Long term review of Apnea ST60, Apnea Amarok Roller 95 and Apnea New Gen Reel

[Mr. X]

I equip my spearguns with a swivel long-line clip, attached the the end of the handle, so it can be clipped to the end of my float line. I have found that the swivel is surprisingly important, it significantly reduces float-line tangles vs. a swivel-less long-line clip. It's not an original idea, all Rob Allen railguns come equipped like this.

My superlightweight Omer XXV spearguns have a plastic loop at the end of the handle, presumably for this purpose and/or a lanyard? They're not designed or intended for huge, pelajic game fishing, clearly. I use climbing accessory cord to secure the clips to the loop, which I tie with a fisherman's knot.

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I wondered if anyone has a better/lighter alternative to my use of swivel clips for connecting speargun to floatline? It strikes me that these clips are a significant source of mass for my spearguns, especially the superlight Omer XXVs, which adversely affects their buoyancy (which is neutral in at best), although being at the handle, at least their turning moment is not significant. I have a variety of such clips and a couple of them really are quite large and heavy.

I like knots. Perhaps a sheet-bend into a cord loop (but that has no swivel ), or into a big game swivel perhaps? Or attach the floatline to my weight belt or a drop-weight/mini-anchor/reef-clip/reef-hook instead, hmm.

 

[Mr. X]

I got to spearfish most days last week. Which Included some quite good conditions for UK waters; not gin clear but visibility sometimes reaching several metres.

Consequently, finally decided to try out my Apnea Amarok roller 95 speargun
As predicted by @foxfish, it doesn't feel particularly heavy or bulky in the water . Although, inevitably, it feels heavier and less nimble than my usual superlight, super-slim Omer XXVs.

Although visibility was reasonably good, I only saw one fish of shootable size while using it (worryingly I saw very few fish of size all week, just schools of too small bass - even the once ubiquitous small Pollock were almost entirely absent) - a plump, lone mackerel swam by quickly, from behind, above and just right of my head. Mackerel here are a small, hard, fast moving target at the best of times but as I tried to aim the muzzle circled around and up and down alarmingly. As I tried to pull the trigger (the slightly long reach to the trigger made it feel more like a pull than a squeeze) the fish took off like a rocket. Missed by a large margin. I think the problem was my lack of familiarity with handling this speargun and it's difference to my usual light spearguns rather than any problem with the speargun. I practiced moving and aiming the speargun smoothly and firmly after that.

Loading it was ok. I was glad I'd fitted the load-assist loop across the wishbone. I only loaded it to the middle shark fin, I was not used loading to a notch so close to my chest as the rear fin ( a problem with rear trigger mechs. That Rob Allen has mentioned previously). Practice may improve that but there was no shortage of power using the middle fin .

I found myself having to use one of the 2 methods for loading longer spearguns described in Len Jones' booklet - although only slightly longer than my Omer 90, the draw length is significantly longer. It demanded proper loading technique, no bad thing. A good loading pad helps

The reputation of rollers for smoothness and lack of recoil is well deserved. I had some tangling but not badly and more associated with the second wrap than the muzzle.

Overall I was pleased with the speargun - I will use more. The Amorak without the roller would also be a good speargun I think.

BTW Unusually I experienced a similar trigger mech issue with all 4 of my spearguns on this trip, which I will write about later. Something to be aware of but nothing to worry about. I also had the same issue with my old Rob Allen railgun too.