single barb tip v'rs trident

[paddyc23]

Who uses wat, and wat do u think is best and why

[deep thinker]

Single barb tips should go through the fish so that the barb can connect on the other side or inside the fish, this is normally used for bigger reef fish. All the spearos I know here uses them. The trident tip is mostly used for cave hunting where you dont want the spear to go through and hit rocks on the other side. If you want to use a trident Id say go for a paralyzer style as from the looks of it these have a bit more hold than a normal trident.

[covert]

I agree with DT it depends entirely on what your hunting and more specifically where you hunting. though i beleive that using tridents is a good way to loose fish maybe someone can correct me.

[deep thinker]

Dunno about that hey, a normal trident tip mite be a bit low key for most of our aplications, but a paralizer tip actually looks quite good I think. The angle of the points with hooks looks to be set in such a way that when they enter a fish they should expand away from each other, thus efectively hooking the fish and also holding on at the same time...

[octopus]

Originally Posted by covert

I agree with DT it depends entirely on what your hunting and more specifically where you hunting. though i beleive that using tridents is a good way to loose fish maybe someone can correct me.

Could not agree more. Personally, I do not like them and I do not use them.

[paddyc23]

I use the trident alot on my small gun with alot of catches, the trident i have is about 4 inchs long to tip and each one has its own barb on the inner edge, which efectivley goes straight throw the fish and then locks thanks 2 da barbs, now ive bought one for my other gun 105, have´nt yet used it but i think it should be better than the 75 wen its comes to distance, ive seen alot of 5-6lbs bass and mullet on the floor wen out and about about 30ft from rocks, the best thing is you dont have to wait for that perfect shot which u do have to with the single barb tip, you can shoot face on, side, tail, and even underneath you, i usually go for side on face shot or face on, to completly kill the fish, i find it easier to reel them in also with a trident, and unhooking is a piece of piss, but i would´nt shoot anything over rocks, i broke a tip of one of my tridents before and had another one welded on because i shot a fish too close to rocks it went throw the fish and got wedged into rocks, lesson learnt

[Mr. X]

I use a regular single barb (flopper) taihian. The Rob Allen spiele answers this question from their perspective, which is basically: everybody eventually comes back to the taihian.

Multi-tip spears seem designed for when you don't want much penetration: fish in front of rocks, flatties on the sea bed, or when you want to paralyze the fish to avoid tangles (around wrecks, rigs,...?) -- usually these would be close shots using shorter "cave" guns. A larger head would tend to slow the spear at distance & be more vulnerable to breakage (at least the ones that incorporate plastic in the head), which could be a problem around the aforementioned rocks - not sure if it affect accuracy(?). It was interesting to read Paddy's experiences. It would be good to hear more from those that use tridents & other tips (e.g. what about double barb tips?).

[paddyc23]

Double barb tip are an excellent choice also i find, for the single spear tips, bit off a pain wen it comes to removing the fish unless your tip is unscrewable, it can get a bit messy, but a all round good holder,

[paddyc23]

Ive got 2 tridents the first is just stainless and the other is stainless with a plastic coating, i find the plastic one drags more when i shoot it ever so slightly slows the spear down but not by much. very strong tho, good for nucks or gashes, does anyone else have a trident with a plastic coating?. any tips

[paddyc23]

Im seriously contemplating buying a digital camera after i shot and seized a 4.5lb mullet 3 days ago, it was blowing a gale 15-25 knts, viz was good, so i went in, saw 3.5 ish bass also, going tomorrow 7am

[poacher]

Try looking for Prangers on any of the Australian spearfishing forums, these tips have some very dedicated users in Aus. including my self they are great for using in caves where the flopper on a Tahitin or Euro style single point orstraight shaft often gets your shaft stuck way up under a ledge. The Prangers also tend to be very effective at stoning the fish due to having an area of about 35mm diameter to hit the spine of your fish, they also have a very good holding power and many guys use them on large mulloway up to 30 or more KG in weight and also have been used successfully on large Dogtooth tuna. The prangers with 5 or 6 prongs of 6", 150mm or 8" 200mm length are usually used on guns around the 1m size with an8mm or 5/16 shaft and a single 16mm rubber they tend to seem rather slow so range is slightly limited but due to the heavier shaft still pack some momentum and get good penetration towards the end of the line using a single wrap on a 1m gun.
Peter