Posted by Eric S on June 01, 2002 at 22:39:55:
In Reply to: Which Spear Gun? posted by AJ on May 31, 2002 at 17:02:44:
I use a riffe 32 for most of my spearfishing. I is a great gun with 3 bands. Most of the time I only use 2 bands or even 1 if it's a close shot on a smaller fish in the rocks. It is very accurate up to 10 feet away and works great for shooting blues in the water column. Mine is wood (teak) and therefore does not have that metallic ring when fired. It is a bit difficult to reload at times when the shaft goes completely throught he fish and you have to get the line and shaft back through the hole, especially in kelp. Oftentimes the fish will take off winding the shooting line around everything. This is why sometimes I will use a pole spear to get small to medium size fish when scuba diving. When I freedive I always use the riffe because after the shot I float on the surface and manage the post shot procedures. The pole spear has an amazing ability to paralize a fish while it is skewered on the end of the 3 prong enabling you to just stick in into a game bag, close the hatch and pull the spear out. This makes it very convenient for scuba diving. Just don't try and get a big ling with a pole spear because all you're going to do is piss it off! that goes the same with halibut.
Euro guns are the ones with the handle generally at the very very back and have very flexible high grade shafts. They very fast and accurate. They mostly use these for long shots on small fish such as in the Mediterranean and tropical locations. They do not work well around rocks because the shafts damage very easily and bend/break.
They do make some excellent giant euro guns for big game (tuna) but for what you need stick to a california rock gun (shorter) and pole spear and you'll have it covered.
I like the Riffe because Jay and Julie Riffe are great people, they are local, they have a great product, and they understand California fish hunting.