Can't seem to hold big white seabass

[Hamrrhed]

"need to be careful in your generalizations about US divers. This is a big country encompassing many varied diving environments" Ouuch, that was kinda harsh. Is it me or was his comment about the gear used and not the Divers??

Maybe I am wrong but aren’t Yellowtails and kingies basically the same fish? It’s very likely that the Mulloway are similar if not the same as the WSB.

The RA like it or not is a very sweet little rig for the money (or at least it used to be....due to the recent exchange rate).

Aim, fire, kill, can't ask for more than that, AS PURCHASED.


This has been a great thread.

Anthony
USA

[peskydor]

Right on, equipment, not divers. However, selection of equipment is diver driven and that, in turn, is a response to the local environment. The US market has been very responsive to changes in trends and Biller has been in the lead in responding to FLA divers who want freeshafts and Tahitian shafts. Several other companies not to be neglected. You and others need to understand that native American guns arose out of the need to shoot big fish in blue water. Something like the arbalette and its progeny are laughable in that regard. Yes, American guns started out big and then smaller mods were added for the general market. The opposite happened with Euro guns. They started small and tried to grow larger. It didn't work in my opinion. Also, the American experience in downsizing didn't always work even if economically successful. I still am amazed that the various small Riffe guns sell so well. In this case, one could argue that a Euro gun, like the Allen, is just as good for many purposes.

[peskydor]

About the Australian Mulloway. The AM is definitely a relative of the California White Seabass. It has relatively soft flesh but, unlike the WSB, very tough, thick scales, somewhat like the red drum, also a relative. The WSB, when struck by even a very sharp point, will slough off some powdery looking particles of flesh. Not so with the AM.

[shaneshac]

You guys tried shooting these fish in the head

[guide1]

the australian mulloway is a much thicker fish than your WSB its fatter wider and longer they get spooked VERY easy but once youve shot one youll always get them ivve shot about 3 and never had any probs with penetration make sure you geet REALLY
close to the fish and hit in the right spot and youll be fine and dont let the fish swim round once youve speared it as soon as its hit swim up to it and cut its throat or at least grab it

your WSB is more like our teraglin

australian mulloway



australian teraglin





white sea bass

[icarus pacific]

Originally posted by peskydor
I still am amazed that the various small Riffe guns sell so well.

Yeah well, taking my Island or one of the Alexanders into 5 foot viz pretty much guarantees no dinner, and so in I go with the #0 MT or my JBL.

[peskydor]

Hmmmm, this is getting difficult. One at a time: the Mulloway is a croaker and so, is related to the WSB and Red Drum, among others. I don't see the point of saying that it looks like this fish or that and concluding that it is more related to that one because of external appearance. When splitting hairs it is time to bring in a marine biologist but what's the point? Read all the posts and see who originally claimed that the mulloway and WSB were 'the same fish'.

As to the Riffe guns, you missed the point. My observation is that scaling down a big gun is not necessarily a good idea. No one needs a $450 Riffe MR teak gun to shoot at close range. That kind of work can be done with a $50 gun or an Allen gun or a JBL gun or a Biller gun or aaaaaaaa.............Big expensive guns are for big, expensive fish. Scaling one of these things down and advertising them as 'the best' because they are expensive, is misleading. For one thing a short teak gun will not float if a reel is attached. The short range diver would be better off with a mahogany Biller gun and a light weight, inexpensive Biller reel.
If you want a mid handle gun look on EBAY for a SEA HUNTER or DIV- AK. Make a 5/16 Tahitian shaft for it or go with a sliptip depending on game. If you need to mount a reel PM me.

[Oldsarge]

Gawrsh, you guys talk about the number of spearguns you have in the same way I look at my gunsafe . . . a tool for every job!

[peskydor]

Sarge,
Blame it on me. These fellows are mostly young and inexperienced. Of course, I consider anyone under 50 as 'young' and anyone who hasn't spearfished at least 5 countries and 100 islands as 'inexperienced'. Anyway, over time some divers do tend to accumulate a collection of some kind. Because of my years and due to the fact that I was a gun dealer I do have several guns. The main reasons for keeping the guns are sentiment and versatility. I have one gun that I will never sell, I'll leave that to my heirs. It is a custom job made especially for me by Wally Potts. That was in 1973 and one of Wally's last guns. He made one more for the boat owner who took him diving the kelp pads off shore. Wally Potts was featured in the film 'Blue Water Hunter', a close friend of Jack Prodanovich and, in later years, of me and my buds. Wally designed the Scubapro line of aluminum and wood guns that were produced in the 60's-70's. Jack designed the gun that is sold under the JBL name. Design wise, a lot has happened since then. The most significant is the transition to flex steel, 17-4 arrows in the 5/16 dia. Jack and Wally started doing this before anybody else although they used 3/8 arrows made from 'maraging' steel. It was Guy Gilpatrick who gave them the idea. I helped to spread the idea in Florida beginning in 1971. Back in those days I imported the Sea Hornet but was unsatisfied with the wimpy shafts. The rest is history as they say. Funny thing, Jack and Wally never used the shaft notch to hold the rubber bands. They welded a 'rudder' to the shafts and this one fixture held all three bands. This idea was picked up in various forms but ended up as the sharkfin which is quite a bit different from the original. I still make my own rudders as they were originally intended; that is to correct a 'drop' problem identified by Jack and Wally during thousands of test shots and experiments. Nothing about the physics has changed. Arrows so equipped will fly straight and true. Wally told me that the design was suggested to them by world famous archer, Howard Hill. The Biller shaft responds especially well to this design concept. I maee my own from blanks. Later, when Biller started making flex steel arrows I would order partially machined shafts from them. Saved me the trouble of grinding the sear groove anyway. I digress.

I used to have a 335 H&H magnum. Never went bigger than that unless you count my 10 GA auto. With hand loads, my buddies and I killed so many geese at the 'salton sea' that they passed a law against the ten gauge.

[guide1]

all i was saying is that you cant compare a mulloway to your wsb
there completly different fish i was trying to say that the wsb has a stronger resemblence to a teraglin and behavours similar i wasnt saying the wsb wasnt the same species as the mulloway or that its more closely related to the teraglin just that they look and behave similar

[LaJollaFreedvr]

i think the bigger question to peskydor is...if youre so experienced, why are you using a piece of crap biller? i used to have one and im glad i got rid of it, the trigger mech is completely useless and the gun has no power at all...i thought anyone who had been spearing longer than a year knew this?

[icarus pacific]

Originally posted by peskydor
These fellows are mostly young and inexperienced. Of course, I consider anyone under 50 as 'young' and anyone who hasn't spearfished at least 5 countries and 100 islands as 'inexperienced'.

No problem. I'm equally wary of and consider anyone I've never met, know or dove with and spews the kind of self agrandizement you do to be fulla crap. And I say this looking at my revered Prodonovich sitting in it's cradle on the wall....

I suggest we return this thread to the topic- that being helping this guy to keep ahold of his catch.

[KelpMonkey]

I think I got the gist of the thread so far, basically- I'M GONNA NEED A BIGGER GUN.

[guide1]

not necasarily you just need to know how to hunt them they spook very easily i found a school of about 30+ mulloway an hour ago and whenever you see them there on the move where have you been hitting them?and has the spear been penetrating all the way through?shot placements also important

[KelpMonkey]

guide1- those questions are answered in the thread.