yes the typical way is to remove the bungi. The bungi primarily serves to keep the shooting line taunt before the shot. With a reel, the drag is generally set just tight enough to keep the shooting line from falling off the gun prior to the shot.
-
Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:
- Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
- Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
- Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
- Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
- All this and much more...
You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
Dummies Guide to Rigging a Speargun
- Thread startermiles
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
yes the typical way is to remove the bungi. The bungi primarily serves to keep the shooting line taunt before the shot. With a reel, the drag is generally set just tight enough to keep the shooting line from falling off the gun prior to the shot.
I would use a swivel and clip when attaching the nylon from the reel to the mono, there may be times you will need to detach/re-attach it quickly when in the water. If your spear gets trapped in a rock or it may be easier to pull the line through a speared fish or if your line becomes tangled for instance.
The bungee can also act as a shock absorber, protecting your spear-line & the fish against sudden impulsive tensions (a fairly common escape tactic for some fishes - the spear can tear through the body of a speared fish in some circumstances).
A heavy duty swivel is a good idea; mullet for example, will often twist around a lot once speared (even with a head shot).
An inexpensive, lightweight alternative to a clip is to tie a cord from the muzzle/muzzle bungee to the spearline using a sheet-bend or double-sheet bend knot. A sheet-bend is easier to undo that a double sheet-bend but I have more confidence in the latter - it's up to you though to satisfy yourself as to the safety & reliability of your chosen approach. I sometimes use a tiny rubber O-ring to keep the end of the cord pulled back & neat. [Omer include some black braided cord, around 2 or 3mm, which is ideal for this task. You can also buy, e.g. from Apnea.co.uk].
In practice, undoing a clip can be tricky in the water (esp. when gloved)*, although I have done this in order to pull a spear through a fish on several occasions, but am more reluctant to do so these days. Undoing a double sheet-bend is even more unappealing, such that careful re-positioning of the flopper/barb on the spear followed by brute strength are usually the preferred option for me.
* Especially the heavy duty RA ones, less so (the slightly too) lightweight swivel clip on the Beuchat bungee - although the shape of clip itself can require rather too much dexterity for cold, gloved hands IMHO.
A heavy duty swivel is a good idea; mullet for example, will often twist around a lot once speared (even with a head shot).
An inexpensive, lightweight alternative to a clip is to tie a cord from the muzzle/muzzle bungee to the spearline using a sheet-bend or double-sheet bend knot. A sheet-bend is easier to undo that a double sheet-bend but I have more confidence in the latter - it's up to you though to satisfy yourself as to the safety & reliability of your chosen approach. I sometimes use a tiny rubber O-ring to keep the end of the cord pulled back & neat. [Omer include some black braided cord, around 2 or 3mm, which is ideal for this task. You can also buy, e.g. from Apnea.co.uk].
In practice, undoing a clip can be tricky in the water (esp. when gloved)*, although I have done this in order to pull a spear through a fish on several occasions, but am more reluctant to do so these days. Undoing a double sheet-bend is even more unappealing, such that careful re-positioning of the flopper/barb on the spear followed by brute strength are usually the preferred option for me.
* Especially the heavy duty RA ones, less so (the slightly too) lightweight swivel clip on the Beuchat bungee - although the shape of clip itself can require rather too much dexterity for cold, gloved hands IMHO.
Last edited:
Hi Bros. recently got my very 1st speargun.. its an omer camu 95.. (im a certified newbie 
) need help with rigging the gun. my 95 has a reel installed already. can anyone who owns with the same gun email me pictures as to how it looks like and how.. been reading this thread and its starting to be super complicated.. haha
tnx in advance!
) need help with rigging the gun. my 95 has a reel installed already. can anyone who owns with the same gun email me pictures as to how it looks like and how.. been reading this thread and its starting to be super complicated.. hahatnx in advance!
Last edited by a moderator:
Hello,
Would it be possible for somebody to post a picture of the bungee setup? Am interested as I am trying to decide whether to buy a reel or go for the bungee option.
Don't intend to do a lot of dives deeper then 5 meters at this moment.
Rgds
hey guys
i have a riffe padauk and was wondering if it would be safe to tie a thin piece of rope from the hole in the butt of the gun to the tuna clip of my float line rather than buying all the crimping materials. would it be okay to do that or should i stop being a cheap ass and buy the crimping supplies?
i have a riffe padauk and was wondering if it would be safe to tie a thin piece of rope from the hole in the butt of the gun to the tuna clip of my float line rather than buying all the crimping materials. would it be okay to do that or should i stop being a cheap ass and buy the crimping supplies?
