Gentlemen,
I need the help of forum readers to put a few words of comments on the available spearfishing videos. Some of us far away from the US has difficulty in buying them because if it were shipped to Asia, the shipping will be expensive, as much as the video itself sometime. On top of that many countries need to censor all incoming video, not only it takes hell of a long time, it is also not cheap. Simply not all are as lucky as those living in a "open" countries with plenty of spearfishing activities.
I also see spearfishing video as a form of learning and enjoying someone's else succesful hunt. It shows so many different guns used, float, extreme clear visibility locations and fishes in their actual environment. It is not everyday that you can see Tuna in a school swimming beautifuly like torpedos. Not all of us due to our geography will even see Tuna underwater in a lifetime. Also not all of us are equally good spearos, so a 10kg wahoo to one spearo might be a "walk in the park" and to others, it could be a proud moment.
The review will also be good for future buyers so that we get an honest review by DB readers instead of advertisement which makes every video a must buy. Any one of us then can then buy a specific title to view what we expect to see on the video.
Since this forum readers are of all kind of age group and income group, it will be useful to everyone if we can contribute review information. Savings of US$30 here and there might mean a lot to some people .... me included.....at least we can use the money more effectively for a trip.
I'll start with what I have watched/owned. My review might not be everyone liking but it will be my honest impression of the video. Thanks and please drop a few lines...........
01. Succesful spearfishing by Escudo Productions, 1991
This is a scuba hunter, not freediver hunting video. Video resolution is good. Sound OK. Background music so-so.
Duration : 30 min. Location, somewhere is the USA, probably Florida. Some part shows freeshafting method, decent tutorial information. I think the guns are AB Miller, probably not all. The fishes range from grouper to amberjack. Sizes are not big, all under 10kg. This video I don't really reccomend, not worth the money. No spectacular footage.
02. Spearfishing the Palm Beach Florida. Vol 1. Active Eye video production. 2001. Duration 35 minutes. This is a freediving hunting video. Hunters are Tony Ludovico and Chad Palan.
This is a unique one cause it uses the head mounted camera called the Active Eye. The recorder is attached to a special back pack mounted on the diver rear waist above the weight belt. Since the mini camera is head mounted, it shows the actual view of how the diver see the hunt. Every shot made always in two viewing mode, one with the head mount camera and the other a second diver filming the hunter using a regular hand held video, mostly from above. The water seems to be around 60 feet deep.
The guns are Rob Allen with reels, I think the size is at least 130 cm. Single band only. Fishes shots are snapper, cobia, grouper, hogfish, amberjack, can't remember all. On thing for sure is that the shots are made quite close, I think no more than 10 feet/3meters. I don't like the Cobia and Amberjack shots, the fishes are just too dumb in this video. The divers skill is good, hell anyone that goes to 60 feet and hang around a +- minute is good in my opinion cause I am only 1/3 of that. They are also very relaxed.
There was a shot of a big cobia ( I think 15-20kg ) that the diver took but he played with the fish and got a second gun from the boat to do the finishing second shot. I guess he is afraid that the single flopper could not hold the fish and the shot was not on a very vital spot. Most of the shots are not "stoned" shots, a few are. There is also a footage where a spearo mess up the sand to attract a fish to get closer, it works !!
This is a good overall reef hunting video and a unique one. I never expect Florida fish to be this friendly and not so fearful of divers. Worth the money.
03. BLUE WATER HUNTERS, Terry Maas. PAL Production
This is not a spearfishing video, this is an 1 hour documentary video of Terry Maas being a blue water hunter. His famous Tuna is pictured here but only when he pulled it up. No footage of the shot or him being drag by the Tuna. You get to see the faces of the famous Bottom Scracthers members. This video is for those who wanted to know what is blue water freediving, not for a current freediver. The footage of Terry in small island in the Pacific with the local divers is more for those who wanted to see plenty of sharks, not spearfishing action. As I said this is more of a documentary of the sport, not the action you expect to see.
Worth the money ?......you decide.
04. FREEDIVING THE REVILLAGIGEDOS by Blue Water Freedivers
This is a Ron Mullins and Terry Maas film. Duration about 30 min.
