as the old adage goes.

[JPENDERGRAST]

Why a reel for deep water if you don't mind me asking? Freediving I get.

FYI I mean no disrespect to anyone or their shooting style. I know few things on this planet can make for an ugly flaming:angrymob: like speargun preference. I realize looking back on my posts I cam on alittle strong. I feel strongly about what I shoot and why, as I am sure you all do to and with good reasons all. One of my best friends even shoots a JBL:shocked2: (the scandal!) and we don't make him hide his gun below decks or anything when we go out:D. He does just fine too. Its much more the Indian and less arrow, as the old adage goes.

I took the quick disconnect rig off the gun when I went to Hawaii since they only free dive. When I came back, I didn't like swapping out the quick disconnect with the reel, so what I've been doing is freeshafting on the first dive (without the reel), and if there are any larger fish, or in mid-water, I will attach the reel on the second dive (if we even dive on the spot twice). I've enjoyed it so far.

[Hetland]

FYI I mean no disrespect to anyone or their shooting style. I know few things on this planet can make for an ugly flaming like speargun preference. I realize looking back on my posts I cam on a little strong.

Hey, this isn't spearboard. No one here bases their manhood on what gun they like ;)



Its much more the Indian and less arrow, as the old adage goes.

+1

[PatMyGreen]

Interesting setup! I have used mine pretty exclusively for freeshafting and don't carry a lineshaft with me during dives. But on the boat I do have my GR Gun in case we come across a weed patch or something. The big jacks mid column always make freeshafting interesting.... in alot of ways I'm glad the limit is only 1!

[JPENDERGRAST]

It works for what I need it for. I've never tried free shafting an AJ mid column. In fact, the only time I ever free shafted mid column was with a school of spanish jacks- that was also the last time I did that. The Jack was dead right in front of me, but it just had a big hole in it's head and no spear. :dontknow:

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Soft fish

[Abaco24]

What would be the choice in the $200-$300 range? The Rhino RX5 is $475 plus, which is too much for me to start.

Any difference in Teak, Padauk( and Mahogany woods? quality, best long term, sound?

The AB Biller looks like a solid gun with nice wood, reasonable price for the 48 & 54". Just starting out (again).... used to shoot back in the day, can't remember the model, it was long, black, 3 bands and killed fish.

[JPENDERGRAST]

Soft fish I know, right? That was the most expensive fish I've eaten to date...

[kalik]

[QUOTE=PatMyGreen;5131242]Why a reel for deep water if you don't mind me asking? Freediving I get.

FYI I mean no disrespect to anyone or their shooting style. I know few things on this planet can make for an ugly flaming:angrymob: like speargun preference. I realize looking back on my posts I cam on alittle strong. I feel strongly about what I shoot and why, as I am sure you all do to and with good reasons all. One of my best friends even shoots a JBL:shocked2: (the scandal!) and we don't make him hide his gun below decks or anything when we go out:D. He does just fine too. Its much more the Indian and less arrow, as the old adage goes.[/QUOTE

I Love my old JBL but have upgraded recently to a Biller. I am always learning on every dive. It is very true about the Indian and the arrows though. I think it all comes down to 1) what you are attempting to shoot and the type of environment you are in
2)your skill level
3) the amount of investment you are willing to fork over to put fish in the
cooler
Thats my opinion I could be wrong. I do really enjoy hearing all the opinions though it makes things interesting!

[PatMyGreen]

Teak is hands down the superior wood for marine applications as its high silicate levels make it extremely resistant to rot. Every other wood has to be coated to protect it. Teak is generally just oiled to maintain it. I recoat mine 4 times a year with teak oil and a cloth and she looks good as new (okay, maybe not new but I like the "character marks" she has earned). Once you get a cut in the epoxy, rhino lining, or whatever finish you are opening the door to wood rot in your expensive speargun. Padauk is a denser wood and is negatively buoyant I believe, Mahogany is a great all round tough piece of wood.

No matter what, remember that as soon as you pull the trigger to "shoulder" the gun by running your arm through the shooting bands. At the very least don't ever let go of the gun trusting the line to keep it around. Otherwise you may well end up buying a new gun again, learned that one the hard way early on and have seen several guys surface sans gun on my charters doing the same. Sometimes we find it floating on the surface, sometimes we don't.

