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Spear Shaft Question

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

What should Fred do? What is the best shaft for reef fishing?


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Jan 18, 2017
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Hi everyone,

I just purchased a RA gun and the only options are tri-cut tips on the shafts. I was wondering if I bang this into the reef (very likely to happen) if it is going to immediately blunt or not?

I really wanted to get one of those blunt-conical-pointed "reef" style tips but RA doesn't offer any...at least not here in America.

Will I be fine? Are these tri-cut tips strong enough to withstand some reef/rock? Or am I going to be in for a bad time as soon as I get out there?

I heard Mako has some nice shafts but just don't know a whole lot about aftermarket shafts. Mine is notched and 7mm I believe. Really excited about the oil-quenched spring steel part though, so maybe it's strong enough?

:dead:

Thanks in advance,

Fred
 
You arent going to have a problem if you hit one or a hundred rocks, the spear will usually have enough momentum to penetrate a fish even if it was totally blunt. If it starts to look bad after a while just touch it up a bit with a file. Personally I dislike really sharp tri cut points (purely for safety) & the first thing I do as soon as I get a new one is to round it off a bit with a file so it no longer is so sharp.
 
Thank you for the reply! That makes a lot of sense, however I am not sure I feel comfortable destroying a brand new tip if I don't have to..
LOL
I am interested to hear some other opinions.
Thanks for your input sharkey!
 
You are going to end up with a blunt spear whether you hit a rock with tricut or conical point so may as well stick with the spear you have.

Rob Allen does make a "Rock Tip" spear in 6.3mm width:
spear-rocktip.jpg

I have one of these lying around but haven't used much it so can't comment if they take more of beating than a standard tricut.

I prefer my spears as sharp as humanly possible. Just make sure when sharpening you try and maintain the tricut profile as its very easy to sharpen one edge more than the other ending up with a with tricut point which is completely out of whack, affecting spear accuracy.
 
Understood, thanks for the input!

It doesn't appear those are available on the US site, but I could be mistaken.
 
A quality tri-cut tip can take some abuse. The South african steel is extremely hard and tough. The damage to a tip is a function of the power with which it impacts and this has a lot to do with distance and if the shaft has gone through a fish. If you are shooting close range into a hole, it is advisable to power down to one band. This will reduce damage and reduce the amount of stuck and wedged shafts.

Another big factor is what the shaft is hitting. if you are hunting around coral reefs, limestone rock etc. This material is relatively soft and the tip will penetrate to some degree and this will reduce damage. On the other hand, if you launch a spear shaft directly into a steel wreck or some very hard granite rock (like is used in jetties often)...the damage can be significant.

The good news is that you can always sharpen the tip with a file. After several shots into rocks etc. the external corrosion protecting layer will be compromised from the tip and this will allow corrosion to start if used in sea water. In other words, the very tip of the shaft will be subject to rust and this will require a touch up with a file every now and then, so get yourself a file and don't worry too much about blunting the tip, South African Shafts (which we use at MAKO Spearguns) are extremely tough.
 
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Very informative, thank you for the reply.

I've filed my polespear tip before, so I will just need to be a little more precise this time around with the tri-cut - but thank you for putting me at ease nonetheless.

I'll be fishing far away from home so it's nice to have everything planned to a "T"

Thanks!
 
You dont need to worry too much, if you damage the tip after shooting into a granite rock or something a file do the work. Just make sure to keep count on how much you file each side of the tricut so you keep it straight.

I mostly shorehunt so alot of reef and granite blocks where i hunt. The reef is ok as someone said above, either you will just break of a part of the reefstructure or it will penetrate it so damage wont be that bad.

However a granite rock will damage the tip pretty bad, i'm currently using a 2 month old shaft on my shoregun and today i hunted alot of coraltrouts so on the last shot there was a granite block behind the fish so my tip got totally wrecked. This far i spent 10 minutes on filing it and it isnt exactly back to normal but it will still work for tomorrows hunt and afterwards i will give it another filing session and it should be back to normal.

It is true that it is easier to maintain a pencil tip, but tri cuts really make a diffrence on penetration so it is totally worth it(one time i shot a bluebar parrotfish pointblank with a single band with a newly sharpened penciltip, the spear didnt make it trough the scales and that pretty much convinced me to only use tri cuts).

I usually put a sticker under the tri cut side i started out with and then keep a count on the number of times i filed it which usually is 5 or 10 times on each side. Good for making sure you dont forget where you started and one side wont get more filed than the others.
 
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Aye, that makes a lot of sense actually. The sticker trick sounds neat and I appreciate the advice!

(y)

On a semi-related note. I've noticed some people using o-rings or rubberbands to hold the flopper barb down. It appears they just re-position it every time they reload. I assume this helps with accuracy or penetration but it would be neat to hear from someone experienced with it.

I would just assume it stays down when fired due to the hydrodynamics anyways...but, I am inexperienced afterall heheh ;)
 
Tri-cut tip are primarily meant to be used on pelagic species whereas rock points are meant to be used around rocks.
As was said by another poster, be sure to file tip carefully so as not to change the angles on the tri-cut or accuracy will decrease.
 
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