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75cm or 90cm speargun for reef fishing?

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lok23

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Oct 27, 2020
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Hi All,

happy to be a part of the forum.

Im thinking of buying a new band gun, but considering if i should get a 75 or 90 one. I mainly fish saragos/grouper and sometime mullet in the open water. what size should i get?

Thanks everybody!
 
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Hi lok23, if you already spearfish and know the conditions, especially visibility, then I would think you probably have a pretty good idea of what is needed. More than us. What do you currently use? Is it it too long or too short?

For mullet, something fast tracking. Unfortunately the Omer XXV (75, 82 or 90) and Omer Cayman Carbone are no longer available. Perhaps the Omer Invictus Carbon - but it seems rather overpriced and unavailable currently. I suggest the Omer XXV because I use 2, often on mullet, and because I recall a prominent forum member in Israel using one - I think the Gold railed variant 90cm or possibly 82cm - with considerable success, especially on grey mullet, some years ago.
 
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For poor visibility, shorter works best, 60-75cm, for better visibility 90cm+ works better. For mixed conditions, an 80-85 - or a 75 and a 90. I used to use the 75 mostly but more recently the 90 mostly - I think I just got fussier about where and when I fish, resulting in better visibility and the need for the longer speargun.
 
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Hey thx for the advice!.

I now have a simple beuchat espadon 60cm, which means i really have to get close to the fish, and mullet are out of range. I thought a 75cm would be better than a 90, 90 just seems to clunky for fishing reefs, long and heavy.

I saw the mares instinct pro 75m , do you have any knowledge of the gun?

Thanks!
 
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lok23 said:
I now have a simple beuchat espadon 60cm
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A 60cm gun is mostly for hunting inside "caves" or being very close into the holes or night diving.


lok23 said:
I saw the mares instinct pro 75m , do you have any knowledge of the gun?
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I would not consider Mares at all, I had one and sold it. Beuchat has much better guns with better quality. The Evil open or the Hero from Beuchat are superior choices compared with the Mares.



lok23 said:
I thought a 75cm would be better than a 90, 90 just seems to clunky for fishing reefs, long and heavy.
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I own both and use the 90 more often depending on the type of fish I am hunting and where. 75cm for in the the rocks/reef holes close range and 90cm for reef/holes from distance for skittish fish and for openwater. I prefer the 100/105cm over the 90cm now for free roaming fast fish that don't normally hide in holes like the Amberjack and Dentex.

For the Mediterranean, I'd start with 75cm and add the 90cm (or 75cm and 100/105cm if you have more experience).
 
Reactions: Mr. X and lok23
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Thanks!,

Interesting about beuchat, i really feel they make great stuff aswell.

how do you consider sporasub as a company? are the guns they make of quality?. a friend suggested them as an option too.
 
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lok23 said:
how do you consider sporasub as a company? are the guns they make of quality?. a friend suggested them as an option too.
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Sporasub was bought by Omer MANY years ago and now it is consolidated as part of Omer product line. Most of the Sporasub products are now no more with the exception of one gun and a suit or two with Sporasub's name splashed on it. They used to be a "Ferrari" type of company but is no more.

Most of Omer's manufacturing, practically all of it, is now done in China and it shows.

When given the choice, I'd go with Beuchat's new guns, the Evil open or Hero, over Omer's guns. I prefer the Hero for sure.
 
Reactions: Mr. X
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lok23 said:
Hi All,

happy to be a part of the forum.

Im thinking of buying a new band gun, but considering if i should get a 75 or 90 one. I mainly fish saragos/grouper and sometime mullet in the open water. what size should i get?

Thanks everybody!
Click to expand...
Hi, i personally would choose the 90, i currently use a 115 n its a little big for the close encounters i experience however what i do is i tuck the gun on my side and shoot with my thumb when conditions are too dirty (i shoot pneumatic) and do almost a side view shot, its a hassle at times but i know i can reach out and get those lurkers by just extending, i think with a 90 it would be perfect, i would say just measure out a piece of cardboard or stick and manuever with it on dry land and see which size works best for u, its all personal preference
 
Reactions: Mr. X
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Most people will shoot a single wrap of shooting line. For medium or small fish, you don't need a huge or super powerful speargun. Another thing to keep in mind is that a gun that shoots further than the limits of visibility is not necessarily advantageous. Shorter guns are easier to load, and quicker to swing and to aim.

