fort ross 9-21

My dad and I fished past the north point and did alright, not great by FR standards though.  A 20lb ling for me made it a bountiful trip though.  My dad took a swim out there, but fortunately I had everything leashed so nothing was lost except some core body temperature on his part.  

Wife and I went out for abalone, she got tangled in the kelp and gave up, but I got three including a 9"er.

Josh,
Salty Nick and I (leony, both posting at pierfishing) are getting into spear fishing. We can dive for abs okay. Salty has a pole spear, I want to get a speargun. What speargun do you have? Does it work okay? Any recommendations?
Why were you not spearing any fish while ab diving? There are so many sitting ducks in the kelp...
Leon
leony@ix.netcom.com

I had a 20lb ling in the cooler already so I wasn't really motivated to take any more fish.  I had my gun along and was hoping that my wife would dive for a while after the abalone, giving me time to check a bunch of the holes nearby for lings, but she didn't stay in the water long enough for me to do that.

For abalone country your best bet is probably a very short 3 band gun because the vis is poor.

Is a rail gun (Rob Allen) necessary?
Or should I just go cheap because it's short anyway?
Is your Omar Excalibur 75cm hard to cock? (I read that from your posting in spearboard) I want something that's easy (not too painful on the chest) to load.
Also I heard the shooting line can easily tangle on the closed muzzle of euro guns if shooting at point blank range. Is that a problem for you?

Thanks a lot.
Leon

My omer is very easy to load and cock, however that 75cm gun is still long for linda mar and most days on the north coast.  I think you can get mpre power/length with 3 bands over one pair of fat euro bands, but it does take a while to load one of those.

I've only owned a speargun for 6 months now, so I'm far from an expert on it - which is why I haven't written an article on it yet.  I'm well read on the subject though.

The 3-band ones are kinds of pricey. The guy at Wallins tried to sell me the Riffe Competitor #00s for $325. But I didn't see any good things about Riffe.
What about an Omarsub at 50cm? Do you think that's enough power for a big ling at close range?
Where did you buy your omar at?

Some of the smaller JBLs aren't all that pricey.  A pneumatic might work great too, but I know next to nothing about them.  

The main thing is that when you're pointing the gun at something, you've got 2' of arm, 2-5ft of gun/shaft, and presumably the point isn't touching the fish.  Holding out my 75cm omer, the tip of the spear is 6ft from my eyes, so if the vis is 6' I have hold it closer to me or shoot from the hip to see my target when I'm lined up on it.  Granted, diving in 6ft vis isn't much fun anyway, but that's fairly typical up north.  

If you look at used guns, consider that they'll need new bands (~$20) shockline ($7) and may need other parts too.  I got a jbl sawed off magnum for next to free, but it costed $40 to get it to 'service grade' again.  

I get my stuff from spearfishinggear.com, they seem to have reasonable prices/selection.  Shop around though, especially for guns.

BTW, here's the jig that took the ling:

I heard that pneumatics are very loud underwater, scaring all other fish away after one shot.
I just ordered the 50cm Omar Excalibur from leisurepro. Will get a longer railgun if I find out this one is too short!

I think you can get new barrels for guns, at least I've read about people replacing them.  I guess you could just rebarrel it in a different length if you aren't happy with it.

I don't think a 50 will have any problem skewering fish at close range.  The 75 blows completely through perch and rockfish..

"Root Beer" tinsel.  I have only found white holographic tinsel.  How did you affix it to your jig?
Pat

I use spectra off my reels.  You're supposed to trim about 6ft every time out anyway, this allows me to recycle it.  I add a dab of epoxy to lock it up at the end.

Tinsel isn't very bulky at all, so there's lots of room for a squid to be added.  If you want to add a scampi, you need to tie it around the head instead of the barb, which is a bit trickier.  A wrap of double sided tape around the head can hold the tinsel on while you tie it, and the tape becomes a permanent part of the jig.

Awesome ling Josh! This is the year of the ling...

i also skindive a lot and use euro guns. they are just plain jane black rubber powered guns. i have a few sizes and north coast is perfect with a 75cm or a 90 cm gun with a spring steel shaft. ii use 300 lb test mono for shooting line as well and a stinger (staggered flopper) tip.

one fat ling can easily bend a stock shaft though. i have seen pneumatic, thick, shafts bend from lings. so an upgraded shaft can be a helpful thing to have.

the guns are like 100.00 i have a few i can sell too. jbl woody w/slip tip and a ab biller 32 that has been modified.