mts0628
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Hey All:
Well, I thought I'd detail my first hunt with my new (used) Spear gun today. I have an AB Biller Floridian 48 inch, and I was scuba diving solo at a local area in Beaufort North Carolina, Radio Island. I was using an Aluminum 80, BP/W, no wetsuit- just shorts, can light 10 watt HID.
So, never having used this spear gun before, I was somewhat apprehensive. I have extensive experience with a pole spear and paralyzer tip, but a few times I have had hamburgers after hunting rather than fish! Anyway, I got to the island a few minutes after high tide but I usually try to get there before high tide and well, you know the drill.
Now, the tide has stopped coming in, I was on the beach, the sun was starting to disappear. I slipped my fins on, put my regulator in my mouth, and hit the water. When I was about 14 feet deep, I pulled the first band back and seated it in the shaft groove. I tried the next band, no way. I didn't know why I couldn't pull it back but then I looked what I was doing; I had the butt on my upper thigh. I quickly moved it to my stomach, and popped the band into its groove. Thomas was happy and now dangerous!
I swim along perpendicular to the beach, into the channel between two islands. The visibility is about 10 feet and I am scanning the bottom for my favorite: flounder. At about 20 feet, I see something skinny and white tipped about 3 feet from the bottom (I am hovering about 5-6 feet from the bottom). Well as I get closer, I notice it's attached to a stingray that's about 3-4 feet wide. Startled (me that is) I swim away from him thanking myself that I am not trigger happy for just anything that moves.
After about 30 minutes, I have seen nothing (aside from an uninviting stingray). I have burned through 700 psi of gas but my mask keeps flooding because I forgot to trim my mustache before my trip. My last dive was about two weeks ago but that was the last time I trimmed up too. As I clear my mask, I notice a fish about 6 feet away. It's about 16 inches long and about 10 inches high- a Sheepshead. I quickly raise my gun towards him, and pull the trigger: nothing. Damn, the safety's on! I flick the red lever and pull the trigger again while I point the gun in his general direction. POOF! I admit, I jumped when the gun discharged because honestly I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was only rubber powered but still.
The line spooled out but only about 4 feet. The fish was swimming erratically but he wasn't going anywhere: I got him! Y-E-S! I quickly swim him down; I shove the tip into the sand, and push the fish pass the second swivel barb. My shot was poor. While I got him, it was definitely not a head or centre body shot. It was more like a shot above the anal fin. I pulled my knife and tried to dispatch the fish but I was so amped and the fish was so wiggly, my attempt at a brain puncture turned into a mere scalping. I tried again and got what I wanted this time; he stopped moving. I resheath my knife, put the gun under my arm, and then search for the boltsnap holding my fish stringer. I bring my fish stringer to the front and uncap the spike on the stringer. I put the cap in my hand and I get ready to string the fish.
Well, just as I am about to spike this stringer through the fish, I realize my gun is gone. I quickly look down and around while thinking some ugly words; I have my stringer in one hand and the shaft with the fish in the other. Then it dawned on me, the line from the shaft is going up. Yeah, I never considered that my gun, MADE OF WOOD, would float to the surface in such a scenario. I quickly reel my gun in (er- down) and thank myself for shifting myself from stupid-mode finally. In the commotion, I lost my little black cap for my stringer spike. Nevertheless, I retuck my gun, and then work on getting the fish off of the shaft. Somehow I managed to get the line through the same hole as the shaft and around the piece of flesh near the anal fin. I fiddle with this thing for what seemed forever and then just end up cutting the flesh to liberate the shaft and line. The fish is also in the stringer by now, and embarrassingly, he looks like he lost a knife fight.
I reattach my boltsnap and then reload the shaft on the gun. I respool the line and then try to rearm the gun's bands. What the @#$%? Oh, I remember reading to do everything with the gun upside down- this ensures that you reload the shaft through the bands. Nice. I undo everything and then redo everything all with circus music playing in my head. I continue my hunt for 30 more minutes (after spending 15 minutes shooting, massacring, and stringing a fish, losing my gun, finding it, assembling my gun wrong and then right).
I return to the beach with only my mangled Sheepshead, the sun is gone, the dark clouds are overhead and I have a small walk to the car. Along the way, a few people left ask, "Are you gonna eat that Sheepshead?" If they only knew how hard I worked to get this thing...
