Henley or gat-ku for the Bahamas

[GivmeGills]

Between these two, both with slip tip set-up what is everyones personal favorite? If anyone prefers a different type of polespear please feel free to suggest, but no three prongs.

[sailcrazy]

sea stingers are the shit best polespear i have ever used and i think it comes with a slip tip:thumps:

[grouperdude]

tory i was really unhappy with the henley. gat-ku iv never used but buba black is making carbon fiber pole spears in 6ft and 8ft i think i saw the prototype there bad ass idk when hes going to start selling them though.

[sailcrazy]

yea henleys are kinda over rated/ priced

[grouperdude]

sailcrazy
yea henleys are kinda over rated/ priced

pretty slow also and the tip is made of a soft metal

[GivmeGills]

I have used sea stingers an d I'll pass. I do like the Gat ku and its cheaper keegan who is bubba black

[takowill]

Both... If you have both.
The henley is an awesome spear, except its slow. You can use it to take down big pelagics and grouper. (15+ pounds)
The gat-ku is also an awesome spear, very fast, agile, and has punching power. I would use this to take down reef fish up to 10 pounds.
Good luck.

[GivmeGills]

Tako, thanks for the advice, unfortunately I can;t afford to buy both so I was thinking of getting the gat-ku and hoping it will survive the month down in san sal, if not then I think i will look into the Henley more..

[takowill]

Dam, you are lucky.. try to make it over to rum cay, that place has some amazing spots... just watch out for the tigers. I have an 8 foot gat-ku, if I were you I would get at least a 10 footer for the awesome vis in the Bahamas. Also, the 3 prong can be VERY deadly.

[mnguy]

If you're shooting grouper, please do yourself a favor and get some sort of fixed tip as well, like a flopper tip. This way you can leverage the fish out of the holes with the pole instead of just pulling straight back against it.

Of course, the only time I've ever seen gat-ku's fail is on big California Sheephead holed up in the breakwalls. John Hanson(Seacrecher) has his hanging up over a door like a decorative piece. I'll try and dig up the pic.

edit: Here's the post
http://spearfishingplanet.com/showpost.php?p=29317&postcount=16

[westpalmspearo]

i dont think the gatku would hold up as good as the sea stinger or henley you could also contact aaron christ spearboard name ..i think azspearo he sells a great spear thick like the henley but very fast less expensive

[azspearo]

Thanks for the plug Pat. If your looking for a spear that thumps and with lots of punch the spears that I build will fit the bill, it's what I expect in a spear myself.
You can see pictures on my website.
Heres a pricelist of the spears I currently make.
4' one piece $95
6' one piece $105
6' two piece $115
8' two piece $125
The 6' spears come with a 12" x 5/16" spear shaft with flopper or threaded tip for 6mm or 5/16-24.
The 8' spear comes with a 18" x 5/16" spear shaft 3" flopper or threaded tip in 6mm or 5/16-24.
The total length for 6' spears and 12" shaft is 7'4" and the total length for the 8' spear with 18" shaft is 9'8".

Replacement shafts are non-proprietary and any 5/16" spear shaft can easily be modified to work with the polespear. Also I make a short adapter that has a 6mm thread to work with paralyzer tips.

My replacement shafts are $15.50 for the 12" shaft and $21.50 for the 18" shaft. I can make custom length polespear and shafts as well.

[westpalmspearo]

on my crist spear i took some pheumatic shafts broke off a set of the threads made the indents for the set screws and now i can thread on stinger tips and have spare shafts for cheap florida freedivers sells the shafts for 15-25 depending on the length

[Boscobob]

I've got both a Gat Ku and an Odor . I like them both and I'm pretty sure that if I ever bothered to keep track that I use them about the same amount.

The funny thing is that it is more a zen thing of one will feel right on a given day and that at the end of the day it will in fact have been the right choice.

Bob
At anchor in Simpson bay St Martin

[Pirate Dave]

ive used a henley and gat-ku both and i prefer the gat-ku HANDS DOWN
henley is bulky heavy and the tip will turn into a hook if you hit a dreaded "rock fish" i find them hard to swing around and hold even with gloves
the gat-ku is a little thin but for reef hunting its fine. with a sliptip you just have to run and grab the fish instead of dragging it to the surface like a barbarian. its not any more flimsy than a fibreglass or JBL collapsable.
deffinatly go with the biggest one possible. i use a 9 ft and 10 ft and only use the 9 ft for friends
synopsis:
henley:big and barbaric
Gat-ku: quick agile and WAY more range

[GivmeGills]

thanks for all the replies guys, i went to FL freedivers today and compared bothand I personally like the Gat-Ku more, so I will try it, and if it doesmt take the abuse I will try a Henley

[OceanEd]

Yesterday I returned from 4 months of cruising and spearfishing in the southern Bahamas. The pole spears I took with me were Gat-Ku (two lengths), Aaron Christ, Lance Ohara, Cockerham, and Peter Rydel (from California). I was testing and using all of them in different sizes and lengths. If I can help you in any way, let me know.

