Roni Essex
Freediver, Spearo, Creator
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Roni Essex
Freediver, Spearo, Creator
Choosing the right length of speargun is all about the species you are after and the location that they are in. So, say you are hunting for sea bass, in shallow, murky waters, -2m deep. Is there a reason why you should opt for a 130 cm carbon gun? None whatsoever. Even though some companies would like you to believe that a long gun will make the shaft go further - which is true actually - what they do not mention is that the long gun will have much worse maneuverability compared to a short one in this scenario. And when it comes to sea bass, maneuverability is what you are after.
So, how can one choose the right length of speargun for one's needs? The guys from Adreno have figured it all out. Here's what they had to say and we couldn't but fully agree.
"Basically your spearguns, your rubber-powered ones, they'll come in lengths from say around 60 cm being the shortest, all the way up to like a 140, 150, 160 even in extreme cases. The length of the speargun, the reason we have short guns basically and long spearguns is for different species and different environments when we're spearfishing. A short gun, say anything less than 80 cm, is really going to be good for fish that are hiding in caves, cracks, under ledges, and particularly in spots where there's a lot of wash and wave action. So the short gun allows you really good maneuverability in these tight spaces. I guess one of the disadvantages to the short gun is the power. Your band stretch on a short gun is much less than you'd get on the longer spear gun. This is going to reduce the power and it's going to be more suitable for smaller species.
If you're chasing bigger fish in the wash and you still want a short maneuverable gun, you're probably better off looking for something like a roller gun. When you get to a roller, the band stretch now is increased significantly because it's accelerating the shaft for the entire length of the barrel. So that's going to give you more power.
Back to the standard rail guns, your most common length for a rail gun for someone beginning is probably at 90 cm to 110cm. It's relatively easy to load and maneuver still but has enough power to land your medium size fish and still not overpowered for your smaller species. Something like this is good for visibility around 10 meters and depths, generally more than five or six meters deep to make it warranted.
Then we're going to move up to something a little bit longer, 130. This is typically your blue water length. So best off using this for large species like mackerel, wahoo, dolphin fish, where you're not in any tight spaces, you've got plenty of time to load and aim. I guess that's the other thing with the length, if it's fast-moving species a long gun is much slower to track. So then you want to go back to something shorter again".