Rob Allen Bluewater Floatline Boingie

Rob Allen Bluewater Floatline Boingie

At a Glance: It was last year while sorting out our kit for a Mozambique spearfishing trip when Rob Allen first showed me the new Bluewater Floatline Boingie. It was something the Dive Factory had been working on for some time, and had finally come up with the right tubing for the job.

Rob showed me the tubings resistance to tearing when, or if it got a cut. And it was quiet amazing, normal tubing tears with only a little bit of pressure when it has a cut. But this tubing
(a thermal plastic urethane,but Rob is not letting the cat out the back telling me exactly what the trade secret is.)
has remarkable 'notch toughness'. This is obviously very important as far as wear and tear on the tubing is going to be a factor.

The tubing can streach to over double its length and is filled with soft braided dynema cord for strength. The Dynema cord limits the tubes streach to double its length and so takes all the pressure if stretched to the max with a big fish.

Both ends ot the float line are finished off with barrel swivels and a neat plastic coated dynema loop, as the tube does not twist at all. This was kind of a concern as I thought it might be difficult to handle on the boat.
Jeremy and Rob showed me how the line does not tangle and is neatly wrapped up using the figure of eight method, and then is tied up with the Velcro strap on the one end.

I found this a problem in the water, it was difficult to get the right side of the Velcro, if you get it wrong it pops off and was a pain to now have to wrap the whole thing again. The new system is a plastic buckle, like the one on the cray bag, with elasticized strap, much easier to clip closed and, when you have just got into the water, a one hand pinch releases the buckle which stays on the float end, much better.

First Impressions: Rob lent me one of the trial float lines and a couple of us headed up to Cape Vidal and a week or two later to Sordwana. Over the couple of dive trips I got to grips with the new bungie cord, it was in fact very easy to handle on the boat and did not tangle at all.

Unfortunately we did not get any really big fish to test the floatlines stretch on. The cord is not as soft as traditional bungie cords, and it needs a fair amount of pressure to start stretching. The cord needs about 20kg to exert the full stretch, a little less than what is required to pull down a 35 lt float and a little more than what is needed to pull down a 20 lt float and or 2 x 11 lt foam filled. Rob said that it was designed this way in order to be able to control and handle large fish. The problem with very long bungie cords is that difficult to put pressure on the fish when you need to.

I had rigged up my line with a 1m blue TPE (thermal plastic ethylene) bungie (3x stretch) going from my gun to the Ghost Leader Flasher, and then to the Bluewater Floatline Boingie. This meant that the fish would have to run a fare distance before getting to the floatline.

The Tester: Earlier this year I was fortunate to go to Barra Point in Mozambique, we were diving some deep pinnacles 15km off shore,hoping to get some good Wahoo.
Because Wahoo have relatively soft flesh, I added another soft TPE bungie between the Ghost Leader Flasher and the float line. I figured that if I got a Wahoo the soft bungees would absorb enough of the pressure on the first fast run to help the spear not to pull out.
I used a 20m Floatline Boingie attached to two 11l roto moulded floats with a speed pouch between them, giving me 60m of line when all the bungees were fully stretched out before the first float. That plus the 40m in the speed pouch would give me plenty even if I got a chance on a small marlin ... hey you never know!

We did not get any wahoo but I did get a nice Sailfish of 36kg, which tested the float line nicely. The sailly gave a very strong first run popping the speed pouch and releasing the 40m of stored line. The fish towed me around for about 15min and tired out fairly quickly pulling against Float line Boingie.

36kg Sailfish Speared off Barra Point Mozambique

Overall Impressions: Although the sailly was not a 50kg Dog tooth or a marlin it gave me a fair idea of the Rob Allen Bluewater Floatline Boingie's ability. When under pressure it stretched out doubling in length, and was very easy to handle and control. I would however probably go for the 30m boingie if I was targeting big tuna tho.

