beginner taking a trip to hawaii

[rwb500]

hi everyone,

I'm taking a 3 week trip to hawaii this summer and i want to get started spearfishing. I have a lot of experience snorkeling but never spearing or serious freediving. I will be staying in a house on the beach on Molokai. I instead to spear mostly from the shore with no seriously deep dives.

I was thinking about buying a 70cm pneumatic gun such as the cressi sub. anything larger will not fit in my suitcase, but i could mail myself a larger gun if necessary. Do you think this gun will be good to start with? or will I be wishing for more power/range?

 

[John B Griffith Jr]

First, have fun on your trip! I would ask that you make yourself familiar with the rules and regulations regarding spearfishing in Hawaii, the restrictions on species, etc. and please don't dive alone! As far as a choice of spearguns...maybe, before buying one, and having to ship it around, you can check with one of the many dive shops and spearo clubs in Hawaii, and see if you can hook up with a local spearo and maybe borrow or rent a rig. You can save money, try a few different guns out, and have a knowledgeable local show you the ropes. Good luck and safe diving!

 

[rwb500]

Thanks for the advice. So are you saying the 70cm pneumatic would be a bad choice? Shipping a larger gun would be a pain but if the 70cm will work OK then I will just put it in my suitcase and be all set.

 

[John B Griffith Jr]

I'm not a fan of pneumatics...but for someone just starting out, or trying to save weight...yeah, 70cm should be sufficient for mid-sized fish.

 

[rwb500]

ok, thanks! i was just leaning towards pneumatics because of the power/size ratio. It was my understanding that a similarly-sized band gun would have less range. I am not too concerned about killing power, but I am worried about getting close enough.

 

[Whopperhead]

hi everyone,

I'm taking a 3 week trip to hawaii this summer and i want to get started spearfishing. I have a lot of experience snorkeling but never spearing or serious freediving. I will be staying in a house on the beach on Molokai. I instead to spear mostly from the shore with no seriously deep dives.

I was thinking about buying a 70cm pneumatic gun such as the cressi sub. anything larger will not fit in my suitcase, but i could mail myself a larger gun if necessary. Do you think this gun will be good to start with? or will I be wishing for more power/range?

I use to live in Hawaii. You don't need a license to spearfish in the ocean. But learn the fish you can shoot and size limits. The fish there are insanely strong. A 70cm won't work. You typically need 100cm-120cm. Unless you just want to shoot small manpachi or goats then your 70cm will be fine. Your gun should also have a reel. You also need a float with flag. Also the currents are insane there. Check wind forecast, swells,etc.... I hope you have freediving fins not just scuba fins.

You also need to figure out good entry and exit points. Also I'm not sure if there are any NO SPEARFISHING areas off Molokai but check.

If you decide to go with a bigger gun I would buy one there then either sell it before you leave or ship it back to your home via mail/post.

Be safe and feel free to ask me anything. The Pacific over there is no joke so be careful.

 

[Whopperhead]

ok, thanks! i was just leaning towards pneumatics because of the power/size ratio. It was my understanding that a similarly-sized band gun would have less range. I am not too concerned about killing power, but I am worried about getting close enough.

Google these fish as they are the main fish that are targeted:
Menpachi, Goat fish, omiliu, uku, mu, uhu, rainbow runner, Ulua, tako, rio and a few others. Be careful with roi as they might have cig.

 

[John B Griffith Jr]

Whopperhead...how prevalent is Cig in Hawaii?

 

[Whopperhead]

Whopperhead...how prevalent is Cig in Hawaii?

Cig is prominent in Roi, knifejaw, and a few others. But Roi seem to carry higher concentration of cig. I still eat them but avoid the belly meat.

 

[Mr. X]

Pneumatics are typically significantly shorter than equivalent length band-guns - because the length rating is the barrel length rather than overall length. So a 70cm pneumatic will be significantly shorter than a 70cm band gun. I too am not a fan of pneumatics (prefer simplicity of bands) but you are right, they are typically more powerful (band guns are powerful enough though).

Some forum members are into pneumatics (staff member Foxfish for example) and have posted quite a lot on them, inc. the advantages of using "Mamba kits" with them.

For UK waters a 90cm Mamba equipped pneumatic would in many ways make sense, e.g. about the same length as a 70cm band gun, more power than a 90cm band-gun. Some folk use 50cm pneumatic here, so for short range reef spearing, 70cm should do the job - even if longer would be better. [Have you considered taking a rod bag or ski bag to hold a larger speargun? ]

 

[rwb500]

thank you all for the advice! great stuff. I went ahead and bought a 115cm seac caccia. I will just mail it to myself. It has a power reducer lever for those times when 115cm is too much. I hope this gun will be good for a noob who probably isn't very good at getting close to the fish.