Fish stringer: bad loss!

[spaghetti]

Yesterday I had a very pleasant dive in one of my favourite hunting spots. I was very happy about the dive, and excited because it was plenty of fish. The harvest was nothing special, but still they were three nice breams. At last I felt tired and decided to swim back to land, and I was already thinking of how to cook the fish (my idea was: baked in butter with leaves of sage) while suddenly I realized the "accident" occured:
I had lost the fish stringer (and the fishes too), which had slipped away from my belt! :head No dinner!!! :head
That's jolly unfortunate, but it's my fault: I normally check the stringer once in a while and secure it to the belt (or to the float). I give to loops of the string around one of the lead weights, and then secure the nail between belt and weight. This time I was too excited and distracted, so I didn't give it the proper care.
But this gives a chance to discuss a subject that hasn't been discussed in recent times:
How and where (belt, float) do you secure your fish stringer?

 

[Huw]

Bad luck Spago...

I secure my stringer on my float at all times, and have never tried one on the belt. My stringer is not wire or mono at all though... rather a circular peice of metal - anyone know what i mean or will i have to post pics?

When the fish are on the stringer and on my float, there is no way of them coming off as the stringer locks shut - mind you i suppose they could be ripped off, although it would have to be quite a force, as i always string my catches through the head/skull.

Huw.

 

[spaghetti]

So you have a professional stringer! That's the best type indeed. Mine was just a piece of chord with a stainless steel nail. I bought it seven years ago in Sicily and was ok with it. Now I think I'll buy a full metal circular nail like yours.
I must say apart of that that I don't like to keep the stringer to the float cause I don't keep the float attached to my belt and I should swim back and forth to the float to attach the fish: I leave the float....afloat using a weight on the floatline to keep it on position, while I swim and dive within a range of 50 meters from it.

 

[Pastor]

Mine is held onto one end of the float with a carabiner and then I pass the pin through another carabiner on the other end. This helps me keep the stringer from flapping around and also helps remove any chance of the fish coming off the pin end.
I'll try and post a pic tomorrow

 

[spaghetti]

Thanks Pastor, looking forward to see the welsh style stringer pics!
While I'm still at it, my stringer was similar to this one:

 

[Old Man Dave]

I use a stringer like yours spaghetti but with strong cord rather than wire or mono. I secure it with a loop around my weight belt on the left front then take it around my back and pass the end through a small stainless shackle that's secured to my belt front right. Its about 2 foot (60cm) long and can hold a lot of fish. The fish ride around the back of your waist out the way.

I used to use the stainless fish rings but they're no good on a belt as they get in your way and can even come undone. Okay for use on a float though.

I use my stringer on my belt when I don't have a float i.e. when stealthing the shallows etc. When I use a float I keep my stringer on it and hang my fish off it. Floats are safest but an absolute pain when hunting indian in the weedy shallows.

Dave

PS Mart says Hi! (Still no working computer).

 

[Pastor]

Yeah that's the same as I have. My mate has his on his belt and has the loop around the belt at the side and he holds the pin by sticking it into an old bit of gun rubber he has stuck onto the other side of his belt.

 

[miles]

Hiya

Spagetti, i use a simple tuna clip attached to one of my weights. Simpy clip one end of the stringer to the clip.

Another way of using your floatline is to use a speed spike. The picture below will explain it better. Simply push the speed spike through the fish's gills and out of its mouth. As you swim forward, the water will force the fish up towards your float. MUCH easier than swimming back to your float everytime you shoot a fish!

Regards
miles

 

[Old Man Dave]

Scubaland have a great page of stringers, rings and floats on this link. SCUBALAND Magasin d'équipement et matériel de plongée sous-marine vente en ligne sécurisée Change language to English by clicking on the Union Jack flag and load Buoys from the left hand index.

Dave

 

[miles]

Here's the picture's:

 

[spaghetti]

Amazing miles but...I don't understand. Is the speed spike attached to the gun? Or to the float/buoy itself? or just to the belt? (I'm a afraid I need a "dummies' guide" for this one too )

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I attach it to a loop of mono on a weight with a tuna clip.

