Hunting Technique

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by spearinhand

...

c) Be comfortable, be part of the enviorment,vigilant and cognizant without putting too many "predator vibes" in the water. It is a documented scientific fact that quarry feel it when you are overly aggressive and over stimulated in a predator mode. Fish know it when sharks turn it on, and deer and elk know it in the woods on opening day, plains game know it when the big cats turn it on. It is why the first timer, or the camp cook, or the guy taking a crap at his blind kills the monster of the woods..it never fails and I have lived it and seen it. Same natural thing applies in the water.

d) Prepare and do your homework. keep a log of tide, time of kill, wind, temp etc. It works. Talk to the locals, especially the hook and line guys, and share your insights and spots. Google earth is a free down load and it is my map for finding the spots no one thought were there. I map my spots with a red dot and file them, then hit them hard and repeatedly.
...

G) Honor the quarry, and the game laws. Hunting is not killing, and killing is not hunting. The more you hunt, and succeed, the more you instinctivley know the difference. ...and your peers will know the difference as well.

Great post SpearInHand. The comfort point caught my eye. I read an interview with an unassuming non-star mountaineer who has done most of the 8000m+ peaks in the world (prob. done them all by now). His secret? He did not even consider himself a mountaineer or climber but a high altitude camper. Being able to spend long periods in remote, high altitude conditions comfortably allowed him to achieve far more than many more skilled/talented, fitter/stronger/better financed mountaineers. If you are uncomfortable, you will not stick with an activity ... obvious really but easily overlooked.

Another Alison thread, sigh...

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by Alison

This is a pretty awsome thread ... I find in the heat of the moment I dont always have time to aim properly and as a result I seem to shoot high but how high depends on the amount of paralax (Im looking slightly down at the tip so in relation the spear is aiming slightly upwards). So as a means of avoiding this, of late Ive been tilting the gun over to 90 degrees, so that the hieght axis of the gun is in line with the body length of the fish, so now all I have to do is get the new vertical axis of the spear in the middle of the fish (easy) and aim just behind the head and bingo my hit rate is near perfect on a slow moving fish nearly always a head shot and so fast.
Im pretty chuffed with the technique anyway, probably find out now that everybody does it but they werent going to tell me

Aiming down the side of the gun (rather than over the top), as described in the Len Jones booklet achieves similar results. Although I've seen pictures of Alison's Bass catches -- her technique obviously works too. sigh

[sailsoon28]

Yes-the self mooring idea with spear and point works well because it is what you have on hand as free-diver (spearfishing) or scuba(spearfishing). It wouldn't work on a sandy bottom but there you are generally not in danger-it is in the rocks and edges of the reef face(where you get pulled through or lifted up onto and dropped).
I am choosing to use my reel on my offshore gun with sufficient line(100 ft) to tie off here in the gulf-if I ever get left by the boat or had to hold onto a buddy in the water for a length of time-it would be much easier to be found at a site(underwater wreck on charts) frequented by many-than a nameless patch of open sea between wreck sites that motor boaters may not frequent-on straight line path--got "left" once-boat didn't move far-but from low vantage point in the water could not see it,tied off with my buddy or would have been sucked out to the S. China Sea. I mentioned this to experienced divers and some had thught of it so I can't claim this as my own idea-just passing it along-Dan

[aesop]

Has anyone made the float that SASpearo posted? If so could you post actual pics of it? Also, where do you get latex tubing? I've never even heard of it.



Thanks,
Chris

[Mr. X]

Speargun rubbers are probably latex(?)...so maybe bulk rubber (try those RA links I sent). Alt. maybe that stuff they use on bunsen burners in school labs?

There are a lot of threads on floats, inc. making them (the norcal link I believe has a description of good boogie board based one). I like the look of Tommy Botha one Miles uses -- I see one of the Oz sites is selling them now (for big game fish). It uses a very large, very thick piece of foam (looks like wall insulation) with modern camming yacht cleat, heavy duty bungee cord & polymer sheet reinforcement; no doubt heavily field tested on huge SA yellow fin Tuna. More conventionally, Omer have a great selection. RA too, with some interesting options for big fish. Most spearo companies offer something.

[aesop]

This one is quite nice, it's the same idea that SASpearo posted. Seems it would be much easier to make, no stretching tubing.I've been looking on ebay for a decent bodyboard. I'm pretty much gonna copy it. The only thing I don't like about it is the size of the platform. Could be a few inches longer and wider. A bodyboard is generally around 42"x 22". Dont know what that is in cm, sry.

I'm excited to get all my parts to make my float, it's much more fulfilling than buying one.

Chris

[aesop]

Forgot to post the link....

http://www.spearfishinggear.com/Merc...gory_Code=FFFL



Chris

[Mr. X]

I really like that Omer float board, they have a great range of floats.