So one way to approach the selection is to consider the normal visibility you will be hunting and try to pick the smallest gun that has a range that matches the visibility (generally within a single wrap of line). Those are some general guidelines I use when selecting a gun for a particular environment.

There is definitely no gun that is best for all conditions. This is consistent with the advice we give our customers when they ask questions about which size gun to buy.
 
Reactions: Mr. X
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Sounds like somewhere around 80-105 is the suggestion. 75 would still be targeting fairly poor visibility, similar to the 60.

90 is a good size - and a full foot (30cm) longer than your current speargun. 90cm can be big and bulky (my RA railgun was - but tough enough to handle any fish) but need not be: my Omer XXV has a slim, light, rail-less, 25mm carbon tube and slim T10 handle/trigger mech., 6.3mm spear, lightweight bungee. I removed the metal wishbones, muzzle pin and wire line guide. It is quite fast tracking, good for mullet in clearer conditions.
 
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One important issue to consider here to be able to give the proper advice, the OP lives on the Mediterranean. If visibility in Mediterranean is such that it is bad enough to dictate the size of the gun, from 90 down to 75 or less, this means that the water conditions, waves, are so bad (terrible) that one shouldn't be diving at all and hence visibility isn't as much of a factor in gun sizing as it maybe in the UK or other parts of the world. The more important factors here are the environment where the spearo will be hunting, the type of fish, time of hunting (day or night) and their experience.
 
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Nobody has mentioned Pathos here, so I’m gonna throw it out there. High quality Greek products. Good pricing. The have also gun lengths in between, for example 82cm. Check em out.

Pathos Spearfishing - Pathossub.com

Our company provide a full spearfishing product line such as Spearguns & wetsuits carbon fins and we have local distributors in 64 countries.
www.pathossub.com
 
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I went through the same process a few years ago, my solution to a “one gun does it all” was to use a Cressi 90 gun with double 14mm bands. And 2x different shafts, one long overhang and one very short overhang.
for poor viz or hole hunting I’d use the shorter shaft with one band only. For good voz I’d load both rubbers and use the longer overhang shaft. It worked fine
 
Reactions: SubSub
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Perhaps an invert roller would be a good choice too. They have a good range for their size, good precision, and with their band configuration you can change the power all the way from weak to extreme. I think if you're looking for a do-it-all band gun, then this would be the way to go.

I use the Greek brand MVD, but I read somewhere that Pathos will release an invert roller soon as well.
 
Reactions: Mr. X
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I switched to pneumatic guns, Salvimar Predathor.
a 65/75 cm pneumatic will give you the power of a 90 cm band gun if not more, it is quite shorter than a band gun of the same length as size is calculated by measuring the whole gun, not just the barrel.
it has enough power to land me decent sized fish, and the shaft often goes all the way through.
I have a 55 and a 65 (actually 70) Salvimar I am more accurate than with band guns. It is easier to miss with the 55 than with the longer gun. And it is easy to carry in the fins bags, and I can attach a go pro on it with a simple strap.
 

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Reactions: Mr. X
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Yes, I suppose a short roller speargun (e.g. 70-80cm), especially an inverted roller, offers an alternative with somewhat similar benefits to a pneumatic. For a 'one speargun covers most conditions", silver-bullet solution.

MVD sell a neat looking 55cm inverted roller. Apnea sell regular rollers from 35cm-95cm and possibly longer.

For now, I prefer regular band guns. Never tried a pneumatic and still haven't fired my roller speargun . A shorter roller (or pneumatic) would be more versatile than a long one, more suitable as a primary speargun for everyday use. For UK, maybe 55-80cm e.g. I'd probably go for a 65 or 70 on the basis that it could cover more situations than my 2 normal bandguns, 75 and 90cm, in theory at least.
 
Reactions: Leander
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I shoot a Pathos Sniper Roller 85 and 115 great guns and accurate
 
Reactions: SubSub and Mr. X
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lok23 said:
Hi All,

happy to be a part of the forum.

Im thinking of buying a new band gun, but considering if i should get a 75 or 90 one. I mainly fish saragos/grouper and sometime mullet in the open water. what size should i get?

Thanks everybody!
Click to expand...
I use a Sten MiniMini, 41cm, for reefs. It's good out to 12' and actually, I find frequently that I don't want to take shots that are too close for fear it will go through and dull my tip on the rock behind.
 
Reactions: Mr. X
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What thick and length shaft did you use for these 2? I am planning similar use of 1 gun 90 or 100cm. Dual 14 or 16 rubber.
 
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