Shooting into hard rock

[lowviz]

I'm getting older and moving more inshore. I've always been a gatherer (mussels, clams, crabs) but have recently been toying with the idea of becoming a bit of a hunter. I've drifted over some in-season flounder in back bays that defy description.

I could have harvested those legendary dinners with almost anything. But the problem is that this is Delaware/New Jersey and the boulders lining the inlets are something else again. Our minor league baseball team (Blue Rocks) is named after the local granite.

I don't want to get into hunting bigtime with some amazing gun or spear, just something that works locally and might even hold up under rigorous abuse against some of the hardest rock.

I kinda like the idea of a small spear with replaceable tips, but I really want to hear from the MAKO experts and inlet hunters...

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

Yes that granite rock is very hard, shooting into that is nothing like missing and hitting a limestone reef structure. If you shoot a very strong gun point blank into that rock, you may snap a tip or a shaft; at the least you will dull the tip.

In general, a screw on tip represents a weak point where the shaft is threaded. Point blank shots with 2 bands can snap off the threaded end of the shaft.

Our standard speargun shaft has no threaded tip. The spear itself is sharpened and a hole is drilled for the pin that secures the flopper. This is stronger configuration.

Many people hunt around jettys and land fish with spearguns. Obviously it is best to try to not hit the rocks too hard. If the vis is bad and the fish are close, then a single band is sometimes used and this significantly reduces the chance for damage.

If your primary target is flounder and especially if they are on top of the hard flat rock, a pole spear may be a better option than a spear. If a flounder is on a flat rock and you shoot down with a gun, the shaft will penetrate the fish, hit the rock and often it seems to bounce up and out of the fish. there is no opportunity to get sufficient penetration for flopper deployment and the fish swims away with a hole in it.

Shooting on sand is the complete opposite in this regard.

Sometimes you might want to scare the flounder up off the rock and have it start swimming a few inches above the rock. This clearance between the fish and the rock can provide the penetration potential to allow flopper deployment. It is easier said than done, and when scared they can bolt - especially when the water is warm.

An alternative is a pole spear with a three prong tip. You can try to follow up the shot with immediately pushing the spear down on the fish and this helps pin it to the rock.

We have several pole spears and several multi-prong tips. Even the least expensive traveler pole spear should work well for moderately sized flounders, but if you are bashing the tip into granite, it will need to be replaced periodically.

If you want to use a gun, then a 70 cm gun is quite powerful and should be able to handle any fish you see with the exception of large stripper. For them, you would need to get pretty close with a 70 cm gun - definitely doable.

A few minutes with a file or a few taps with a bench grinder and a dulled tip will be back to full functionality.

Thanks for the inquiry!

Dano

 

[Sam Miller III]

I am waaaay a head of you …
I hold the record for shooting the biggest rock
20, 000 pounds -- unfortunately I couldn't get it to shore for the record.

A fish doesn't know or care what kind of spear impaled them -- the only realize too late they have been speared
But any self respecting fish would insist on being stuck by a spear from one of Dano's guns.

Short .single band gun with just minimum power, Small double wing point that will deploy with in a inch or two...You just might need to do some mods to existing points

Or a short pole spear -- variable power & inexpensive

Or the famous home made California Halibut hammer-- a t bar with a spear point attached to it

Good luck in your old age-- (are you as old as @drbill ? Then you are really old)

Sam Miller, 111

 

[lowviz]

Ha! I'm 68 and a half.

the 'half' meant ever so much when I was six. Starting to mean something again...

@MAKO Spearguns: Thanks, man! Most excellent reply. Much obliged.

 

[Sam Miller III]

68 and 1/2 ! Wow !

Then you are definitely too old to break my rock record
but almost as old as our dr bill

Frankly I thing you should make a Halibut hammer -- flat fish , slow moving - easy target
and great to eat …Enjoy !

SDM

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

Thanks for the inquiry! This was a nice cobia I shot with one of our short (low-vis) 70 cm guns. A great size for limited visibility and small to medium sized fish.

 

[RyanT]

For flounder, a pole spear would be my choice. Another trick to shooting on rock is to shoot the fish at a low angle instead of straight down. As Dano mentioned, shooting straight down is likely to result in the spear just bouncing out. If you shoot at a low angle, you can usually get the flopper into the fish so that it holds.

 

[Akimbo]

Spears are like cameras. All you see is nudibranchs when you have a wide angle lens and giant mantas with your macro lens.

 

[Bob DBF]

A picture...


Bob

 

[Sam Miller III]

@Bob DBF
Thanks for posting

That is a real honest "California Halibut Hammer " I evidently out of the circle for I was unaware they were made commercially

Mine are old rusty used and abused , constructed from re-bar and threaded 5/16 NF for a variedly of old points..

A suggestion for the old broken down 68 & 1/2 year old diver IF you acquire or make a California Halibut Hammer I would suggest that you trim the point down about half its size in front of the wings.

I would also suggest that you create a way to carry and snap in on to your person . All of mine have a large ring about 2 inches in diameter which I use to snap on to my body for carrying. The record for California Halibut with a spear is 75 pounds set in 1955 by the late Homer Lockwood. So our fish can be rather large and difficult to handle in order to play the fish I snap the ring on to a fan folded California break away 50 feet of polypropylene line which is also clipped to my body and allow the fish to run.

Hope that this helps -

Sam Miller, III

CC @MAKO Spearguns ( new product Dano? )