Northwest Dive Club

When I did my Advanced Nitrox class I had to shoot a bag from 130 feet. I used my Salvo (Light Monkey) 400-foot reel and a 45 lb Abyss semi-closed bag.

Since then the only time I've ever shot a bag that deep was on a dive on the MT6 where vis was so bad we couldn't find the downline ... so we did a free ascent. Shot the bag at 135. By then I was using a 160-foot finger spool, and it worked just fine ... much easier than a reel, in fact.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Here's a picture of my favorite reel and how I attach it to my favorite SMB. Our team considers a 400' reel w SMB to be mandatory safety equipment for most dives. Making it back to the shotline for ascent is critical, because free ascents can blow you way, way far away from the wreck, the dive boat, and support team. This also might mean that you are drifting into the shipping lanes. So, if, for some reason, a diver can't make it back to the shotline, we want to be able to shoot off the bottom if at all possible. Hopefully, the support team on the boat will see the SMB, and by shooting from the wreck, you have the greatest chance of being seen, becuase you're probably as close to the shotline as you're likely to be for the rest of the dive.

What reel is that? I like the big handle on the spool.

DontPokeTheBear wrote:What reel is that? I like the big handle on the spool.

Me, too. I don't really care for the side handle reels, myself. That's a 400' Long Island Wreck reel, made by reef scuba, I think. I got mine from Northeast Scuba supply. So far, its my favorite, but I'm always looking for a better one.....

Are-Jay wrote:spatman,
I just finished that class last year and found the IANTD instructional materials and descriptions of required skills left a lot to the interpretation of the instructor. In my case the “deploying a lift bag at depth” was interpreted as we do a free ascent from 100’ish to 70’ switched gas for simulated deco and shot a bag for a reference point while running our simulated deco plan on the way up. I used a 150’ spool for that skill.

The IANTD instructional materials are horrible. By far, "Tek Lite" is the worst piece of sh*t textbook I have ever read. Thankfully, my instructor has supplemented it with plenty of other material, and I have done a good amount of reading on my own, too.

But he did say we'd be shooting a bag from the wreck, so I'm assuming 150-160fsw. He does have several reels for us to try out, so I can at least get a feel for some of them before I decide to buy.

BDub wrote:That's pretty deep to be shooting a bag, imo.

I definitely prefer the sidewinder style, as opposed to an overhead handle. I have a Salvo 400' and Light Monkey 200' which I'm really happy with.

I also typically have knots in my line, which is great for overheads. Not sure that's a good idea on reel you'll be using to shoot a bag. That bag is going to be moving as it gets shallower and having a knot get stuck in the gate would not be good.

I would also look for a design that allows for use of a double-ender, as Koos touched on.

+1 on both the Salvo 400' and the Light Monkey 200', I also am very happy with both reels performance.

Are-Jay wrote:spatman,
I just finished that class last year and found the IANTD instructional materials and descriptions of required skills left a lot to the interpretation of the instructor. In my case the “deploying a lift bag at depth” was interpreted as we do a free ascent from 100’ish to 70’ switched gas for simulated deco and shot a bag for a reference point while running our simulated deco plan on the way up. I used a 150’ spool for that skill.

That's pretty much what we did in class, too. There wasn't any bags shot deeper than 60' or so.

When we were running line for our cavern class, I was using a Larry Green primary reel. I have to say, I liked it. But then again, I haven't compared it to any of the others mentioned in this thread yet.

spatman wrote:

Are-Jay wrote:spatman,
I just finished that class last year and found the IANTD instructional materials and descriptions of required skills left a lot to the interpretation of the instructor. In my case the “deploying a lift bag at depth” was interpreted as we do a free ascent from 100’ish to 70’ switched gas for simulated deco and shot a bag for a reference point while running our simulated deco plan on the way up. I used a 150’ spool for that skill.

That's pretty much what we did in class, too. There wasn't any bags shot deeper than 60' or so.

When we were running line for our cavern class, I was using a Larry Green primary reel. I have to say, I liked it. But then again, I haven't compared it to any of the others mentioned in this thread yet.

The LG reels are fine with bare fingers, you can unsnarl them easily. Once you put blue gloves on, if the line drops into the gap between the handle and the drum you won't be able to get it outa there until you get out of the water and your gloves off.

Did anybody else notice the Halcyon spool/reel hybrids at Dive Expo? There was a ~200' model that was very interesting. It even had an indentation that would allow it to be comfortably held along side a light in a single hand.