The Jelly's are here!

 Well its that time again and it looks like its gonna be a jellious season, as jellyfish begin to swarm our waters! Although we have a few different varieties of jellyfish basically have 2 varieties are of   concern to spearfishing- The Portuguese Man-o-War and the Moon Jellyfish, or as I prefer to call them the "Pink Plates".

Like most stings everyone reacts differently to them, some spearo's are hypersensitive to to any jellyfish sting, and then some speara's get covered in tentacles with hardly a reactio...that said, everyone should use caution when in the water while spearfishing especially our warm Miami waters...read on.







Of these 2 jellyfish the one that we have to be most watchful of is the Portuguese Man-o-War, this specimen which is actually a invertebrate floats on top of the water, is usually iridescent blueish/pink and has long tentacles- some up to 2 feet long- hanging below the surface...the sting from these F*^%er's can be intensely painful, in fact I've never seen anyone "brush off" one of their stings.  Extreme caution should be used when spearfishing, ESPECIALLY on the ascent, as these nasty critters are always floating on the surface!   

The other is the "Pink Plate" which looks like a big sunflower and are usually in swarms, these guys can cause a pretty painful sting (again depending on how sensitive you may be) but not nearly as bad as the PMOW above.

The part of the jellyfish that stings you while spearfishing are the tentacles, which carry  nematocysts, which in turn penetrate the skin, and release the harmful, stinging toxin.  So whats are you to do while in the water spearfishing?  First when you are spearfishing be it in the Florida Keys, Miami, Bahamas or any place else wear a rashguard, 1mm or any other barrier protection, also keep your eyes open for jellyfish, as already mentioned, ESPECIALLY on the ascent.  Moon jellys you can move our of your way, BUT careful not to touch exposed skin with your glove (or any other spearfishing gear including your wetsuit), as the nemotacysts can attach to your glove and sting you later- This is especially important when you are taking off your dive mask-BE CAREFUL! 

If you are buddy diving (which you should be) don't trail too close behind your bud as she pushing jellies can often sting you as the nemo's are released in the water as well.  If you are stung by a jelly, add hot water to the sting, or use one of the many jelly sting remedies, ammonia or vinegar helps as well...or try urine, yep urine-any of these will neutralize the toxins, again soeme working better than others depending on the individual.  Finally if you are hypersensitive to jellyfish stings you should (aside from the Jellyfish first aid just mentioned) carry an Epinephrine pen on board, and have a clear plan of action if stung during a spearfishing outing...be safe out there and watch them critters!



Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com

September Spearfishing Report

Well September is here and although too many it’s the slack month for fishing, and the end of summer spearfishing- to those in the know September is the beginning of the hunting season (yeah, yeah I know land hunting as well, lol) the spearfishing hunting season! September has a few perks to it, for one most days in September are pretty “windless”. These quiet days are awesome as the bottom isn’t all stirred up thus improving viz for spearfishing. Another is most of the “fishing crowd” takes a break off the water, as summer fishing dwindles down, heat + no wind, makes for bad days fishing, but for us spearo’s that equates to “all the ocean to ourselves”. And finally the water will start to cool off, meaning less spearo’s , and shallower fish!!!

This year has not been what we would call a spectacular spearfishing year-it’s actually been a bit off as a whole-a warm winter, countless windy days (more so than I can count), and wayyyy more rain than normal…hurting viz, and slopping things up, making this a perfect formula to a poor spearfishing season! And of course all the tropical storms/hurricanes running through ours waters, was the icing BUT don’t dismay as the best is yet to come-Welcome September Spearfishing!

September is a great time to head out for some bluewater spearfishing, as plenty of pelagics start moving in with the Gulf stream; Spanish sardines, pilchards and an array of baitfish start running. If your spearfishing the Florida Keys head to Islamorada’s famous humps, with most of the fishing crowds heading home at this time of year, you’ll have the humps to yourself, less pressure and boat traffic means fish will be closer to the surface, and surely less spooky…a “shootable” chance at a blackfin tuna balling bait or a bull mahi is amp’ed in September…and if you got the Gulf currents moving over the Humps that’s the ticket to filling the cooler. Generally speaking your chance at spearing a double digit mahi is excellent, find them birds, weedline or floatsum-you could be amazed what a log, or pallet can be holding under it- but you may have to dive a little deeper to find them, till the water tempt cools a bit more- work from the reef edge out to 500+feet. A few windy days coming out of the SE coupled with a dark moon phase, usually improves your chances at spearfishing a bull. Off the Cut (Government Cut) head either North or South to the wrecks a bit of patience could reward itself with a Kingfish which are starting to make a show, or a solitaire bull- just remember a little deeper…! Speaking of wrecks don’t forget to drop on the shallower ones…always a toothy cubera, black grouper, or Mutton snapper lurking on them waiting for you to skewer them. Keep an eye out and don’t forget to hit those wrecks in federal waters too, as it may be highly likely to find some permits stacked, chomping on everything in site! Spearfishing the wrecks in Miami, and the Florida Keys is always productive….but get to them early, before the hook&liners!