Well, I thought I'd detail my first hunt with my new (used) Spear gun today. I have an AB Biller Floridian 48 inch, and I was scuba diving solo at a local area in Beaufort North Carolina, Radio Island. I was using an Aluminum 80, BP/W, no wetsuit- just shorts, can light 10 watt HID.
So, never having used this spear gun before, I was somewhat apprehensive. I have extensive experience with a pole spear and paralyzer tip, but a few times I have had hamburgers after hunting rather than fish! Anyway, I got to the island a few minutes after high tide but I usually try to get there before high tide and well, you know the drill.
Now, the tide has stopped coming in, I was on the beach, the sun was starting to disappear. I slipped my fins on, put my regulator in my mouth, and hit the water. When I was about 14 feet deep, I pulled the first band back and seated it in the shaft groove. I tried the next band, no way. I didn't know why I couldn't pull it back but then I looked what I was doing; I had the butt on my upper thigh. I quickly moved it to my stomach, and popped the band into its groove. Thomas was happy and now dangerous!
I swim along perpendicular to the beach, into the channel between two islands. The visibility is about 10 feet and I am scanning the bottom for my favorite: flounder. At about 20 feet, I see something skinny and white tipped about 3 feet from the bottom (I am hovering about 5-6 feet from the bottom). Well as I get closer, I notice it's attached to a stingray that's about 3-4 feet wide. Startled (me that is) I swim away from him thanking myself that I am not trigger happy for just anything that moves.
After about 30 minutes, I have seen nothing (aside from an uninviting stingray). I have burned through 700 psi of gas but my mask keeps flooding because I forgot to trim my mustache before my trip. My last dive was about two weeks ago but that was the last time I trimmed up too. As I clear my mask, I notice a fish about 6 feet away. It's about 16 inches long and about 10 inches high- a Sheepshead. I quickly raise my gun towards him, and pull the trigger: nothing. Damn, the safety's on! I flick the red lever and pull the trigger again while I point the gun in his general direction. POOF! I admit, I jumped when the gun discharged because honestly I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was only rubber powered but still.
The line spooled out but only about 4 feet. The fish was swimming erratically but he wasn't going anywhere: I got him! Y-E-S! I quickly swim him down; I shove the tip into the sand, and push the fish pass the second swivel barb. My shot was poor. While I got him, it was definitely not a head or centre body shot. It was more like a shot above the anal fin. I pulled my knife and tried to dispatch the fish but I was so amped and the fish was so wiggly, my attempt at a brain puncture turned into a mere scalping. I tried again and got what I wanted this time; he stopped moving. I resheath my knife, put the gun under my arm, and then search for the boltsnap holding my fish stringer. I bring my fish stringer to the front and uncap the spike on the stringer. I put the cap in my hand and I get ready to string the fish.
Well, just as I am about to spike this stringer through the fish, I realize my gun is gone. I quickly look down and around while thinking some ugly words; I have my stringer in one hand and the shaft with the fish in the other. Then it dawned on me, the line from the shaft is going up. Yeah, I never considered that my gun, MADE OF WOOD, would float to the surface in such a scenario. I quickly reel my gun in (er- down) and thank myself for shifting myself from stupid-mode finally. In the commotion, I lost my little black cap for my stringer spike. Nevertheless, I retuck my gun, and then work on getting the fish off of the shaft. Somehow I managed to get the line through the same hole as the shaft and around the piece of flesh near the anal fin. I fiddle with this thing for what seemed forever and then just end up cutting the flesh to liberate the shaft and line. The fish is also in the stringer by now, and embarrassingly, he looks like he lost a knife fight.
I reattach my boltsnap and then reload the shaft on the gun. I respool the line and then try to rearm the gun's bands. What the @#$%? Oh, I remember reading to do everything with the gun upside down- this ensures that you reload the shaft through the bands. Nice. I undo everything and then redo everything all with circus music playing in my head. I continue my hunt for 30 more minutes (after spending 15 minutes shooting, massacring, and stringing a fish, losing my gun, finding it, assembling my gun wrong and then right).
I return to the beach with only my mangled Sheepshead, the sun is gone, the dark clouds are overhead and I have a small walk to the car. Along the way, a few people left ask, "Are you gonna eat that Sheepshead?" If they only knew how hard I worked to get this thing...
)
I learned this one the hard way. Strung a trigger through the eyes let it hang clipped to my bc, next thing the sucker did was take a chunk out of my leg. Triggers can reallt bite. Now always through the gills.