As to Kalik's post on skill level, I have mixed feelings. I frankly don't believe in the idea of a "beginner gun". I do believe in buying what is right for your budget. Ultimately it is cheaper to buy only 1 gun than to buy a gun and out grow it and buy again though. Of course I don't do well with delayed gratification.... so if it means saving up for another couple of months and missing out on some trips you could be shooting on in the mean time.... I go cheap and get shooting immediately. Skill level is a dynamic concept, the more experience you have the better you get. If you go spearing with very experienced guys and learn from them you will progress through the learning curve much faster than re-inventing the wheel on your own (what I did). Likewise if you take a year off your skill will be less than before.

To me true skill in shooting is not how well you aim (thats simply step 1) but its what you do and how you move from there. Fish see every motion you make and are generally quite confident to swim in close proximity even to sharks and other predators. They know the sharks have to get close enough to "touch" them. This is why sharks hunt at night and dusk when they have a sensory advantage that lets them get closer to fish. Erratic behavior (jerky, not smooth motions) are a warning behavior and if you exhibit any of that you will not be as successful as you could be as it tells everything down there that something obviously threatening is out and about. Sharks are calm and graceful until that last burst of power where they close the gap and get "bitey." This is why gag and black grouper are considered by many to be the mark of a good shooter. EVEN EXPERIENCED HUNTERS simply cannot get into range on most grouper over 25#s and frankly don't even see them before they have moved off into the sand. They are smart as all hell and you really have to have good stalking technique to close in on them if they see you, and thet pretty much always see you. The big males over 40# are insanely wary.

Every motion you make is broadcasting your intent to the reef visually and via vibration fish pick up on their lateral line. On scuba you make too much noise (vibration) to sneak up on fish in the open. So you have to lull them into comfort with you. True masters can use their motions to "steer" fish into giving them the perfect shot angle.

[Hetland]

+1 for Captain Pat again. It is fascinating how accurately a fish can gauge your intent. I'v had grouper within inches of my camera, and even had two triggerfish bump my camera. Just last month Barry and I both had to literally brush snapper out of our way with the sides of our guns to get shots at other fish. This all changes once they become targets. Somehow they know the exact range of your gun, and the exact amount of time they need to get to that hidey-hole, and the exact speed they need to swim to outdistance you. As I said, fascinating.

Don't stare at a fish when moving towards it. Don't make sudden or jerky movements. Keep your gun up and ready to shoot before you're ready to pull the trigger. Spearfishing is exciting. Take a breath, calm yourself and try to be cool. You'll have time to burn through your gas once you hit something ;) If at all possible, stay still, and let the fish come to you. Do this by finding the fish, and watching their routes of travel. Find photos of fish skeletons and nervous systems, or pay attention while cleaning them and learn their anatomy. You want to stay away from gutshots, and hitting them too far back in the body. Aim for the "ear" area behind the eye, but before you get to the end of the gillplate. If you hit a fish without killing it instantly, it will usually pull away from you and head for cover. Don't "pull" too hard on the spear, or the fish will break off (especially snappers). With bigger fish, you can even bend your shaft, so be patient. If there is any doubt of a solid hit, I ram my spear as far through the fish as possible to make sure it's through-and through THEN I start thinking about getting him on my stringer. Learn to sharpen your spear points, and keep them sharp. It does make a difference.

Be careful stringing your fish. I had a large snapper ALMOST knock off both my mask and regulator last year. He played possum until I started stringing him, and then he went ape-$41^. I've heard stories of guys getting entangled and killed by big AJ's too. I carry an ice-pick and put it into the brain of everything with more than a twitch or two. (can't figure out how to do it with aj's though, they are hard-headed in more ways than one). I think this helps with sharks too, as they sense the vibrations of wiggling fish, and seem interested. I string all of my fish from the gills and out the mouth. This way they all lay in the same direction, and can't bite you (I have a scar on my thumb from a triggerfish that's about two years old. He bit me through my gloves). I like this type of stringer:

http://www.oceanrhino.com/images/r382fish_stringer.gif

because it only takes one hand to use it. I can't tell you how important that is when your juggling a gun. Some folks use tethers for their stringers, and some don't. I think it's best not to use them because sharks are more likely to try for something that's 3 feet away than they are for something that is attached to you. Ask Barry what he thinks about tethers too ;)

[mrmccoy]

I have learned a ton off of this post! I want to get into spearing but I want some more bottom time before I throw a speargun into the mix. I haven't herd of freeshafting until this post.

Another of my concerns has been IDing the fish. I can tell the difference between a snapper and a grouper but once you pull the trigger it isn't like fishing with a rod n reel. I guess it's no different than deer hunting......I won't pull the trigger unless I have a clean shot and know for a fact it is a legal deer.

