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Float line - does colour make a difference??

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Captain J

New Member
Aug 28, 2007
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I've just got a nice new Omar Shardana float with line etc.

I'm wondereing whether or not the colour of the line makes much of a difference??

i.e does arange line scare off fish?

Is there something better, like green or brown?

I'd love to hear what everyone's using..
 
Reactions: Almostafish and spaghetti
i have never found anything of any colour scares the fish, one of my weights on my weight belt is flourecent yellow, and also i usually take a bodyboard as a float and that is multicouloured and i have never had any problems with the fish getting scared.
maybe it will attract the fish instead of scaring them off.
 
I wouldn't use the standard flout line it comes with, it wraps around your legs. Plastic coated washing lines are excellent as a flout line. I don't think colour makes a difference.
 
Reactions: Captain J
Not at all, my gun is bright red, my float line is made from clear PVC tubing which reflects light like a mirror (and I'm a camo freak rofl) either the fish I shoot are daft or they don't give a damn
 
Color makes a big difference, but its a difference in visibility for boaters.

I've been running a live boat for guys drifting in rough seas with overcast sky, and I'm afraid to approach the guys with black or blue float lines because I can't see them in the water. But when someone is using the foam fllled orage Rob Allen float line, it stands out great.

There have been times when I got back in the boat and looked out across a thick kelp bed for the other divers. I could see that orange line across the top the kelp before I could pick out the diver's head and snorkle.

Two different divers Southern California divers that I know of last summer had boats run over their float lines. One had the line tangle around his ankle and drag him, and another had his gun jerked into his side and injure him.

Th photo shows a buddy with an orange line on an offshore kelp paddy. It helps if you drape it over your head too.
 

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Reactions: Captain J
Bill McIntyre said:
Th photo shows a buddy with an orange line on an offshore kelp paddy. It helps if you drape it over your head too.
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Absolutely right, visibility to boats it very important as it's one of the reasons we haul a float around anyway.

Bill, do you think if I drape enough floatline over my head I might be able to pass it off as hair? Dayglo Rasta spearo sort of thing rofl
 
Thanks for input guys,

I'll see how I get on this weekend. I notice the washing line comes up quite a bit in topics, sounds like a good idea.

Its an interesting one about the colour though.

If so many people go for the camo does it actually make any difference?
 
To quote more than one member on here, camos designed to catch divers not fish. Now my bit but it looks real cool
O and by the way I use black tuna bungee cord for a float line, no tangles and it plays fish well...
Bill I guess I wont be diving from your boat hey mate
 
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deep thinker said:
O and by the way I use black tuna bungee cord for a float line, no tangles and it plays fish well...
Bill I guess I wont be diving from your boat hey mate
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I don't have any strict rules. If people want me to wrap their float line in my duoprops and cut it, then I'm willing as long as they cut it out for me.
 
Congrats on your Shardana. I have one with a lot of mileage on it! Its been sunburned, bashed into rocks, flipped by strong winds, frozen etc. etc. I went to a spearo type float line last summer and the difference is amazing - no more time spent untangling the line, never gets stuck in weights, on knives or wraps around me. Mine is blue but I think and orange one would be great. One reason I got a shardan is its big enough to be a navigational hazard. I even got an Omer Ocean Camo suit because I think it will be easier for boaters to see on the surface! (just my summer suit - in winter there are almost no boats) Bill I've see Rob Allen line that is not run through plastic tubing and is way cheaper - is that what you are talking about? If it is as good at non-tanglage as the other stuff it would be a great option.
 
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Fondueset said:
Bill I've see Rob Allen line that is not run through plastic tubing and is way cheaper - is that what you are talking about? If it is as good at non-tanglage as the other stuff it would be a great option.
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Yes, here is the description on the Florida Freedivers web site.


The 100 foot length is just $41, and 120 foot is $46.

However, I can't say that its as tangle resistant as the stiff plastic line, although its much better than the pure poly line that you can get at a hardware store. That foam core gives it a bit of rigidity.

Of course tangles are only a factor when you are trying to deploy it into the water, and you just have to be more careful uncoiling it.
 

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Thanks Bill. The tangle resistant stuff was a real breakthrough for monofinning with float. Tis looks like it may work as well without the cost and without having to worry about getting holes in it.
 
i have the shardana too..its one of the best floats i ever used, i love it..especially for shore diving..only downside is maybe portability and transport.. i also use it with an orange standard float line from rob allen...
 
The Atoll is a great option for portability - much cheaper too - I have one for my daughter (we have a lot of boat traffic in the summer). Here I am with my beloved Shardana. Note the flag - it is the legal standard size for our state (Michigan is where the flag was invented!) and also about four years old (note duct tape). You'll also notice the flagpole in a little short - snapped off in high winds and -14c weather when the float iced up and flipped. FYI - the fish here seem to find the floatline quite interesting.
 

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The Shardana is an awesome piece of kit. I love the fact that you can store so much equipmement in it. Very easy to work with. Although more expensive than other floats all the functionality makes up for it.

The floatline that Omer supply seems fine, I had no issues with tangles. I let about 50ft out too see what it would be like in a worst case scenario. i.e my deepest likely dive being approx 35 feet. Yesterday the water was about 15-20ft deep. The seems to attract Garfish, I've seen this before when waterskiiing. When stopped Garfish would jump over the line.

A very thin target though!
 
The Technosport Technifloat is also a good float. It's like the atoll but bigger and brighter. Very easy to see. In the pic attached you can see the atoll ad techno side by side. Both floats are available through an OMER dealer

As for floatline, that Riffe line look nice! I like the blue line I have to, but visibility of the Riffe is appealing!
 

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Reactions: Captain J
Washing line comes in most colours, I am using bright yellow at the moment. It makes sense to change my line every season due to the fact plastic coated washing line cost about £3.00 = 100' so maybe I will try a nice pink one next.
 
Reactions: spaghetti
I use clear nylon monoline because the fish we have over here really seem to care and don't come close to the standard orange float line. I'm talking especially of Gilthead, Dentex and Sargo populations who live near the shores: they've probably learned the equation orange line=pain in the arse, could be a sort of imprinting. OR they simply don't like orange. But it's a fact that, unlike bentonic inshore fishes, the pelagics coming from open sea like amberjacks, leerfish and cuda are less scared by the orange line and come close to it more confidently than sargos and giltheads.
However I think that Foxfish is spot on anyway. I've been told by experienced spearos that bright yellow attracts bass and this is for real.
 
Reactions: Captain J
I agree on that Spaghetti!
At least here in the med, I think it is a must to use a transparent line
At the moment I live in Ibiza, fanatstic viz, also for the fish, I have actually experimented a bit...for sure that bream and gilthead react on the orange line, they dont like it!...however I have seen small amberjacks coming and having a look at the line.
Well...at the moment overhere...you cant turn around and they are there, a shame they are a bit to small..usually
PS. I caught a nice dorada 2 days ago, a bit over 3.5kg:friday
 
Reactions: Captain J and spaghetti

He he he...these fish over here are learned and graduate....
congrats for the dorada
 
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