Well as the title says i have found myself in the dog house once again. I recently built a gun for my fiance and have been spending the last few days fine tuning my first build.
http://forums.deeperblue.com/homemade-spearguns/80743-haileys-pistol.html
I decided to take it out this evening even though conditions were less than desirable. My fiance wanted to go for a run on the beach so I opted to jump in with her gun and check the ballasting for one last time.
I swam out from the beach about 150 yards or so into about 60-65ft of water. We had a heavy rain this morning so there was a bad layer of silt that clouded the top 15 feet of the water column. Im not usually too scared of sharks but as everyone knows in hawaii... Its not a good idea to go swimming, surfing, especially spearfishing in murky water right after a rain storm (this was also the beach where I have caught a few sharks, one of which was a juvenile Tiger on a rod) That being said I couldnt seem to get the Jaws theme song out of the back of my mind.
When I reached the spot I had in mind for my first drop I did a slight breathe up and dropped down beneath the surface. Once I hit the 20 foot depth mark the water actually cleared up. On the bottom the visibility was probably close to 70 or 80 ft, unfortunately not too much action.
I figured I would take one or two more drops before I called it quits. The vis on the surface was no more than 2 or 3 ft so I didnt want to push my luck. This is the time of year when the BIG tiger sharks follow the Humpback whales into shore and that mixed with murky water is a recipe for disaster... or a severed limb:blackeye
I drifted with the current while I breathed up and started what I decided would be my last drop. Made it through into the clear water and down to the bottom. I laid there for close to 40 or 50 seconds all the while seeing no more than a few small reef fish. Not that I really wanted to shoot anything... I was just testing the buoyancy of the gun at depth
Just as I was going to leave the bottom I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I panned to the side to see 2 good sized Ukus (a.k.a green jobfish, grey snapper). The larger of the two was the closest but not quite within comfort range of the 90 I had in my hand. I proceeded to calm myself and threw a couple of hand fulls of sand up in the water. The uku started to turn towards me for a brief second and then turned away again and swam out of range. As a last effort before I headed to the surface I grabbed a rock from the bottom and tapped the side of my...I mean my fiance's gun. The uku did a complete 180 swam up to within 5 or 6 feet of her gun and turned broadside.
I knew she'd be pissed if I took the first fish on her new gun but Ill take sleeping in the dog house with a fresh plate of sashimi any day!....BLAM... strung him right through the gills. Man it feels good to shoot a fish like this with a gun you made.
The Uku weighed 12lbs and I got a couple awesome prints for my gyotaku wall. Ill post some pics of the prints when Im finished with them.
Aloha
http://forums.deeperblue.com/homemade-spearguns/80743-haileys-pistol.html
I decided to take it out this evening even though conditions were less than desirable. My fiance wanted to go for a run on the beach so I opted to jump in with her gun and check the ballasting for one last time.
I swam out from the beach about 150 yards or so into about 60-65ft of water. We had a heavy rain this morning so there was a bad layer of silt that clouded the top 15 feet of the water column. Im not usually too scared of sharks but as everyone knows in hawaii... Its not a good idea to go swimming, surfing, especially spearfishing in murky water right after a rain storm (this was also the beach where I have caught a few sharks, one of which was a juvenile Tiger on a rod) That being said I couldnt seem to get the Jaws theme song out of the back of my mind.
When I reached the spot I had in mind for my first drop I did a slight breathe up and dropped down beneath the surface. Once I hit the 20 foot depth mark the water actually cleared up. On the bottom the visibility was probably close to 70 or 80 ft, unfortunately not too much action.
I figured I would take one or two more drops before I called it quits. The vis on the surface was no more than 2 or 3 ft so I didnt want to push my luck. This is the time of year when the BIG tiger sharks follow the Humpback whales into shore and that mixed with murky water is a recipe for disaster... or a severed limb:blackeye
I drifted with the current while I breathed up and started what I decided would be my last drop. Made it through into the clear water and down to the bottom. I laid there for close to 40 or 50 seconds all the while seeing no more than a few small reef fish. Not that I really wanted to shoot anything... I was just testing the buoyancy of the gun at depth
Just as I was going to leave the bottom I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I panned to the side to see 2 good sized Ukus (a.k.a green jobfish, grey snapper). The larger of the two was the closest but not quite within comfort range of the 90 I had in my hand. I proceeded to calm myself and threw a couple of hand fulls of sand up in the water. The uku started to turn towards me for a brief second and then turned away again and swam out of range. As a last effort before I headed to the surface I grabbed a rock from the bottom and tapped the side of my...I mean my fiance's gun. The uku did a complete 180 swam up to within 5 or 6 feet of her gun and turned broadside.
I knew she'd be pissed if I took the first fish on her new gun but Ill take sleeping in the dog house with a fresh plate of sashimi any day!....BLAM... strung him right through the gills. Man it feels good to shoot a fish like this with a gun you made.
The Uku weighed 12lbs and I got a couple awesome prints for my gyotaku wall. Ill post some pics of the prints when Im finished with them.
Aloha
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