Spearfishing reef markers-DIY

Fish markers or structure markers have been around for quite some time and they have proven their value amongst H&L'ers. I've been tinkering around with this idea of a spearfishing "reef marker" and how it can be applied to our sport of spearfishing. The idea came about from a necessity to be more efficient when spear fishing patch reefs that are in close proximity to one another, but far enough that you can't see them neither under the water nor when you are on top, doing the "porpoise jump". Of course, its value comes into play when everyone's in the water spearing and the boat is anchored- in other words no driver pointing the spearo in the direction of the next patch reef or in tow.

Not much goes into a regular marker it’s just a hi-viz float that dispenses line and marks an area- they are simple, relatively small, low to the water, and you can spot them easily from your vantage point on your boat. Things get a little tricky if you’re in the water as everything is at eye level with the surface, so a low lying float is not ideal. After searching around a bit and coming up empty handed I decided to build my own.

What You'll need:

A few pool noodle floats ( I got mine at the Dollar Store-for a buck)

3/4"PVC pipe (Home Depo)

5200 Marine Adhesive (Home Depot)

Nylon braid Line or Spectra (Home Depot or old used line from your spearfishing reel)

3-5oz Lead (Tackle store)

Snap swivels

1-Measure off your noodles to whatever height you want, I went with 2 feet, and cut them a miter saw will work just fine

2- Using the same Miter saw cut about 10 inches of PVC pipe, about 6” will go into the noodle and 4” will hang out the bottom of the noodle

3- You're going to put about half (5-6”) the tube onto the noodle and half will hang out so drill a thru hole right where the the tube exits the noodle, run a line in, bring it out the other hole, make a long little wire hook, stick it up the PVC tube and snatch the line and bring it out bottom of the tube,

Just flush with it, snap your swivel combo which should be practically flush with the PVC tube’s interior

Then tie it off with a couple of wraps around the PVC and any flush type knot

4- Dry fit the PVC tube into the noodle jam it up the noodle’s hole up to the tie off, pull it out and repeat again, your basically trying to bore out the hole a bit for utmost adhesion with the 5200

5- Get your 5200 Marine Adhesive, put a generous amount into the noodle hole (that you previously bored out), stick the PVC tube in, pull it out, dab some more 5200 into the noodle as well as on the PVC tube, and stick it in up to your tie off...

let it set

6- Next get your lead weight and hammer it flat

7- Measure off your nylon line- be it 20’, 30’, 40’, 50’, whichever amount you need for the general depths you will be spearfishing your patch reefs. Tie your flattened lead weight to the nylon line, and on the other end make a loop knot and clip to your snap.

8-Now wrap your nylon line around the PVC tube-IMPORTANT- when you wrap your line around the PVC start from the top that is the part close’s to the noodle and end on the bottom, that is the part closes to the snap. In this way the line will dispense quickly and fluidly from the PVC tube

9- Finally get your Flattened lead weight and curve it around the PVC line wrapped tube and shape it tight with a hammer

You can make a few of these and have them ready next time you go spearfishing, and hit some patch reefs. Simply unclip the weight, cruise along the border of the patch reef and and chuck it overboard, if you wrapped it right , it'll dispense the line quick and easy, and wrap itself up on the reef, proceed to the next patch and repeat....now you have all your patch reefs marked with a red 2' marker standing up above the waterline and easily spotted from within the water
Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com

1 Breath, 2 Shots, 2 Kills

Well after a pretty windy week, I was able to make a few quick runs from our Miami spearfishing waters. Most years here in Miami and the Keys mid April (use to be beginning April) winds starts blowing hard making spearfishing throughout the Keys, Homestead, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale less than desireable- with this wind comes cleaner waters- meaning a higher visibility for spearfishing, depending on how far you travel out- but at the expense of getting beat to Sh!at- both in and out of the water...so count on Mid April to Mid May strong winds- with some freak days just being dead calm, this was one of those days.



