Spartan said:
For further reference do you have suggestions on a gun if I live in SoCal and have a kayak. I might do this more often now and would love to look for some sea bass some day.
There are lots of guns that would work, but I'm a big fan of Wong guns and their life time warranty.
http://www.wongspearguns.com/
In my arsenal photo below, I'll show some possibilities.
The one on the left if a 50" semi-enclosed track hybrid(that means that the track is on the wood butt only). Its a great calico and halibut gun, but can take larger fish in a pinch. I just got that one, and so far all I've taken with it is one yellowtail, but a friend who owns one has taken a few yellowtail to 28 pounds and a couple of white sea bass that came by while he was targeting calicos. Its not really optimum for wsb and yellowtail though.
The second from the left is a better choice- a 55" hybrid. You could get a Hawaiian single flopper shaft for hunting calicos and a threaded shaft with slip tip when you were after whites and yellowtail. Of course it doesn't have as much band stretch, power, and range as the bigger ones, but I too my largest white sea bass with it. It uses a 9/32" shaft, and is not really heavy enough to use a 5/16" shaft without causing recoil and inaccuracy.
The next one from the left is my primary gun now- a 57" Magnum hybrid. If you look at the butt, you can see that its deeper than the ones to its left. That's because it has lead ballast in the butt, and then more teak to float the lead. This one is heavy enough to use a 5/16" in its enclosed track, although I've also used a 9/32" in it. If I had to choose just one of my guns to use all the time for wsb and yellowtail, this would be the one. However, its more expensive than the regular hybrids.
The next one started as a 60" regular hybrid, but when he started making the magnum versions, I sent it back to have the lead and extra wood added. However the track is still open on the top, so its not a pure magnum.
The next one is an Ono gun. I think its overkill for around here, although some people do use guns that size for wsb. It can take three or four 5/16 bands is has a lot of mass so that its very stable.
The last one is the Mahi gun. Its another good possibility for wsb and yellowtail, 57" long. A lot of people would prefer this to my 57" magnum as it has more mass to resist recoil and some people even put four bands in it. I am just partial to the hybrids though, because they are so much easier to swing.
If you (like my wife) are wondering why I have so many, here is my story and I'm sticking with it.
When I got the 55" regular hybrid, it was the largest hybrid he made. I loved it, but sometimes wished for just a bit more range, so when he started making the 60" hybrid I got that. It was great, but then a friend got a Mahi when he started making those, so I had to have one because it could use thicker bands and shaft than the hybrids and still be accurate.
Then he started making the magnums, and I rationalized that I could have the same bands and shaft as on the Mahi, but with the maneuverability of the hybrids, so I sprung for that.
And then finally, sometimes when the water was dirty or I wanted to hunt calicos or halibut, I wished I had the 50" like some of my buddies do, so that was the last addition to the arsenal.
Oh, almost forgot the Ono gun. I got that right after the 55" hybrid and before he started making the 60" hybrid. It would be great if I could afford trips to places where I could shoot tuna and wahoo, but for around here its really more than I need.
I really should sell some guns, but I like to have them to loan to people on my boat to try out.
If I were starting from scratch, I'd get the 57" magnum hybrid and the 50" and feel that I had Southern California diving pretty well covered. But if I wanted to keep the cost down, I'd get the 55" regular hybrid and two shafts as mentioned earlier. That way, I'd use the Hawaiian shaft when I really thought all I would see would be calicos, and maybe just cock one or two bands, but with all three bands and the Hawaiian shaft I could still shoot whites and yellowtail.
I'll throw in a photo of a nice yellowtail I shot two days ago with the magnum.
If you have more questions and feel that they might bore everyone, feel free to PM me.
BTW, the Aimrite rail guns that you can find on the Wong web site would be another good alternative with the same lifetime warranty but at lower cost. I just happen to be partial to mid-handle guns.
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