Homemade Pole Spear Weight

[Cheapfish]

Being the cheap butt that I am, I am wondering what are the weights of several pole spears. For example, how much do the JBL, AB biller, and Manny Puigs spears weigh? The one I built weighs exactly 1lb. Is this too light / too heavy?

[Cheapfish]

I'm just trying to find out how much the average pole spear weighs. Anybody know?

[Pastor]

Not got a clue bud, 1lb doesn't sound too bad, have you tried it in the water yet? If it feels OK then I would imagine it is

[OceanObsessed]

Cheapfish,

I have weighed all of my freediving gear, cameras, etc, individually and recorded the weights (LOL ) because I sometimes carry my freediving gear on a friends small plane for Bahama trips and we need to keep track of how much weight we put on the plane.

I have an old 3 piece 6 foot (aluminum) Ray Odor (with paralyzer tip) that is around 2.8 pounds. A 6 foot Crist is about 2.3 pounds. I also have a 6 foot fiberglass pole spear that I have never weighted since it does not break down and I can't carry it on a plane and it is considerably lighter than the metal ones. My guess is that the fiberglass one is somewhere between 1 and 2 pounds. I think it might be heavy enough but you might have to play around with different band sizes to give it the punch you need. If you use a paralyzer tip and it doesn't take a whole lot of force to penetrate fish with these tips and they carry a bit of wieght on them too.

These are all about 7 foot spears when you add the threaded shaft and paralyzer tip.

Hope this helps.

[Cheapfish]

This helps alot. I'm just getting into spearing as my only exposure to spearing has been some freshwater snorkeling in PA with a piece of PFC pipe, some rubber off a slingshot, and 1/8 inch spring steel prongs wired to the pipe. I liked it so much I thought I might try something a little more resembling a pole spear. I ended up with a 6 foot long hollow 3/4 inch aluminum tube, a long shanked screwdriver turned down on a lathe to fit into the shaft, and one on the opposite end streamlined with a 1/4 inch hole to accept a HD trident rubber. The tip is a modified arrow broadhead to accept a flopper made of stainless. If i can figure out how to post a pic, I'll show y'all. I just needed to know if one pound was in the right range. It should be pretty quick based on the info you provided. Rules in Georgia allow me to slay carp, bowfin, gar and mullet once I got the Dept of Resources to actually know what I am trying to do. ...What a laugh that was!!! The guy didn't know what a polespear was..Still, he was nice about it. Someday I plan to get a little more salty..Thanks pastor and Oceanobsessed! It's good to know this sport is friendly.

[Cheapfish]

I plan on going to Savanna-Tybee Island area soon. Anybody get wet around these areas? Does anybody know what I may find there?

[daverdive]

I've done some spearing here in WI and most guys use polespears, being a college student cheap was the way to go and I made this one out of a ski pole I bought at a rummage sale, I bought a dowel and carved it to just fit in the handle end of the pole and drilled a hole for a band for a JBL pole spear that I bought at the local dive shop. I threaded a piece of galvanized rod 1/4"( roughly 6mm) and then drilled a hole across where I attached the rod to the pole, and tapped that with a 6/32" tap and a little stainless screw from the hardware store. Add a Paralyzer tip and it works great for panfish, I'm still trying to get to a lake to see how it takes carp, but most are too cloudy to see anywhere. This one I'd guess weights about 2lbs with the paralyzer.

[Cheapfish]

Not a bad looking spear. Aint' it great to build it yourself? I know the storebought ones might look cleaner but there's nothing like the satisfaction that independence and self-reliance provides. Good luck in the lake.

[fleshy]

Had a friend make two of them both ten feet long and outrageously light. All in all they probably weighed two to four pounds each. These things were great for panfish, to suckers and carp. Hope this worked out for you!

[Cheapfish]

Thanks, I think I'm right in the zone. I can't wait for the Gar to start moving in! Being underwater with toothy critters ROCKS!