Stuck spear removal tool

[Drewventures]

Hi guys,

I'm wondering how often you've gotten a spear stuck, to the point where you've needed a tool to remove it? I'm in the market for a new knife, and wondering if I should get one specifically with the spear removal slot like the Rob Allen X blade.
Do spears often get that stuck? Any stuck spear removal tips, or diy tools?

Cheers

 

[popgun pete]

I know spearfishermen who spear in rivers, lakes and other inland water bodies can have problems when a miss sinks a shaft into a sunken tree. The tips can be hard to extract and need a big effort to get them out on occasion, at times requiring a switch to another shaft before the original is retrieved. Most extraction gadgets try to jam on the shaft in order to pull them out, but I have never used one, or needed one over rock or sand. Coral may be a different story as the shaft could bite into it. There is a soft bottom substrate that I have sunk a shaft into with a miss, but I could easily pull the shaft out and a chunk of whatever it was broke off with it out of a short cliff rising up out of a sandy bottom, the top of the cliff and the area behind it covered in a seagrass meadow.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

As Pete said it may depend on the type of bottom where you dive, but it my over 70 years of diving, I can't recall getting a shaft stuck where I needed a tool to retrieve it. And that included 3 years in Hawaii where I was often shooting fish in holes in the coral. I suppose it must happen somewhere though, since so many dive knives offer a shaft extractor.

 

[popgun pete]

Just watched the knife video, the slot doesn't hinder the knife in any way, so you might as well buy it. I have dive knives with line cutters that have never had to be used, but handy to have as you never know when they might come in handy. I have been snagged on fishing lines, but just used the main blade to free myself.

 

[Mr. X]

I only once got a spear stuck, in rocks after a successful shot! . A tool would not have helped though.

I had to surface, rest and breath for a while, then dive down again (at least once). After unsuccessfully fiddling around to free it, I did fear it might not be freeable. Eventually, I dived then carefully but firmly and very forcefully I pulled it out. Fortunately my prey and lightweight 6.3mm spear were undamaged. . Phew!