My two most recent pole spears!

[Chris W]

Here are the two most recent and refined pole spears I made. They are both over 6' 4". Each is made of 1/2" fiberglass, 1/4" steel rod, adhesive, a eyebolt, and the neon green line is 200lb. test line for bow-fishing and the other has not been tested yet but it is 50lb. test Dacron line (I think). The spear with the neon green line has a 1/2" diameter steel tip and the other is 1/4" (which will be used for panfish). Finally after finishing these two and 4 others before them I realized that a jig would make it easier to drill into the fiberglass to insert the steel rod :duh that is the hardest part (to make a plumb straight insert hole)
The spear tips will be re-sharpeded with a tri-point tip and I will be making an attempt to paint them(any input on this is welcome).

Thanks,
Chris

 

[hteas]

They both sound good, but what sort of behemeth are you going after with the 1/2" tip?

My largest tip (for the Ray Odor) is 5/16", and I figure it will work for anything I can find up here.

Do you use any sort fo hand-hold on them? I use a couple of wraps of self-vulcanizing tape. it makes it much easier to hold loaded while on the bottom.

You mention a jig for making the hole in the fiberglass. How did you drill the holes in the tips?

I used flat green spray paint for the Ray Odor. I deliberately made it incomplete to be camo. Not sure whether I have speared more fish with it, though.

Let us know when they get fished.

 

[Chris W]

I do not have any hold on them yet, I will prolly put some tape on after I paint. The 1/2" tip is meant for carp, I had some 1/4" tips that stopped cold in them so I thought I would upgrade.
To drill into the tips I C-clamp a vise grips to a drill press with the tips in it and make sure its plumb before I drill.
To insert the steel in the fiberglass I would put the fiberglass in a vise and use a hand drill and try my best to keep it straight :blackeye that is not very easy. The large amount of heavy duty glue I use to secure that makes up for the imperfections, so far anyways.
Thanks for the tip on the paint, I wasn't sure.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[hteas]

Chris,

Sounds like my first 3-prong. I made it take down for travel. I used stainless tubing and stainless bolts. Drilling and threading by hand was definitely not precise, but with some epoxy it worked great.

 

[Mr. X]

Nice work. Yes, I guess carp can get huge. If you tried spearing carp - or any other freshwater fish - in the UK you'd likely get arrested and/or your gear confiscated (in theory, they can confiscate your transport too - so don't take the Bently). Normally that wouldn't be an issue. But in recent years, we've had (1) a big increased in reared carp, especially big one for coarse anglers and (2) a large influx of folk from the former eastern bloc countries - and carp is apparently the traditional Christmas meat for some (e.g. Polish).