float question(s)

[mishu1984]

my semi-blue water setup is my 110 with a reel and a float: omer torpedo float single bladder
i would like to weight the possibility of filling the float with expanda-foam: the kind used for boats. im hoping this would prevent the float from collapsing, and would add better floatation.
any input?

also, im probably going to ditch the reel, and either figure out a way to rig a breakaway, or just the gun directly attached to the float.


my main target is jacks and cudas, but hopefully i will soon gradute to kings and cobias as my breathold improves

[hteas]

Filling the float with will increase it's strength, but will decrease the flotation. Flotation is a function of the volume of water displaced (not changed) and the weight (increased). If you are worried about flotation, get a bigger float or add a second float behind the first, or get a bigger float. There are some pretty sophisticated bluewater floats out, there, but be prepared $$$.

[miles]

Hiya

If you're targetting 20-30kg sized fish, you have a few options. Start off by removing your reel. For that size fish, i wouldn't even worry about rigging the gun as break-away. Just a normal float-line, attached to the rear of your gun.

Floats. You have a few options. I can highly recommend you buying a 11ltr RA solid foam type float. They are SUPERB!!

Seeing as you already have a inflatable float, another option would be to get a second float. A cheap solution is a boat fender or bouy.

Simply rig the one end of your 30-40m floatline to our gun, the other end to one float. Then add another 2-10m to your second float.

A small 1meter bungee can also be attached to your first float. This can absorb some pressure and will make a difference on poorly placed shot!!!

So, you rig will be:
gun attached to 30-40m floatline attached to 1m bungee attached to first float attached to 2-10m of floatline attached to second float.

Another option is to build your own float using a boogie/body board. Using a big float will then mean only one float!! The downside to two floats is that they tangle, it means extra gear you have to carry and its costly.

Hope that helps!!

Regards
miles

[Noah]

What depth are you hunting? What's the max weight of the fish you might shoot?

I love reading your stuff Miles, you can always tell when somebody knows their sh!t You ever do any bottom hunting over there?

[mishu1984]

6-20m and 15-30 kg fish around a wreck. mostly going for jacks but i know i will also shoot cuda as they school together in our spot

[Marwan]

mishu, for that size the 11 ltr rob allen woll do the trick, if you want to feel safer, check the 35liter inflatable float from rob allen, they are the business and not expensive..no drag..

[miles]

Hiya

Noah, i rarely do any bottom fish hunting. In my local waters, you have to contend with dirty water and 15-20m dive's to get 'good' reef fish. Since most of our local reef fish is under 3kg's (5-6lb's) and the Great White population has grown considerabily, its simply not worth risking myself to shoot a couple of small fish!! Our bay has pretty much been decimated by overfishing from the commercial fishing boats, so slow growing reef fish takes very long to recover. Coupled to the fact that there are now even more Marine Protected Area's, we simply target our largest inshore pelagics, which is yellowtail (seriola llalandi). Pelagics grow quickly and are a sustainable species. They also fight much harder and are bigger too!!

To get decent demersal species, we have to travel at least 2-3 hours up the coast. How-ever, here is even BETTER pelagics species, with yellowtail in the 15-20kg class (30-45lb's) being quite common. So, we tend to concerntrate on them instead of the 5-10kg (10-20lb's) bottoms!!

Our method is to first go and look for pelagics. If there is no current or the water is dirty, we'll then go look for inshore reef species.

Here'some reef fish and pelagics of a trip in january: