Made this unexpected & sudden trip to the Indian Ocean side of my place 125 miles away. Have not been to this favourite place of mine for over a year. This pass one year been very murky water in my close by hunting ground with typical viz of 15 feet or less.
I know everytime I go to a 50 feet viz or better, I feel like a lost child cause my distance perception screw up big time.
Anyway, for those curious of my MT#0 performance in the water, here is some short take.
The 1st dive, I used my MT#0. The water viz was awesome ( for my year 2001 standard
), about 50 feet or better. There were some particle in the water but other than that....I was so happy cause I could see real far.
There were many 7 kg barracudas, the yellow tail ones, some in group of 3 and some in group of 20s. So I kept looking and hope to find a bigger one. I was at 70-80 feet ( YEP on scuba ). Then I saw a big great barracuda, a black tail one at about 12-15kg. I tried getting closer as what I thought my 81cm gun can do on its thick head. I think it was like 6-7 meters away and did not ever want to get close 5 meter, my tested effective range I can count on for penetration. It was swimming slowly away from me while the smaller ones were ignoring me. When I was about to shoot it, I saw 2 of 10kg Spanish Mackerel far away almost out of sight. So I chased the Spanish, but it spinted away and came a small 2 kg Big Eye Jack / Trevaly. So I shot it from about 2 meter distance and the shaft went thru all the way to the 270 lbs SS cable.
First shot, first kill. A good start for me cause this kind of Jack/Trevaly is rare for me. Hook it on my stringer and seek other fish. That big baracuda appeared again and I tried to get close, when I thought I got close enought, I launched the shaft with 5 bands..............and I missed........... the shaft was pulling the gun away from me. My shooting line set up was already 5.7 meters from muzzle to speartip, what a residual power. Can't believe that Barracuda was actualy a bit further than my expectation. Wasn't surprised a good viz have screwed me up many times.
Load it up again and move on. I was drifting at some 60 feet when a school of yellowfin Tuna came like rain, about 50 of them. On this side of the drop off the water was very clear but the bottom was dark cause I sonar it at about 300 feet. On first pass it was far, way too far and I was lucky cause it was coming back. I tracked my gun ( beautiful, just beautiful ) to follow it, very easy with this mini gun. On the second pass, the school got closer, I look at the last few fishes and it was fat and the anal fin was long, I hope those two fins above and below long antena like are called anal fins ????. I recalled that big yellowfin has long anal fins, so I aimed at one with the long fins, I know it must be in range.......Whacckkk !!!! I hit only water. Must have missed cause it was swimming real fast.
My friend was 20 feet above me at that shot and he later told me that my shaft barely even travelled 3/4 of the way to the fish. The scholing fish were still too far. I thought I was stupid at high viz but how come that stupid ??
My question is, how big does a yellowfin need to get before those nice whip like fins can grow long ?? I know 40 up yellowfin has long whip tails seen them on the market so often during my working days with Tuna. I did not see the eye ball as what my Terry book stated. I personaly thought that the schooling tuna is not bigger than 5kg, the bigger ones........ how how how ?
My conclusion on the MT#0, I will not use it in clear water untill I can get my distance/size perception right. A short gun is no fun in clear water cause this 81 cm mid-handle gun only project about 50 cm off my hand. My eyes been trained to gauge distance based on my 124 cm Riffe #2. That 124 cm, at least project 100 cm from my hand grip cause it is a rear handle. The longer the gun as long as fast tracking is feasible, is much advantage to distance perception cause my eyes position remained the same range to fish but the shaft tip is already so far forward. Technicaly even if my MT#0 has the same effective range as my 124cm #2, the short 81cm is already 50 cm less effective by position. Hwewwww....what an :duh I am.
Need to realy get close if in good viz water. This MT#0 is one potent murky water gun. One funny thing though, have realized this for sometime. When I shoot plywood target, I can feel the recoil of this gun with 3/8 shaft. When I shoot fish, miss or hit, the excitement cancelled the feeling of recoil. I could single handedly shoot with 5 bands and don't feel a thing. The power of the mind.............