[Hetland]

I have learned a ton off of this post! I want to get into spearing but I want some more bottom time before I throw a speargun into the mix. I haven't herd of freeshafting until this post.

Another of my concerns has been IDing the fish. I can tell the difference between a snapper and a grouper but once you pull the trigger it isn't like fishing with a rod n reel. I guess it's no different than deer hunting......I won't pull the trigger unless I have a clean shot and know for a fact it is a legeal deer.

You're ahead of the game. Get some experience diving in the conditions in which you intend to hunt. I was lucky enough to be with a real expert on my first spearfishing trip, and he did a great job keeping me safe (it's too easy to lose track of your air, consumption rate, location, et al when you are busy looking for or tangling with critters). His corrections underwater were worth more than a thousand posts like this one. Develop good discipline managing your gas and keeping track of your orientation, and it will carry over into safer spearfishing trips.

No one likes having to throw a dead fish back in the water because it's too small. Remember that everything underwater appears larger, so if you think a fish is undersized, then it most certainly is.

[Abaco24]

Glad PMG is in my backyard! Please explain "free shafting"

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Its just what it sounds like, using a free shaft... as in, the shaft isn't connected to anything via a line.

Basically just shooting the shaft as an arrow. A good shot is valued with a free shaft, otherwise, things will get expensive fast.

[PatMyGreen]

Freeshafting is the epitimy of KISS spearfishing. Billers, JBL, Sea Hornet and Ocean Rhinos all have special slide rings on their lineshafts. These create additional drag and rob shaft speed and even alittle accuracy from your shots. Nothing is worse than all that shooting line though for slowing your shaft down. Freeshafts travel faster to the target and therefore hit is harder too. So they require less power to do the same work. Freeshafters have a gun that carries 1 or 2 extra shafts on the sides of the gun. I use only a single 22" x 5/8" band for my 60" freeshafts.

Obviously you have to take more precise shots and have a plan after pulling the trigger in case it isn't stoned. The ideal shot angle is at 45 degrees on both horizontal and vertical axis. This ideal compound shot angle taken from above and behind the fish is massively disabling if not instantly fatal. Hetland described the brain area well earlier but additionally if the shaft passes through the spine anywhere the fish is stoned from there back so the "kill" area is long and skinny. I typically aim for the spot where the lateral line meets the gill plate (high on the gill plate) and remember that the spine is in the center of the fish (when viewed from the same horizontal plane) so if I am above the fish I want to aim slightly higher than that on the outside of the fish since the shaft will be traveling at a downward angle and I want it to hit the sweet spot in the middle of the fish.

So you want the fish to be below you and swimming just away so that the shaft tip will exit closer to the fishes mouth than it entered. If not the fish could "throw" the shaft and hole up somewhere you can't get it back. This is similar to not meat shooting a fish when lineshating and then applying too much pressure on the shooting line causing a tear off. Wait for the right shot and only shoot when you know you have it. It takes alot of discipline to hold off for not just a shot but an ideal shot.

If the fish isn't instantly incapacitated then you simply reload shaft two slowly and calmly while keeping an eye on things. This takes about 3-5 seconds during which time the snapper or grouper is almost certainly just trying to dislodge the shaft from it or is swimming for a hole. Since it has a 4-5' steel handle sticking out of it they don't tend to hide very well if they try to hide. The second shaft will seal the deal and you have still not had to swim agressively and should not be breathing hard. The other fish are more interested in what the hell "Fred" is up to and why he has a new piercing, the ruckus isn't associated with you, even once you string "Fred". The best part of the stringer tht Hetland posted is that you run the pointy end through the eye of the fishwhile holding onto the fish, and without letting go of the fish you can open the stringer by pushing the fish. It is always secure that way. Since they are cold blooded, fish do not bleed out like a mammal does and if they aren't brained they aren't dead and can "come back to life" when you least expect it, so stringing them in this manner is strongly advised.

Anyway back to freeshafting. The amazing part of freeshafting is that once you force yourself to be more selective in the types of shots you take you start stoning the fish more and more of the time. I haven't lost a shaft or a fish in a long time even though I only outright stone 50% of the time. The pros stone closer to 90% of the time. If you stone a fish you can just leave it there on the bottom while you act causal and reload, the other fish will come and checkout what you just shot and you can often get a second and third fish in this manner and be left "holding wood" with all your shafts in your next weeks worth of dinner. Then you retrieve your fish and do it again. This is perfect for those spots covered in mangrove snapper and hogfish or when all the fish are open in the Summer time.

