Speargun reel float line combo advice.

[Danny.c]

Howdy chaps.its been awhile since I have posted here.I have not dived for awhile as my last dive I made a huge mistake and blew my ear and got vertigo and a bad case of tinnitis plus fell of the rocks and fracture a rib or two.I have had better times .
Anyways ,I Have my new gun a bluetec raptor and it has a reel.I have no experience with reels and I really want to get used to my reel but I want to keep my float line attached to my new gun,sort of like training wheels if you will,till I get accustomed to fish spooling line.
I have searched and searched for comments about this with no such luck.I would like to know if there are any negative's to having a reel and a float line combination and to be honest I really like having a float with me at all times.Should I just ditch the reel or is it good to use both at once.Any feed back or different options would be appreciated cheers.

 

[Mr. X]

A marker float with the appropriate diver down flag (red & white USA. Rest of the world: Blue & white alpha flag) is highly recommended - mainly so that other can see you, esp. boats but also to hang your fish on. Whether you attach the float-line to your speargun or not is up to you. Some alternatives would be to attach a drop weight or very small anchor to the end of fairly short float-line.

I think it would be ok if you attach your speargun to the float-line but there would be an increased risk of tangles, so have a care

 

[Bill McIntyre]

In Southern California, a float line attached to a reel gun is known as a "chicken line." People do that as a precaution against losing their guns if the reel jams or they get spooled. I did that for a short while, but then went to a breakaway float line. My reasoning was that if I was going to put up with the negative aspects of a float line- getting it into the water without tangles, coiling it back up- I mighty as well go all the way and have the positive- the gun is out of the chain and can't be lost.

But of course if you are going to do it as a precaution while you transition to using a reel, it makes sense.

My impression is that the Bluetec is carbon fiber, so I don't know whether there is an easy way to attach the float line. With my Wongs, there is a hole in the butt, and I put a loop of mono in it.

 

[Danny.c]

Thanks for the great advice.I will try the chicken line first then,the tangles is my biggest worry here so I will keep a close eye on that to see how much pain it may cause me.
The hunting I do is in rocky reefy area's, baron gravel patches or just coffee rock and my target fish are mainly holed up reef variety(trout,jacks and jew) but there is always the chance of coming into contact with hugs pelagic types.So my rig needs to be jack of all trades set up.
I like your mono loop idea a lot Bill so I will steal that one.
So at the end of the day,If I can not get along with the reel I can ditch it and go break away with out the misfortune of a rookie reel jam and gun gone AWOL.
Thanks for the advice guy's.