Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum. I am in the process of setting up a pole spear for the Bahamas. In the past I have always used a Hawaiin sling but since I have a long way to travel I am going with a travel pole spear. I plan to practice with it here in Puget Sound. My main target is going for Mutton in the Bahamas which are tough as you all know.

Anyhow, after doing all my research on the web, I thought that subjectively saying a pole spear is light or heavy was not very helpful. So I thought it might be interesting to get the actual weight of the different kinds of poles spears everyone is using.

Here is what to provide if you are interested in participating:

1) make
2) model
3) pole materials- ie carbon, fiberglass, aluminum tube, aluminium rod etc.
4) length of spear shaft and length of pole
5) total length- inches
6) total weight in ounces

Thanks
Dave
Seattle

***1) 3-Prong Hawaii :: KUMU Pole Spear (R1) w/Standard 3-Prong Head
3-Prong Hawaii :: Online Retail Store :: POLE SPEARS

Weight= 7’ (~300 – 320 grams) (10.6-11.3 oz), 8’ (330 - 360 grams) (11.6-12.7 oz) (includes standard three prong)

*** 2) 3-Prong Hawaii :: Break-Down KUMU Pole Spear (R1) w/Standard 3-Prong Head

Weight= ~400 - 450 grams (14.1-15.9 oz) (includes standard three prong)

3) Manny Puig- 3.25 lbs. source Omer
4) Ray Odor- 3lbs Source Ray Odor
5) Mako travel pole spear- 1lb 7 oz- source- other
6) Bandito 5/8" travle breakdown with ray odor 12" flopper- 2.5lb - source DaveSea

I think your putting too much thought Into it.

Heavy is slow but hits with mass and are very durable
Light are fast and shot placement is more important and tend to more fragile.

If you new to pole spears and spearfishing, you wont really be able to notice the subtle difference in the high end pole spears. And as such probably would be doing well with one of the yellow fiberglass polespears. You could prob arrange to have one shipped or delivered to your destination and held till your arrival..

If it were me.... I would be looking at a spear that was light weight in the front half and had heavier in the body so you could get the best of both worlds.

Not sure if it is possible or if easy to travel
brands that come to mind
JBL
Christ Polespear
Riffe's Cam Kirk polespear

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Chris Grauer- "To protect, promote, and grow the sport of spearfishing" www.spearfishingplanet.com

Some of the higher end polespears on the market come in carbon fiber front half/aluminum back half, elaborating on what chris said. I dont have too much experience with high end polespears but im doing research myself for picking one up for bahamas this summer. Im probably going to go with an all aluminum polespear for durability's sake.

Gatku is one of the half and half spears and they are pretty reasonable for the price. ive heard nothing but good things about his products.
GAT-KU Polespears » Detachable-Head Polespear


Ray odor polespears are affordable but heavy spears that have a good punch but sacrifice speed with their weight, same with the manny puig polespear (which looks like a damn telephone pole, picked it up at blue wild and it looks like you can do some damage on the reef at close range)

Camerons riffe polespear is super nice and light(saw this in person at blue wild and handled it) , but like other riffe products its price is too high for what it is, to me at least.





as far as tips go, when i go to bahamas this summer i plan on having a flopper tip and slip tips as well, and rigging my polespear to a floatline and float in case a fish rocks up or the taxmen show up.

Whatever you do, stay away from the fiberglass polespears.... I had one i tried using this summer in nj in limited viz and hit a rock with it, the thing literally disintegrated in my hands.

hope this helps.

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Team FOX FLOATS

Thanks for the input.

I actually did just that, ordered a yellow fiberglass travel spear. Should work fine for what I want to do. I am mostly curious what the relative meaning is of light and heavy. I have a feel now that I know that a solid Aluminum weighs about 3 pounds, a fiberglass weighs in about 2.5ish lbs and you can see that at the other end of the scale there a some that way less than a pound. Hopefully others can chime in with their pole spear weights.

I am also a traditional bow hunter and have seen the benefit of increased penetration with high FOC (Front Of Center). Rather than looking for a heavy arrow shaft I use a light shaft and add a heavy point. This should hold true for a pole spear? The weight is better off being forward?

I just picked up a 7oz 6' pole that is very strong and am looking to put a heavy spear tip on it.

One thing Ive noticed with my fiberglass spears ( i have a four footer strictly for lionfish or rocked up fish ) is that they can flex if you power the bands up too much, just like over powering a speargun and having shaft whip.

Thats a big concern for me with bigger spears, even shooting within 3-5 feet with a polespear it can still wobble when you release and miss completely too.

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Team FOX FLOATS

I read a post from someone on this forum (I think) who thought that this flexing made his fiberglass pole more accurate. What he described is similar to what we see in archery when the arrow bends around the bow.

Not sure if it does or not... most of my polespear shots as of late have been 6 inch shots into lion fish.

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Team FOX FLOATS

If you wrap the sling around the spear as you draw the sling it prevents any flexing. I learned to do this on my first fg spear and still do it on my cf Freedivers unlimited.

I am a big fan of Aaron and Dustin's spears.

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At least there are fish to spear in Miami now.....

haha, yea. Cant seem to keep em back though.

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Team FOX FLOATS

I added some other pole spear weights to my second post. Quite a wide range.