We headed out of Homestead towards Ceasar for some spearing, winds were out of the east blowing 7mph. So off we were by 5am- plan A) was to hit a few patch reefs then either head out towards Pacific Reef or B) stay on the plates. We exited from Ceasar to meet some pristine waters, just ripe for spearfishing fun! You know, it was just one of those days that regardless whether you shoot some fish or not, just being out on the water, hunting fish is all the thrill you need ( yeah sure a few nice fish is the icing). We had pre-logged the spearfishing strategy on the GPS, and had it ready to go, some old hotels and some new ones were on the role, and the first was a spearfishing hole, literally out of Ceasars due north, this 30' deep "pit" was a goverment contract that never was.

Story has it there are about a half dozen of these holes with boulders in them...and some big @ass mango snappers...that were dug in the late 70's as part of some jail they were piloting- like an Alcatraz- anyways I got me uno of them waypoints, from a very old spearo, who had them plotted from land (no GPS's back then), Elliot Key (thats how close in we are) to be exact, with another spot, a shoal to the East- viz can be zero that close in off Ceasars all the way to Soldier, but in the Pit its always clear, kinda eerie as your swimming through soup and BAM...the cool clean pool that is the Pit. Gotta hit it smooth and quiet as the big mangos are the first you'll see and more than likely the first to disappear...so following protocol, I glide slow and easy to be greeted momentarily by a nice 20'ish mango, CLICK, as I pull him hard and fast to the surface, before he warns his buddies, string'em up, then down again a bit faster this time...CLICK...his smaller friend, and so it went 5 in all before they wised' up. It was close to eight am when we started hitting some of the plates in Ceasars off of Hawks Channel. Its no spearfishing secret, Elliot is hit hard and fish are not as abundant as in the past, mostly do to hook & line, but us spearos still pay the load. You can go from patch, to plate, to hump and not even see a shootable fish. Then all of a sudden you find one thats got everything on the menu, and you load up. Thats the way it is. So we went at it viz was about 10' with anything beyond just shadows, fish were also spooky, both often the result of wind. Slim pickings but we did manage to pull a few fish, before heading out looking for some clean water...which we never found....so we headed back in to the shallower 30'ies making the dive a bit easier.

The last plate we hit had a few curious yellows passing through, spined the first (29"),

reloaded, on the same breathe, while the school circled, and shot a second...nice ending to a great day on the ocean spearfishing our Miami waters.

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

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com

Fowey Rocks, Spearfishing Report

Headed out this Friday with a few friends for another spearfishing adventure off of Fowey Rocks...conditions were pristine! Water was T-B in most areas some a bit hazey. Wind was under 5', seas under 2', bright and sunny comfy in a shorty, although we hit a pretty strong thermocline around 70' (thermo started at about 40'), and talking 'bout strong...current was ripping, probably due to the full moon, which of course being May means "Romancing Muts" (no not a porn flick ;) The plan was to do some bluewater spearfishing around Fowey Rocks then hit some reefs for the usual hogs, snappers, grouper, etc.

Well plans got changed and we went to the reefs first, as we spotted some very nice spearfishing bottom on the sonar. We found a very nice "taverny" area that was loaded with decent fish, and the fun began!

We saw plenty of fish including quite a few sand tiles in the 50'ish...although viz was awesome the current made it quite challenging.

We managed to spearfish a mixed bag including a 30" Mut clipped after a very tedious stalk

thus the May Mut Romancing Extravaganza has begun, also pulled a couple of slab'gos 23"&25" out of the taverns A nice gag, and another nice 23" mut and some hogs gave us our fix, so we headed to the blue for some pelagics- gotta say with all honesty, we really didn't push it, so we really never scored on any blue other than a few yellow jacks we ran into...all in all it was one of those magnificant days your thankful to be in Miami, with great friends, on the ocean....spearfishing!
someone say sashimi.................................................................................................on the way
and of course no trip is complete without this....the Raptor of Pangea pulled thru again!

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

Tone
http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com/