New to the sport whats the best gun for me?

[Richard_Dicosim]

Hey guys

i have been watching the board for the past little while and there is an enourmous wealth of knoledge here, but i just cant figure out what kind of gun would suit me. i know some are better than others but frankly i know close to nothing about spear diving and i want to try it. i am a Padi Certified diver.

basically i would be diving the Victoria Island and Northern British Columbia, probably mostly up the Douglas channel area. i would be going for ling cod and halibut most likely. what kind of equipment would i need? do i need a long range gun for halibut? i hear they spook so i didnt think you would be able to get that close, and what kind of power from a gun would i need to subdue a halibut?

any info would be greatly appreciated.

Richard

 

[Marwan]

Welcome to DB
whats the visibility like in your area, how far could you see infornt of you on average?

 

[Richard_Dicosim]

that depends on time of year id say probably 15-30 feet sometimes better.

Richard

 

[deep thinker]

Id say that for that type of visibility your gun lenth should be anything from a 1.1m to 1.3m barrel, most eficient would probably be a 1.2m gun you could always add diverent lenth guns as you progress and feel you need something longer or shorter

 

[spaghetti]

A group of forum members took a spearfishing trip in BC last year, and they mostly were using euroguns about a 100/120 cm length, such as Omer T20, which I recommend. Just wait for some of the BC trip guys give you more specific tips, but there's nothing a T20 100cm can't do.

 

[Ron S]

There's a club up that way and a forum/website. It's called Northwest divers or something to that effect, but I can't seem to find it now. I used to read their spearfishing threads. They primarily hunted on scuba and seemed to prefer the JBL and AB Biller type guns in lengths from 32" for bad vis, to 48" for good vis. I don't know the area or their reasoning, I just remember those seemed to be the guns most talked about.
Ron.

 

[deckhand mike]

Get the omer t20. It really will do anything and it is just about bulletproof. The quality on the jbl is iffy depending on who you talk to but I own the t20 and have almost never heard anything negative about it.

 

[Richard_Dicosim]

thanks guys i have been looking into the omer t20 and i think that i will probably end up going with this gun. are there any stores or sites in partciular that you would recomend i buy from, that are either cheap or that you have had good experiences with?

Richard

 

[Amphibious]

Hi Richard, are you from BC are just do your diving here? for freedive hunting in BC, Euro guns, like the omer t20, in the 75-90cm size are prefered.

please get a fair bit of experience in the sport before you even try for halibut, the ones up here run quite a bit bigger then thier californian relatives and could be a fatal experience for the rookie spearo.

there are quite a few freedive spearos in BC, feel free to check out the Aquasub forum, or the north american spearfishing section of the site to get in touch with them.

 

[Ron S]

Hi Richard, are you from BC are just do your diving here? for freedive hunting in BC, Euro guns, like the omer t20, in the 75-90cm size are prefered.

Hey I'm just curious. What kind of shaft/tip setup do you guys use on 75-90 cm euro guns for big halibut? Seems like the standard 6.5mm single flopper would be a might light for a strong fighting flattie, but I've never hunted up that way so I don't know.
Thanks,
Ron.

 

[Amphibious]

I don;t know anyone who has ever sucessfully landed a pacific halibut (while freediving). personally a sliptip would be what I'd use if I went looking for big flatties

 

[Richard_Dicosim]

thanks for your advice. i live in Alberta actually and do most of my fishing on the coast i have a fair bit of experience fishing for halibut and dont think i would be foolish enough to try to spear anything over 25 lbs until im more experienced. im a strong swimmer but i know how strong haliut are. and im actually doing some more diver certifacation next month at the ogden dive center. once i do finally get a gun i was planning on trying to meet up with some spear divers from bc to see if they might be able to show me the ropes abit.

Richard

 

[Richard_Dicosim]

im in the middle

 

[Amphibious]

richard, this thread might be of interest to you:

http://forums.deeperblue.net/usa-canada/68918-bc-spearing-trip-round-two.html


all freedivers, but a great way to learn the ropes of BC spearing (a great way to see the light and leave the tanks behind )

 

[Ron S]

I don;t know anyone who has ever sucessfully landed a pacific halibut (while freediving). personally a sliptip would be what I'd use if I went looking for big flatties

I've only been on one halibut trip where someone actually got halibut, and it wasn't me. A lot of the guys there were partial to the JBL twin barb detachable tips and heavy JBL slip tips. Makes sense because you're shooting through a fairly thin fish into the bottom. One guy was using a nice Riffe slip tip and cried pretty loud when he hit a rock with it. Say what you will about the JBL tips, but they're tough and cheap.
Ron.

 

[Amphibious]

have a lot of experience wrestling grouper out of holes with JBL guns and tips. they are ugly, poorly balenced, crude, loud, and clumbsy weapons. but they do kill fish well

 

[Richard_Dicosim]

i have been watching the bc round 2 trip and i have debated going but i go to kitimat for 2 weeks everysummer and it hasnt been decided when i will go this year. also im not sure how deep i can free dive, i can make it to the bottom of a 15' deep pool no problem but some of those guys go 60' im not sure i wouldnt be a hinderance to the croud, with my inexperience and possable lack of capabilities.

Richard

 

[Amphibious]

there is no hinderance. you'd be surpise what you can see in 15ft. everyone has to start someplace! I would hazard a guess joining a trip like the one to telegraph cove would make your learning curve far more vertical

as for dive lessons, I think you will find BC spearing very very boring if you use scuba. the fish here don;t really move

and you can't submit a halibut for record contention if it's caught with scuba

 

[Richard_Dicosim]

im not big on fishing for records, just for food. altho braggin rights are always fun. i have seen so many videos of guys on youtube spearing HUGE lingcods i think it would be cool to have the opportunity. i think what actually sparked my interest in spear diving is the fact that further up north during spring u can dive for king crab, and i thought if u can get a king crab it might be fun to decide which halibut or cod i want for dinner.

Richard

 

[GCJ]

Welcome to DB Richard. I had a similar decision to make a few months back as I am intending to go after some halibut on the BC coast. Based on what I have recently learned I think a gun in the 90-100cm would be best, with an 8mm (5/16") diameter spear. Halibut are quite thin and you will not need alot of power to drive through them. Remember that nearly all the shots you will take will be on the bottom, which means your spear will be hitting either sand or rock - long Euro spears may not take much of that abuse.

Slip tips are essential as halibut flesh is quite soft. Coupled with their thinness this means tear-outs are likely with a standard barb. I would definitely rig your gun with a breakaway and float. You do not want to be attached to a halibut when it runs! There have been many cases of fishermen breaking limbs by halibut thrashing in a boat. A common practice in Alaska is to shoot them with a pistol or .410 shotgun prior to bringing on board.

There is a great book on fishing halibut by authors Christopher Batin and Terry Rudnick ("How to Catch Trophy Halibut") that will address nearly every question you might have. They give some great pointers about where to find halibut in very shallow (< 80 ft.) water.

I think that most halibut you will find around Vancouver Island will be in the 15-50lb range. Fish over 100lb. are relatively rare. I just saw a show recently
about halibut fishing in Alaska. The guys pulled in three fish, each over 300lb. off Kodiak Island, in 50ft. of water! It will take some real scouting work to find a "honey hole" like that.

I am considering booking a guide for a day to show me some spots. Port Renfrew on the west coast of the Island is a real hot spot. We should stay in touch as I want to do a few trips there this summer. You might be interested in the Performance Freediving course in Vancouver in early June, which I am attending

Good luck on your gun purchase.

Gary