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YF Tuna Gun built in South Africa

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.
Gawd, thassa loverly gun! I should ask how to get one but living basically next to Riffe, there's no need . . . for me. But for the other brethren (and sisteren, Alison, Island Sands, Ocean Swimmer, et al.) who don't have such access, where do you get one?
 
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Hiya

donmoore, i've got no idea on how the line release works. What i do know is that you have to manually push the line release clip back before putting the spear into the mech. Hope that helps!!!!

mjacobs, yes it is mono. We shoot our tuna in extremely deep water, 300m-500m water depth. There is no structures out there, so the fish is unable to cut you off.

Oldsarge, anybody interested in aquiring such a beautifully hand made gun, simply email Tommy Botha directly at lebotha@iafrica.com

Please don't worry if he doesn't respond to your mail quickly, as he spears or is diving at least 3-4 times per week, sometimes more!!!!

Regards
miles
 
What thickness mono do you guys use miles?

Any brand in particular

PS Did you get my message?
 
Boogie board float?

Hi Miles,
Your boogie board float looks (understandably) substantial. Did you make it yourself or is that a commercial product? [You should have sponsors with everybody checking out your gear here all the time!]
 
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Hiya

Mr. X, those boogie boards are built and designed by Tommy Botha. They are VERY effective and i will stick my neck out here, will most likely revolutionise blue water hunting float systems.

Simply read about the guys spearing tuna and note how long they battle with their fish. My wife, landed a 50kg YF tuna in under 15minutes with this set-up!!! Need i say more?:D:D

Regards
miles
 
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miles said:
...
Simply read about the guys spearing tuna and note how long they battle with their fish.
...
Hi Miles,

I already read several -- hence the interest ;). Tommy's board looks pretty robust -- I guess a normal board would be destroyed!

After reading about some of your Tuna exploits, I had assumed that you generally use a spear attached to your boogie board via a 25m bungie with a breakaway rig on your speargun. However, reading one of the threads on reels, I see that you now generally use a reel rather than a breakaway rig -- so what is the float attached to ... your speargun?
 
Hiya

I've got two basic set-ups.

First is my inshore guns. They vary between 110-120cm guns all with reels on. These are for hunting inshore reef and pelagics up to 15kg's. Because we dive primarily off a boat, the reel gun is so much easier to operate with. And because of the shark factor, the boat is always close by, with the divers in the water tending to stick quite close by. Reason being that Yellowtail, being our ONLY inshore pelagic gamefish, tend to swim in schools, so if one is shot, the other divers can also get a fish from the same school.

Then there are my tuna guns. These are ALL rigged up as break-away. Simply because if anything breaks, you only lose your spear and not your complete gun too!! You quite correctly say that the boogie board is attached to the 25-30m bungee which in turn is attached to the 2mm mono shooting line on the gun, which is double wrapped.

Hope that clears it up.

Regards
miles
 
Hi Miles,
I've been keeping up with your tuna exploits off one of my favourite places, Cape Town for quite some time. We'll be crossing spears in few months, I hope, when I get a try on your tuna with my good friend Tommy Botha. Let me ask you a couple of questions on your tuna rig: 1) what width bands are you using; 2) what kind of bungee is that, those regular-type used, for example, for tying surfboards over a car rack or the rubber heavy-duty type developed by the Californians.

Cheers
Ted
Rio
 
Hiya

Ted, sorry i missed this thread!! Was probably out diving!!:D:D

I'm using 16mm bands on all of my tuna guns. Tommy built a 57" gun with 4x14mm bands for my wife. Makes it so much easier for her to load. He was going to try out some 18mm bands this season, but simply never got round to it yet.

When you coming to visit??:D:D

Regards
miles
 
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