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Old 01-10-2019, 02:46 PM   #16
mikelb
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

Sheep equals market size: this means take one just big enough for ceviche or whatever you are making. Oyster sauce in the oven bake means it has to be able to fit whole in oven so that is the biggest I will take. Best, Mike.
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Old 01-11-2019, 02:25 AM   #17
Seth U
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

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Originally Posted by Trimbandit View Post
If you are going to shoot bigger sheep with a small gun in the dark, please make sure you are close enough to get good penetration.
I was close enough that I considered trying for a hand grab. Plenty close. Adequate penetration is the point of the thread. I'm not concerned about the distance at all. I do question if this little JBL has the balls though.

Thanks for the reply Trimbandit... and for your expression of concern for the fish population in my vicinity. You give me too much credit
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Old 01-13-2019, 10:23 PM   #18
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

At night any small gun will do the trick. Heck I've stabbed cabs, halis and rock fish at night while bugging. Just aim for the head and stoned the goats, youll be fine. If you don't want to be towing a float' just use a floatline.
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Old 01-14-2019, 08:49 AM   #19
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

Point blank, in a hole you can easily shoot and land with a 65cm gun a sheephead easily two or three times as big as what will make you and your household sick of sheephead for a good long while... Probably 10ish pounds is the biggest goat I have taken with a 65cm gun, although point blank I could certainly land a 20lber. If you're targeting anything more than perch you should have a floatline or reel, it is safer for you. Start with a floatline.

For night spearing/bugging you just want a short pipegun with a light on it. You can leave it on the bottom to mark holes, shoot fish, make it almost unsporting to take halibut, and grab bugs. Don't shoot any bugs and dont shoot yourself. It's of course illegal to shoot bugs and you wont land them anyway.

Clipping a gun to your belt is a bad idea.

I dont really sell the Twilight muzzles anymore but you can get a flashlight mount for a gun easily. The gun in this video is an 85cm, it has taken plenty of fish up to about 40lbs. It is very very tough to land a 40lb yt with a short gun and flopper tip but for a 20lb critter a California hole a short pipegun is 100%: https://youtu.be/LF-T9YjhubU

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Old 01-14-2019, 06:44 PM   #20
Seth U
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

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Point blank, in a hole you can easily shoot and land with a 65cm gun a sheephead easily two or three times as big as what will make you and your household sick of sheephead for a good long while... Probably 10ish pounds is the biggest goat I have taken with a 65cm gun, although point blank I could certainly land a 20lber. If you're targeting anything more than perch you should have a floatline or reel, it is safer for you. Start with a floatline.

For night spearing/bugging you just want a short pipegun with a light on it. You can leave it on the bottom to mark holes, shoot fish, make it almost unsporting to take halibut, and grab bugs. Don't shoot any bugs and dont shoot yourself. It's of course illegal to shoot bugs and you wont land them anyway.

Clipping a gun to your belt is a bad idea.

I dont really sell the Twilight muzzles anymore but you can get a flashlight mount for a gun easily. The gun in this video is an 85cm, it has taken plenty of fish up to about 40lbs. It is very very tough to land a 40lb yt with a short gun and flopper tip but for a 20lb critter a California hole a short pipegun is 100%: https://youtu.be/LF-T9YjhubU

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Excellent reply. Thank you!


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Clipping a gun to your belt is a bad idea.
Can you expand on this a little. My intention is to have the gun clipped to my belt and hunt lobster as I normally would, having the speargun dangle unloaded next to my game bag. Then, should the need arise, unclip it from my belt, load the band, and use it. Is there a reason this is a poor plan? What's the bad idea?

For the record... the JBL I plan to use for this is about a 40cm gun. Much shorter than a 65. Although your experience with a 65 is encouraging.
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Old 01-14-2019, 07:19 PM   #21
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

Re: gun on your belt
It is drag, entanglement risk, obnoxiously clattering on the bottom as you are hunting, a pointy thing inline with your calf that could stab you when you get rolled into rocks by swell or rogue waves.

Not to say you would never clip an unloaded gun to your belt so you have both hands free to work but to do that while also bottom hunting is not the best option. Trying to do too many things in the water is a great way to do none of them well.

Another option, not as good as a small gun with light in my opinion is to bring a cheap sausage float out with you. Blow it up when you're at your spot, put a glow stick on it and clip gun or game bag to it. In the kelp it won't drift anywhere.

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Old 01-14-2019, 07:38 PM   #22
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

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Re: gun on your belt
It is drag, entanglement risk, obnoxiously clattering on the bottom as you are hunting, a pointy thing inline with your calf that could stab you when you get rolled into rocks by swell or rogue waves.

Not to say you would never clip an unloaded gun to your belt so you have both hands free to work but to do that while also bottom hunting is not the best option. Trying to do too many things in the water is a great way to do none of them well.

Another option, not as good as a small gun with light in my opinion is to bring a cheap sausage float out with you. Blow it up when you're at your spot, put a glow stick on it and clip gun or game bag to it. In the kelp it won't drift anywhere.

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Thank you. Good points. I appreciate it
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Old 01-19-2019, 09:50 PM   #23
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

I've just started diving with a gun at night as well. I use a float line with a kelp carrot. It flows through the kelp good and doesn't get tangled. Then if Im going for lobster I drop the gun. I use glow Sticks to help mark my float and gun so it's easy to locate and retrieve when I drop it. Works for me
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Old 01-21-2019, 01:57 PM   #24
Seth U
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Thumbs up Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

Quote:
Originally Posted by SpankTheTank View Post
I've just started diving with a gun at night as well. I use a float line with a kelp carrot. It flows through the kelp good and doesn't get tangled. Then if Im going for lobster I drop the gun. I use glow Sticks to help mark my float and gun so it's easy to locate and retrieve when I drop it. Works for me
Thank you for sharing your experience
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Old 01-22-2019, 08:17 PM   #25
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

Another option is to get a float you can clip your gun to the top of, and run a floatline to an ab iron. That way, if you find bugs you can quickly free your hands by dropping the iron and grabbing them, with the bonus that if you find a fish or want to dive the same spot again, you can mark the spot with the iron and return for another shot at the bugs or a shot at the fish. And if you find scallops, you can pry them off without having to cut them out with a knife which some people find to be easier.

The benefit of this is that it's much easier to swim around with an ab iron than a gun (even a gun just clipped to you,) and you still get all the benefit of being able to mark and re-dive a hole.

I agree with what Lance said about trying to do too many things at once and sucking at all of them. But I also agree with you about how frustrating it is not to have a gun when you want one. You're looking for a best of both worlds approach, but clipping the gun to your belt seems like the worst option. You would have to surface to load the gun and re-dive anyway, but in doing so you could lose the fish or hole you wanted to shoot, since you didn't have any marker. But like everything else, there are a bunch of ways to skin this cat and the key is to find something you feel safe and comfortable with.
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Old 01-23-2019, 09:08 PM   #26
Seth U
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Re: Newbie question about shorter spearguns

Thanks for all the good advice everyone. I went ahead and purchased a float and floatline (intend on going out for YT and WSB this year anyway)

I'll try out a few different configurations and see what works and/or doesn't work for me and report back my experience.

Biggest concern is still whether or not the little JBL I picked up will pack enough punch. Public opinion seems promising.

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