Spear barb location

[-Paddy-]

Hi,
I was just wondering if there is any advantage of having the barb hanging down the shaft? Most single barb shafts have the barb lying on the upper part of the shaft, but there are some other hanging down...
I'm about to fit a new barb on my shortened shaft and I was wondering which way will be better...

 

[margus014]

I dont think there is any difference

 

[azapa]

there are some differences in use:
BARB UNDER
- hangs down and catches when retracting gun (from cave etc)
+ as it hangs down you can waggle it to attract some fish
-+ alters aim point if you are accustomed to barb on top spear

 

[Scoobaru]

Also a barb under the spear opens naturally (due to gravity) whereas a barb on top requires friction (water or fish) to lift the barb up. The Ron Allen guns use the barb underneath the shaft, and have a friction based locking mechanism that holds the barb out. An advantage to this is that in the unfortunate event the spear line goes slack the barb is still locked out, making it harder for a fish to escape

Hope this helps