September has great spearfishing, but the fish are moving, so running & gunning is the choice spearfishing tactic this month- hit a reef, comb it, no fish, move on. Also keep an eye on the barometer, if its dropping or rising fish are moving, and you guessed it September has a lot of those. Here’s another spearfishing fish locating tip- find some current-on the reef especially the Hawk Channel highway, all of which looks sooo spearfishy… always holds mangroves; some slabber go’s might still be hanging around after the spawn which started a bit late this year… ….jumbo yellowtail are always a bonus and a spearfishing trophy to boot, this fish are relocating off the spawning grounds, just find some good current on those reefs with a steep drop offs 60’-80’ and your chances increase 10’fold. The whole grouper family is registered at Hawks Channel, two plates separated by sand is usually a grouper hotel, find that structure and you’ll find the grouper! Just remember when spearfishing grouper, your drop is the key….slow, and virtually zero movement, with the sun on your back-CLICK! Here’s another spearfishing fish finding tip….if you find the current, next find the bait….the more bait a Hawk Channel “street” has the higher your chances to score on some fish. Don’t forget to look up, on the ascent, you’d be surprised how many- spanish mackerel, yellow jacks, and yes cobia, cruise by above you outa curiosity…especially if the reef is bait laden.

So September is the mark of the spearfishing season, now go out and hunt some fish!

Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com

EASY GoPro Speargun Bracket

For awhile friends have been telling to come up with a simple homemade Gopro bracket to use on their spearguns. So as an Industrial Designer, I figured that would be an easy thing….but not exactly. Sure I came up with lots of designs , many which were already out there, and others that were not. The only problem with these Go Pro spear fishing gun mounts is that, well none were easy to make with just some simple tools….so back to the drawing board. The idea was to make a GoPro bracket to fit most spearguns, with the least amount of tools and the least amount of work, the least amount of moving parts, of course inexpensive, and finally, in the least amount of time, I mean com’on we want to spend more time shooting fish- not making Gopro brackets from home-right?

Soooo whats the best and

easiest gopro bracket for a spear gun? You tell me………Since its a bit of a hassle loading lots of pictures on this spearfishing blog, go to my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/settingsteel and under the albums section see Easy GoPro Speargun bracket….and of course hit me with some LIKE love if you found it helpful

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

5″ Stainless 1/4″ bolt

So now you have your bolt, washers and nuts, optionally you may want a Wing nut too for easy on/off of your GoPro spearfishing speargun mount.

Next get your bolt cut the head off as close as possible to the actual head and cut a shallow (1/16″ deep) notch about 7/8″ from the end of the bolt

Grind the end of the cut head to a taper, as you will later need to screw a nut to that end
Wrap the tip with tape so as to not ruin threads place it in a vise and slowly bend it at the notch to a 90 degree angle (see my Facebook http://www.facebook.com/settingsteel album for more pix) then grind at the bend to clean up any sharp edges

Next drill a 1/4″ hole thru your gun handle.

Get the 90 degree bent bolt screw your nut on then add your finish washer and finally your lock washer, Insert the long end of the bolt thru the handle and place your lock washer, finish washer and end not on the bolt . Get an adjustable wrench and vise grip to tighten

Now on the 90 degree bend (that’s the short end) screw on your nut and your finish washer. Next get your GoPro an screw it on that short end (you may need to bore out the hole on the mounting bracket just a tad). Finally either put an end nut screwed to the top securing the GoPro to your spear gun bracket, or a wing nut if you want to take it on/off easier.

So there you have it an easy DIY spearfishing gun bracket perfect for your GoPro- very simple and cheap (under$10) to make right outa your home, man cave or garage…this mount will take less than an hour to make with some simple tools, and will work with a little modification on any type guns- Riffe, CressiSub, Wong, Aimrite, Beuchat, Salvimar,Rob Allen, Mares, even the cheapo Mako , as well as all Euro spearguns and mid handles….and all the SettingSteel guns just include it with your order and for an extra $20 it’ll ship already installed to your Euro carbon fiber enclosed spear gun- be it the Sliver, Stone Stik, Halfbreed or our newest (out in2013) Freak gun…..oh and remeber go to http://www.facebook.com/settingsteel go into the albums for a full clear DIY pictorial on a GoPro speargun mount!

Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com