Tuna hunting Pics

[shaneshac]

Here is a link to Fernando Abella's latest Tuna hunting ecapades. Using his new hydropneumatic gun capable of being loaded to 120 bars

It launches a 9mm shaft at 45 meters per second.

http://www.pescasub.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1112#1112

http://aquatech1.narod.ru/english.html

 

[Murat]

i still like the nobility of the nicely crafted wood/euro band guns

Wasn't he using the "mamba" guns, like the one he made for you? What is the relation with those Russian pneumatics?

Anyway.... the most important thing is, did he landed the fish? and how big was it?

 

[shaneshac]

Well the difference between the mamba and this is the loading effort required. Since this load can be fractionated (like multi band guns) you can get the power close to the Pelletier guns of old.

Well unfortunaelty the slip tip 2mm stainless wire pulled out and the fis was lost.

Second day they shot another with a solid tip and after an hour half battle this pulled free.

third day they shot another and the shaft ripped out real quick.

These pics were pulled out of vid footage so i will keep you posted.

 

[Murat]

Did not they learned anything from the previous tuna hunting

 

[shaneshac]

Yeah and theyb made everything a whole lot stronger and more resistant than last time.

Last time they were lucky as they managed to stone the 278 kilo one. This time they had equipment failure on 2 occasions and one bad shot.

There is not equipment on the market which is tried and tested for these beasts. This guy is a pioneer and is finding out what works and what doesnt as he goes along.

I am sure i will have a few misshaps myself

 

[shaneshac]

Murat i have just been told that the tuna was found earlier today floating on the surface.

It weighed 318 kilos

It would have been a new world record. Bad luck but Fernando will get there.

 

[rigdvr]

someone needs to send him some Alexander slip tips....they wont let go.

 

[shaneshac]

Whats the URL for the Alexander Slip Tips and can we get them in Europe?

 

[icarus pacific]

here ya go

spearguns.netfirms.com/stevealex.html

and tell him I said hi.

 

[shaneshac]

Thanks a lot Sven.

I will have a look.

What other options are there or are these as heady duty as it will go?

 

[Fondueset]

Aquatech Guns

I checked out the schematics on the site. This is a very clever design. I also like the use of stainless steel in the barrel.

 

[Murat]

he should not mind small freight cost of slip tip in order to land those huge fishes, isn't he?

What about the 318kg fish? Is it edible condition This is lot of meat to eat

 

[shaneshac]

Fondueset I entirely agree with you. The one Fernando was using is a new model and has some sort of lever (like a car jack) which has a pressure of about 15 kilos. You jack this lever until your hearts content In this instance 120 bar was used but it has been tested to 300 bar

Murat after 2 days in the water i think the tuna should definitely be edible. What suprised me that it was actually floating as Tuna tend to sink to the depths when they die. This is part of the problem when hunting them.

When Dapiran cuaght his 50 kilo one he had to take a dive to 48m to make the second shot and be able to pull it up from depths.

 

[fer_abella]

Originally posted by Murat
Did not they learned anything from the previous tuna hunting

Yes, we did. Now we have learned that commercial "heavy duty" slip-tips broke too.

 

[Murat]

hey Fernando, you should feel very bad to loose the 318kg fish because of the tip. May be you should try American sliptips for those beast. There should be someone that knows what can hold 320kg tuna...May be you better to ask Alexander if he can make you tip for that big fish. Just an opinion

 

[fer_abella]

Yes, i feel very very very ....x100.... bad.

Specially when you think you know enough and you have eliminated failure possibilities but things go wrong another time because another "impossible" reasons.

It is so animically demanding to go up and down every day (at 9:30 you are up afther the shoot at 11 you see that you have nothing :waterwork :waterwork) that i think it is bad for myself to return another time there.

Regards

:ko

 

[Fondueset]

Nemrod used to make a gun ('Galeon' maybe?) That had a strange looking sort of horn shaped lever on the back you could use to super-compress after loading. But, of course, those and all the other pneumatics I know of use a piston/stop arrangement and lack the one-way valve that allows these guns to work the way they do. The nemrods (I had a 'torpedero' - had a trigger mech that caught at the end of the barrel) had thin aluminum barrels with the compression chamber at the rear - not as durable as modern designes that encase the barrel in the cylinder. I was allways partial to the pneumatics.

Those are some extremely formidable fish! Equipment failures are a bummer - but it happens.

 

[Huan]

Judging by tone used by some posts I think that it is possible that they may not realise quite what these fish are capable of.
These are not Yellowfins of 2-300lb weight these are 600 lbs plus fish with correspondingly greater power and weight, most gear is simply not designed for the kind of stresses these animals will put on it.
you can't simply walk into a shop and say can I have a speargun and bungie line for a 700lb bluefin, well at least not in any shop I have ever been in. Fernando and co are simply trying to come to terms with some of the largest and most powerful gamefish on earth.
I say fair play to them and wish them luck.
I will know where to look for advice when I decide to target one of these beasts.

 

[Fondueset]

I think I really understated in my last post - but I had to reread some of this thread before I really believed it. I mean this is a little like spearing a passing car! This fish, If I'm not mistaken, can make around 50knots!!!

I'm sure there are companies out there that would be thrilled to design a custom spearhead for these guys.

Amazing!

 

[shaneshac]

Yes these can swim 50 knots and maintain a cruising speed of 30 knots for a while. Imagine the momentum of a 400-500 kilo tuna at that speed.

I have seen what these things can do to trolling tackle and they are absolute beasts.

The sliptip used in the first shot was not the best in the market for this type of beasts, although the one he used was probably faultly, as i have seen one of these tips being used to land a 93k tuna and it worked fine. The tip failed as soon as the second 10litre float went down so dont think it was due to overstress on the wire.