Dummies Guide to Rigging a Speargun

[miles]

NICE!!!

Fairly recently i've started using something similar.

We dive mostly in 20m (60') of water, drifting with the strong currents over reefs, pinnacles or wrecks, spearing yellowtail, either on the bottom or mid-water or around structure.

We started off with floatlines. Problem is that yellowtail swim in schools, so we normally have 3 divers in the water and the 4th keeps the boat close by. Tangling of floatlines was common, but the biggest downfall is that when a shark arrives and we have to get out in a hurry, your floatline ALWAYS seems to be attracted to the boats prop's!!

Next bet, reelguns. The 2.0mm dyneema was simly too thin and slippery to grip AND swim your fish away from an obstruction (reef/wreck/kelp). Bumped it up to 3.0mm and this worked fine. The downside is slow reloading, especially after spearing a fish and slow retrieval of line when a fish has made a long run. Sorting out the tangles just took too long.

We now use a 7m (20') bungee attached to the rear of the gun, with a small pull-under float at the other end. This allows you to spear a fish on or close to a wreck/reef and bully him off it. Should you run out of air, you then have the short 7m (20') bungee, which streches out to 14-15m (50'), to help you!! Been working very, very well!!

Unfortunately, yellowtail are always moving and its rare that the largest fish in the school will be closest to you. Thats why stone shots are very uncommon. Very often, you just surface and hear a gun go off and have to grab a mouthfull of air and get down there to spear a fish in the school. No time for proper breath-up, just gulp some air and dive!! With such limited air, coupled to the excitment, your bottom time is crap, which means many rushed and poorly placed shots!!

With yellowtail, our prime target species, give him an inch of line and he'll wrap you up in the closest obstruction, bending your spear and possibly cutting your shooting line or tearing off.

Please post a pic, as i'd be very keen to rig up one of my guns this way!! Always good to experiment!!

Regards
miles

 

[felipe felop]

this is a great thread,there is something that is underlying about it that strikes me though, its either floatline only,floatline/reel or breakaway/ bungee & also where & what your target species is,i guess most people will be using a float or a remote weighted float for safety reasons,griffs idea was great but i had a lot of tangles especially in eddies & swirling rolling water,what works for me is to tie a hangmans knot with a piece of paracord on the floatline at a set distance from the float presuming you know the depth, cos you recced your dive location & then added the required length on the floatline to a set depth so that your not overstepping your limits ,then tie another hangman knot on the other end of the paracord,wind your floatline round your thumb/forefinger & elbow then gather the looped ends & pass it through the loop of the hangman knot & pull it tight, that way your floatline be shorter less chance of prop tangle,itwill also pull out of the loop easily with a deeper dive & when the line is recovered the loop of the hangmans knot is still big enough to get your gloved thumb into to reinsert your floatline without having to make new loops to hold your floatline whilst in moving water.I will post a picture when i learn how to very shortly if this is confusing, it does work well but takes a bit of practice with a gloved hand but very simple if your not wearing gloves

 

[Mr. X]

Just a quick update on the 3mm bungee. I speared 2 mullet a couple of weeks ago using a double wrap with the second wrap made of 3mm bungee. It worked fine. I didn't need the extra range offered for the mullet but did for a bass shot (missed, difficult shot). I must admit, I landed the first (larger) mullet pretty darn quickly because the shot was more aft than normal and I didn't want to test the strength & resilience of the bungee on such a large, potentially fiesty fish so soon.

 

[rookie H2O]

i am new to the sport went out onice and got hooked... i have notice some guns the rig is tied to the back of the shaft and like mine ( ab biller) use sliding ring that start in the front of shaft and also diff. between mono & spear line

 

[blaiz]

i am new to the sport went out onice and got hooked... i have notice some guns the rig is tied to the back of the shaft and like mine ( ab biller) use sliding ring that start in the front of shaft and also diff. between mono & spear line

Not quite sure if this is a question or not but Ill answer it anyway:blackeye The difference between mono and spear line (shooting line) is nothing. Mono is just a type of material used to make a shooting line. Some use SS cable, Some us a few wraps of bungee. Its all personal preference. I use two wraps of #250 mono with a short 1' bungee and then its connected to a reel.

The slide ring set up you speak of is common on ab billers and JBLs. They are ok but can be noisy. Most euro guns and some american guns have the shooting line connected to the back of the spear shaft. Makes for easier loading and quieter shots.

 

[settingsteel]

Just a quick update on the 3mm bungee. I speared 2 mullet a couple of weeks ago using a double wrap with the second wrap made of 3mm bungee. It worked fine. I didn't need the extra range offered for the mullet but did for a bass shot (missed, difficult shot). I must admit, I landed the first (larger) mullet pretty darn quickly because the shot was more aft than normal and I didn't want to test the strength & resilience of the bungee on such a large, potentially fiesty fish so soon.

Awexome glad to hear you liked the bungee, in the miami sx all the fish you see there are all shot with that bungee/dyneema leader set up...one thing in particular is it loads quite fast, which is always a plus!

 

[rookie H2O]

thank you it was a question. my self i do like the wooden look of it. maybe next yr or so i am hoping for riffe 55in if i get a friend into blue water but we will see.. him and his bother are into the reef and never stay in a spot longer then 30min to 45min

 

[settingsteel]

Just an update on the bungee set up... I switched back to the full bungee minus the dyneema leader, seems to flow better and it holds up well enough that when it gets too fugly (frayed) to be replaced it has pretty much paid for itself...

