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110-120 Speargun for fish shot at distance...

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Jan 19, 2016
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I fish mainly on reefs and on walls/sharp drops in 3-12m...mainly in crystal clear water with at least 15m viz. Target fish sea bream, mullet, seabass, amberjack & other 0.5-3 kg fish...

In these conditions, no matter how silent & still I am the fish will never get too close. Sometimes I use the stone throw method in very shallow water, I get to the bottom & I notice nice selection of sea bream & grey mullet (sometimes even barracuda!), but the larger the specimen, the farther out it keeps :(

Sometimes just out of my shooting range of my 95 speargun... As such, I am looking at investing in a second longer range gun. I have done my homework and narrowed down my choice to one of the below, which are available in my country:

- Pathos Laser Open Pro 110 or 120
- Mares Viper Pro 110
- Beuchat Marlin Carbone 115 or 125
- Omer Cayman HF Camu 110

I want to then equip the gun with Sharkfin spear, twin 16mm rubber, shock absorber & longer down the line maybe a reel.

I want a good balance of range & accuracy. Out of these guns which would be your choice? Thanks for all advice...
 
Hi, I think all of those guns are of good quality but I would have a preference for a wood gun or an air gun!
From my experience of trying to shoot smallish fish at long range, I like to use a low recoil gun with lots of power.
A high mass (bulky) wood gun with a roller system or a dry barrel air gun would be my first choices.
However I have owned a Omer Cayman 100 and is was a nice gun.
 
I fish mainly on reefs and on walls/sharp drops in 3-12m...mainly in crystal clear water with at least 15m viz. Target fish sea bream, mullet, seabass, amberjack & other 0.5-3 kg fish...

In these conditions, no matter how silent & still I am the fish will never get too close. Sometimes I use the stone throw method in very shallow water, I get to the bottom & I notice nice selection of sea bream & grey mullet (sometimes even barracuda!), but the larger the specimen, the farther out it keeps :(

Sometimes just out of my shooting range of my 95 speargun... As such, I am looking at investing in a second longer range gun. I have done my homework and narrowed down my choice to one of the below, which are available in my country:

- Pathos Laser Open Pro 110 or 120
- Mares Viper Pro 110
- Beuchat Marlin Carbone 115 or 125
- Omer Cayman HF Camu 110

I want to then equip the gun with Sharkfin spear, twin 16mm rubber, shock absorber & longer down the line maybe a reel.

I want a good balance of range & accuracy. Out of these guns which would be your choice? Thanks for all advice...

What range do you need?
 
I fish mainly on reefs and on walls/sharp drops in 3-12m...mainly in crystal clear water with at least 15m viz. Target fish sea bream, mullet, seabass, amberjack & other 0.5-3 kg fish...

In these conditions, no matter how silent & still I am the fish will never get too close. Sometimes I use the stone throw method in very shallow water, I get to the bottom & I notice nice selection of sea bream & grey mullet (sometimes even barracuda!), but the larger the specimen, the farther out it keeps :(

Sometimes just out of my shooting range of my 95 speargun... As such, I am looking at investing in a second longer range gun. I have done my homework and narrowed down my choice to one of the below, which are available in my country:

- Pathos Laser Open Pro 110 or 120
- Mares Viper Pro 110
- Beuchat Marlin Carbone 115 or 125
- Omer Cayman HF Camu 110

I want to then equip the gun with Sharkfin spear, twin 16mm rubber, shock absorber & longer down the line maybe a reel.

I want a good balance of range & accuracy. Out of these guns which would be your choice? Thanks for all advice...


You might also check out MAKO. we sell guns to most all the countries in the world.

If you are hunting crystal clear water, a 120 cm gun would be a very popular choice, after that maybe a 130 cm gun.

You might also try using flashers as a means to draw in and attract curious fish. We have a full selection of flashers, some are very compact and can be used on a shore dive and others can be thrown and others might be rigged with a dedicated float.
 
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I know nothing about the guns you mentioned, but I have another suggestion for one that might be available on Malta. I've used wood mid-handled guns for decades but I decided to try a rear handle before I died, so I recently got an Abellan Denton 120, which is made in Spain. Yesterday I tried it out in a pool for the first time, and was amazed. At a distance of 20 feet, my first shot was about 2 inches from the bullseye. With a total of 5 shots, the worst was about 4 or 5 inches from the center. And the penetration of the target was very good too. Its hard for me to understand how a gun with just two 14.5mm small ID bands can shoot an 8mm shaft so flat, but I guess it has to do with the bands being perfectly aligned with the shaft, and maybe the handle design. After I bought mine, the company seems to have changed the name to 11o rather than 120, but mine has 123cm of band stretch.

http://abellansub.com/en/denton-120/

Notice that it is also offered in a 120 size (formerly 130). That should have enough range for anything.
 
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Just to add even more choice.
I own an aimrite 90 or 95 venom ali,It still amazes me how accurate it is,I have been shooting silver drummer on the fly with this gun,I admit I wont a-little more reach but its a straight shooter and the trigger,handle and safety are so good I think I am with aimrite for life.very happy.
 
I have the Beuchat marlin carbone 125 and typically use it when Vis is above 10 meters. I have been impressed by the perform and accuracy. I wont say its better or worse than other guns but it is light and perfectly balanced. As its a carbon gun it will not be as impervious to damage as an ally barreled work horse, but it is sexy. Mine has a 7mm 3 three shark fin tricut shaft and two maxed out 16mm Salvimar acid green bands. Recoil is a problem and affects accuracy when shooting of hand like when moving over a ledge and shooting down without arm and body in line behind the gun. light gun + lots of power and somewhat heavy shaft will do this every time no matter the brand. Laying on the bottom or gliding down on an angle to reduce outline and in behind the gun with an extended arm to maximize range is the advantage of this gun. I would like to try a 6.5mm shaft with the view to increase range and reduce recoil but I think a company like Beuchat will have already done that.
 