Remember you don't have to worry about a line and only 1 band, plus you can rear load the shaft instead of packing it like an old school powder musket. I would strongly recommend getting the bare bones of spearfishing DVD and watching it. It covers all this in detail with good video and with commercial spearos shooting in the middle grounds.

[Hetland]

Hey Pat. Any tips for braining amberjacks? I can never get through their thick skulls with my spike.

For that matter, I sometimes have trouble in midwater with big snapper too. It's not an issue if I'm close to the bottom or some other structure, but if I don't have it, I waste a lot of time digging around.

[MRXRAY]

The last couple I shot I used the serrated edge of my knife to cut through the top of the scull and then knifed right into the scull cavity....The downside is a LARGE amount of blood!

As for a teather....PASS. Keep your fish close to you or real far from you, but not inbetween. We have had some good luck with game bags when we used them and even had a shark that couldn't find out fish or get a good scent on it after we dropped the bag a the anchor line and threw a bit of sand on top of it.

[PatMyGreen]

To brain the big jacks I use my knife http://images.buzzillions.com/images_products/07/28/156072_raw.jpg to hit the brain by wiggling the knife back and forth with as much inward pressure as I can generate. The rocking motion from the wrist kinda drills through the softer skull material. The knife above and the several other knock off brands have what I consider to be the best tip and grip (plus a good locking sheath) for this.

To execute this technique you need to have one hand as hard in the gills as you can grab and the tail locked up with your legs, scissor lock style. Worth pointing out that you need to draw your knife first if you keep it on the inside of your legs and go for the scissor lock immediately after its drawn. With the fishes head and tail immobilized you can get the knife precisely into position at the base of the skull well behind the eyes on the top of the AJ's head (dorsal) at a 45* angle. Complete dominating pressure from your legs and gill hand should keep the jack relatively submissive say 80% of the time. Do not stab violently into the skull, just get the knife into position and grind away with the point until you feel the fish kinda tremble and then relax, once it relaxes the deed is done. Its worth saying that if you line the fish up so that either its left or right side are facing you, you can see what you are doing better and have more leverage for the brain grind, but you expose yourself to the possibility of the fish headbutting the snot our of you. I had a mask broken, lip split, nose bloodied and reg pull from its mouth piece one very memorable dive because I failed to consider this.

I apologize to all my fellow shop operators for posting a pic of a knife from liesurepro but its the knife I use and have loved for many years now. I sell the tilos version (Stainless Steel) of it in my shop.

Blood in the water is way less of a shark issue than the thrashing of a wounded fish which travels in all directions at the speed of sound (in the water, so mach 4ish?). Blood has to diffuse into the water and drift across a shark's path which is only done at the direction and speed of the current and molecular diffusion..... which is pretty slow. Reef sharks primarily use there ability to detect vibrations and then sight to find wounded prey. Smell and the Ampulae of Lorenzini (sp?) are only useful at much closer ranges for the sharks we are talking about.

[JPENDERGRAST]

I have the titanium version of that knife and love it. The only thing I don't like is that one of the plastic tabs that hols the knife in the sheath has been shaved down.. Suppose that means it's been put to good use, though.

[Hetland]

this is what I use:

http://www.bluewater.net.au/catalog/imagemagic.php?img=images/pelaj_iki.JPG&w=750&h=473&page=popup

[JPENDERGRAST]

I saw that on a web site once and was tempted to get it.. How long have you had it? Seems like it would be prone to falling out.

[dumpsterDiver]

To brain the big jacks I use my knife http://images.buzzillions.com/images_products/07/28/156072_raw.jpg to hit the brain by wiggling the knife back and forth with as much inward pressure as I can generate. The rocking motion from the wrist kinda drills through the softer skull material. The knife above and the several other knock off brands have what I consider to be the best tip and grip (plus a good locking sheath) for this.

To execute this technique you need to have one hand as hard in the gills as you can grab and the tail locked up with your legs, scissor lock style. Worth pointing out that you need to draw your knife first if you keep it on the inside of your legs and go for the scissor lock immediately after its drawn. With the fishes head and tail immobilized you can get the knife precisely into position at the base of the skull well behind the eyes on the top of the AJ's head (dorsal) at a 45* angle. Complete dominating pressure from your legs and gill hand should keep the jack relatively submissive say 80% of the time. Do not stab violently into the skull, just get the knife into position and grind away with the point until you feel the fish kinda tremble and then relax, once it relaxes the deed is done. Its worth saying that if you line the fish up so that either its left or right side are facing you, you can see what you are doing better and have more leverage for the brain grind, but you expose yourself to the possibility of the fish headbutting the snot our of you. I had a mask broken, lip split, nose bloodied and reg pull from its mouth piece one very memorable dive because I failed to consider this.

