When i've been caught in that same situation i like to leave the gun at depth and pull myself up by hand "free immersion style." You can pull yourself straight up using the float as a surface anchor. using far less energy than kicking.

Thanks man. I didn't look at the temp on my watch, but i would estimate 70-72 F. I wore a 3mm open cell suit that left me warm at times. I definitely understand why everyone says dogtooth are a challange to hunt now. They like to stay deep, make only one pass at the flasher at a decent speed and don't hang around. I saw a few more but had to dive very conservatively due to being alone in the water. It hurts to have to turn back to the surface when you think that just 10 more seconds of freefalling will get you on that doggie. Eventually i tied my floatline off at 70 ft so that I would be forced to stop sinking if i got tempted to keep descending for a doggie. The mahi on the other hand was shot on the surface, point blank, immediately after jumping in and loading only one band on a 4 band gun, lol. There was another one of equal size with it too.