Finally!

[blaiz]

This gun has been almost a year and a half in the making. I had the intention of bringing a big gun on our trip to New Zealand but was told it would be overkill so I put my energy into building a smaller gun for my wife. Hung this one up in the container and all but forgot about it.

Then a friend who ordered a gun form me pretty much begged me to sell him this one but I wouldn't do it. From that point I was committed to finish it as I couldn't just let it collect dust after telling him no.

The majority of the stock is teak but the outside and t laminate are recycled Koa. We remodeled a time share sales gallery at one of the hotels here in Maui and I was able to salvage some of the moulding off of a few of the cabinets which were solid Koa. Not the most curly of grain but it definitely has a lot of character. It really lights up in the sun too.

Recently I decided to add some stabilizing wings to it as this will be primarily for hunting ono and other pelagics.

 

[Salehthefish]

I think that i have to buy my guns from you!!! Speechless

 

[Jonny250]

Looks superb! Great colour in the wood.
Do you load it with the shortest band first?

 

[blaiz]

All the bands are the same length, I can load all on the last tab or 2 and 1.

 

[AJB8]

Gorgeous. That grip is superb.

 

[blaiz]

Thanks for all the compliments guys!

So decided to take the gun out to check the balance and ballast but due to the south and north swell there was no real easy or clear spot to do it. My brother in law and I decided to take our friends 2 man out to a deep artificial reef to see if we couldn't get something for dinner too.

The gun felt really good but needs a bit more weight in the muzzle to dial it in just right. I brought out the trusty 120 as well just incase there was anything on the bottom. Right as we got to the spot and I was anchoring the kayak a small rat mahi swims right up to me, then a nice cow shortly after and murphy's law no gun, no fins, no weightbelt as it was all still in the yak. We dove for the next 45 minutes trying to find stuff on the bottom (85-90ft) but aside from small omilus and a really nice mu that ripped off there wasn't much action. We were trading off with the 120 and the koa gun while we took turns dropping so of coarse the mahi came back in when Kai had the new gun. He Plugged the first one ( the bigger cow ~18lbs) and then a nice little bull (~15lbs) came in and offered himself up to me. So a pair of mahis and a sunset paddle back in made for a nice christening of the new gun.

 

[Jonny250]

Now that's fishing!
Awesome!!!
Is that a line of bones just in from the edge of the fillet? Looks like an ace job you've done on the filleting by the way.

 

[blaiz]

Now that's fishing!
Awesome!!!
Is that a line of bones just in from the edge of the fillet? Looks like an ace job you've done on the filleting by the way.

No, just a blood line. The only bones are along the spinal line from the head to around the anal fin along with the rib bones. Very easy fish to debone and fellet for that matter. Thanks for the compliment

 

[foxfish]

Nice catch mate, I have not eaten bull dolphin for many years but I can still remember the beautiful flavour.

 

[jtkwest]

nice!
you dont like the self resetting release?

 

[blaiz]

Hi Jason, missed this post.

I have used the self setting line release but I don't like them much as combined with the AR-15 handles they don't work well on a low profile gun. I have seen a few mounting techniques but none that I have liked yet. I have never had a problem with the standard release and have not received any complaints about them yet either.

 

[missing link]

wicked gun man. i noticed you have a fa'nu'i shirt, you dive guam much or know ray flores very well?

 

[blaiz]

wicked gun man. i noticed you have a fa'nu'i shirt, you dive guam much or know ray flores very well?

That's my brother-in-law, he lived in Guam for a few months after delivering a boat there from Hawaii. I think he met Ray (if thats the owner) and Im not sure if he ever got the chance to dive with him or not. Guam is definitely on the list of places I would like to go. Kai made it sound like a pretty awesome place. I was there on a layover to Indo but that was about it.

 

[blaiz]

Finally landed MY first fish with the Koa Blue water gun. Hit a nice 30lb bull mahi out at one of the fads the day before yesterday. Had an incredible day on the water, we swam with pilot whales, oceanic white tips, false killer whales (pseudorcas) which were breaching out of the water with small mahis in their mouths, spinner dolphins, galapagos sharks, the list goes on. Weather was primo, water was clear, and best of all fishy!

All in all about 8 mahis were landed all over 15-20lbs, one rainbow runner, and my brother-in-law trumped everyone with a 20lb uku.

 

[missing link]

wicked cool. ya ray is the owner, if your ever on island let me know and we'll go fishing.