Nutty Kayakfishing Clip on You Tube!

Jon... any reason why one of these wouldn't work better for dispatching large fish in Hawaii? 



http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,2611.0.html

That might create a problem when security x-rays your baggage.

     Good question re: the bat. Really what I use the spear for is just like Steven Heusser does, for two purposes. One, you can deliver multiple mortal wounds, and two, if a shark wants to mess with you, you can poke him and make him want to leave hopefully. Most of the fish I think I would encounter there, say, amberjack and ulua, if I wanted to keep them, they would be belly up by the time they come up anyway, but most of the time I release them. The amberjack is not good eating there and the ulua can be, but can be toxic and I don't want to mess with that problem. In either case, those brutes come up only when they are exhausted. That doesn't mean that they are not brutes, but they just blow it all before they come to you. I have never seen one come up with any life, in my experience.
     Ok, so then you've got mahi mahi, and they are best gaffed. They will squirm like an eel and they need to be restrained and then, yes a bat would work, but first a gaff. They are also hard to hit in the water because they have such a strangle flat profile. Next there is wahoo. Wahoos can be gaffed or stabbed with a spear, you know they have to be disabled before you bring them on board. I have heard so many bs stories about wahoo, but in my little experience with them, and in watching others land them, they go for some runs, and then they are tired. Steven just pokes them and they are already submissive by then anyway. And then yes a bat would do good, because those teeth, I have heard, can keep gnashing. But I have never heard of an actual non-bs experience with someone being attacked by one. Just be careful is the idea.
     Then you've got billfish, and you probably want to just release them, so no bat, and then, finally, you've got tuna. Now, in my experience, tuna up to 45, 50 pounds can be gaffed and brought on the lap. They come up with fight in them, and when they are gaffed they thrash! Then you bring them on their lap, and you know that signature beating that they do on a boat's deck? They do that on your lap and chest. Bat's work fine on them, but do it quick before they tear a hole in you. Where the spear comes in, is when you have a tuna on, say over 60 pounds, this is a fish you want to eat, plus it still has tons of energy, and the tuna needs to be, uh, quelled, or, calmed completely down with no chance that it can take off, because if you gaff a big tuna they will just keep on going. Why? Well if you look at the long range powerboat trip vids, the mate gaffs them easily and hauls them aboard- but that is because the tuna is immediately lifted out of the water, and the person holding the gaff is solidly anchored on the deck, holding the gaff with two hands, and using gravity on the fish as well, plus they often have two people gaffing them with seperate gaffs.
     On a kayak, you gaff a big tuna, and it is still in the water, and until they are killed or sufficiently weakened by blood loss or major trauma, they will absoloutely go nuts and thrash, like a jet in the water. I will attach some pics that show this. The big tuna that I had on, it was like having an outboard thruster. It kicked and bucked like mad. I kept stabbing it but it did not die like people said it would from the blows. I guess I never hit the exact right spot at the brain, but I sure hit everywhere lese in the poor fish's head. It did, however, go belly up from blood loss. It was more like a whale battle with a sleighride and a lance than andything else, or maybe a bullfight.
     Sorry to go on for so long, I guess the point I am trying to make is, gaffs will put any fish you need, ie, wahoo and mahi, other than tunas over 50-60 pounds, in your lap, and then yes a weapon like you showed in your post will finish them off, but a bat will not be cool for a big fish that has any life because it would be almost impossible to deliver the blow from where we sit in the yak, and that's why a spear works, or at least, it did for me.
   Two other points. Yes one can land even a huge tuna probably from a kayak without a spear, but that is assuming that you have the luxury of keeping them on the hook long enough for them to become exhausted and die on the line. They have a habit or getting off because in a long fight the hole made by the hook in their mouth gets bigger. So the thought is, get them up, and turnm their head as soon as possible, so you can get them up before they wear you behind down. A stalemate with a big tuna is just brutal- they do not run horizontally, they just circle backwards straight beneath you and to the left, and all the stress is on your left bicep.
     If you would like I can put together a clip from my video that shows the tuna and I going at it.

Wow Jon!!!!

  That is some Epic Information there....

  I can see that my KayakFishing experinces have just begun.....

 Going to be heading down your way for a trip on the Islander mid November...

Do you get out much during this time a year?

Be great to hook up with ya in your local waters............. Danglin

Danglin, That should be a fun trip that you will be on! I imagine I will be around, and would be psyched to hang out so gimme a holler when you come around. Hey by the way here is a pic of me at work. In the summer I lose lots of weight, and depending on how bored I get in the winter, I have been known to pack it on once in a while.

Amen Brother, Amen.....

  I was quite the Stealth Lean Mean Machine before FireHouse Cooking.... ........ Danglin

 

Just a Quick shot there for for ChuckE to ship somewhere else ...

 Taken by my Wife ChuckE, I don't think he will sue