Dummies Guide to Rigging a Speargun

[Shadowkiller]

Originally Posted by Bill McIntyre

Everyone who I have seen melting the end of the mono does it with the end held out in the clear away from the crimp. Then after its cooled, you pull the mono back through and crimp it.

The amount of heat stress related failures Ive seen in my engineering career have made me very wary of retempering anything...

No matter how much care you take, at the end of the day youve changed the structure of the plastic.

[miles]

Hiya

Often, when putting extreme pressure on your shooting line, your line will pull through your crimp before it breaks. So by burning the ends into a blob, it helps the mono from not being pulled through the crimp.

I use a single crimp, with burnt ends on my 2.0mm, 2.2mm and 2.5mm mono shooting lines for our tuna and have yet to have one of them fail. Those fish test equipment to the extreme!! Going to start using double crimps, as per Bill McTyre's suggestions, just for added security.

Not disputing the fact that heating the ends might cause the line to weaken, just adding that it isn't weakened signifcantly enough for me to notice it.

Regards
miles

[ajwaverider]

I recently got a threaded shaft for my aggressor and want to set it up as a breakaway. I want to set it up like yours but i'm kinda lost at how you attached the bungie.By the pic it looks like the mono is one continous length
from the spear to the loop for the float and the bungie is attached to it some how. Thanks Miles

[miles]

Hiya

Sorry for the slow response time!!

The mono is indeed a single long peice. I like the end of the mono to be about a foot longer. This allows the clip from your floatline to be a foot away from your gun making it easier to swing the gun with-out the clip banging against the gun.

I normally slide a crimp onto the shooting line before making the final loop in the mono, that will attach to the clip of your floatline. I then position the loose sliding crimp, so that there is just enough tension on the small bungee. I then crimp it in place. Check the picture in case my explanantion isn't understandable.

The previous bungees worked well, but they'd often rip off when pulling the spearline through a shot fish. With these type of bungees, i simply remove them, then pull the spearline through. Very easy to put back.

Regards
miles

[ajwaverider]

Got it. Thanks Alot ,all I have to do now is find some game that I can use it on.

[JimmyB]

Originally Posted by miles

Now that the reel is mounted and the ring/bracket is on the gun, you run the line from the reel, through the bracket/ring. I normally attach a clip to the line now. This allows you to remove the shooting line should the need arise.

Whats the best knot to use when tying your clip to the reel line??

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by JimmyB

Whats the best knot to use when tying your clip to the reel line??

I just tie a bowline to make a loop in the end of the line, pass the loop through the eye of he swivel, then pass the swivel back through the loop.

[JimmyB]

Thanks for your reply.......

are there any other idea please....im sure the above is fine but i would like to see the different setups people are using.

[Amphibious]

Originally Posted by JimmyB

Whats the best knot to use when tying your clip to the reel line??

bowline or double figure-eight. not sure if those are the best, but they work well @ work, so I stick with them

[Mr. X]

If you are looking for alternative knots to the bowline suggested above(?), a friend often uses an unusual low-profile knot where others normally use a bowline or double-figure 8. The knot is a simple thumb-knot followed by one-side of a double-fisherman's knot. The main difference it that it is more compact (I would think the thumb knot is unnecessary in this case) as you cinch it up tight rather than creating a fixed loop.

Alternatively, I have been using knots from this page quite a lot recently: http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfi...matedknots.com
e.g. the Arbor knot for tying line to a reel & the Palormar knot for tying swivels/hooks.

I would use the Palormar knot (some sites claim this knot does not weaken the line at all) - simple but secure. [I used to use a hook-tyer which made a Uni-knot something like a Snell (v. strong) & before that I used a fisherman's knot ("basic clinch") -- which is ok but not great)]

Alternatively the surgeons knot (shown on the same page)? [Looks similar in concept to the Alison's constrictor knot (serial thumb knots) but with doubled line].

There is also an advanced version of the Allbright knot, the Alberto knot, that involves creating spirals both up & down the loop which is covered in an article on another site which is supposedly very strong (I have used it several times & it certainly seems strong - a bit messy & awkward to tie though).

[More fishing knots: http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/fishing/knots.htm ]

[Almostafish]

Apart from being a hitch that i have trusted my life to lots of times aloft on tall ships the other benifit of a bowline ( part from 250 years of use at sea ) is the ease that you can breack its neck and untie it after it has been subjected to heavy load thus you dont have to re rig..

just my two cents as a man who has worked at sea most of his life. If it aint broken dont fix it!

[Bill McIntyre]

Amen on the virtues of the bowline. If I want to change the snap swivel on the reel line, I don't have to cut it off. I simply untie the bowline.

[Ricochet]

Great article!
I just got my first speargun and this article does help, indeed

Unfortunately my Commanche didn't come with any monofiliament nor with crimps or shock absorber.

So I wonder where I can buy such crimps?! I couldn't find any at the local building centers. I'll try a handicraft shop now.

Can someone also give me any hints on how to make a shockabsorber? I have some latex hose and surgical rubber left and might use that.

Thanks in advance.

[foxfish]

If you dont want to buy on line, go to a sea fishing tackle shop.

[Ted Budion]

In Germany it might be difficult to find mono thick enough for spearguns (from 1,5 to 2 mm, even more in the Tropics). Try http://www.leadertec.comin the UK. You need line, crimping tool and the appropriate sleeves (crimps).