Float Setup?

[spencepb]

I'm just getting started spearfishing and was a little confused about how to rig my spear gun or myself to a float. Or is this even necessary? I plan to dive shallow (15-30ft) rock piles for fairly small fish 5-10lb tautog, which if you are unfamiliar with them they fight extremely hard for their size. I will also be hunting stripers in the 20 to 30lb class. From my reading so far, it sounds like you can rig a float line from your gun to a float, or rig a float line direct to your spear. Which one if any should I try? It seems that I wouldn't necessarily need a float system to handle fighting fish, but so that I can be seen by boaters, so I guess the speed rig would be best? Also, what kind of line would you recommend and what kind of float would be good. I thought about maybe like a big crab float or a boogie board but it seems they would be hard to drag through the water.

 

[jtkwest]

the biggest danger in the water is the other idiot ,(potentially anyway) boaters, so a float is a great idea. unless you need the float to fight the fish, i usually clip it to the gun. most guns have a spot to clip to, either on the bottom of the handle, or behind it . the foam filled polyester float lines are just fine, a vinyl covered one is a little sleeker in the water, but they cost triple what the poly ones do. as far as a float, you could easily get a float in a fishing shop or online. just get one of those orange foam ones for 15$ as long as its rounded and hydrodynamic shaped, THAT IS IMPORTANT!, heavy or non sleek floats suck! you dont need a very big one, something with a volume of 1.5 gallons or so is plenty, like the size of a big human head. (like my big ass dome piece!) some people drag a bunch of stuff around on thier floats, drinks ,phone,lunch. i think that just makes the thing too heavy to deal with. unless you are shore diving, far from shore, i dont see the need for anything on a float, except occaisonally my stringer fo fish, if the boat is too far from me on long drifts ,(pretty rare, even a stringer drags too much for me. personally i have a riffe vinyl float line and a jim buoy lifeguard float and i love them both. the lifeguard float was 100$ , so was the riffe float line. i could have got something that would work pretty close to as well for 1/4 the price. but i am a fool for cool looking gear. but thats just me

 

[spencepb]

the biggest danger in the water is the other idiot ,(potentially anyway) boaters, so a float is a great idea. unless you need the float to fight the fish, i usually clip it to the gun. most guns have a spot to clip to, either on the bottom of the handle, or behind it . the foam filled polyester float lines are just fine, a vinyl covered one is a little sleeker in the water, but they cost triple what the poly ones do. as far as a float, you could easily get a float in a fishing shop or online. just get one of those orange foam ones for 15$ as long as its rounded and hydrodynamic shaped, THAT IS IMPORTANT!, heavy or non sleek floats suck! you dont need a very big one, something with a volume of 1.5 gallons or so is plenty, like the size of a big human head. (like my big ass dome piece!) some people drag a bunch of stuff around on thier floats, drinks ,phone,lunch. i think that just makes the thing too heavy to deal with. unless you are shore diving, far from shore, i dont see the need for anything on a float, except occaisonally my stringer fo fish, if the boat is too far from me on long drifts ,(pretty rare, even a stringer drags too much for me. personally i have a riffe vinyl float line and a jim buoy lifeguard float and i love them both. the lifeguard float was 100$ , so was the riffe float line. i could have got something that would work pretty close to as well for 1/4 the price. but i am a fool for cool looking gear. but thats just me

Wow thanks for the tips! I think I'll go with the cheap foam stuff for a float line at lowes for now.

 

[gmata]

you should check Mako Spearguns they have really good prices on all their stuff.

 

[Salehthefish]

Get tall one with flag if you can for long sighted boaters I have one with flag on to be obvious to be watched. Choose the right distance for your float line not to be so long because when you have current it is bad to keep pulling your buoy all the time when you want to hook your fish(Case of shore dive).

Agree on Mako stuff Cheaper and Same quality for the same float line you will get 30-35$ difference in price.

 

[Aquamacca]

HI there,
I used to use a modified Sea Hornet Predator, I attached a stainless lacing eye to the back of the gun. From there I had 35m of ski rope (floats well & doesn't snag), you'll need enough to allow you to dive to depth without pulling and a float strong enough to rest on in the event of getting swept out. This was then attached to a Ronstan float and attached to my gun using a longline clip with swivels at either end. From the float I made a stainless trace and pencil for hanging my catch off. The set up worked beautifully and brought home everything from Mahi Mahi, Kingfish and some big Dewies. Hope that helps.

 

[Salehthefish]

Usually i stick with my budy near to the float when he goes down i stay with buoy watching him from top and keeping the buoy near by so that not to suffer pulling it all time in currents (Safety as watching him for any problem and make it easy dive keeping the buoy by us). On the other hand if i have buoy which far from me what the benifit? because the buoy should show my place and if it is far boater may not see me!!! This is my thought and how i do it.

