Using a Float!

[Memo]

Hi guys,
I know using a float is a necessity for both safety and practicality but I've never used one

Can you tell me how can I use it? I mean should I pull it by hand? Should I pull it by attaching the weight belt? Should I tie it to my ankle?

Do all of you use one? Please inform me!

 

[1 Tadpole]

Good question.

I'm not a hunter, yet, but as I understand it is that if you're spearin' you attach it to your [spear]gun. If you do anything but stone your prey you let the gun go and the fish pulls the line that's teathered from the shaft to your gun, that's attached to the float, until it's pooped out. Then you surface swim to retrieve the beast and your gun.

If you're just dropping down to look around, attach a light or small weight to it and pull it along by hand. It marks your general area letting others, and boats, aware there's a "diver down", and is a nice place to rest too. I did this on a night dive and it was great. I did find that having a line that floats [like a spearo's floatline] is a big plus.

If you're doing deep training it becomes a guide [down] and depth indicator (if the line is marked).

That's what I know and heard.

 

[Memo]

Well, I'm using a reel with my gun and honestly, I dont need some secure connection to my gun. But the more important thing to me is the notification purpose of the float as the sea traffic somethimes become horrifying !

another question is, Does the float line tangle to your legs while you're diving?

 

[Murat]

As far as i know there is two tpye of float using thats common in med sea.

First one you tie the float line to your gun's handle with clips. This will be a bit of annoying coz it may entangle your legs or weight belt while swimming/diving but it also has some advantage such as you don't lost the gun if you drop it in deep water or when you shoot big fish without break away system.

Second one is using float anchor. In this one you tie float line to the float anchor and carry it in your free hand. Lets say when you see grouper in 25 meter you just drop the anchor to the reef. So you don't have float line around, This way you have more freedom but you better to have reel to retrive the gun from deep when you shoot grouper in the cave.

 

[Memo]

although I have some confusing thoughts about managing the float line I think I would try it...

 

[sea-wolf]

Hi all,

I wanna tell you how I use my buoy here in Black Sea. The float line is attached to the weight belt by a buckle(I'm not sure if this is the right word) which I can very easily open and thus detach the line from the belt. When the buckle fells down on the sea bottom it acts as an anchor.

The only one inconvinience is that the line tangles to my fins sometimes. But with practice one learns how to minimize this.

The benefits are many. Safety - from boats, jets, surfs (surfs are very dangerious because one can not hear them).

I have a fish hook attached to my belt. If there is many fish and If you have no boat, you can attach a fish hook to the buoy and string the fish there too.

As there are no groupers or other fish of this size here I don't practice attaching the float to the speargun.

Rgrds,
Peter

 

[Memo]

I've seen the torpedo shaped picasso floats they look nice.. I think I would buy one of them.

 

[indole]

i dont like dragging a float with me because it always gets tangled, but i suppose its necessary if your going after anything large, and a must for bluewater. i dont like keeping my fish floating around on a float, so i would suggest finding a old cooler, taping a dive flag to it, putting ice in it, and throwing your fish in the cooler (it should float) and if not, cut a square hole in a styrofoam bodyboard and wedge the cooler in there, this way, your fish are out of the water AND on ice, and you can keep your polespear on the board for tako (octopus). i like to tie it off to the reef, or just let if float if there is no wind or current.

 

[Memo]

thats an interesting solution as well