3 atm float

    Yeah I hear you! Im just mentally preparing for a trip to the where the Monsters Roam. I hope to make a trip in the next year to some of the waters know for the best Marlin fishing in the world. Im leaning towards, 75ft bungee, 2 rob allen hard connected by 25ft bunge, to the 60L as a terminal float. All those floats will still be around the price of one riffe 2 atm.


    I hear you about shot placement.


    I have shot plenty o fish in the 50lbs range and can tell you, anything can happen.


    I have had mono cut on structure, slip tip spectra break, floppers bust off shafts, stoned fish slide off of shaft, I have also landed 60lbs amberjack freeshafted, So I anythin is possible, and having a 600lbs class fish wounded, take 1000$ worth of gear never to be seen again, as has been reported, is an optio I would like to make my best preparations to avoid


    Hahaha for sure. I was mostly being an ass with my comment. Clearly the ocean can and will throw you a curve at every chance. I have always believed that a nice chain of floats is better than depending on one. This does make for more connections to potentially fail but I would rather know the fish is working against my first float and bungee while I still have a float on the surface. Keeping it all neat and not a tangle on the surface also becomes a challenge.

    i like to spear fish

    Quote from LunkerBuster

    Keeping it all neat and not a tangle on the surface also becomes a challenge.


    I really see that as a major priority.


    Totally cool man! Im mostly thinking out loud.
    The prices are up for the 60L and its 250$. More than I had hoped.


    The Chanllange is to find a setup, that Will hopefully stop a big boy, be airtravel friendly, streamlined, easy and fast to deploy.


    An idea Im toying with is a small marker jug style float, rigged to breakaway from back of terminal float. Inspired in the one pictured but made heavier duty.

    That way if the whole string goes down to say 150ft. The surface marker would remain visible long enough to clip a reel to the back of it.

    Quote from LunkerBuster

    If you have a fish take all these floats away you should have taken a better shot ;)


    Some monster fish are just going Fleck you even with a spine chip.
    After I screwed the pooch with my black marlin loss I spent a few weeks hanging with a Cali
    sword fish harpooner. He showed me pics of a 350#er that took down 3 big red eyes for 2 hrs. They hooked a large penn to the last floating ball, before the fish sounded to 600 feet and pined itself into the mud for another 3 hrs before they planed it back to the surface.
    When the fish was boated and cleaned they found the Lilly Head had cut half the spine.
    Some big fish are hard to kill, and the same ones will roll over on the side with a gut shot in the right place. The depth where the fish is shot also makes a huge difference, some times just a flopper shaft bleeding wound will just let a fish tow around the float rig for 5 hrs before she tires or bleeds out. My buddy landed a monster blue this way with one riffe float.


    As we sit here on the keyboard we can design and re-desigh our gear....but every thing changes when a monster shows up...is pissed off and does not want to die.


    Sure a big one can be boated with a perfect shot and conditions but guys don't always get away with that.


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    Edited 3 times, last by Don Paul ().

    Sums up my feelings exactly!
    I am sure some of the monsters that have been landed wouldn't have been, had it not been for discussions like this.


    Its all a compromise, a give and take.


    I for one am greatful for all the guys that share their experiences. Hearing what has an hasnt worked is at least a starting place for all of us less experienced divers.


    The gear seems to evolve, prices change, so it should be logical to periodically rehash topics that have been beaten to death.


    The biggest thing I have gleaned, when the fish of a lifetime shows up, make the shot count! A window pane out of excitement just to get a shaft in him, will likely result in heartbreak.


    Conjecture is so often flawed, but its fun to go through the possibilities amd what ifs, for me thats a big part of the fun.


    I always like when my fish stories end with the prize in the boat after an epic battle, and am not ashamed to take any and all the help i can get


    Im really courious to the Titanium reel you mentioned in you earlier post.

    Quote from Slingador

    The cost of alot of riffe stuff imho is inflated to the point that its almost insulting. Some other stuff is worth it but always on the verge of being prohibitive.
    Not many alternatives to their blue water bungee. Except the botha style bungee, and DIY.


    3 of those floats and all riffe gear would set me back an obscene amount, I would like to someday have the requisite equipment to confidently take a shot at a monster, hence all the questions.
    Any input welcome



    Don't confuse "cost " with the price you pay for an item. Cost can be the difference between what you pay for an item and what you sell it for. I've bought many Riffe guns second hand and sold them for what I paid for them after filling my cooler. Same with torpedo floats. Developing your own gear has the additional cost of failures and time . They may or may not have any residual value.

    I agree, the more I think about it.
    I will deff spring for a 75ft riffe bungee and 2 atm float, the travel factor is a large issue. Thats gona set me back 600$+. Ouch. If a fish takes it all, never to bee seen again would really suck.


    Hard to justify, for fabric and latex, I could have a computer or a pistol that would certainly get much more use for that much.


    Im not one to sell my gear unless I find it useless. I also like to buy new, in the unlikely event, I get a lemon.


    Now if Speardiver made a pressurized float. It would be a much easier choice;).

    My limited experience with Riffe 2ATM floats . . . I bought one a couple of years ago, but used it for the first time just this past week. (I do reef diving most every week. But, it's been a while since I went bluewater.) I had inflated it by mouth way back when, but could only get it to ambient. :rolleyes1: So, I tried topping it off at a gas station a couple weeks ago in preparation. The float I have has a similar inflation valve to the Speardiver Zodiac float, based on its description. The fill adapter that came with my 2ATM float is a "bend-to-blow" nozzle similar to this one... Amazon.com: Aqua Air Blow Gun (AA02): Sports & Outdoors
    ... but instead of a quick-connect for a BCD inflator hose, it has the same threaded-end attachment as a car tire. Trying to hold all those pieces together by myself was quite cumbersome, and I could only manage to get it inflated to about 20 psi. I let it sit at my house then checked a few days later. The pressure had dropped to about 10 psi. Before returning to the gas station to top it off again, I cut the stem off from a bike tire tube and smoothed the edges so that it fits into the fill valve of the 2ATM float. That cut the bend-to-blow nozzle out of the equation and made it much simpler to hold together. I inflated it to about 23 psi and listened closely for leaks. Sure enough, there was a very slight hiss from the valve. It stopped by fiddling/twisting the stem, but would start again when touched. I topped it off again before getting on the boat and hoped for the best. Another guy on the trip had a 2ATM float too, but had only inflated it by mouth.:crazy: Needless to say, it was only to ambient. But with my bike tire tube stem, a hand pump, and four hands we got it to about 15 psi.


    As I said, my float is a couple years old. They might have bettered it by now. I don't know what style fill valve the other brand pressured floats use. I think I'd prefer it be same style as a car tire. Or maybe there's a good reason that's not used.


    BTW, the BW trip was a bust for me. I didn't get anything except sea sick :(

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