When I get the time I will write up the trip on Spearboard.

What type of fish will you be hunting? What environments? Large fish? Mostly medium or small fish? Reef diving? Blue Water Hunting?

[takowill]

Hey Oceaned,
How did the Lance Ohara hold up?

[SnpperWhisperer]

Welcome Back OceanEd - I've been waiting for your report - can't wait to hear about how you got on. keen to hear your views on what was good for big pelagics.

[GivmeGills]

Ocean I would really like to hear your opinion on the Gat-Ku's what lengths did you use? I plan on hunting mainly reefs (45-65 ft) grouper, snapper, and hogfish mainly. I don't think I will be doing any blue-water stuff with a polespear though.. did you use any slip tips ??

[OceanEd]

GivemeGills: I agree with MNGUY that you would be much better off without a 3 prong paralyzer tip, but that is just my opinion. I only use a slip tip for blue water stuff. For everything else I use a regular 2 wing spinning tip. I have found this works the best for me, especially with grouper. The standard paralyzer tips on the Lance Ohara and the Gat-Ku poles I was using kept pulling out of fish. Because you can shoot lobster in the Bahamas, you have the extra problems of really beating a paralyzer up when you are repetedly hitting rocks. There is also the problem that thick bits of lobster shell get stuck at the base of the tip, between the three tines, and it distorts the paralyzer and it is hard to get them out.

SnpperW: For big pelagics I still think that the longer, the better. I also prefer the larger diameter poles with good weight. This combo gives the pole a lot of mass that will punch into and many times through large, strong fish. I also like slip tips for this type of spearing because then the fish cannot use the leverage of the pole itself to work a large hole in its body which might cause the pole to come out.

The only exception to this is if I am hunting large African Pompano. I use a fixed spinning tip with them because I want the pole spear to be sticking out of their side and not trailing back behind them as it would be with a slip tip. With a 9 to 11' large and heavy pole sticking out of its side, the fish will eventually have to start swimming in large circles and it makes it easier for me to chase it down and put another spear into it.

I took two sizes of Gat-Ku with me and really liked the longer length. It gave me the range and reach I wanted to chase down large Mutton Snapper which are pretty wary down there. I would be lying if I said I didn't bend the Gat-Ku shaft several times, especially while fighting large grouper, but it was pretty easy to bend it back.

Maybe we just have large fish on steroids down the southern Bahamas, but they seem to pretty much bend any pole spear. The only one that did not bend was the Aaron's pole spear, and it is probably the "tank" of all pole spears. There are situations where I would use the Gat-Ku and others when I would use Aaron's.

I loved testing all the different types. The one downside to constantly switching to different lengths, diameters, and weights on poles is that you are never really able to dial it in from constant use.

Takowill: I bent the pole on the Lance Ohara and the Gat-Kuy's pretty regularly, especially when hunting big grouper. Lickily, I could just bend them back to where they were reasonable straight.

I just wish the Lance would come with an optional 6mm thread on the end so I could use something besides the 3 prong tip. I also personally like a longer pole for hunting.

[azspearo]

So where's the pics? I'm glad the spear(Tank) didn't bend on you, being it was 16' long. Did you get a chance to pop any Wahoo?

[SnpperWhisperer]

Cool. Bring on the pictures!

I shot a small (27 lb) yellowtail here in the weekend with a sliptip on a 9.5 ft total length spear made locally here by Gary Fisher - mostly of fibreglass, just a short stainless tip section. The stainless is not spring stainless, so even with a slip tip on it went all noodle on me with a 60 degree bend and now looks like spaghetti. The good news is that it pushed the spear through the fish well and the sliptip itself worked very well on the kingy, albeit that it did not damage the fish on entry so I had to tire it out. Range was good.

I now just need to find someone who will make me a spring steel tip section to fit this, or of course a whole new Crist spear perhaps?

[OceanEd]

Aaron:

Your spear was the sturdiest one that I took with me. I like the idea of the lateral pressure being absorbed by the shaft at the end, and I love the fact that I can change that out once it has bent enough times that I can't seem to straighten it out again.

The weather was bad for 9 out of 10 days, all winter. I never had a chance to go after Wahoo or to put the extra section you made for me into use. I know it would have worked if I could have had a couple of days to work out any problems.

I will post a couple of pictures when I write up my thread.

[SpearMax]

I will post a couple of pictures when I write up my thread.

Welcome back to the board Stephen! :toast:

Are you back on the mainland or tapping into a yacht's wireless in the Bahamas?

[hardway]

I've been waiting for the pics and write up on your journey since you left, welcome back OceanEd!

[OceanEd]

Spearmax:

We arrived back last Saturday.

Hardway:

I will try to get a report up soon on the board.