Speargun reels, which is best?

    Thought a thread listing the pros and cons of different reels for different uses, reef verses blue water diving for example, was/is needed.
    I am tired of lugging around gear blue water fishing and in an effort to simplify my gear as much as possible due to my fishing buddy being a gear Nazi :rolleyes1: I recently purchased this pelagic reel, Ermes Sub Blue Water Leonardo 93. I am spooling it with this jacketed line instead of unsheathed spectra because I hope it will be more abrasive resistant Dyneema reel line for spearfishing / spearguns
    I have full on bungee float lines(275% stretch)cored with 1000lb spectra for the big tuna and maybe one day a marlin(fingers crossed). At the moment I mostly use float lines with 50% stretch in them cored with 1000lb spectra, these float lines have served me well for both Tuna and wahoo. But I am very attracted to the idea of being among a school of wahoo unencumbered by float lines and floats and so have decided to give this reel a try in the blue. It has been my experience that Wahoo need lots of slack for their initial manic run after being speared, so I wanted as much line on my reel as possible. If you don't orient yourself well when freediving and stalking pelagics a float line can be very dangerous, so I assume the reel has its inherent dangers as well but other than taking my gun away I cant see it being less or more dangerous than the float line. Please share your opinions and experiences!

    Spearfishing-Shop - Rolle fr Blue Water Hunting - Rolle Ermes Sub Blue Water Leonardo 77/93


    For my reef gun I use a speardiver reel with 2mm line that comes with the reel as an option. It has preformed as well as my buddies Rob Allan Vectra reels and I have not regretted buying it but I cannot say it out performs any other reel as its the only one I have used.
    Speardiver Composite Speargun Reel


    Would love to hear what other reels you folks use and your experiences with them.

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

    That Ermes reel is gorgeous, looks well engineered. There's a potential problem that can come from stacking the line perfectly on the spool as the mechanical line guide on that reel will. I was talking with greekdiver once about reels while he was letting me check out his Abellan, he explained that he had almost lost it once when the reel locked up because the line had been stacked perfectly parallel like that. The line has the potential to dig deep into the spool when pulled hard, because the line can slip down between the perfectly stacked wraps and seize the reel up. I went home and unspooled my reel, respooling it with more criss crosses in the spool. I'm not sure of the probability of such a thing happening, but I'd like to try avoiding losing my gun at all cost.

    Quote from Nate

    That Ermes reel is gorgeous, looks well engineered. There's a potential problem that can come from stacking the line perfectly on the spool as the mechanical line guide on that reel will. I was talking with greekdiver once about reels while he was letting me check out his Abellan, he explained that he had almost lost it once when the reel locked up because the line had been stacked perfectly parallel like that. The line has the potential to dig deep into the spool when pulled hard, because the line can slip down between the perfectly stacked wraps and seize the reel up. I went home and unspooled my reel, respooling it with more criss crosses in the spool. I'm not sure of the probability of such a thing happening, but I'd like to try avoiding losing my gun at all cost.


    I have a good amount of experience with reels. Never spool your line perfectly. Also, when you reel your line in, make sure there is some type of weight. Accidents happen when people just reel in the line without tension in the boat and then shoot a fish and put the breaks on it. Then the line digs in, and you can possibly lose your gun.


    Ask me how I know :laughing: I had to retrieve my gun with a grouper on the end of it in 120ft inside a ship.

    I use the Merou Tuna, and also the Omer Pelagic both hold a massive amount of line and have silky smooth drags. Was considering a wally potts for my blue water hun, but i think I might just go with a floatline when i do all this.

    Quote from kwtony

    I use the Merou Tuna, and also the Omer Pelagic both hold a massive amount of line and have silky smooth drags. Was considering a wally potts for my blue water hun, but i think I might just go with a floatline when i do all this.


    Tony do they still make those reels? I did a search and came up with no joy.


    "but i think I might just go with a floatline when i do all this" what do you mean?

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

    Quote from kwtony

    I use the Merou Tuna, and also the Omer Pelagic both hold a massive amount of line and have silky smooth drags.


    The drag on the Merou is absolutely amazing. By far the best drag system that I've seen on any reel that I've held in person.. coming from somebody who's a fan of a freespool drag. After taking the drag knob apart to see how it all worked, I was amazed how simple it actually is. Simple but very well thought out and executed IMO. The only qualm I have with them is the mounting bracket. I'm not quite sure why it's shaped the way it is. On the last gun I built, I dremel'd the 'wings' off the bracket and used the open spaces in the center of the bracket to mount it flush to the stock. There's just barely enough clearance over the top of the screw heads to not interfere with the spool as it spins.


    Quote from Dude george

    Tony do they still make those reels? I did a search and came up with no joy.


    There's a guy in San Diego making replicas of the original Potts reels. All the reviews that I've read say that it's just as well built and reliable as the originals.
    Here's the guy's YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/slider3344/videos
    858-775-4100, contact number as of a year ago.

    Ok I have used my Ermes Sub Blue Water Leonardo 93 with its mechanism to perfectly coil line as it winds in... Now some concerns were raised about it being so carefully coiled that it may have caused a tangle, I can say with experience now that it DOES NOT TANGLE :thumbsup2:. The reel performed very well with a fast run out from a 20+ lb Dorado/Mahi . The drag system is a dream come true I should add. The only negative is the reel handle, it is very soft steel and any knocks or hits tend to bend the handle inward making the reel lock up. So before I get in the water I spool out some line and try to wind it in, if the handle is bent I simply bend it back. The manufacture should seriously address this as this is not a cheep reel.

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

    Why don't you write him? Mario Ermes is a nice guy and a good spearo too. He lives now in Dominican Republic, I guess. I've talked to him several times when he first moved and didn't know anything about our waters.

    Marco Melis

    A bad day fishing is ALWAYS better than a good day at work.

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