Need help picking a speargun

Taking up freediving gave me the motivation to quit having the occasional smoke.  I think that makes up for the risk of drowning/dismemberment.   Helped the WAF too.    

I'm very happy with the excalibur.  Anyone who wants to can borrow it as long as they use the floatline.  

I'm not sure why, but even after you work up to deep freedives, they take a lot of juice. Ten 50 - 60 ft dives would clean me up....when I was in shape.

Smokin' aint good for freedivers!  Seriously, the guys that are good like Dave can dive that deep over and over again...but they are all in shape, and they place UW hockey every week.

The Omer I have is outstanding for the money, and the range is excellent.

Hey, I'm on a one a day plan. But if my wife finds out, the WAF goes way down, so i'll pay 50 bucks to keep my smokin' jones quiet.  It's worth it!  Also, I'm in the "the older I get, the better I was" mode about freediving.

Travis-the cheapo aka the Dragon

IMO, wood guns are best for free diving 'cause they float (of course, I bought a Riffe Metal Tech 5 this year for blue water 'cause I'm cheap. It has wings so it will float without the shaft). The JBL 38's are great guns; maybe a Woody with 3 bands. I use a Biller 32 with 3 bands. Thinking of getting the smallest mid-handle wood Riffe.

For a new diver the more simple the gun the better.  I like to suggest a one band euro type gun with a single flopper.  
1. It makes you learn to aim
2. It is easy to load
3. Relatively inexpensive so when you beat it up or lose it you won't cry
4. Effective on many types of fish at various ranges
5. Low maintenance, just hose it off when you are done
6. When you shoot it into a rock you just take a file to the tip or use a grinding wheel and it is sharp again
Dave

IMO A Hawaiian sling is best way to go, it’s inexpensive about 20 bucks. The tips are replaceable they screw on. I’ve seen them in two different lengths 3’ & 5’.  It does not float but it never leaves your hand. And they good enough to stick anything your going to find in about 20’ of water considering “most” ab divers only dive around that depth give or take 5’. I have baged legal lings and caps with a sling just my two cents.

I've taken one, barely legal, ling with a sling/paralizer.  It did the job, but a larger fish may not be taken down by it.  I saw a guy take a 30lber out of the kelp beds at fort ross, and a sling would be very likely to maim a fish of that size unless the shot placement was perfect.  A gun is powerful enough to take most anything you'd bump into.  Now in the months lingcod is closed but RF is still open to spearing, the polespear would be a good bet, and it'll deny any temptation when you bump into a lunker ling.

I found polespears worked best on scuba.  It was like loading rockfish into my game bag with a pitchfork.

I've only dove once at Fort Ross but I' been diving the reef south of Fort Ross south of the large rock point for the last 5 yrs and I have not seen anything I wasn't able to take with me sling.

[   a sling would be very likely to maim a fish of that size unless the shot placement was perfect.  ]
Your right the shot would have to be right between the eyes.But most lings I have came across have been under a rock motionless and then .[/quote]

The Airrow is pretty trick...although large-ish.





It's an air propulsion system capable of shotting .177-9mm slugs, spears, safety buoys, grappling hooks, etc.


http://www.swivelmachine.com/html/stealth.htm

It's machined aircraft aluminum...looks like an M-16...Coast Guard may give you a second glance though...be warned!

I've taken major shit when I've beach launched with this puppy.

I think my Dragon is totally workable for this area.  My limiting factor ain't the gun.  I know lots of freedivers that stack 'em up with this basic format of gun around here.  While I'm still ling free I loaned it to one of my interns and he shot several 40# ling limits back to back...not the gun.  I need to focus on my skills.

Hawaiian slings are awesome...never had a problem getting close enough to fishes I wanted to spear. Was very productive with one when I lived in SoCal.

I would recommend a long one-piece.

The classified that tote posted is for a scupa pro 48". Would this gun satisfy a weekend warrior?

-Brian

It may be a little long to stuff in a hole and blast a ling, but it does cover a lot of bases.  It is a great gun for freeswimming rockfish or lings that are out and about.  It is good for halibut and sheephead too.  Probably a pretty good choice for the newbie that would want to use one gun to hunt everything.  You could possibly shoot a yellowtail or seabass with it but it would have to be really close.  A little longer gun would be better for those types of fish.   Spearguns are like fishing poles, you could catch a sturgeon with a trout pole but it would take more skill and a little luck.
Dave