Belt reels

Mattedhead · #1 January 22nd, 2003

For those of you who are using reelguns, does anyone carry a belt reel also? I was curious what models people where using. Does anyone have any pertinent experiences with this set-up?

matt

donmoore · #2 January 22nd, 2003

Matt,
I never heard of a belt reel, but I have made a self-inflating buoy system that is attached to a weight belt with velcro and spandex wrap. It uses a CO2 cartridge for inflation. There is a rope attached to the float and to the lever that breaks the seal of the CO2 cartridge so the seal breaks first. The idea is that it breaks away from the belt with the pull of rope and the inflation of the bag. This could happen either by pulling the rope myself or by the fish if it yanked the gun out of my hand.

It looks pretty good, but I haven’t been able to test it yet. I have worn it a few times, but I only had 1 CO2 cartridge, others were on order, and I didn’t want to waste it on a trial. I am waiting to post pictures of it after I have tested it.

The first concern, as always is safety. If the reel is attached to a belt, then your only way out is to release the belt. Entanglement of the line with yourself is another concern. A knife would be essential.

Getting the reel in a position to be able to reel it and being able to keep it there would be another thing I would think about. With it so close to the body, it seems like it would be easy for the body to obstruct the reeling action while you are trying to keep it’s face pointed toward the fish. Maybe mount it on something like a small rod that one end breaks away from the belt. It would be like fishing with a small pole.

Let us know if your belt reel idea goes anywhere.
Don

icarus pacific · #3 January 23rd, 2003

Nope here to the belt reel thing.

The LAST thing I want is to be attached to a shaft, gun or fish if I had to bail on the whole thing. In fact there are times that I have to really force myself to let go of the gun, regardless of it being bouyant on it's own or more commonly with a floatline and bouy. Having to think of letting loose of a belt would be that much more difficult. There's a stigma and reluctance to dropping a belt anyways...

Having a reel for penetrations is fine and all, but for breatholds, nope.

sven

rigdvr · #4 January 23rd, 2003

If I am not mistaken, it might have been Jay or Aquiles who mentioned a floatline to the belt and reel on the gun for reef hunting but I am not familiar with a reel to the belt...

Murat · #5 January 23rd, 2003

Try to imagine what will hapen if you shoot 700 pound tuna. You will just pray to have enough time to rip it off

Mattedhead · #6 January 24th, 2003

I think I have seen Jay attach a floatline to his belt when using a reelgun. Pretty good idea. As for the belt reel, I had just read a few things where divers have carried a reel on their belt when using a reelgun. From what I could gather, it had a clip that could be attached to the gun if the reel on the gun gets spooled, or if it has to be left on the bottom for some reason. It just seemed like a big, dangerous mess waiting to happen. I didn't know if anyone had any further explanation.

matt

rigdvr · #7 January 24th, 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Murat
[b]Try to imagine what will hapen if you shoot 700 pound tuna. /B]

That would be a world record...I like to imagine that all the time

Jay Styron · #8 January 24th, 2003

I think the belt reel idea is mainly euro. I've read some stuff also about them using it for deep grouper but I don't think I'll try it. One possible use if you're towing your float and use a reel on your gun would be to attatch your float to the belt reel and then you could adjust the length w/ the water depth.
I clip my floatline to my belt since I don't like the bouy pulling on the gun and if I ever have to ditch my belt then I can always get it back. If I ever shoot a fish big enough to strip all my shooting line and start towing me then I can clip my floatline to my gun and let'em run. Like Sven mentioned I've hate letting go of my gun and I like reels better than break away systems. Just my 2 cents worth.
Jay

w3ac · #9 January 24th, 2003

What are you going to do with the belt reel? If you attach it to a shaft or gun as a main line, this sounds kinda crazy. Murat had a good point although blown up a bit. Imagine what a large fish could do. I don't know what you hunt but the big boys around here can easily drown a diver. In any case, this blet reel sounds more like a hassle than anythign else. Clipping a float line to your belt is a good idea as long as the fish you're hunting will still approach with a long rope reaching from the surface pointing directly to that large strange creature lying on the botom trying to blend in. "Yeah we see there and we aint coming in!" We got some of those punks here. If the fish are really spooky, we have to drop the float line and just hunt without it. Most of the wary fish here are under 10 pounds so we can usually horse them up. On the Big Island most guys don't use a reel (present company included). One of my partners had a 70 pound Ulua swim two feet in front of his gun while diving with no floatline. Luckily, he stoned the fish or bye bye gun. He also had an Ulua estimated about 60 pounds attack him when he was on the bottom. He said he was waiting for some Kumu (goatfish) to come in when he felt something bash into his shoulder. He though it was a shark but looked up to see the Ulua sitting there staring at him. He never got a shot off though. Point is you never know what's going to happen and with more line in the water there is more changes for *%#! to happen. Be careful if you do use the belt reel, don't want to read about freak accidents.

Brad

fuzz · #10 January 24th, 2003

Hunting ulua with no tagline or reel is just plain lolo

The few people that I've seen use belt reels in real life have kept it only as a spare. The reel was attatched to their belt and used only in emergency situations - i.e. their gun reel jammed & they needed to get to the surface. The belt reel line could be clipped to the gun & used to make sure your gun didn't disappear.

While I don't like the idea of something hanging off my belt to snag kelp, rocks, etc. - I can see its value if you are trying to shoot pelagics with no float/floatline.

fuzz · #11 January 24th, 2003

http://www.spearworld.com/marc_int.html

This guy mentions a belt reel in his article...... but of course he also mentions that it jammed as he hadn't used it for a while

In any case, it's an interesting read

w3ac · #12 January 25th, 2003

Hunting pelagics with no float, now that's lolo brah. Even with a reel is kinda nuts. Heard of a guy who shot a nice Ono around 60 pounds and was promptly spooled and lost his line (all of it) and his spear.

We don't typically hunt Ulua as they don't taste very good but in the event that we want one, we so use floatlines and breakaways. These Ulua just happened to come through and "it just happened." Good to see another local boy in the threads. When you coming Hilo brah? We go dive!

Brad

fuzz · #13 January 25th, 2003

I was thinking small pelagics like mackerel & such. Personally, I'm not a big fan of reels at all so I don't see the point. Reels just don't come close to matching a nice bungie/float combination as far as stopping power & ease of use.

But it seems that crazy guy is using just reels in his Ono hunting, so.... maybe there's a good way of doing it? Don't think I'd try it

I'll drop you a PM about diving in Hilo

Jay Styron · #14 January 27th, 2003

It's all in what you're used to.

Murat · #15 January 27th, 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by w3ac
Murat had a good point although blown up a bit.

Yeah thats me i pump, pump, pump......But the trick is know to where to stop

DeeperBlue