I was thinking today about it, and I use a reel for about 70% of my diving, with a good mix of open water and wreck/reef diving. I've never had a problem with landing fish up to 80 pounds in open water (no place for them to tangle up). I was just thinking, that as long as you don't let go you should be fine..... I've had a 37 pound barracuda strip most of a reel pretty fast though.
Now using a float and float line definitely makes it easier and probably safer, but I like the convenience of just rolling up and going out.
Just wondering how many use a reel for open water, or at what point do you switch over to a floatline? I'm not talking about tuna here, just normal fish, cobia, aj's, barracuda, and light bluewater, ect.