There are a few advertisement before the film. One is of a gun called the Stealth, can't remember the shop name. One is of Wong guns. The other is Internet Custom Speargun/Kitto, quite a cool ad this one. This is not of as much action as I wanted to see, two tuna shots and two wahoo shots. The water visibility is fantastic, better than 100+ feet. All shots are long one, the guns are custom, me don't know what brand. What really impress me is the amount of fish the water hold, sharks included.
The first tuna shot was ( I think 50-70kg ). The shot was on the shoulder, I think not a total penetration and the hunter need to play quite a while with it. No footage of the diver dragged along with the float, the fish did not run that far. Great to watch.
The second tuna shot was a 'stoned" shot, this is very big can't recall the weight but 120KG minimum is guaranteed. It is amazing to see the tuna turned white exactly where the shaft penetrated
all the way to the head, while the rest of the body remained the same color. I thought only grouper goes white like this. A great shot but less fun too watch.
The wahoo shots are very far ones. Great acceleration. Good size too, I think one is about 30 or so kg.
The very best part of the video is when the tuna came in a school and swam in front of the camera, amazing footage. I think hundreds of them. There is one lone tuna which is so fat, looks more oval than the rest. I thought it look like a giant egg with fins.
There is footage of divers playing around with Manta and Whale shark. The best water visibility of all the 6 videos.
05. LEGENDS OF THE BLUE, Legendary Media Productions #1.
Freediving. 1 hour video of hunting the Hawaian reef area by Bruce Ayau. From octopus to all the small local favourite reef fish. I like the way he disabled the octopus, he bit it between the eyes.
The bigger fishes are a big barracuda, a giant trevally and blue fin trevally. For some of the big fishes a float is used. No background music while the diver shoot the fishes, this is important because you can actually hear the impact of the shaft on the big Giant Trevally.................CRACK !!!! Great music on this video.
Entertaining video. I think the gun is Wong Reef gun, not so sure.
06. VISIONS OF BLUE
I lost this one, some one borrowed and never returned. This is an open water/blue water freedive hunting. Mostly wahoo. Gerald Lim is in this video, I do not know that his size is like me, I always thought he is bigger. Great to watch the speeding Wahoo accelerating like rockets. Very short duration but I personally really like this one. Can't remember all details of the video, it been gone too long. But no Tuna.
I need the help of forum readers to put a few words of comments on the available spearfishing videos. Some of us far away from the US has difficulty in buying them because if it were shipped to Asia, the shipping will be expensive, as much as the video itself sometime. On top of that many countries need to censor all incoming video, not only it takes hell of a long time, it is also not cheap. Simply not all are as lucky as those living in a "open" countries with plenty of spearfishing activities.
I also see spearfishing video as a form of learning and enjoying someone's else succesful hunt. It shows so many different guns used, float, extreme clear visibility locations and fishes in their actual environment. It is not everyday that you can see Tuna in a school swimming beautifuly like torpedos. Not all of us due to our geography will even see Tuna underwater in a lifetime. Also not all of us are equally good spearos, so a 10kg wahoo to one spearo might be a "walk in the park" and to others, it could be a proud moment.
The review will also be good for future buyers so that we get an honest review by DB readers instead of advertisement which makes every video a must buy. Any one of us then can then buy a specific title to view what we expect to see on the video.
Since this forum readers are of all kind of age group and income group, it will be useful to everyone if we can contribute review information. Savings of US$30 here and there might mean a lot to some people .... me included.....at least we can use the money more effectively for a trip.
I'll start with what I have watched/owned. My review might not be everyone liking but it will be my honest impression of the video. Thanks and please drop a few lines...........
01. Succesful spearfishing by Escudo Productions, 1991
This is a scuba hunter, not freediver hunting video. Video resolution is good. Sound OK. Background music so-so.
Duration : 30 min. Location, somewhere is the USA, probably Florida. Some part shows freeshafting method, decent tutorial information. I think the guns are AB Miller, probably not all. The fishes range from grouper to amberjack. Sizes are not big, all under 10kg. This video I don't really reccomend, not worth the money. No spectacular footage.
02. Spearfishing the Palm Beach Florida. Vol 1. Active Eye video production. 2001. Duration 35 minutes. This is a freediving hunting video. Hunters are Tony Ludovico and Chad Palan.
