The guys that put out the ONEFISH video Rich, put some pics up on Facebook this week and a number of us got into a bit of a conversation about belt reels and their Positives and negatives. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=157299&id=100001691777316
What started it was these pictures here.
Nice Wahoo coming in for an easy shot
Great shot now whats going to happen next....
Jammed reel! Wahoo wins!
When you are shooting with a reel gun you always run the risk of the reel getting jammed or the line getting caught in the bands but with a floatline you can always let the whole rig go and at least fight them from your buoy once you are on the surface.
In this situation the argument was made that if you had a belt reel you could clip it on to the back of the gun and have some extra line to play with.
I personally will not let anyone on the boat dive with a belt reel as I believe it is asking for problems. With a reel on a gun you can always let the gun go, you’ll lose the whole rig but at least you will live. The problem comes when you fight fight fight the jammed reel and stay down too long and end up getting yourself in trouble. Any one who has dove with a reel has been there and probably has friends who have died from the same.
With a Belt reel, you still have the same problems with the possibility of the reel jamming only now it is attached directly to you with the line leading down in the vicinity of your legs and fins making the chance of entanglement much greater. You can drop your weight belt of course but this does not keep the small thin line away from your lower body.
There are some situations where a belt reel may be useful. Let me hear them I’m all ears as I believe in shallow water, no current, it could be good.
For bluewater and deep diving though regardless of the size of the fish a floatline or bungey to a buoy allows you to be free of your gear very quickly and easily.
What do you think? Belt reel?
Cameron
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=180426401994272&set=a.178166008886978.31145.173623456007900&comments
8 Responses to “Belt Reel Debacle”
Thanks Cameron for posting this and opening up dialog on the subject
As far as I know the RA belt reel is just there as a back up. It does not need to be connected and, you have plenty of time to connect it up to your reel gun for that “One fish”. That one fish does not come in every dive. The times you might need a belt reel for the average person is very seldom.
The other point is, the Rob Allen belt reel is very easy to remove from the belt and to clip a float onto it, you actually don’t need to cut your self free. Here is a vid the dive factory guys produced showing the belt reel and its performance – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX2UTYIGRq4
My honest opinion is that yes it can be very dangerous with a huge fish on the other end and all that dynema floating around but this could just as easterly happen to you with your reel gun line if you do not adopt carefully line management when fighting your fish.
I have never had a problem with the RA reel belt and have saved many a stressful situation on reef hold ups and mussel wraps as a result saving many guns in the process. As for other belt reels on the market, unfortunately my experience is very limited as I have only used the Rob Allen version of this product.
Thanks
Richard Leonard
Hey Cam, I am a huge fan of reel guns and most of my diving is done with a reel gun. I dont often use a belt reel and am happy to dive with only the use of the gun reel,I have shot Wahoo, Mahi, big spanish and all manner of reef fish with my Riffe Euro and Horizontal NF reel setup. But i think a belt reel is a great added saftey and precausion against shooting line tangle which can and does happen. I am yet to use a RA belt reel but have heard good things about them.
I also struggle to see the danger levels exorbitently increased, no doubt there is a risk increase but i think it is only small and similar to the increase taken when fighting a fish with a rig line having it running past your legs and lower body.
I see the weight belt as a disposable item that can be dropped at anytime and if the unthinkable happens and both reels jam you can drop it quickly. All of us should carry a spare belt especially if we use riglines as i have almost lost friends having their rig lines tangled on weight belts behind their backs.
There is one thing that i agree with you 100%, there is a time and place for reel guns, Current and dirty water where no one can keep an eye on you, Depths dived nearing your max spearing range are all not the place for reel guns!! The safety aspect is just not there and it can be unfair on your dive partners let alone the huge risk you take!
Well said Tim.
I use a RA reelgun as well as a belt reel – but usually only in shallow water hunting stuff like wahoos and macks. The reelgun is usually a backup or second gun for those times when I’m schooled by a bunch of fish – I spear one with a good holding shot with my floatline rigged gun, let it run free,and want to grab another while the school hangs around the speared fish. The way the belt reel is set up it is very easy to detach from the belt if necessary, and has an attachment point designed so it can be clipped to a bouy. 9 times out of 10 or probably 99 times out of 100 there is no need to even deploy the belt reel – it is only a backup for those rare occasions when the reel on the gun is about to be spooled, or there is a jammed reel on the gun. I’ve been using a belt reel for over a year now and have actually only deployed it twice, and in both cases (with a spooled reel on the gun) I have detached it from my belt and clipped it to a bouy. But, I do agree with you Cameron, there is potential for accidents (as there is in most aspects of spearfishing) so reels should only be used by experienced spearos, preferably in shallow water (or at least shallower than the reel capacity) and belt reels should only be used once you are very familiar with using a reel gun, the hazards of loose Dyneema line floating around your body etc. Dive safe at all times!
Everything depends on the type of fishing and location.
I think the reel attached to a belt is very important for small and medium fish in places with little depth at most 35 meters.
He will serve perfectly as a back up if something goes wrong.
I agree that the risk of using it in large blue water with fish is too big and would not want to have something else stuck in my body.
Cam,
I too think that a belt reel is a good safety device (IF USED PROPERLY)and by this I mean only as backup.
As you noted, we have all been in the situation of being at depth shooting a fish and having a muzzle wrap or reel jam. In this situation, our first reaction is generally to either power the fish up or fight to untangle the mess. In my opinion this is an extremely dangerous time because we become focused on what we are doing (while working hard and not wanting to lose the gun and fish)if we push this just a little too far or try to then get out a knife and cut the line (as Bill did) we don’t make it.
Good buddy diving can and does greatly reduce the danger, but where I dive, this is not always possible due to thick murk layers on the surface.
I think that it is imperative that we have a plan for tangles and that this plan not require hard work followed by having to make the decision to let go when we decide that we just aren’t going to make it. Personally, my plan is to not fight it. I will hook in my belt reel and swim up. I do think that you raise a great point about potential tangles and I will adjust my plan to include immediately removing the reel from my belt when I hook it to the gun. As has been noted, the Rob Allen reel can be removed in about 2 seconds.
I do not think that it is a good idea to hook up belt reels before shooting.
Thanks for bringing up this point for discussion.
Well said bud.
amazing photos, who ever lost the gun was lucky enough to save the camera