Float boards...how about this one: http://www.norcalfreedive.com/catalo....php#diveboard
The others are shots of the Tommy Botha (South Africa float), which is also being sold in Australia. For big fish - I reckon this would be "the business". Miles uses one - nuff said. There is a great picture of Tommy in a RIB with holding a huge tuna (they fill the boat) on a couple of websites. The SA gear is real...meaty (for want of a better word)...it has to deal with some huge fish so it is built tough. [Click on images to expand].

[SEDATE]

on the left side is really good and brillant idea to cary the tools ..reallly like it! cary drink water-keys-shoes....did you do it yourself?

[Pastor]

Originally Posted by Mr. X

Aiming down the side of the gun (rather than over the top), as described in the Len Jones booklet achieves similar results. Although I've seen pictures of Alison's Bass catches -- her technique obviously works too. sigh

I use that techinque to, the Rob Allen website recomend it I think. Which of course is fine if your using a Rob Allen like You and I do. But having seen and used her guns I can see where she was coming from. Wooden guns can be much wider than the pipe guns which can give a little uncertainty couple this with rubbers that have a greater angle in relationship with the spear than pipe guns and it can get a little confusing to the eye. So as you say her technique obviously worked for her but remember she had 20 or so years of spearing experience behind her which had got to help to

[aesop]

I've seen that same pic(first one) somewhere here, on another thread, I suppose. I REALLY like the float in that first pic. That's what I'll end up with for sure. Did you make it yourself? how are the zip ties connected to the bodyboard? Doesn't look like there is holes in the board for the zip ties. Also, is there a I bolt in the bottom to connect the line or what? How is that part done? If you could post pics of the bottom side it would be fabulous!

I really like how it's nice and organized too. It's absolutely perfect! If you made this one you should start selling them, jst make sure to show me a pic of the bottom side first.

I was thinking it might be nice to have an inflatable sea kayak to anchor, then bring another float around like yours to swim with. Or just hunt right around the kayak. I like the idea of being able to throw my fish in a boat or something, intead of running the risk of attracting sharks with my dead bloody catch sitting in the water.

Good job X,
Chris

[Mr. X]

No it's not my float, good though isn't it. I use a solid 11 litre Rob Allen float (a bit big for the UK perhaps -- but apparently good used in pairs in tropical waters, easily seen & robust).

The picture is from the Norcal site, the link is included above the picture (the link also includes instructions). Yes, I included the picture in a much earlier float thread & I believe Island_Sands did likewise in her thread while looking for a freediving float. I have seen several other good homemade boogie board images on the web including on this forum. It is probably not as cheap & cheerful as it looks, those motorcycle bungee nets are quite expensive (in the UK anyway).

[How big do reckon that railgun is...40 or 50cm? At 90cm, mine would not pack in nicely like that. However, with Tommy's big board....Might be a bit awkward to carry, I think they use them from boats normally].

Check out our current "Rigging a kayak for Spearfishing thread" and for inflatible kayaks checkout the recent "Dory, RIB, Kayak, Dinghy" thread (it includes links to other threads & sites).

[aesop]

Check these things out! They have a viewing hole that has a little fiberglass window to see down bottom. I'd love to have one of these and make it into one of the bodyboard floats! pretty cool, could be heavy though.


Btw, I found a bodyboard on ebay for $5 US. It's even in the town I live in so I can just go pick it up! Talk about a cheap float.

chris

[Mr. X]

They would probably be good in the water but a bit big to carry far, or transport (says the kayak owner ). Congrats. on the $5 boogie board - you're set! I tried to get a used one at the end of season (Oct) a couple of years but they wanted a lot of money -- I think around £20 -- for some heavily used, beat up ex-rentals (about a third were actually broken & unusable!); I doubt if any of them were worth £5.

[miles]

Hiya

I prefer a very simple approach!! A straighforward normal float with a normal floatline works VERY well!!

From the discussion, it seems that the body board float you want to use would primarily be used to keep your fish out of the water as well as acting as a attachment point for loads of accesories. Things to take into account: fish will dry out in the sun, birds will have loads of fun eating your fish, what stops your board from capsizing once there is fish on it, in a strong wind, especially with fish on top, how much drag is there going to be?, etc

Losing fish to sharks is a rare occurance. We used black bags or small mesh bags to pull over our fish. Seals and sharks will ignore your catch this way.

The reason we use big boogie boards is for the floatation needed to land very large pelagics. Using a 7ltr or 11ltr RA type of solid foam filled float is generally your best bet. You can attach your stringer, spare gun, some water, your car key's etc to the clip at the back of the float.

Points to ponder on!!

Regards
miles