I plan diving around and about anna cappa and santa cruz islands. I need a good speargun, any recommendations? I hear that Wong spearguns are the best. What about Riffe?
I realize that I was the source of at least one recommendation for Wong guns, but there are other fine guns.
I've owned two Riffes in the past, and I sold them. In the sizes that you need for white sea bass, Riffes tend to be underweight and overpowered, so they have a big recoil and can break a tooth if you don't have your elbow locked, and the muzzle flips up and pushes up the rear end of the shaft, causing he shot to be low. They can be modified by going to thinner shafts, thinner bands, optional side stocks or muzzle wings, but I think its easier for a beginner to just buy a gun that comes usable out of the box.
Also, is a surfing 3mil wetsuit good enough to start out with?
Only if you want to be miserable and not last long before you are focused on shivering. Up where you live, you need at least a 5 mm two-piece skin-in suit with attached hood, but many people up there use 7 mm.
I'm also foggy on whether a reel or float line is the way to go??
So am I. They both have advantages and disadvantages. I've been using reels for many years, and just last summer I went to a float line on the gun I use most often.
A big advantage of a float line is that if its rigged as breakaway, then the gun is left in your hand out of the chain while the shooting line is attached to the float line, so its hard to lose your gun. However, if you are diving in the kelp, and you will be diving in the kelp for white sea bass, then you can't use a big float that is capable of fighting the fish, because it will just hang up in the kelp. So all you can do is put a small float on the rear end of the line, and it just serves as something to hang onto if all the line is pulled through your hand. So you need a float line at least 100 feet long, even if diving in 25 feet of water. The fish goes to the bottom, pulls the line under some kelp, and then runs off horizontally while you are being pulled down vertically. I know a guy who shot a 60 pound fish at Santa Cruz in 25 feet of water and almost had to turn lose of his line before the boat got there and he was able to grab the swimstep.
Of course if you are out in open water, maybe diving for yellowtail under floating kelp paddies, then you can use a big float capable of fighting the fish, so all you need is a float line a bit longer than your deepest dives.
If you get a float line, get orange or yellow. Boat drivers can't see black or blue lines in the water, including your own buddy who is just trying to come pick you up.
An advantage of a reel is that, assuming its big enough and you choose the right line, you can have much more line than any float line you might be willing to mess with. My reels have from 170 to 200 feet of line. But in the unlikely event that a fish takes all of it, then I might have to turn loose of the gun. That is not very likely in the kelp though, because if you put pressure on a white sea bass, you can make it turn and wrap up in the kelp.
Another minor point is that reels make it a lot easier to get in and out of the water. With a float line, you have to get it into the water without tangles, and then later coil it back into the boat.
Float lines are easier to grab and easier to see when you are trying to follow the line down to your fish on the bottom.
I could go on with more details, but I better stop now and let you digest the first serving.
