Speapfishing target practice

[BlAcKdOgSpEaRo]

Hey all ive been spearfishing for nearly a year and blue water hunting for about 5 months.... ive noticed with most blue water fish if u dont hit them perfect they give u a run for you money and usualy u get ur spear torn out.. ive been making my own targets our of my dads lids off his bucket and shooting at it from underwater. ( he doesnt like that idea). i basicly make a target out of anything around the house i can find but it will only last 6 shots max untill the lid will start to be to stuffed to shoot at... and in the creek i dont like practicing my target on fish caus most of them are undersize and arnt really good eating... has anyone got any good materials or items to make a target out of that will last.
thanks heeps.

[marginatus]

stryrofoam boards (or those pieces that come in the box with new stuff).

just tie it to a rock and trow it

[Old Man Dave]

I found heavy duty plastic bags/sacks such as the type builders sand or gardeners compost comes in to be very good. The spear passes straight through and the line indicates where. A bit of air in the top and some stones in the bottom of the bag works. If you were serious I'm sure you could make up a frame to hold the bag and either anchor it to the bottom or fix it a set distance beneath a float. Terry Maas uses a net strung on a frame in his book. Again the position of the hit is indicated by the line passing through a mesh hole in the net.

Dave

[chris the vis]

Hi
Usually I use a piece of styrofoam like marginatus describes.
But, I've also seen a mates clever target which he made. He basically used some pvc piping and connected four pipes to form a rectangle with pieces of string running parallel to each other, both vertically and horizontaly, as to form a gridwork of squares (the size of the squares depends on how close the strings are positioned to each other). This means you can use the target over and over without damage and see where the spear hits everytime.
Hope it helps...cheers

[BlAcKdOgSpEaRo]

thanks heeps for the ideas it helps heeps ill give em a go. cheers

[beamjoel]

I like plastic milk jugs or 1 litr. bottles. they make nice targets because if your not dead nut center the spear tip will glance off the side. You will need to fill them partially with water or they wont stay underwater even when weighted.

Joel

[GreekDiver]

just cut a bunch of hardwood targets and replace them when they break. Make sure they are easy to replace by adding hooks to the wood where the line is looped on.

[l0keman]

I am trying to get into spearfishing and can't speak from experiance, but still have advice. I am a bow hunter and have seen 3d carp targets. They are designed to take a thousands of hits from broad heads (imagine an arrow head with layers of razorblades). They anchor just below the surface and float steady, I'm sure you could just shorten the line. I figure one target would last a lifetime for a spearo.

[l0keman]

I forgot to link to it... it's on page 6 in the bootom right.... has lots of features.

http://www.muzzy.com/pdf/2007_catalog.pdf

[GreekDiver]

spear does way more damage than an arrow. It wouldnt last long no matter what material it is. You have to just keep replacing your targets after so many shots.

[l0keman]

no way. spear does one tenth that of arrow. spear is more liike a field point... just a cheap target junk head. An aluminum arrow shaft is roughly the same size as a spear shaft but has this on the end:

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http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/co...004552sq03.jpg
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[GreekDiver]

Spears are heavy and arrows are light. The force of penetration is greatly higher on a spear.

[Jimbo]

I have a bowhunting target (for broadheads) I weighted it down with concrete blocks from Home depot I drilled holes in it for rope and sunk it in my pool and have shot it full of holes. the bullseye is about gone but I am using a 7mm spear now as opposed to 5/16 and it stops the spear still.
Good luck!

[aesthetic]

one thing i was wondering the other day, is if theres a way one could fabricate a rubber tip, possibly a small rubber boujncy ball if it wouldnt throw the spear off course.. and maybe use those little rings sold at pool stores as toys for kids to gather.

the basic idea is similar to knights using lances and trying to collect rings or make the lance through the ring.

also, in time, maybe you could make that ring or whatever you use, smaller and smaller.

just a thought? not sure if it would work. anyone else have feedback?

[Jimbo]

the rubber tip doiesn't work, tried that and it won't shoot straight.
Jim