Tying (with an appropriate knot, carefully tied & tightened) should be ok. I don't think crimping is really normal for float lines or for attaching spearguns to float lines. I have a loop of knotted climbing accessory cord on the butt of my speargun with a tuna/Orcas clip (I probably used a fisherman's knot - smaller & simpler than the double-fisherman's used on climbing protection - although a flat overhand knot would be simpler alternative that I might use). With rope, you usually either knot it, splice it or fold & whip it with cord.
Crimps are usually used for monofilament spear-lines, for the attachment to the spear and for the attachment to the muzzle of the speargun (or to provide a loop that can be attached to a muzzle bungee or cord). Crimps are not that expensive, if you shop around, and they are soft so you don't really need those big, expensive, fancy crimpers; I use a cheap pair of bi-cusped electrical crimpers which cost less than £5 and they work fine, more than tough enough (I think Foxfish uses long nose pliers). If you don't have crimps, I have used whipping cord & superglue (as recommended by Magpie) and it works just fine too.
Crimps are usually used for monofilament spear-lines, for the attachment to the spear and for the attachment to the muzzle of the speargun (or to provide a loop that can be attached to a muzzle bungee or cord). Crimps are not that expensive, if you shop around, and they are soft so you don't really need those big, expensive, fancy crimpers; I use a cheap pair of bi-cusped electrical crimpers which cost less than £5 and they work fine, more than tough enough (I think Foxfish uses long nose pliers). If you don't have crimps, I have used whipping cord & superglue (as recommended by Magpie) and it works just fine too.
Ah okay, thanks for the reply. I saw somewhere that some people had a piece of mono going through their tuna clip and the butt of their gun so I was a bit curious. Thanks again.
HI Milton, perhaps you came across, either:
(a) something called a "break-away rig", which is sometimes used by those spearing very large pelagic fish, such a tuna or bill fish. In that case, often a monofilament spearline is connected to the float-line instead of to the speargun's muzzle, usually via some sort of simple friction holding mechanism (often a piece of bungee rubber through a ring or tube). When a large fish is speared, the fish, spear, spear-line and float-line connect it to the float(s)*, leaving the free spearfisher free with the speargun in hand.
(b) A "ghost leader" (as sold by Rob Allen) - essentially a length of hard-to-see monofilament used as an extension at the end of the float-line which connects to butt of the speargun. The idea is to make the spearo/speara less visible/detectable by making floatline less visible and more hydrodynamic (i.e. streamline) when the spearer is hiding in ambush on the sea bed/rocks/in the weed. It's also not a bad way to extend your float-line if you find it too short. Strimmer (AmE. weedwacker) cord or very heavy fishing line (e.g. 300lb) would normally be used for this.
*For large fish, this usually requires a very large float (e.g. Tommy Botha float - which looks like half a sheet of thick wall insulation foam with yacht cleats) and/or 2 floats - often a solid first float (to resist compression during submersion) and, perhaps, a larger inflatable second float (e.g. 35l). RA also have float-line break-away pouch, which I believe is sometimes used between 2 floats(?).
(a) something called a "break-away rig", which is sometimes used by those spearing very large pelagic fish, such a tuna or bill fish. In that case, often a monofilament spearline is connected to the float-line instead of to the speargun's muzzle, usually via some sort of simple friction holding mechanism (often a piece of bungee rubber through a ring or tube). When a large fish is speared, the fish, spear, spear-line and float-line connect it to the float(s)*, leaving the free spearfisher free with the speargun in hand.
(b) A "ghost leader" (as sold by Rob Allen) - essentially a length of hard-to-see monofilament used as an extension at the end of the float-line which connects to butt of the speargun. The idea is to make the spearo/speara less visible/detectable by making floatline less visible and more hydrodynamic (i.e. streamline) when the spearer is hiding in ambush on the sea bed/rocks/in the weed. It's also not a bad way to extend your float-line if you find it too short. Strimmer (AmE. weedwacker) cord or very heavy fishing line (e.g. 300lb) would normally be used for this.
*For large fish, this usually requires a very large float (e.g. Tommy Botha float - which looks like half a sheet of thick wall insulation foam with yacht cleats) and/or 2 floats - often a solid first float (to resist compression during submersion) and, perhaps, a larger inflatable second float (e.g. 35l). RA also have float-line break-away pouch, which I believe is sometimes used between 2 floats(?).
Last edited:
Yea I think it was something along the lines of (b). Never knew what it was, that sounds useful though. Thanks!
