Tuna time is ny!!!!!!!

[shaneshac]

Hey guys,

Less than one month to go for the monster tuna to start coming my way

I am starting to get my equipment ready and just wanted to see what you guys thought:

Gun = Totemsub Tahiti 120 with 2x 17.5mm or 2x 20mm bands
Sporasub Stealth 110 loaded to ~ 35 BAR

Shaft = 7 - 8mm shafts with Devoto Tuna slip tip. Linked with a short cable trace to 2mm mono around 3 wraps.

THe mono will be connected to about 30m of floatline and 10m of bungee to the first 11 litre float. THis will be connected by another 20m of bungee to a body board and this will be connected to another stretch of bungee and finally a foam filled barrell "a la JAWS"


Just seen an Italian dude " www.donativideosub.it " shoot a 93 kilo bluefin and it took a body board under for one hour

Can't imagine what a 300 kilo one will do.

Guys let me know your thoughts.



:hmm

 

[icarus pacific]

a Totemwhat and a huh?

yeah, but what're you going to use for guns?? :t

Seriously though, best of luck. It's a couple weeks before I can get to some clear water and the biggest thing I hope to see is a 25kg wahoo on my float.

 

[tuomo]

Good luck Shane!
Keep us up to date.

br,

Tuomo

 

[Memo]

You are going to buy the sporasub gun dont you


I think your idea of using gradually increasing the sizes of floats is cool but there may be a trick in the lenghts of bungee in the setup. I think the lenght of bungee in the setup should remain constant or increase between the pairs of floats as you get closer to the foam filled barrel. By this way you may create more strech before applying more floating power...

Just my opinion

good luck buddy

 

[miles]

Hiya

I'll keep a look-out for some guy being towed around past Cape Point, in South Africa. I think everybody should be on the look-out for a guy in a wetsuit being dragged around the world holding onto a foam filled drum!!!!

Now i KNOW you're insane!!!!

Guys have landed YF tuna here with a 30m bungie attached to a boogie board. No other floats were used. That being said, i know of one guy that lost his boogie board to a 100kg+ YF tuna. Simply submerged his boogie board and never surfaced again. The problem with floats (all floats actually) is that a certain depth, they lose their ability to float and become negatively bouyant. An example of this would be a scuba diver at 40m depth can remove all his kit (weightbelt, BC, tank,etc) and he'll stay submerged. He won't pop to the surface because he has removed his weightbelt. I've read somewhere on DB about using drogue/parachute as another form of braking. Will be worth your while to look into that.

http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?threadid=38206&highlight=parachute

http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?threadid=36311&highlight=parachute


Best of luck!!!!!! And don't forget to send some pictures!!!!

Regards
miles

 

[Mikko]

Dang.......
Maybe I should come down too!!!
I thought that season there starts a tad later?

Keep us well posted!

Cheers,
Mikko

 

[Murat]

good luck dude

be carefull don't be hunted

What about using Dapiran's method? Connecting bungees to the boat....

 

[shaneshac]

Hey guys thanks for the encouragement and comments.

Mikko the season starts around end of April and ends in October. Tuna can actaully be caught all year round but the monsters are always between the months mentioned.

Memo, If I can find a good enough supplier for spares I will buy the gun. Still trying to find out if 13mm piston or 1mm piston would be better?????? The Dentex video proves the awesome power of air guns.

Murat, the boat idea is good although the pressure on the shooting line would be so great that something would give.

One question: At what pressure will the slip tip just rip out of the tuna? I ask this because we have hooked tuna and brought up only the lower jaw of the beast. So I know a big tuna can pull hard enough to rip its body to bits

That parachute idea is well worth checking out thanks.

Miles if you see a huge barrel and a spearo flying past your area please get you gun ready for the second shot ROFL
We'll see if your Rabi's or C4 are all they're cracked up to be.

