Hey Cameron, I had a question about float lines and reels. Are reels a replacement for float lines? Is it much more safe to use a float line when beginning? I’m assuming you don’t use a reel and floatline together. Which is honestly best and safest. Thank you for the help. I appreciate it.
-jake
Jake thanks for the question. We’ve been discussing this for the past few weeks and it is an ongoing topic amongst spearos around the world.
Hands down, for most situations whether it is your first day on the water or your 1000th, having a floatline with a buoy and flag on the surface is safer.
With a buoy on the surface you can be readily seen by your boat, other boats and your fellow divers. One of the leading causes of death to divers is being hit by boats so anything you can do to help identify your location to everyone else is a good thing.
As soon as you leave the surface when diving with a reel, this is the view that an oncoming boat or your spotter in the boat has.
A good pair of polarized Sunglasses are key equipment to whomever is running the boat and watching your divers
Exactly, they don’t see anything, just the smooth surface of the sea.
Any boat headed your way has no idea where you are or where you will surface and a lot can happen in a minute and a half or however long your dive is.
My suggestion is to always use a floatline when you can with a buoy and dive flag. It is safer and easier for most situations.
If you are the one running the boat, get a good pair of polarized sunglasses. Electric Visual has girls and guys sunglasses that look badass and aren’t the typical cheesy fishing sunglasses you see on the market. Invest in a pair and get your girl some too and it will help her keep track of you better in the water keeping her stress level down and making your day easier not getting yelled at for her never knowing where you are. (If I see one more pair of Chanel or Gucci sunglasses on the boat I’m chucking them over the side and using them as a wahoo flasher. They are worthless on a boat get some real sunnies.)
A reel is great for times when you are diving inside oil rigs or wrecks where a floatline can become tangled and do more harm than good. I dive with a reel a lot but make a point of making eye contact with my dive partner or the boat on every surface interval to make sure they can see where I am as well. With Camoflauge wetsuits and just our heads above the surface we are a small target and it is best to be sure you are seen instead of assuming the person in the boat is watching you instead of drinking a beer or eating a sandwich or fishing.
Another reason to use a float line is you can shoot a fish and let go of the rig and ascend freely to the surface and fight the fish from there. With a reel, you have to hold your gun and cross your fingers the drag on the reel works and you have enough line to make it to the surface and the gun doesn’t get caught in the bands. Over the years I’ve let around 4 guns go and seen most of my buddies do the same to keep from drowning when a fish or gear malfunction stopped them from reaching the surface and the choice had to be made to let go or die. Not a tough one to make it would seem but far too many divers drown and/or have SWB because they won’t let go of a jammed up gun or a big fish that has bottomed out their reel.
So the answer to your question Jake, Float line is my choice for safest. A reel has its place for sure but a float line and buoy with a flag is tough to argue against for overall safety and visibility.
Dive safe whichever you choose to use.
Cameron
Here are my choices for sunglasses right now. The BPM and TECHNICIAN frames are great and blocks out the light coming in from the sides and the girls seem to love the VOL. Either way, get some good sunglasses. It makes a huge difference. Check out the full line of Electric Visual’s Polarized collection at http://www.electricvisual.com/products/sunglasses/polarized/
12 Responses to “How-to: Floatline vs. Reel”
Unless you are in the pool doing target practice, please use a float and line.
A reel is great in shallow water in case a ground fish holes up and you need to get to the surface.
A reel can be a problem in deep water for a couple reasons. One, tangles. I once shot a big fish with a reel and the reel tangled. It yanked me 30 feet down before I could break the line. Two, if you shoot something deep, you still need to get to the surface with your gun. You can’t let go. It takes some presence of mind to loosen the drag and you still may not get it just right. If you understand those two things and know how to deal with them, a reel can be great.
If Team Cam is using a float line and Team Blake is using a reel, Team Blake will be throwing fish in the boat while Team Cam untangles his float line, fixes his hair, takes pictures of himself with my fish, arranges the labels on his gear…you get the idea.
I prefer a reel all around diving for ground fish and the occasional free swimmer. Deep water + pelagics = float line. Cam has the best reel/float switch going with the bungee to line release to the reel or float line.
Awesome! That answers my question and I will CERTAINLY be diving with a buoy, flag and float line. Another question for you (Cameron) along with anyone else that has an opinion on the topic: is it more fool proof to use a break away system when diving with a float line or just release your gun and have your float line attached to the butt of the it? I’m sure a lot of guys have their gun smacked up against stuff when they don’t use the break away system. But does the break away system not always work?
With shooting a riffe euro 100(x maybe), what float line system would I want to use? I know pretty much every brand on the market makes float lines, but which one to go for??
Thanks so much for your time Cameron (and everyone else who will respond).
use the riffe breakaway system, made for the riffe. break away systems are so that you can feel safe with shooting a big fish while not letting your gun go with it. but still both work
One more issue is that some fish species seem MUCH more wary/skittish if using a float line. In these cases, wise use of a reel is better.