should hawaian floppers hang open?

[tucunare]

I just purchased a riffed metal tech 0S. I ordered the hawaian flopper. I notice that the flopper hangs down. I understand that a tahaitian sits on top. With a hawaian do you allow it to hang open or should I pinch it a bit so it holds closed.(lightly of course) My old gun was uses the tahaitian. Should I put the flopper to the top. Better /Worse/opinions. :duh

 

[Lachlan]

Not sure which way is best, but I would think that having the flopper on the bottom is an advantage. When the spear enters a fish it immediately falls down and stays in that position. On my RA spears the floppers hang down and never fails to open on a fish. Not sure how the position would affect the spears flight path and accuracy though.

Catchya, Lachlan

 

[tucunare]

so you just leave it hanging open. You don't put a rubber band on it or anything

 

[Alison]

With a hawaian, I would just leave it hang, its not doing any harm and when you fire the acceleration of the spear will flip it back to the shaft (unless its wedged open); putting a rubber band on it is just something extra to do when loading in my opinion.
Shaneshac gave me a tip a few weeks ago, to get a sanding block and smooth off the sharp edges around the flopper so as to remove as much resistance as possible (not to much as you weaken it though )

 

[Kev]

I buy spears with the flapper on the top or move it to the top if necessary. I also use a rubber O ring to to keep it from opening (and making noise in the water). The use of the O ring has no effect at all and keeps everything in place with no chance of any extra noise.

 

[Alison]

Do you think the flopper makes enough noise to cause problems? I agree with keeping them down though with a Tahitian, what a pain they are! Every two seconds the things pop up I really hate them :vangry Dave do you sell Hawaian shafts?

 

[Kev]

I think they can make a noise so I try and avoid it. In the same way I wont use a metal stringer fastern to a metal clip, and make sure my knife does not make a noise in the scabbered. Snorkels and fins that make a noise rubing of other pieces of equipment I also try to eliminate. I dont think that any of these things in themselves are huge problems but they can make a difference between going home with a Bass or not.

 

[grahamfoster]

I had a series of inexplicable misses at the start of the season and it took a while to realise what was going on :waterwork . The misses were only at close range and I was making long (ish!) shots ok. Initially I just blamed myself but after missing a couple of virtually unmissable fish I began to smell a rat. I was a using a RA railgun with a flopper underneath - I hadn't been using it previously because I lost the spear shortly after buying it (ref thread on clips for unspearing fish!!) and had only just got a replacement spear. I came the conclusion that combination of spear speed (quite slow with the 16mm rubbers) and the flopper popping up was warning the fish at close range. It could well have been the visual warning of the flopper going in addtion to the noise. Whichever, at close range it was giving the Bass enough time to dodge and give me that 'look'. I have gone back to using my old gun for the time being pending the mod to move the flopper and I haven't missed anything that I shoudn't have if you see what I mean.

I suppose then if you are shooting bigger fish at longer range with a powerful gun then the flopper underneath is prob better because of the better chance of it engaging. But for small fast fish at close range - UK bass for instance - the flopper is best on top. If you are doing both then I would keep the flopper on top and make sure it is tuned exactly right.

 

[Huan]

I Tune my Tahitiian style floppers so that when you hold the shaft vertically with your hand midway along the shaft and tap the shaft with your other hand halfway between the tip and your other hand the flopper opens and sticks at a 45º angle.
When you apply more pressure against the flopper it locks at~90º.
I find a pair of side cutters the best tool for tuning floppers.

 

[tucunare]

thanks guys. Huan I chaecked my out and it came tuned from the factory as you described. (coincidence???) I really like the gun. I've been using cheap Brazilian pneumatics cobras and makos. I already blew up two cobras. This gun has all the power I need and the length is good for our visibility. I missed my first couple of shots but after that it came together. Definately a quite gun as well. Any of you guys use slip tips? Do they work well on small fish as well?

 

[Roan]

I like my floppers to be closed until they penetrate the fish, so that the spear flies true as it should. Then, the tip of the flopper (which should be slightly flared) should grab onto some part of the fish and come open.

 

[OregonSpearo]

To answer your question, yes it should. You need to tune it by bending it gently with a pair of plier and taping the pin with a hammer. If you hold the shaft vertical nose up and tap on it, the flopper should stay open.

To answer the top vs. down flopper:
- Floppers on all Euro guns are on the top because those guns are used for hole hunting. If they were on the bottom, the shaft would catch every time you pull your gun out of the hole you are probing.

- On guns that are never used near reefs and rocks, like the longer Rob Allen or bluewater guns, the flopper is on the bottom. It acts as a rudder that corrects the tendency of the shaft to steer downwards as it slows down, making for slightly more accurate long-range shots.

Conversely some Euro guns with the flopper on top and a notch on it have a known tendency to shoot low because the notch on the end of the flopper acts like a rudder steering it down. If you notice your shaft drops right after a shot and has a flopper on top, straigten the flopper's notch with a hammer.

 

[guide1]

also when the floppers at the bottom and its hanging open, you know its not stuck shut and that its going to open when it penetrates the fish.