 

[spencepb]

Thanks for all the tips, it is a tremendous help! I don't plan on being very far from the boat and I don't need it to store fish or anything so I think I'll just go with something like a life guard style float with a flag on it and some cheap foam core line to start. I can imagine that having too much line would be very annoying though. How much line would you guys suggest for dives of 15-30 ft? I do plan to swim the bottom horizontally for 20 yards or so.

 

[Aquamacca]

Think of it kinda like an anchor line (it needs to run on an angle, not straight down, I'd say about 45ft. It's not going to get in the way as any breeze or current will keep it away. I've never had issues with long lines getting tangled.

 

[spencepb]

Thanks for the help guys, I settled on a omer atol float and about 45 feet of cheap 5/16 poly rope that is tied to a big offshore swivel with coast lock because I can't find long line clips.

 

[Salehthefish]

Good to know u have ur setup... Long line clips are available with Mako spearguns guaranteed good service and price...

 

[Aquamacca]

Nice one, now all you need is the fish. Good hunting.

 

[Tass]

I upgraded to a 2'x3' flag recently and the maiden voyage had no difficulties. I am very pleased with the whole set-up. The guys I went out spearing with said they could quickly and easily identify my location. Sometimes the lakes in Wisconsin get pretty clouded with boaters and dive flags/diver laws aren't taught in boater's safety. Just something to consider.

 

[spencepb]

I upgraded to a 2'x3' flag recently and the maiden voyage had no difficulties. I am very pleased with the whole set-up. The guys I went out spearing with said they could quickly and easily identify my location. Sometimes the lakes in Wisconsin get pretty clouded with boaters and dive flags/diver laws aren't taught in boater's safety. Just something to consider.

Hey thanks for tips. I think that I will get a bigger flag now that you mention it. The one that comes with the omer float is kind of dinky.

 

[Dan A]

Hi All

Where did you get the big flag from? I think I need one of those. I also have boat drivers trying to run me over on a regular basis. And don't get me started on the jet Ski's...

 

[Tass]

I ordered 2 from a flag maker on Ebay. I don't recall the vendor, but I only paid $10-$15 for both with shipping. I keep one on my boat. If I find the order I will post it.

 

[Mr. X]

FYI I also tie my float line to the gun - it's a handy way to avoid loosing the gun or large-ish fish.

The break-away rigs that attach the float to the spear are used for large and very large fish and/or where you might want to keep the gun in your hand (e.g. to prod sharks, gulp).

I believe many of the spearos over here (in the UK) attach the float to their weight belt. I guess it allows the float-line & belt to be released quickly - and the belt/diver to be recovered quickly in an emergency. However, I've never tried it. I tend to dive alone (its best not to), and I don't want to get tangled up/tied down (at least on the sea bed).

Another popular option is to equip the float with an anchor line to a weight (e.g. curtain drape weight or large fishing weight optionally with wires), small anchor or weed-clip/hook (Rob Allen sell these). The float is then position in one place while spearo hunts around it/nearby.

For me, the purpose of the float is:
1. to tell boats where you are and what you are doing, so that they can stay away.
2. to hang my fish from, when I have been lucky enough to spear some
3. to hang gear on (crab bag, emergency whistle - maybe water, compass, cellphone/VHF, mini flares).
4. to secure my speargun(s) too.

 

[Standfor]

Sound like you most worried about safety so here are my 2 cents…
Is mostly depend on the terrain you diving so this might not apply, but I would start by making sure your float line is beefy/stiff enough not to get tangle, or you'll spend most the dive messing with the lines, beside you don’t want to get caught in your own line. I love to hang a mash bag to the buoy, you can keep staff in it (light, spare knife, soda, lobsters at season, etc) and use it as your base (tie it to the kelp or whatever available, so you can dive freely. also when you get fish, you don’t need to carry them on your body, and there’s less chance a seal will rip off your hard work. as far as boaters, some of them are cool but some are different creatures with very little respect for the ocean, divers, swimmers, etc. Make sure you have a diving flag on top and hope they know what it means. I used to dive with all kind of floats that I made myself, and some jet skis are so careless they will actually try to ram the floats as a game, before they realize is a diver under. If you hear them close by, lift the gun to make sure they see you. The worse are those that rent jet skies, they are clueless, and completely ignorant for the ocean.
Have fun!

 

[Aquamacca]

I agree with Mr X, clipping your float line to your gun works best, I don't have any issues with tangles, If I need both hands I know I can drop my gun and not lose it and if I shoot a big fish I can let out line, my fish and lobbies can hang from the float which means if there are sharks around they'll go there first.

 

[spencepb]

I have been clipping the float line to my spear gun and i agree I think it is the best way for most applications. Next time I will try just anchoring the float because I do all of the diving in the rocks and the other day the wind was just blowing my float right into the rocks and getting stuck, and no one could really see it.

Thanks for the input everyone!