Gun and Rigging Advice for a Beginner

[BobbyK]

Hello!

Just joined and am excited to learn. I have so many questions. Before I get to those here is my story:

I just bought a sailboat in Greece and am taking the year to sail it back to the US. I took a free diving class a few years back and have always wanted to get into spearfishing. At a random fishing store in Greece I purchased a gun (knowing nothing about them). I ended up with a 100cm Effesub Black Blaze (see attached pic). I already had the fins, mask, snorkel and weight belt since I was doing some free diving. I feel like I have decent enough equipment but have ablot of questions about it so here we go:

- The gun came with almost two and a half wraps of monofilament. This made it tedious to load so I cut it off and am using one wrap of braided line. Is this ok? Should I have two wraps? I'm thinking of adding back the monofilament when I can find new clamps but only do enough for one wrap.

- The monofilament got "kinks" where it wrapped around the gun. Is this normal? Does it affect the spears trajectory?

- My braided line is white and I just read that that is basically the only color fish can see. Is this true? What color should I use?

- Do you need a swivel snap to attach the monofilament and braided line when you have a reel?

- When do you use the line guide? I've seen some people use it and others not.

- I see that a lot of people don't have a reel and only have enough line for one wrap attached to a bungee on the barrel. Is that enough length or is the reel a good idea?

- I (think) I have a closed muzzle. Can someone look at the attached picks and tell me if I'm rigging the line correctly?

- If I have a closed muzzle do I need to wrap the line of the spear like I've seen in videos?

- Does anybody know anything about this spear? I can't find anything online since it looks like Effesub is actually Pathos.

That's it for now! I still have a lot of questions but first and foremost I need to make sure my gun is properly rigged.

Thanks!

 

[Mr. X]

Hello!
...
- The monofilament got "kinks" where it wrapped around the gun. Is this normal? Does it affect the spears trajectory?

Hello Yes, normal. No, not appreciably.

- My braided line is white and I just read that that is basically the only color fish can see. Is this true? What color should I use?

- Do you need a swivel snap to attach the monofilament and braided line when you have a reel?

Probably inaccurate and possibly varies between species (BTW I believe they recently discovered a new type of light receptor in human eyes, beyond rods & cones). But - in general - their sight is probably not great. They have other senses including some that we don't have.

White reflects all visible light frequencies, so is most visible. Low energy red is absorbed by water quickest, so quickly becomes grey to our vision with increasing depth. Blue/Violet are higher energy. So red or black,would probably be a good bet. Grey or brown or green might be ok too (camo/weed-like?). Think like a fish That said, you will likely look like a massive black seal to a fish, which might be more disconcerting, unless you hide yourself.

No, you don't have to have a swivel snap or a swivel but I would think a heavy duty game swivel would be a good addition. BTW I believe some reel users use a "muzzle" bungee between the 2 lines - these sometimes come with one or more swivels and/or a clip. This provides some shock absorption and might help with line wrapping when loading by providing some give.

...
- I see that a lot of people don't have a reel and only have enough line for one wrap attached to a bungee on the barrel. Is that enough length or is the reel a good idea?

That's good enough for the UK because the visibility is often limited, so the fish must come relatively close to be seen and the fish are generally relatively small (overfished ). In Greece/the Med. I think reels are more common and appropriate/necessary. So I suggest that you keep the reel - although a single wrap without a reel would be a simpler to start with, so you might consider using that to start with and then moving to the reel later.


I'll leave the other questions to others (e.g. reel users) to answer/clarify.

 

[BobbyK]

Thank you!