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Reels Vs. Floats

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
i used omer's allu. reels and did not had any problem about drag or whatever..

When you shoot big fish with reel, you should leave the gun and hold the line so you can adjust tension yourself and tire the fish rather than letting the fish taking all the line from the reel.
 
Ed,

There's something wrong with your reel. I've seen this before. It's usually caused from a missing piece. There should be some kind of block/washer between your drag and reel. What's happening now is you're missing that piece so when you reel in, as the reel rotates it turns the drag also which activates/tightens it. With the block in between the reel and drag than the drag and reel can function separately and one turning has no influence on the other.

Marwan,

A 50 w/ 3mm line is not going to hold very much. I'd recommend much
thinner line (1.75-2.0).

Murat,

You're right about how to use a reel. The line should be held in the hands and the fish fought from the surface just like you would with a control/float line. For me, the reel and its drag come into play more on the accent. If I've been down long or deep and feel I must get to the surface unimpeded then I lighten my drag to free-spool as I head for the surface. But if I feel good and have a struggling fish I'd like to keep off the bottom or away from structure than I can ascend with tension on my line from a semi-tight drag setting or even palm my reel with my hand to increase drag or flat out hold my reel to stop any line from playing out. But no matter what I’ve done during my accent, once I hit the surface, I throw my gun behind me and fight the fish with my hands by pulling in line just as if I was using a floatline. After my fish is subdued, then I use my reel to wind my line back up on it with.

Scott
 
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Scott,
the Omer 50 is rated hold 40m of 3mm line which i think is quite enough. Normally even if it were a grouper, i would keep the reel on freespool as i head to the surface. I never tighten the drag except very slightly if ever. I feel its safer and you stand less risk of losing the fish and/or bending the shaft. I'd rather take me time at the surface (provided I have a good shot of course) and then head back down to the cave and work the fish (sometimes) kill it with the knife and then surface with minumum struggle
 
Marwan,

40M of 3 mm on a 50, good luck! I'd guess 40M of 1.75. But maybe I'm wrong. Please let us know once you get it set up (for future reference).

I can't/don't keep my reel in freespool mode because if I did my line would constantly be loose and in general drive me crazy. So, I keep my line tight enough to keep my shooting line and reel line taught while I dive. In this way, there is some tension when I shoot a fish which under normal circumstances is no big deal. Some line peels off as I ascend but the fish is dragged up a little too. But when I know I'm hurting I put a quick 1/4 turn on the drag knob and it goes completely freespool where the fish's weight alone will allow it to fall back down to the bottom as I ascend. There is absolutely zero resistance as I swim to the surface. Once at the surface I tighten my drag back up and then throw my gun behind me and proceed to pulling my fish up by hand using the line.

Scott
 
yes i also use my reel with that drag seting. Just make it loose and turn it half or complete round to keep its lightest setting but should be tight enough to keep the line in reel otherwise it will tangle and its not funny to handle this problem in sea.

One other thing, when i shoot goruper in cave, with one of my hand i hold the gun and with other i hold the line just 0.3-0.5 meter front of the muzzle loop for reel line. I try to keep the line as tight as possible otherwise grouper will run more deeper in its cave and lock herself with aid of the gills.Then bye bye fish and shaft...If i make a kill shot then the way up is easy, just hold my gun and let the reel do the rest

sometimes such small details makes difference getting the fish or not :hmm
 
mark,
the 40m of 3mm line is what it says on the omer 50 tech. data sheet. Do you have different information
Scott, i will get it in a couple of days, will let you know after it has been rigged.

It seems I have yet to try other "reeling styles"' thats why i like this forum
cheers guys
 
Marwan, I've never tried 3mm line on a 50 although I should probably know.
they must be talking about some pliable 3mm line, don't know really, except to say that I can fit nearly an entire 180ft spool of 1.75mm 400lb rated dyneema line or roughly 150ft or so of the same stuff in 2.2mmx575lb strength.

I forgot to tell you on the shaft thread that the 20mm bands with 16mm thread x 26cm were going to be in soon this week too so Spearfishinggear will have them too.

Mark

ps- a little trick on reels worth considering. Even if you are right handed, mount the reel, if mounted in the vertical position, with the spool handle on the left instead of on the R which would seem more obvious. The reason is that when you're cranking in your line it's much easier to do it quickly by turning the gun upside down, since you don't have the barrel in the way and you have a clear line of sight, so that the reel is up and the handle will be on the right side. You can crank much faster and efficiently
 
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Mark,

I used to do that exact same thing. You can really crank line in like that. Unfortunately for me, I now have my reels mounted horizontally (reduces drag & size) not vertically anymore so I can't use that method. It's the one con (and a big one at that) of mounting the reels the way I do now.

Scott
 
Thanks Mark,
Matt from spearfishinggear did confirm yesterday that the bands were coming in this week.
I do use that reeling technique you described, it gives you a funny feling, that all of a sudden your speargun is transformed into a trolling rod, but it works just fine.
 
I live in South Florida and currently shoot a Sea Hornet Commercial my cousin gave me. I'm looking to make a floatline system for it. Anyone know where I can find some info about the best way to set this up? I mainly freedive offshore or nearshore, but want to move to bluewater as well. I've been told that since this is a working gun a reel wouldn't work well on it. If anyone has any suggestions, ideas or knows better guns let me know. Thanks!
 
It depends on where and how do you fish. In Southern Brazil, where 70% of the preys are bottom fish, inside or around rocks and cracks, and there's some current and the water isn't very clear, a reel gun works better. However, most divers use a float (mandatory in competitions) tethered to a drop weight when not diving from a "live boat". The float serves to signal the diver to passing boaters (who, actually, don't give a shit and run over you anyway :rcard ) ; or to mark a spot on the bottom. It's easier to maneuver among rocks and cracks with a reel gun (you drop the weight nearby). Also, we carry the stringer in the float, since we're diving normally under 50ft./15m. There were many blackouts with divers carrying a heavy waist stringers.

OTOH, if I were to hunt in places where fish stay in the open, I'd switch to a float line.

Tell me, where do dive in Egypt?

Ted
Rio
 
I dive in the red sea as well as the med, most of the diving is between 10-15 meters super excellent visibility
 
David,

Don't know any freedivers in the area named David, so I guess we don't know each other. Anyway, I was going to say if you were close enough I could check it out for you. Or maybe better, we could dive together sometime.
IMO, the best and quickest way to learn is to see how others who have been doing it for awhile do it. PM me if you're interested in either (letting me check out your gun and/or diving together).

Scott
 
Anybody tried the new Rob Allen stainless steel reels picture on the RA website (are they even available yet)?
 
Hiya

[ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=59722"]New RA reel[/ame]

Regards
miles
 
ok i got my omer 50 reel, its really cool, i fit it with 3 mm cord, i'm not sure if it fit 40m in but at least 30m for sure. I like the size of the reel, comact light and to the point, I have yet to try for vertical vs. horizontal alignment. Obviously the horizontal would cause less drag in tracking, but i am more comfortable reeling in in the vertical position, i'll see if there is a big difference.
 
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