 

[Memo]

I think the principle to settle down a monster lies in the tricks of maintaining enough drag to tire it but not to rip it. Play your cards safe and design a system with all of the tricks inside Afterall we dont want to place that second shot

 

[truedelmartian]

Hi Shaneshac:

Earlier someone posted a photo of my friend John Warren's Supergun, in relation to your question about gear for
giant bluefin tuna. The Supergun was built as a one-off
"concept" gun- like auto manufacturers make to demonstrate design possibilities- not neccessarily intended for regular use.
He has shot some fish with the thing, but for obvious reasons it does not see much use. However, besides being a very talented
professional artist and a really cool neighbor, John builds high-quality spearguns that some serious world-class spearos use on extra-large fish like your tuna. They are substantially smaller than the Supergun, but very powerful and specialized instruments, throwing a heavy 9.5mm shaft- often with 6 power-bands. Ian McGonagle landed a blue marlin weighing approx. 750 lbs. in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico using one of John's guns. You could probably find the story by doing a net search. John's normally pretty busy with work, but will share some valuable experience with rigging for really big stuff with you if you e-mail him. Go to rocknfish.com to see some of his work, and click on "Write to me." The Totemsub seems like an excellent gun, but I would think a 1.8 mtr + shaft of 8mm dia. would be at the light end of recommended spears for giant BFT. You want deep penetration so the spearhead doesn't pull out of the rel. soft tuna flesh- this is best ensured with heavy "throw-weight." To make a heavy shaft move quickly, you'll need more rubber, which will require a heavier gun to absorb recoil. Some expert spearos routinely take tuna up to 90 kilos or so using 7mm 2-band gear, but for fish weighing 3x that much, I'd go heavier. If you're commited to having a go with your Totem, I think maybe 2mm mono is likely to be the weak link in your proposed rig, and should be replaced with something sturdier- perhaps Spectra of approx. the same size. E-mail John, he knows the real deal about big fish gear.

Cheers, Doug

 

[shaneshac]

This is what I am Up against!!!!!!!

Hey guys, I have found this pic of my brother with the last Tuna we caught last summer. It weighed 220 kilos

Anyone wishing to reconsider their advice

 

[Snorkel Bum]

:duh
That is one HUGE fishy!I wish I could catch some that size

 

[Murat]

I can see a "test" hole on it, so penetration guaranteed

 

[shaneshac]

Hey Murat,

That hole was done with a hand held spear with a slip tip attached to end.

We use it once we have hold of leader and the tuna is alongside the boat.

I did not have Tahiti when this Tuna was caught so I could not test penetration.

 

[DeepThought]

That's a nice lil' fishy.

Say, what can you do with it after you catch it?
After a few stakes/shushi for the family that is...

Using as bait fish for something bigger?

 

[shaneshac]

Hey Michael,

We still have some of that tuna in our industrial sized freezer. Normally the entire crew that went out that day take some fish for their family. (Well a lot of fish for their family)

That fish was caught in a tuna fishing comp and weigh in was not until 10pm. After that we had to take the fish back to my Dad's boat where were proceeded to cut it up. I actually finished cutting it up at 4 am. So most of it had to be taken to my house in large plastic bags and put in the chest freezer.

 

[DeepThought]

An odd looking person (well you) walking the streets at 4am with plastic bags full of bleeding lumps... could've developed into a nice story if a cop had stoped you...

Say, if you still have some of the old tuna in that freezer, why do you wanna get a new one?

 

[shaneshac]

Hey Deepthought,

By the time the tuna run is here the tuna in my freezer will be long gone. I am currently finalising my gear setup to make sure I am set to go for June-Oct

It would have been funny getting stopped by the cops.

We gave the head to a moroccan lady who wanted to use it (God knows what for) and she came with a full sized shopping trolley. Can you believe the head did not fit inside. It was huge.

I am not into selling y catches but If I land a few this summer (I wish) just by selling one to the Japanese I will have my gear covered for a couple of years

 

[DeepThought]

I know 2 marocan dishes that use fish heads - fish suop and Chreime (ch=that letter you don't have in english). Both I dislike.

Say, how much can one of those fish get in the japanese market?
how would you get it there? e-bay?

 

[shaneshac]

You cannot imagine the prices the Japanese pay for these fish.

There is a Japanese boat over here that will actually organise for the fish to be transported to Japan ASAP.

If worse comes to worse its an ebay job LOL