Slurp gun tips?

[HSL0389]

My boyfriend bought a 55 dollar slurp gun so we could catch our own fish for our tank, and "save money" on buying them for the lfs. After a whole day at the beach we caught Zero fish...any help?

[mr40g]

Nevery really used one of those. my guess would be you would have to have the fish backed up in its cave and slurpem up or just dive slowly and make very slow movements while next to the fish you want.

what kind of fish are you trying to catch and where???
just curious. I wanted to do the same, just not the right kind of fish in my area.

[lunatik_69]

This so easier said than done. Alot of the ppl that catch fish as a business use bleach first to stun the fish and then catch them. But thats the immoral way of doing it. Luna

[HSL0389]

Well we live in south florida on the treasure coast. There's lots of different areas to catch fish. He tried snorkling under a bridge, but the current was too strong. Then at the beach but it was too rough. Then the inlet in rock piles, but that just didn't go well. It may have just been bad luck, but if we can get it right there's a ton of tropical fish around here.

We also thought about trying our hand at seining in grassy shallows. Catch an urchin, or something interesting. We've got lots of life at our dispossal, it's just a matter of catching it...

[nunch]

Originally Posted by mr40g

Nevery really used one of those. my guess would be you would have to have the fish backed up in its cave and slurpem up or just dive slowly and make very slow movements while next to the fish you want.

what kind of fish are you trying to catch and where???
just curious. I wanted to do the same, just not the right kind of fish in my area.

that's almost exactly right. but try to bring a net and w/ two people, have one try to steer the fish towards the other person w/ the gun. it's very hard. you must have alot of patience and move very slowly.

I caught a LM blenny in boca. that's about all i could get cause they stay on the rock. the other fish i saw were many different wrasses, sargeant majors, blue tangs, many different damsels, barracuda, permit, puffers and various other fish. which are all near impossible to catch.

[nunch]

also the best way to harvest isn't a slurp gun it's either a drop net or a fence net. much more effective.

Allowable Harvesting Gear:

Hand Collection.
"Hand held net," means a landing or dip net, except that a portion of the bag may be constructed of clear plastic material, rather than mesh.

"Barrier net," also known as a "fence net," means a seine used beneath the surface of the water by a diver to enclose and concentrate tropical fish and which may be made of either nylon or monofilament.

"Drop net," means a small, usually circular, net with weights attached along the outer edge and a single float in the center, used by a diver to enclose and concentrate tropical fish.

"Slurp gun" means a self-contained, handheld device that captures tropical fish by rapidly drawing seawater containing such fish into a closed chamber.

RECREATIONAL HARVESTING INFORMATION FOR MARINE LIFE SPECIES

[mr40g]

Originally Posted by nunch

also the best way to harvest isn't a slurp gun it's either a drop net or a fence net. much more effective.

Allowable Harvesting Gear:

Hand Collection.
"Hand held net," means a landing or dip net, except that a portion of the bag may be constructed of clear plastic material, rather than mesh.

"Barrier net," also known as a "fence net," means a seine used beneath the surface of the water by a diver to enclose and concentrate tropical fish and which may be made of either nylon or monofilament.

"Drop net," means a small, usually circular, net with weights attached along the outer edge and a single float in the center, used by a diver to enclose and concentrate tropical fish.

"Slurp gun" means a self-contained, handheld device that captures tropical fish by rapidly drawing seawater containing such fish into a closed chamber.

RECREATIONAL HARVESTING INFORMATION FOR MARINE LIFE SPECIES

Thats the link my friends and i have been looking for...
thanks for the link. great info about collecting.

[jcdillin]

Hand net is the easiest IMO, I used to dive for tropicals commerically when I was younger and we only used hand nets. Those slurp guns werent worth the plastic they are made out of. They are only good for baby high-hats or something really really slow.

I used to send the net up between rocks or block a small canyon and then chase the specific fish I was trying to get into the canyon. Since they can't see the monofiliment hand net they swim right in.

[R34dawn]

I always used a cast net to confine the area where the fish was then it was much easier to use the clear sided net, but the slurp gun is a waste of money unless the fish is backed up
in a small hole where you can get some suction like mr40g stated

[HSL0389]

We're trying to perfect this fish catching thing, but I basically have a tank full of things that I could just pick up. Hermit crabs, conch, sea cucumber, urchin, snails...the hermit crabs are the most interesting things. And during our last venture, we caught a puffer cause it was sitting on the bottom and we threw a net over it. fish are fast...