I apologize to all my fellow shop operators for posting a pic of a knife from liesurepro but its the knife I use and have loved for many years now. I sell the tilos version (Stainless Steel) of it in my shop.

Blood in the water is way less of a shark issue than the thrashing of a wounded fish which travels in all directions at the speed of sound (in the water, so mach 4ish?). Blood has to diffuse into the water and drift across a shark's path which is only done at the direction and speed of the current and molecular diffusion..... which is pretty slow. Reef sharks primarily use there ability to detect vibrations and then sight to find wounded prey. Smell and the Ampulae of Lorenzini (sp?) are only useful at much closer ranges for the sharks we are talking about.

All good advice. I personally try to control amberjack in a different manner. I try to grab both ends of the shaft (assuming it is through the head), pull the fish under my arm and have the head near my hip. Then I ride the fish around until I can direct the nose into a reef or some type of obstruction, a corner or shallow crack is perfect. Once you have the nose jammed into the reef, the fish can not do much since they can pretty much only swim forward.

It is important to keep the fish under your arm and not allow him to get in front of you and bash you in the face with the tail or even slam your ribs with the tail. Once the fish has his head in the crack, then I will sometimes string them up green or sometimes I will free up one hand to use a kill knife. As Pat described, there's no stabbing, you place the tip precisely on the centerline maybe 2 inches behind the eyes and then with a forward and backwards rocking motion, you insert the tip in a controlled manner. I often will occasionally add a little twist or two after insertion, especially if the tip of the knife might have drifted off the centerline. It is easy to snap a knife blade off when you do this or bend the tip. It is also much better to have a double edged (stilleto) blade for this.

I have also been in a total war and was unable to get the upper hand and get the knife in the head, in these situations, I have gutted the fish and made the cut as far forward all the way past the pectoral fins and try to split them. This makes a huge mess of blood and guts, but if you do it correctly, you will split the heart and if you can hang on for another 90 seconds or so, the fish will run out of steam. However, you will be operating in a huge cloud of blood.

[UaVaj]

Great info regarding the freeshaft.


Back to the original question.
Step 1. You need to know the typical condition of your particular area. When I use to spear in the GOM with typical vis around ~15'. An ab biller 48" was more than sufficent. By the time you see the fish. They were well inside the kill zone. Now that I spear in the Atlantic with typical vis of 40' plus. My ab biller 48 was almost useless. Much more difficult to get in range.
Step 2. Buy the biggest gun you can load. Important exception: Only exercise this step if you are in clear water where the range of the gun become the limiting factor. Like in the GOM. Guying a bigger gun won't matter. Because a 48 has plenty of reach. Even a 36 will do. OTOH in the Atlantic. An ab biller 60" becomes an average gun. A Riffe 70" is preferred. So in this case do want to buy the biggest gun you can load.
Step 3. Regarding type (wood or meta) and budget. This is personal choice. Buy what you like. General rule of thumb is the more expensive the gun. Typicall the better the performance. You usually do get what you pay for. No way will an ab biller ever compare to a riffe. Just remember for one riffe you can almost get two biller.

[PatMyGreen]

I try to grab both ends of the shaft (assuming it is through the head), pull the fish under my arm and have the head near my hip.

That sounds good and all but I weigh 150# at 5'11", :dontknow: this emoticon is to scale in regards to my arms, and there is no way I can put an 80# jack under my arm and control it! Maybe a 40#, but no way that is something I have the ability to pull off on a bigger reef donkey this plenty green in the deep water. I'll leave that to those of you who are abit more "pumped up."

[Calif_Diver]

I own two Mako spear guns ,I havent used the 75cm in nor cal yet, but the 90cm shoots like a Lazer, from what i have read they are the same gun as a Rabitech,but cheaper, Dano at Mako spearguns customer service is second to none,if you buy from him you wont be sorry,any problem you have he will make it right.

[RaginCajun]

+1 on the video "Barebones of Spearfishing"

It's an excellent beginner spearfishing tutorial. Although generally objective, it does feature only Ocean Rhino gear, so some might consider that a commercial aspect. It does feature some awesome killing on the Florida middle grounds too.

This is the kind of video that if left on continuous loop at a dive show, would sell more guns and spearo trips than the best salesman.

Come on snapper season..


The Bare Bones of Spearfishing DVD (http://www.liquidproductionsllc.com/index.php/home/1-latest/35-the-bare-bones-of-spearfishing)