Which Gun for Me?

[AkDiverDude]

Well this seems to be a fairly common question here, but from what I have seen my situation is fairly unique. I live in Alaska where our water is murky and cold, and I would doubt there are more than about ten people in the whole state who spearfish here, but near my cabin there are several areas where various salmon come to spawn and it struck me last year as I sat futiley trying to snag them that a person with a spear could catch them much more easily.

Thus I come to the problem. I need a gun. I am currently building one that I designed with nothing in the way of research and now I realise that it may not have what it takes to hit a fish with enough power to do any good. In the event that it is unsatisfactory I am wondering what gun would be appropriate for me. I will be hunting in murky water where visibility will almost certainly be ten feet or less, so range is not really an issue and neither is acuracy as long as it is good enough to allow me to hit a salmon at that range. The big issues are its ability to nail me a salmon in the 20 pound range with enough power to catch it, and also price. I basically want the cheapest thing that can get the job done. Also what accessories might I need and what are good sources for this kind of stuff?

Anyway thanks in advance for your input,

AKDiverDude

 

[Seal]

Well tjek this out

www.jblspearguns.com

I would use a 38 special or something, I own a Sawed-off magnum and it's pretty good.

 

[AkDiverDude]

Do they have any online dealers? It doesnt seem to think there are any in Alaska and somehow I am sure its true. Who would want to buy a speargun here anyway? The water is like 40 degrees :duh

 

[AB Diver]

HA HA HA I am glad that our water isn't 40 degrees but 50 on the low end. But I am going into the air force and hope to be in alaska within a couple of years and you can be that if I end up there I will be in the water spearfishing!

Anywho since you are talking about salmon sized fish and distance isn't an issue for you I would recommend a JBL Magnum 38 special NW. It isn't the most accurate but you need some good penetration on salmon. Because from my limited knowledge it is a soft fish and the spear tends to tear out of them easily so complete penetration to the other side could be key.

Well good luck and don't freeze your family jewls off !

 

[Oldsarge]

Just checking, but is salmon legal to spear in AK? It's not down here, more's the pity, because it's sort of considered a freshwater game fish. Go figure.

 

[AkDiverDude]

We can "take salmon using an underwater spear" or something along those lines. I know it uses the phrase "underwater spear" in the regulations. Probably should look that up in its definitions section but assuming that includes a speargun it is fine as long as you are in saltwater. The place I hope to use it is at the mouth of what is called a river, but I have never actually seen water in it. Plus people snag there and snagging is only legal in salt water and there is ranger station just up the hill, and I have even seen the rangers themselves snagging on their free time so I am sure it is considered salt water.

As for "freezing the family jewels" that is the first thing that you really notice when you jump in, and usually the thing that finally convinces a person to get out.....

I hope to try my homebuilt speargun in the next few days after which I should know whether or not I will have to spend money. But things dont look too good. It is supposed to shoot a half inch homemade shaft using two bands made from some skinny little surgical tubing :hmm . Anyway thanks for the input. Any other suggestions, or does anyone know where I can get one of these JBL guns online?

Regards,
AKDiverDude

 

[AB Diver]

Ebay is one place that comes to mind. Fair pricing too in some of the ebay stores.
Anyway that is funny that snagging is legal in AK because it is forbidden in California (but widely practiced) and so is spearfishing for salmon. Maybe thats why I want to move so bad.
How do you guys snag? With a big hook and strong pulls or do you do it the sly way with a wieght on your line and then a 15 foot leader then a SMALL corkie and a hook. (thats the way we do it) Fairly effective and legal because as the line goes down stream it snaggs in their mouth and then the current pulls the hook into the corner of their mouth and hooks em from the outside in.
Anywho good luck with them salmon. And I wouldn't shoot a 40-50 pound fish first off. You may want to start small and work your way up cuz I know those fish are strong. But if the water isn't deep then you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[IB Boyd]