 

[Pastor]

Amazing miles but...I don't understand. Is the speed spike attached to the gun? Or to the float/buoy itself? or just to the belt? (I'm a afraid I need a "dummies' guide" for this one too )

Me too, this one has always had me mystified! Do you string the fish straight onto your floatline and let the speed thing hang, or do you clip that onto your gun and clang away?

 

[miles]

Hiya

Look at the second picture above, the speed spike is shown below the guns handle. The speed spike is normally cliped onto the tuna clip coming from the guns handle.(like in the picture below) After shooting a fish, you unclip the speed spike from your handle, then thread your fish ONTO the floatline.

The downside to the way it is rigged in the photo, is that its annoying to have it so close to my hand. I simply attach a 30cm peice of floatline to the gun's handle, THEN tie the snap clip and speed spike.

Hope that explains it.....

Regards
miles

 

[badlander]

I've been knocking up some hardwood spikes drilled with 2 holes with some nylon attached to a shackle....either for the belt of the float...lost my stainless one and can't 'just' order a new stringer without the temptation to fill the shopping cart.......it totally failed on me last night though when attached to my belt but left the nylon with fish attached...lucky.
I should't be such a skinflint!

For a while a had a dogs coller sorta thing attached to my handle (sounds well crap but it worked...just) that would take three fish and the rest i'd crudely attach to the excess of my weight belt.....crap system though....soon changed when i started getting good catches.
Although on the plus side it made me lot more selective and fussy.

 

[Marwan]

ive been using the ss cable stringer and leave it in the float...now that ive seen the setup miles illustrated, im going to give it a try, now i know what "speed stringer" means.. i imagine the downside to it is that your whole line ends up smelling of fish afterwards... probably gets a bit chaffed too from friction with the gills...but still definitely worth a try i hate going back to the floatespecially when theres a bit of surface current...

 

[Huw]

ive been using the ss cable stringer and leave it in the float...now that ive seen the setup miles illustrated, im going to give it a try, now i know what "speed stringer" means.. i imagine the downside to it is that your whole line ends up smelling of fish afterwards... probably gets a bit chaffed too from friction with the gills...but still definitely worth a try i hate going back to the floatespecially when theres a bit of surface current...

Yeah, i also wouldn't mind giving that system a go too, to see if it works for me, as like some of you guys... i never knew how a 'speed stringer' worked.

Mind you, i have just about got into a routine of my stringer, and seem to be stoning/braining fish and stringing them at a lot better pace than i used to.

One tiny thing that could annoy me with the speed stringer, is that some fish (especially mullet) that i have brained withmy knife, still seem to flick around for a bit however much i waggle the knife around, and so a fish tugging on my gun could get irritating, but i guess this isn't much of an issue most of the time.

Huw.

 

[spaghetti]

In the Mediterranean most of our hunting consists in seizing fish between rocks, crevices and kelp, so I'm afraid that a line clipped to the gun handle would be too much of a hassle.
Miles's system is certainly smart for his kind of hunting, but he's a blue water hunter, while I don't think it would fit for me* in most of my situations. However, I'm quite sure it may work for the deep aspetto technique (when you wait for fish from a static position) and I'll try it soon as possible, something new can be fun.

*I'm considering to start this new thread for european spearos: "Chronicles of a brown water hunter".
Anyone want to join in?

 

[Marwan]

i can join you spago.... but maybe ets find a cooler name, brown water is not so enticing if you know what i mean in my kind of hunting, reef/rock..i always attach the float to my gun...since its not really cave hunting, where youy have to get into a cave/crevice... it s less hassle/safer than a reel system...the speed stringer in this case seems to be a very convenient solution...
one question for miles... do you use like a cork or something at the end of the line before the float so that the fish doesnt damage your float?

 

[Marwan]

One tiny thing that could annoy me with the speed stringer, is that some fish (especially mullet) that i have brained withmy knife, still seem to flick around for a bit however much i waggle the knife around

Huw.

you dont need to wiggle the knife around, insert it frome th back of the gills, in an UPWARD diagonal direction, aim for a spot behid the eyes and to the center (making an equilateral triangle beteen the eyes and that point your aimig for)... you should expect some blood, some twitching and then thats it, the fish is dead...give it a try