Threaded or Hawaiin Flopper?

[SpearRiffe]

Which type of shaft Do you all prefer the threaded or 1-peice hawaiin. I have used a hawaiin on my Riffe Euro X 100cm but sometimes I get headshots into their skull and have to saw into the fish to get it out. Also with threaded there is the chance of the tip getting unscrewed if you shoot a fish and it starts spinning. So what do you all prefer?
-Dane

[BigMako]

Most of the time ,I use a Hawaiian. For all bluewater applications, I use a slip tip. All of my slip tips are made by Mori. The only downside to a flopper tip is that you must keep pressure on the fish. If the line goes slack enough to allow the tip to slide out far enough to let the flopper lay back down against the shaft, then when the line comes back tight, the shaft pulls out. Had it happen to me last year with a big AJ. Other than that, in my opinion, floppers are the way to go most of the time. One further note, a threaded shaft with a large double flopper tip has a weak point right at the threaded section.

[azspearo]

I prefer a shaft with a flopper on the top or bottom depends on how the gun shoots.
When did spear fisherman start calling placement of flopper's Hawaiian and Tahitian and why?

BigMako- If your flopper is tuned correctly it should stay open and not let the fish slide back off.
The flopper should easily open half it's travel and the other half of the floppers travel to open with a little bit of force.
The friction in the travel of the last half will keep the flopper open and won't need to worry about your shotting line going slack.

[keezdiver]

loctite on the threads helps prevent unthreading.

i like the small damage area that result from floppers...those big thread on tips destroy smaller fish unless you hit them in the head.

i've never had a problem sliding the shaft all the way through the fish (even skull) and unclipping the line to get the fish off.


then again....i freeshaft most of the time, so i'm sure my experience is pretty limited compared to others. i've probably shot less than 50 fish with a line gun....probably thousands with freeshaft

[BigMako]

azspearo,
I thought it was. It was a brand new Aimrite shaft. One minute the fish was on, the next he was gone. I assume this is what happened because the flopper was closed when I looked at the shaft. There was a fair amount of swell and I was bobbing up and down on the surface.

[monster slayer]

Originally Posted by BigMako

azspearo,
I thought it was. It was a brand new Aimrite shaft. One minute the fish was on, the next he was gone. I assume this is what happened because the flopper was closed when I looked at the shaft. There was a fair amount of swell and I was bobbing up and down on the surface.

I heard an old local diver story, about a Baja diver that used no float lines nor floppers to spear the monster Aj´s of Baja. He used a pencil tip kind of shaft with no floppers and he used to take advantage of the natural curiosity of the Aj´s in invetigative mode. He hoped for the stone shot and if he don´t the fish would just go away without the shaft. Maybe is just plain B.S. but a funny story nevertheless

[BigMako]

They can be stoned. No question. But miss the kill shot by an inch an hold on. We shoot the big ones here(100 or so) pounds with line guns. It's kind of funny when you do hit the kill shot. You can watch their entire back turn dark instantly. I shot one that weighed 95 pounds, just missed the kill zone and manged to go through both gill plates and toggle. I was just attached to a really pissed off, strong fish. It kicked my A--! He went in the cooler though. Aj's also have this really bad habit of getting a second wind too.

[keezdiver]

dan shot his 400lb warsaw freeshafting a shaft with no flopper....

[azspearo]

Big Mako "I thought it was. It was a brand new Aimrite shaft. One minute the fish was on, the next he was gone."

Even a tuned flopper can go from tuned and to de-tuned real quick with a strong fighting fish or a fish that holes up.
What happens is the flopper pin will bend and the flopper will loose it's grip on the shaft.
Most floppers are easy to tune, too bad this site doesn't offer a "How To" on rigging & tuning spearguns.
Before you go in the water it's always a good idea to check your flopper and after you fight a fish.

[BigMako]

Thanks for the advice Azspearo. BTW, I hear you make an awesome polespear. I've heard nothing but good things about it. Keep up the good work.

[deepdestroyer]

Originally Posted by keezdiver

dan shot his 400lb warsaw freeshafting a shaft with no flopper....

and a powerhead...so ive heard.

[azspearo]

Originally Posted by BigMako

Thanks for the advice Azspearo. BTW, I hear you make an awesome polespear. I've heard nothing but good things about it. Keep up the good work.

Your welcome...glad to help out. Thanks for the compliment on the spears.