just throwing in my 2 cents here...I dont have any experience hunting salmon, but I do like to hunt White seabass, and the conditions sound kind of similar (big fish, low vis) I have two guns I use, an RA 120 as wel as an RA 140. I use these two guns because they are relativley inexpensive...and either one will deliver more omph than a JBL. the 140 probably woudnt be that great for you, but a 110 or a 120 might work. I used to use an AB biller 48, and swithched brands because it didnt deliver enough power. I would hit fish and not put the shaft al the way through. Have heard or similar problems with JBL. Somthing that can handle a sliptip would probably be your best bet, if you can find a used riffe or wong somwhere. I have both my guns set up on a breakaway rig, with about 100 foot of floatline. If you hit a big fish without either a floatline or a reel and dont stone it, chances are you will either loose the gun, or give yourself a shallow water blackout trying to horse the fish to the surface. For a good float, lok for an old crab or lobster trap bouy. 100 foot of 3/8 inch polypro rope attached to your bouy should give you a servicable rig, just dont get tangled in the rope. I have bben in your shoes as far as being on a limited budget...my advice would be to save up and get somthing fairly good, it will save money in the long run.

 

[AK49]

Hey AK dude
I've checked out the regs with all but the aid of a lawer and determined that saltwater salmon are legal to spear as long as you are fully submerged. Same areas and bag limits as hook and line fishing.
I found an AB Biller 42 Special on ebay for 159 bucks plus 12.60 for shipping and had it in my hot hands in 3 days. I'm extra anxious to try it out on halibut and lingcod and I suspect I'll have to see what it does with salmon as well. Where are you thinking of doing this? (not necessarily grid coordinates but just general vicinity) Resurrection bay? Kachemak, Southeast? I'm thinking Seward and Homer since they're close, let me know where you and maybe we'll hook up.
AB Diver, when you arrive in AK you'll have to invest in a drysuit. You won't even notice the 40 degree water and after you drop below the algea the viz jumps to a spectacular 30 or 40 ft! Lots of color and life!

This is my first post, I've been reading for some time now and appreciate the knowledge, experience and humor in these pages. I hope to have more to add as time goes on.

Regards
AK49

 

[AkDiverDude]

Well my family has a cabin over on Kachemak bay, and the areas I have been thinking of for salmon were Halibut cove lagoon (For Kings but it looks like I am going to miss those this year), then China Poot bay for silvers which run up this little trickle called silver creek, and the better known reds which run up china poot river.

I probably wont be going any deeper than about five or ten feet. Are you serious about the visibility though? Alaskan water creeps me out with all the dark slimy stuff, but if it really clears up that much down there I might have to take those scuba courses iv been thinking about.

 

[Madmox]

HA HA HA I am glad that our water isn't 40 degrees but 50 on the low end. But I am going into the air force and hope to be in alaska within a couple of years and you can be that if I end up there I will be in the water spearfishing!

Anywho since you are talking about salmon sized fish and distance isn't an issue for you I would recommend a JBL Magnum 38 special NW. It isn't the most accurate but you need some good penetration on salmon. Because from my limited knowledge it is a soft fish and the spear tends to tear out of them easily so complete penetration to the other side could be key.

Well good luck and don't freeze your family jewls off !

I don't know about you Ab Diver but i when we are taking classes to Van Damme its not uncommon for the water to be in the mid 40's at least according to the dive computers. Hell a few months ago we were there and it was 43 degrees so he isn't that much colder and if he's getting 10 feet of Vis it probably better than ours anyway. Hah hah hah

Mox

 

[AB Diver]

Yeah well I guess that it is pretty cold no matter where your at. I dive "Gordon Lane" which is about 1 mile at the most above Van Damme. I didn't realize that it got that cold! I was always told that it was round the 50 degree mark but I never checked with the thermomiter.

As far as visiblity is concerned I was diving Punta Gorda the weekend before last and the visibilty was good. It was about 3 feet or so. We didn't find any ab's but the weather didn't permit us to dive any deeper than about 6-8 feet. The breakers were rolling over right where we wanted to be. Oh well that's the way it goes around Gorda.

Good to hear from another N. Californian. There isn't many of us around. At least not many on this site that enjoy diving in the cold, murky, great white infested waters of california.

 

[freediver7]

Salmon Killer,
I tried shooting a 10 lb salmon with a pole spear.The fish went nuts and tore off. The salmon I've seen while free diving stay in one area swimming laps up and down the coast. If you miss the shot wait a five to ten minutes and they keep coming back for more. Forget the salmon and shoot the halibut. They get huge up there but your going to need a hard hitting gun 75ft of float line and a float. Crabs floats work well and they are cheap. If you use a found crab float be sure to cut the number off or some commercial fisherman may get upset.