Riffe Spear Shaft

Hey guys,

So, I'm diving out at SWS the other day and I see this black and yellow in what I think is a small nook in the side of this ledge.  I line up my shot and bam, nail him.  Now, I'm stoked cause I'm new to this and the last three b&y's I've shot have all somehow managed to get off my spear!  This guy doesn't seem so lucky, or unlucky depending on how you look at it, as the spear went clean through him and he is now on the spear line.  I'm just about out of O2 so I drop the gun and follow my float line up to the surface.  Rest, then dive back down.  To my greatest frustration the spear shaft travelled to the back of the "nook", turned sideways in a larger room and was lodged in there.  It was too far back to reach with my arm and despite pulling with all my might several times it wasn't coming out. I try shoving the gun up there to try and dislodge it to no avail. At one stage I had my feet on either side of this hole doing a modified deadlift to try and get the thing out of there.  After about 30 minutes of trying I finally decide to cut my losses and figure I could pick up a new one for not too much cash.   

I'm having a heck of a time finding Riffe spear shafts for sale on-line.  Any suggestions or would I be best served to visit my local dive shop and have them order me one.  Problem is I'm not sure they deal with Riffe.  Any help would be awesome.  Luckily, I have a back up gun so I'm not out of the water just yet.  I know where the shaft is and plan on heading back there with my buddy and a pole spear to try yet again.   

And to all you PETA folks reading this, the fish was recovered by my buddy who in turn ate it. And finally, my buddy was on a yak and I on a boogie board float.  We were a ways out and that really opened my eyes to the benifit of a yak.  Friday,  I'm off to find a yak.  Any suggestions????

Hursty

Greg,

Bummer about your shaft!! BTDT and it sucks!

I've bought a several riffe shafts and other accessories for my riffe from austins diving.

http://www.austinsdiving.com/categories.php?cat=139

GREAT customer servive and fast delivery.

Email Doug at [email protected] if you have questions about what shaft you need.

If you can find it at a local shop, awesome, but if not go ahead and let austin's help you out!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thank you kindly BigJim.  As always you pull through with sound advice.

Hursty

Thank you kindly BigJim.  As always you pull through with sound advice.

Hursty

No worries.

I know that Glenn's Aquarius II in Monterey and AquaSafaris in Santa Cruz (they are now open again) carry some Riffe stuff, but may not have what you need on hand and would have to order it anyway, and if that's the case you might as well order from austins IMO.

Also, if you ask Doug he can rig the shaft with shooting line and crimp it to match your gun/bungie set up...this is handy for me cuz I don't have a crimping tool.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

ps...what kind of riffe you got?? I got an extra hawaiian flopper shaft for my padauk comp 00 rigged with shooting line sitting in my shed...if that will work for you, let me know!!

You don't have to get a Riffe shaft as a replacement.  You can get any shaft that is an American tang (fits an American mech) in the same diameter.  Do a search for addiction spears, wong spearguns, ray odor shafts, or just a general speargun shaft search and you'll find a lot of alternatives. 

Nate

You don't have to get a Riffe shaft as a replacement.  You can get any shaft that is an American tang (fits an American mech) in the same diameter.  Do a search for addiction spears, wong spearguns, ray odor shafts, or just a general speargun shaft search and you'll find a lot of alternatives. 

Nate

Good to know Nate!!

Thanks!!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

instead of a riffe shaft with a double flopper head how about a riffe shaft with a single flopper and a rivet, a lot less bulk up front and if you get it in a hole you can get it unstuck a lot easier.

i have an american wood gun which i converted to using single floppers and its a lot easier to deal with. also punches nice small clean holes in the fish too as an added bonus.

Thanks for all the help you guys.  Will look into different spears for sure.

Hursty

I also recommend a sigle flopper. Call freediveshop in sac and tell them what you need. They will ship it to you and make sure you get the right gear.

Those big double flopper Riffe tips blow big holes in small fish.

+1 on the single flopper. A Tahitian flopper (flopper on top) will very rarely get hooked on a ledge. Just make sure it's tuned properly so it will engage after going through a fish. Hawaiian floppers are more likely to get stuck because the flopper is on the bottom and stays open, but I used one and have only had that happen once. The Hawaiian flopper will pretty much always open up after going through a fish, whether it's tuned or not.