New member - Speargun Question

Hi.

A member of the Coastside fishing club recommended this board.

Just got a kayak.  Trying to decide on a speargun.

My dive shop recommended a Competition 0 or Competition 1.  Opinions?

I haven't bought a speargun in a long long time, and I'm ready for a new one, so I'll be watching this thread for some good replies from Fuzz, Stu, Dave, Dave, Andrew, Angel, Art, and even Joel!     (among others)

Welcome aboard, YeHa.  I'm Eric. 

Hi.

A member of the Coastside fishing club recommended this board.

Just got a kayak.  Trying to decide on a speargun.

My dive shop recommended a Competition 0 or Competition 1.  Opinions?

Do you mean "Competitor" as in the Riffe brand? The Riffe 0 would probably be the better choice locally because its shorter 32". Riffe is a well known "woodie" brand but you could save some bucks getting a pipe gun.

Art has a Comp 0 I believe, pretty nice gun...Mooch didn't like it because he didn't seem to have the strength to load more than one band.   

I have the hammerhead evolution 75cm.  The 75cm seems to pretty much be the standard here in norcal because of the somewhat limited visibility.

I've only been diving for two seasons and have only had one gun but I think some guys prefer the railguns (pipe) over the wood because the wood guns require a little bit more maintenance and care (they are also more expensive).  When you're doing shore dives in some of the areas where we swim out of a wood gun could take a bit of a beating.  From a kayak it isn't so bad but you still have to be a bit more careful than with a railgun.

Check Bodega Pro Dive, either the store or the web site...they sometimes have some pretty decent deals.

There are a few good divers here on this board with a lot more experience than I have who will most likely help to answer your question but you may also want to do some searches on spearboard.com if you haven't already.  They also have a forum on the site where other divers are selling thier dive gear (new and used)...sometimes you can get some killer deals there.

Welcome.  I like to use a 75 cm single band euro type gun on the north coast.  It is plenty of gun for the fish we hunt here.  It is small enough to easily stick in a hole for a cab or ling and big enough to hold most of the fish you would shoot here.  The Rob Allan guns are nice.  I shoot a Sporasub viper 75 cm for almost all my N coast hunting and it is my favorite short gun.  I bought mine from a friend but I know they had them at Dolphin Scuba in Sac for around $100.  I wouldn't spend a ton of money on your first gun because you are going to beat it up and shoot rocks and you want something durable but not too expensive.  Let us know what you get.
Dave

YeHa, as Dave said, a 75cm gun is a good all around size for here. The gun you get is all dependant upon the fish and conditions you are going to go in/after. As golfers have different clubs and hunters have different caliber/gauges of guns, spearfishers should also have several different spearguns. A short gun between 50-75 cm seems to be the best for rock fish and hole hunting. If mid-water fish or good vis Halibut hunting is your bag then a 90-110 cm would be better. I won't even get into the open/blue water discussion at this point. Wood gun vs. Euro (or pipe) gun is a personal preference thing. I own both and like both, it all depends on the conditions. I like my short Euro style guns for here because they can get beat up on the rocks and take it a bit better than an expensive wood gun. Good luck, I bought most of my guns off of Ebay, also look on craigslist, a buddy of mine found a Riffe for cheap on there.

I have been looking into the JBL D-5/D-6/D-7 series.

I think they make sense in rocky/kelpy areas with limited visibility....6' range for the D-5 and 12'? for the D-7.

BUT

Do you NEED a speargun?

There are a lot of divers out there doing well with Polespears and Hawaiian Slings and both are pretty damn cheap and easy to make.

Ditto on the eBay and Craigslist searches, but many of them needs parts/repair and unlessyou know what you are doing............

i like the 75 cm euroguns as well. i liked it so much when i lost it i cut down a 90 to make another 75 cm size gun. i think i have taken more fish with a 75 cm gun than all of my other guns combined.

i have a sporasub 75 cm viper. a hammerhead would be nice as well with their open muzzles, makes loading a lot easier too and you dont have to worry about breaking the muzzle.

john