Coatesman

Rob Allen Ghost Leader Flasher

At a Glance: The Rob Allen Ghost Leader Flasher or the Inline Flasher just looks like another gizmo to clutter the dive bag. That said I am a flasher freak, during summer I dive with more Bling than some ghetto pimp rapper busting some gangsta hip hop in some seriously iced up jewelry. So a couple months ago when I feasted my eyes on the ghost leader flasher which was still in the experimental stages I was immediately curious. After a little bit of persuading, Jeremy Williams of the Dive Factory parted with his one. And ...... well I have not looked back.

First Impressions: One my first dive I realised had something special, however this is not going to be for every spearfisherman. I quickly found that if you like your kit simple this will not be for you. The rotating metal propellers hook your line quiet easily, and getting the line off your gun after swimming through the surf can be a bit of a trick. (I have found some solutions ....will tell you about them later tho.)
That first dive I did not see any fish and the buoyancy on the ghost line was wrong, but I could see the potential. In my mind I could almost see the Cuta swimming in on me.

The Tester: My first real taste of the potency of this flasher came on a recent trip to Mozambique. The Ghost Leader Flasher had had some mods since I first used it. There were now 2 floats on the line and they were positioned about 5m from the flasher allowing the flasher to sit 5m below the surface when resting. Not very deep, but better than it being on the surface.

This how my rig was set up for that trip:
From the gun I had a 3m bungie (which I later replaced with a shorter one, to bring the flasher closer to me), then the Ghost Leader Flasher which was set up with 5m of ghost line then the 3 spinning flashes on stainless cable, and another 5m of ghost line with the 2 floats. I then had a 5m bungie going onto my buoyline.

Again I realised that this added a curve ball to the equation, taking that extra time to wind up and unwind ever time I got on and off the boat.

That said the fish I had come in on me was amazing, and even though the vis was not great and the fish not thick. 70% of the fish I shot were coming in on the flasher above my head. One of the guys on the trip even commented that he could hear me working the flasher from the surface as the propellers whirred in the water.

It was also great to watch the response of the Kingfish, they would be disappearing into the gloom and one or two pulls on the flasher and they would do an about turn and come back.
I even had a cuta come back on me, I had dived down and saw a cuta swimming off in the distance too far away to even chase. Leveling out I worked the flasher only to see the Cuta turn around and commit 'Taliban' as it swam literally onto my spear.

Overall Impression: It is totally new dynamic diving with the Ghost Leader Flasher, I am used to shooting most my fish from above or on the same level. Now the fish come in and you land up shooting up at a 45 degree angle. For some reason I have found that the Cuta are quiet skittish (or just excited) when coming in and dont like to be chased from this angle.
That said if you take aim without hesitating, you can normally hit the fish with out having to swim towards the fish.

I don't think this will totally replace the traditional flasher, but it does give that extra edge to your diving. I have gotten so used to diving with the inline flasher that it has become part of my standard setup. And now as winter has approached I would have usually not taken a flasher as the cuta thin out, now I always have one. This payed off a couple weeks ago when a 20kg Cuta came near the surface to take a look at the flasher working behind me as I swam up the current. The fish promptly swam right underneath me 'Taliban Fish'.

The pro's and con's:

Basic Pro's

• You draw the fish to you while on the bottom.
• don't have to keep swimming after your flasher float.
• It is part of your gear, not something else you have to swim with.
  

Con's

• It can be a hassle, hooking your buoy line.
• Having to carry the extra fish up the beach :-)

Tip's

• Wind up only the ghost line on your gun, tie the rest of your buoy line up. This will reduce the line getting snagged.
• I have found that the flasher works best with a long bungie to help floats as the bungie cord is buoyant. This means that when you pull down the flasher returns towards the surface quicker, creating a better action. This said I am currently diving with no bungie (simple rig) and it works fine.
• When on the bottom face with the current that way your flasher is slightly in front of you, and you are facing towards the fish swimming up current.
• The Ghost Leader Flasher also works great with a reef hook and reel gun. Find your favorite drop-off or pinnacle, hook up on the current side and dive around the flasher working in the current.

In Parting: Rob Allen's Ghost Leader Flasher is definitely something to try out.

Coatesman