how deep and how?

[tgodiver]

How do you handle spearing a really big fish? Do you tie your gun to the rig? I usually stradle a cross beam of the rig around 60 ft and wait.

[scubaru]

What are you calling really big?

[tgodiver]

Big is anything that can drag you away, or take you anywhere where do want to go.

[scubaru]

Big is anything that can drag you away, or take you anywhere where do want to go.
Don't shoot more than you can handle.

Wait for your shot.

Try and put a stone cold on 'em every time.
If your gettin dragged away, time to start rippin out hand fulls of gills or playing operation with your knife and some pescado cranium. A poor shot on any rig fish could be fatal if your not careful. (ie a panicked fish that wraps 1/16 steel cable around your throat) This is where a quick release would come into play, or a quick slice through your shock cord with your knife.

Maybe Sow Trout will chime in, he's our resident safety guru, been spearin' since we's in diapers.

[speckle-catcher]

a 30# AJ or ling can put a hurt on you real quick - and I would not consider one that size *big*

kill shot every time - if not, learn to be quick at braining or gilling a fish.

it's a good idea to carry a set of wire cutters if you use cable - or a knife that will cut your cable. a Riffe knife will cut 1/16" cable in one swipe - there may be others that can do that too.

[Sow Trout]

[QUOTE=scubaru



You must have misread my previous post. I was spearing fish in the gulf 16 years before you were born.

Maybe Sow Trout will chime in, he's our resident safety guru, been spearin' since we's in diapers.[/QUOTE]Sow Trout

[scubaru]

So I guess you hung it up 30 years ago, eh' yung feller?

[Sow Trout]

I don't stradle the platform. I just swim and hunt at various depths. When it was legal to spear very large jewfish we would remove the point of the spear shaft so that it would better penetrate the skull bone for a brain shot. Of course that was for very large fish that were slow enough you could get a good brain shot. If you can penetrate the spine of the other fish it will stun them long enough that you can start forcing them up inflating their air bladder. If you don't stun them you need to get ahold of the spear shaft as quickly as possible. This will give you more control of the fish than letting him swim at the end of the cable. I don't think I ever had to try to tie off to the rig, nor do I remember any of the quys I dove with doing it. The only time I tried to tie a fish to my anchor line it got away. I didn't have much time to tie the 60 or so pound grouper because I had sucked my tank dry at 85 feet.

good luck!

[Sow Trout]

I was still diving and spear fishing long after you got out of your dipers.So I guess you hung it up 30 years ago, eh' yung feller?

[speckle-catcher]

you two girls stop it :D

ST - curious to know when the last time you dove (dived?) or spearfished.

[scubaru]

you two girls stop it :D
http://www.spearboard.com/smthumbup.gif (http://www.spearboard.com/misc.php?do=getsmilies&wysiwyg=0&forumid=111#)

[speckle-catcher]

I didn't want to have to break out a ruler

[scubaru]

Speaking of......

http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=20858

[THROBINROD]

First off, always try to wait on a good head shot. I prefer to try for a slightly quartering away shot. If you miss the brain, You have a good chanch of hitting the spine where it connects to the head. I worry more about a bad hit on a large snapper than just about anything else. Don't get me wrong. Any large fish can take you places you don't want to go, but a 20#+ snapper can get you there faster than about anything I've put a poor shot on. Big live AJ's tend to head for the rig. Try to use the rig to wrap your cable around and let him fight the rig for a while. I use a cable with a foot long shock absorber in line. An old band will work good for this. Last but not least, have a quick disconnect attaching the cable to the gun. You can replace a cable and shaft. You cannot replace your life. When all else fails, drop the gun, chalk it up to experience, learn to wait for a better shot, and live to fish again another day.



Mark

[Tall1fin]

The thing is different species react differently when you stick a spear in them. AJ's want to pull you straight down. Ling want to go nuts and all around you.....pound for pound probably the toughest fighter. Snapper pull pretty hard and are gonna look for somewhere to hide.....wrap you around the rig leg. Spade fish are easy! :)

Agree with knowing when to let go....Best thing for big fish is to have a buddy with you that doesnt have a speargun who can help you.

[Sow Trout]

I started diving in 1960. I was first certified as an instructor in March 1963 and certified as an instructor by two other organizations some years later. Most of my very active diving was done in 60's, 70's, and the early 80's. I started going less frequently in the late 80's. My last few dives were in the early part of the 90's. Bill Barada and Commander George Bond (in charge of the U.S. Navy's Submarine School) were a couple of the instructors in my first instructor's course. I have also had instructions at the Hypobaric Lab at Texas A&M and at the Brooks School of Areospace Medicine. Having grown up in Freeport it was easy to dive the jetties on short notice when the clear water was in. I speared a lot of grouper at the jetties. We dove almost every weekend when the conditions allowed in the summer. We dove almost all the rigs within 45 miles of Freeport, the V.A Fogg (a high school buddy was the first to dive it after it sank) and Liberty Ships, the East Southeast Lump, the Shell Ridge, and the Middle Bank. After doing it that much I pretty well lost interest and just moved on to other things that also required a lot of time.

[tgodiver]

I liked shooting spades and triggers, the were easy to deal with. I shot an 18 lbs. AJ once, that **** fish was going nuts and was trying to wrap the cable around my neck. I had to finish it off with my knife to the gills.

This guy was telling me that when he shoots 45lb. AJ's, he would have a 6 ft. rope tied to the handle of the gun. and wrap the rope around the leg when speared the big fish to avoid being pulled away.

I'm only 130 lbs. so I guess I'll stick to the fish around 15 lbs. to 20 lbs.

That's not too wimpy for you hardcore spearfishers, if I were to go out with you guys is it?


tgodiver

[Goin Deep]

[QUOTE=THROBINROD]You cannot replace your life. When all else fails, drop the gun, chalk it up to experience, learn to wait for a better shot, and live to fish again another day.

Throbinrod you nailed it!!! That sums it up. If you get into a bind drop the ole' gun and learn from it. Guns are to cheap and easy to replace to put yourself in arms way. So my point is guys don't let a nice 50# grouper scare you away. Lay that ole' shaft in that sweet spot and hope for the best and bail if you have to.