A couple of questions from a noob (Yes, i tried searching)

[lompa]

Well, i am fishing for about 8 months from our boat (trolling),
as i love fish and love fishing, while we anchor i cant fish.
I love freediving so that spear fishing looked like a great way to fish.

since my parents don't allow me to use a speargun i looked for an alternitve and a hawiian sling looked like a good idea.
Here are my questions:
1. Do i have to get a wet suit? i am in the med and the water is warm in the summer. i dived here to 15 meters and the water was still warm.

2. How diffcult is it to fish with a hawiian sling?

3. i am building my own hawiian sling, i looked at sevral threads and i am not sure about the material i am going to use. Aluminuim? Teak?

4. Again, about the sling, to make a handle or not?

5. Since i am planning to fish all kinds of fish i will tie some line to my rig.
Ill do the "euro" rig, how long to make the line 2,3 meters?


6. how thick should the surgical tubing be and how long should it be?

7. how long should be the barrel?

Thanks alot for you help in advance,
Lior.

Ps. i am not new to free diving, i feel comfortable at 10 meters.

[foxfish]

Welcome to db lompa, I wish I could help you by answering your questions but I dive in cold water with a big gun!
There is most definitely plenty of info about Hawaiian slings on the forum & I would be surprised if someone doesn't come to your rescue.

[Whopperhead]

(copied from another post by in 2005- not original)

1. Shaft
- small shaft like 6mm is sucked, it zig zag in the water expecially when more than 1 meter long.
- use 7.56mm or higher as long as you dont mind the weight, it's more accurate.

2. Rubber
- Well you will surprise to knowing that smaller rubber give more speed.
- use 5mm rubber
- or if you cant get any, use 3mm(thickness) and 1cm (wide) of tire rubber.
- rubber should be 1/3 shaft long.

3. Handle
- You can make up something that fix your hand (maybe like gun or just stick). as long as it dont weight to much. (wood is better here as long as it's float)

Now,
- make a hole in your handle that fix shaft diameter.
- tie rubber at the rear of handle.
- You're done.

[alexrom1207]

I can't give you answers to all of your questions but I can help you out on a few.
1. Even in warm water it is important to dive with a wetsuit if you're going to be in the water for a long time. Even 80 or 85 degree water can lower your body temperature significantly if you're submerged long enough. Not sure exactly how long "long enough" is, but you'd probably be best off getting a thin shorty wetsuit (like surfers wear). This way you will only need minimal weight to obtain neutral buoyancy.
2. Fishing with a hawaiian sling is more difficult than fishing with a gun. Those members who've started out using Hawaiian slings and have become proficient at it say that once they switched to guns they found it much easier. But they were happy they started with the slings because all in all they're better spearfishermen because of it.
3. Teak seems to be the preferred material for handles as it is easier to work with than aluminum. --> this is just from reading other threads as I have never made a Hawaiian sling myself.

Anyway, good luck with the project. If you check out the DIY section you may find some good info on how to make your sling. Or even just pictures of what it may look like.

[Scotian]

I had never heard of a Hawaiian Sling before (still really new to this) and I read through a couple of the other posts that have been made on the subject. I noticed a common trend running through them, and that was the lack of suitable materials to make a spear out of. Now, I'm no professional diver, but I do know a bit about scrap metal because I used to blacksmith, and I was always on the hunt for junk I could turn into treasure.

My favourite thing to use as round-stock were these long metal rods with a weird 90 degree bend at the end of them. They were spring steel, and I would guess they were just a tad bigger than 1/4, or maybe 1/4 inch right on the money. I got them from a guy who said he got them out of the trunks of cars. That's all I know.

Maybe there's someone out there who knows more about what they are? I'm sure they would make excellent spears. They were pretty long and very bendy, always snapping back to straight. All you'd have to do is cut the bend off the end of them.