This is a unique one cause it uses the head mounted camera called the Active Eye. The recorder is attached to a special back pack mounted on the diver rear waist above the weight belt. Since the mini camera is head mounted, it shows the actual view of how the diver see the hunt. Every shot made always in two viewing mode, one with the head mount camera and the other a second diver filming the hunter using a regular hand held video, mostly from above. The water seems to be around 60 feet deep.
The guns are Rob Allen with reels, I think the size is at least 130 cm. Single band only. Fishes shots are snapper, cobia, grouper, hogfish, amberjack, can't remember all. On thing for sure is that the shots are made quite close, I think no more than 10 feet/3meters. I don't like the Cobia and Amberjack shots, the fishes are just too dumb in this video. The divers skill is good, hell anyone that goes to 60 feet and hang around a +- minute is good in my opinion cause I am only 1/3 of that. They are also very relaxed.
There was a shot of a big cobia ( I think 15-20kg ) that the diver took but he played with the fish and got a second gun from the boat to do the finishing second shot. I guess he is afraid that the single flopper could not hold the fish and the shot was not on a very vital spot. Most of the shots are not "stoned" shots, a few are. There is also a footage where a spearo mess up the sand to attract a fish to get closer, it works !!
This is a good overall reef hunting video and a unique one. I never expect Florida fish to be this friendly and not so fearful of divers. Worth the money.
03. BLUE WATER HUNTERS, Terry Maas. PAL Production
This is not a spearfishing video, this is an 1 hour documentary video of Terry Maas being a blue water hunter. His famous Tuna is pictured here but only when he pulled it up. No footage of the shot or him being drag by the Tuna. You get to see the faces of the famous Bottom Scracthers members. This video is for those who wanted to know what is blue water freediving, not for a current freediver. The footage of Terry in small island in the Pacific with the local divers is more for those who wanted to see plenty of sharks, not spearfishing action. As I said this is more of a documentary of the sport, not the action you expect to see.
Worth the money ?......you decide.
04. FREEDIVING THE REVILLAGIGEDOS by Blue Water Freedivers
This is a Ron Mullins and Terry Maas film. Duration about 30 min.
There are a few advertisement before the film. One is of a gun called the Stealth, can't remember the shop name. One is of Wong guns. The other is Internet Custom Speargun/Kitto, quite a cool ad this one. This is not of as much action as I wanted to see, two tuna shots and two wahoo shots. The water visibility is fantastic, better than 100+ feet. All shots are long one, the guns are custom, me don't know what brand. What really impress me is the amount of fish the water hold, sharks included.
The first tuna shot was ( I think 50-70kg ). The shot was on the shoulder, I think not a total penetration and the hunter need to play quite a while with it. No footage of the diver dragged along with the float, the fish did not run that far. Great to watch.
The second tuna shot was a 'stoned" shot, this is very big can't recall the weight but 120KG minimum is guaranteed. It is amazing to see the tuna turned white exactly where the shaft penetrated
all the way to the head, while the rest of the body remained the same color. I thought only grouper goes white like this. A great shot but less fun too watch.
The wahoo shots are very far ones. Great acceleration. Good size too, I think one is about 30 or so kg.
The very best part of the video is when the tuna came in a school and swam in front of the camera, amazing footage. I think hundreds of them. There is one lone tuna which is so fat, looks more oval than the rest. I thought it look like a giant egg with fins.
There is footage of divers playing around with Manta and Whale shark. The best water visibility of all the 6 videos.
05. LEGENDS OF THE BLUE, Legendary Media Productions #1.
Freediving. 1 hour video of hunting the Hawaian reef area by Bruce Ayau. From octopus to all the small local favourite reef fish. I like the way he disabled the octopus, he bit it between the eyes.
The bigger fishes are a big barracuda, a giant trevally and blue fin trevally. For some of the big fishes a float is used. No background music while the diver shoot the fishes, this is important because you can actually hear the impact of the shaft on the big Giant Trevally.................CRACK !!!! Great music on this video.
Entertaining video. I think the gun is Wong Reef gun, not so sure.
06. VISIONS OF BLUE
I lost this one, some one borrowed and never returned. This is an open water/blue water freedive hunting. Mostly wahoo. Gerald Lim is in this video, I do not know that his size is like me, I always thought he is bigger. Great to watch the speeding Wahoo accelerating like rockets. Very short duration but I personally really like this one. Can't remember all details of the video, it been gone too long. But no Tuna.