 

[_myles_]

thanks man helped heaps!

 

[Mr. X]

Just an update on the bungee set up... I switched back to the full bungee minus the dyneema leader, seems to flow better and it holds up well enough that when it gets too fugly (frayed) to be replaced it has pretty much paid for itself...

How do you attach the bungee to the spear - crimp a loop or use a thumb knot as a stopper?

Just got back from a week in S. Devon & the 3mm bungee is doing just find - although I lost one nice size mullet when I let it play on the elastic way too long. Pulled it right in twice while I tried to decide how best to deal with it (wasn't thinking straight, tired at the end of a long, choppy, poor vis. session). Last year the grit/sand in the S. Devon water jammed up my RA railgun -- this year its done the same to my Omer , although only since my return - it performed faultlessly on holiday.

 

[_myles_]

hey guys.

got any help on how to tie a thumb knot as suggested by mr X?

 

[Mr. X]

got any help on how to tie a thumb knot as suggested by mr X?

Sorry for the delay Myles, just noticed your question. I just meant a simple stop knot (thumb knot = overhand knot) like this: [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhand_knot]Overhand knot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

The image above shows 2 thumb knots, the one at the end is used as a stop knot - which was all I was suggesting.

 

[Armis]

Hi guys,
Maybe these two types of loops (sliding and non sliding) will help to somebody in rigging the speargun.

 

[pembroke]

hi miles
my gun is a seac sub arrow 75cm, this is my very first gun ( newboy ) my instructions say after tying a knot to the arrow which is a slide and not attached to the rear, done that, what my concern is it tells me to tie a slip knot after feeding the line around the line release and top of the nozzle, i don't have a bungee clip and when i have fired the gun how do i make another slip knot whilst floating in the sea. i hope u can help

 

[pembroke]

how do u make a bungee clip guys ??

 

[slingshaft]

Hi Pembroke, Check out the threads posted about bungies and such. Use the search thread. Cheers. Rigging up also.

 

[foxfish]

Pembroke, I dont think we quite understand what you mean?
You gun has a slider attached to the spear?
You want to know how to attach the line to the slider?
I don't understand the slipknot aspect?

Normally the rig is very simple, the line is tied to the spear (or slider) & the other is attached to the gun muzzle. Very often a bungie is placed along the line - no slip knots?
The line is formed in loops from the muzzle back to the line release at the trigger end, one loop is most likely enough for a 75.

 

[pembroke]

on my gun you attach the line to the spear then run the line down to the trigger release then back up to the top of the muzzle back downto about half way my instructions say to tie a slip knot to shorten the line against the muzzle. there is no mention of loops if i can would it be possible to email my instructions to you

 

[foxfish]

You just need a piece of bungee like either of the ones pictured on my 75s.
We normally use crimps & mono as running line. Every thing you need to know is on this thread.
http://forums.deeperblue.com/attach...ummies-guide-rigging-speargun-p1030546-1-.jpg

 

[Mr. X]

It looks like a pretty normal euro-gun, surprised it uses a slider:

If you're using regular thick monofilament spearline, a bungee isn't strictly necessary - the mono has a fair amount of stretch on its own. Might be simplest to just attach the spearline securely through the designated spear-line hole in the muzzle to start off with. Usually that is done with a crimp -- see the start of this thread to see how to do that.

Although the fact that you are talking about making knots (presummably the slip knot is used to fasten the spearline "permanently" to the muzzle of your gun - in which case you shouldn't need to tie/untie it in the water), suggests that perhaps your spearline is some sort of cord/string. If so, then pressumably the slip-knot is used instead of a crimp. For muzzle attachment, you could probably use a fixed loop (e.g. bowline, double-figure-8, double-overhand knot) instead but a slip knot would leave a neater, tight loop round the muzzle.

Is there a particular slip-knot they recommend? The holes in my muzzles are a close fit to the 3mm & 4mm bungee cord that I use at the end of my spearline, so I just use a an overhand knot as a stopper to prevent it pulling through. I'm trying think what slip knot I might use, maybe a round-turn-&-2-half-hitches or the v. similar anchor-bend or perhaps a fishing knot (one of the hook/swivel attachment ones). There are some great knot websites -- with diagrams & animations.

Apnea.co.uk sell a nice little Beuchat muzzle bungee, which you'd normally "larks-foot" (knot) to the muzzle. It has a rubber tube & is terminated with a swivel and clip. None of this essential but the clip is handy if you have difficulty pulling the spear back through the fish (I wondered from your comment about the knot in the water if this was a concern for you?). Once the fish is dispatched and secured on your stringer, you can unclip the spear (if necessary) and pull it through rather than back (which is more usual). The swivel is handy, but not essential, because some fish (grey mullet spring to mind) like to spin round and round once speared. The rubber tube provides a stretchy protective holder for a strong nylon cord inner, which also forms the loop that you attach to the muzzle - it acts a strong shock absorber, which makes it harder for fish to tear off the spear. However it also adds a little weight and drag to the muzzle of your gun and the clips can sometimes jangle against the barrel.