Danny.c I totally agree about the Aimrite handle mec and safety, my son has a 950 ally with a Sigal-sub 6.5mm and twin loose 16mm bands and i have described it before as a surgical instrument. I would use them more but i cant pull a longer gun back and use my thumb to activate the trigger in close, because of the safety design, but it is the safest mech on the market.
 
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Danny.c I totally agree about the Aimrite handle mec and safety, my son has a 950 ally with a Sigal-sub 6.5mm and twin loose 16mm bands and i have described it before as a surgical instrument. I would use them more but i cant pull a longer gun back and use my thumb to activate the trigger in close, because of the safety design, but it is the safest mech on the market.
Yes I admit it can be a little awkward.I have gotten used to it ,if I know I have an approaching target to shoot I just touch the saftey a little ,put a-little weight on the trigger.then release safety,Then I can just squeeze the shot off as I please,I hope I explained that good enough.
If I have to rush a shot,I just pull both triggers at once pretty much.
The problem you described something I have not tried(pulling gun back with thumb on trigger) But I did just then,it works if I tilt (roll)the gun a little maybe 20 r 30 degrees then I can get my thumb on the trigger and finger on the safety.
 
I should add that I don't hip shoot the aimrite like my other toys in the past,I line it up like its 2.70 hunting rifle,its pure joy to see a cloud of brown and red burst into the water at the end of the shaft on a difficult shot.
 
I suspect all of the guns you mention in your post will be pretty good but I think they will all be more or less on par in terms of performance.

Have to agree with foxfish on this one. I think a shorter hi-power gun would work well for this situation. For smaller fish at a greater distances you need to make constant aiming corrections to be accurate. A longer gun is more unwieldy which makes tracking the fish more difficult.

My choice would be a roller-gun of 1m t0 1.1m. I have a 1.1m wooden roller gun built by SA spearfishing legend Tommy Botha. This gun is super versatile and I have no problem targeting anything from a 1kg Seabream to 20kg Yellowtail. I use a double wrapped shooting line which gives this gun an effective range of 8m! Also, because it's a roller gun and the weight the wood adds, the recoil is negligible.

In this picture I'm lining up a +/- 2kg Red Roman (a small Bream type fish) at distance of around 7m.

roman1.jpg



The result:

roman2.jpg


In this picture I'm placing a second shot into a small Yellowtail a buddy shot but his spear is busy pulling out. The shot I took was close to his fish but as you can see the gun is powerful enough to shoot the spear and a good section of the shooting line right through the head this +/- 7kg fish.

YellowTail.jpg


The only place where I have found it lacking a bit was on really long shots on bigger 15kg+ class fish. On a couple of occasions when hitting the fish in the spine the 6.5mm spear would not penetrate fully but I've remedied this by using a thicker 8mm spear which gives it enough punch to go through.
 
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Wow thanks for all valid replies guys :)....has been a pleasure and learning curve reading through all of them!

I was eager to get a gun from stock at my local shop so I ended up going for the safest choice (I have seen a few good spear fishers use them with good results!), a Pathos Laser Open Pro 110mm.

I did not want to go any longer on this middle class gun. I would expect the muzzle to bend a little under twin band loading if it was any taller. Also I was advised against very long spears for accuracy.

Gun is equipped with 2x16mm circular bands + dynemma and has a 6.75mm tri cut spear with shark fins. It is quite light and agile. I have also been told it has a very 'fast' shot. I think these characteristics are very important for the kind of fishing I do. Where the fish are nervous & one must have lightning fast reactions.

I was going to go for a roller gun for the same price, however I think that a good roller gun will always be more expensive so I prefer a 'good' non roller than an 'entry' roller one.

As for range, I would like around 4 m from the end of the spear tip, do you believe this gun can manage & remain accurate & fast? Speed is critical as these small fish can dart out of target if the spear takes a little more time to reach them. Keeping in mind they start their escape on the push of the trigger!

I have still to try it out in the water and am so eager :)
 
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Wow thanks for all valid replies guys :)....has been a pleasure and learning curve reading through all of them!

I was eager to get a gun from stock at my local shop so I ended up going for the safest choice (I have seen a few good spear fishers use them with good results!), a Pathos Laser Open Pro 110mm.

I did not want to go any longer on this middle class gun. I would expect the muzzle to bend a little under twin band loading if it was any taller. Also I was advised against very long spears for accuracy.

Gun is equipped with 2x16mm circular bands + dynemma and has a 6.75mm tri cut spear with shark fins. It is quite light and agile. I have also been told it has a very 'fast' shot. I think these characteristics are very important for the kind of fishing I do. Where the fish are nervous & one must have lightning fast reactions.

I was going to go for a roller gun for the same price, however I think that a good roller gun will always be more expensive so I prefer a 'good' non roller than an 'entry' roller one.

As for range, I would like around 4 m from the end of the spear tip, do you believe this gun can manage & remain accurate & fast? Speed is critical as these small fish can dart out of target if the spear takes a little more time to reach them. Keeping in mind they start their escape on the push of the trigger!

I have still to try it out in the water and am so eager :)
You could always upgrade it with a roller head to cancel recoil and make the gun even more accurate
 
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