Coming soon, the great in water test of my #4. It was used on the 2nd and 3rd dive.............YUMMY !!!!!!!! What a gun !!!
I know everytime I go to a 50 feet viz or better, I feel like a lost child cause my distance perception screw up big time.
Anyway, for those curious of my MT#0 performance in the water, here is some short take.
The 1st dive, I used my MT#0. The water viz was awesome ( for my year 2001 standard
), about 50 feet or better. There were some particle in the water but other than that....I was so happy cause I could see real far.There were many 7 kg barracudas, the yellow tail ones, some in group of 3 and some in group of 20s. So I kept looking and hope to find a bigger one. I was at 70-80 feet ( YEP on scuba
). Then I saw a big great barracuda, a black tail one at about 12-15kg. I tried getting closer as what I thought my 81cm gun can do on its thick head. I think it was like 6-7 meters away and did not ever want to get close 5 meter, my tested effective range I can count on for penetration. It was swimming slowly away from me while the smaller ones were ignoring me. When I was about to shoot it, I saw 2 of 10kg Spanish Mackerel far away almost out of sight. So I chased the Spanish, but it spinted away and came a small 2 kg Big Eye Jack / Trevaly. So I shot it from about 2 meter distance and the shaft went thru all the way to the 270 lbs SS cable.First shot, first kill. A good start for me cause this kind of Jack/Trevaly is rare for me. Hook it on my stringer and seek other fish. That big baracuda appeared again and I tried to get close, when I thought I got close enought, I launched the shaft with 5 bands..............and I missed........... the shaft was pulling the gun away from me. My shooting line set up was already 5.7 meters from muzzle to speartip, what a residual power. Can't believe that Barracuda was actualy a bit further than my expectation. Wasn't surprised a good viz have screwed me up many times.
Load it up again and move on. I was drifting at some 60 feet when a school of yellowfin Tuna came like rain, about 50 of them. On this side of the drop off the water was very clear but the bottom was dark cause I sonar it at about 300 feet. On first pass it was far, way too far and I was lucky cause it was coming back. I tracked my gun ( beautiful, just beautiful ) to follow it, very easy with this mini gun. On the second pass, the school got closer, I look at the last few fishes and it was fat and the anal fin was long, I hope those two fins above and below long antena like are called anal fins ????. I recalled that big yellowfin has long anal fins, so I aimed at one with the long fins, I know it must be in range.......Whacckkk !!!! I hit only water. Must have missed cause it was swimming real fast.
My friend was 20 feet above me at that shot and he later told me that my shaft barely even travelled 3/4 of the way to the fish. The scholing fish were still too far. I thought I was stupid at high viz but how come that stupid ??
My question is, how big does a yellowfin need to get before those nice whip like fins can grow long ?? I know 40 up yellowfin has long whip tails seen them on the market so often during my working days with Tuna. I did not see the eye ball as what my Terry book stated. I personaly thought that the schooling tuna is not bigger than 5kg, the bigger ones........ how how how ?
My conclusion on the MT#0, I will not use it in clear water untill I can get my distance/size perception right. A short gun is no fun in clear water cause this 81 cm mid-handle gun only project about 50 cm off my hand. My eyes been trained to gauge distance based on my 124 cm Riffe #2. That 124 cm, at least project 100 cm from my hand grip cause it is a rear handle. The longer the gun as long as fast tracking is feasible, is much advantage to distance perception cause my eyes position remained the same range to fish but the shaft tip is already so far forward. Technicaly even if my MT#0 has the same effective range as my 124cm #2, the short 81cm is already 50 cm less effective by position. Hwewwww....what an :duh I am.
Need to realy get close if in good viz water. This MT#0 is one potent murky water gun. One funny thing though, have realized this for sometime. When I shoot plywood target, I can feel the recoil of this gun with 3/8 shaft. When I shoot fish, miss or hit, the excitement cancelled the feeling of recoil. I could single handedly shoot with 5 bands and don't feel a thing. The power of the mind.............
Coming soon, the great in water test of my #4. It was used on the 2nd and 3rd dive.............YUMMY !!!!!!!! What a gun !!!
