Spear fishing is an art all in itself. This exciting sport is enhanced
through shipwrecks because wrecks attract such a wealth of aquatic life.
Spear fishing on a shipwreck is an exciting change to open water diving
or spearing under bridges. Although I make no claim to be a world class
spear fisherman. I have always found it quite easy to bring home dinner
while exploring the sunken remains of ships. In the New York, New Jersey
area blackfish are the prized catch. These tasty fish with pure white
meat are very difficult to catch on hook and line. Fisherman are more
then happy catching fish in the two to four pound class, but divers are
a little more spoiled. In fact its been about four years since I've
taken a fish under five pounds. The normal catch is one big fish ten to
12 pounds. We leave the little ones to grow up and eat the bait of local
fisherman. In 1988, Bill Campbell dove the wreck of the Yankee, a
coastwise steamer sunk in 1919, and brought up an 18 pound blackfish.
Although this is not quite a record fish, it is the largest specimen of
this species I have ever seen and is certainly impressive especially
after hearing the story behind its capture. First of all, Bill didn't
even have a spear gun; he was just looking around for lobsters when he
found the huge fish amongst some wreckage. Bill took out his dive knife
and stabbed the fish, trying to hold it against the sand bottom so it
couldn't escape. The fish was so strong that it yanked the knife right
out of Bill's hands, and swam away with the knife still in its side.
Bill swam after the fish and soon found his knife sitting in the sand.
He was amazed that he could actually see a blood trail floating just off
the bottom. After imitating a blood hound for a few minutes, he
relocated his prized fish wedged between two steel hull plates. A
photograph of Bill and his fish appeared in the next issue of the LONG
ISLAND FISHERMAN Magazine.
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The book covers different aspects of freediving and
scuba spearfishing. As usual, it contains a section
about spearfishing and freediving gear, accessories as
well as a little history. It includes also some uncommon
information, like oil platforms diving. However the main strength of the book are the chapters about the fish species, spearfishing techniques and about maximizing the freediving abilities. There are whole chapters about types of fish and about where to find them - these give quite a lot of information about main game fish, their range of presence and habits. Particularly, I like two chapters about developing the spearfishing technique and about maximizing the freediving abilities. It says a lot about main threats of the sport, how to avoid them, explains the basics of the freediving physiology and points out several tips useful in making the spearfishing activities safe and pleasant. Everyone can also learn also about staying fit for freediving. The book also treats about the ecology, security and ethical aspects of the spearfishing sport. I like the small format of the book, you can easily take it with you on the fishing trip. The drawing's quality is good, but on the other side almost all of the photos are far too dark and you can't see much on some of them. Several pages and the cover got partially apart before finishing the first reading... So, generally the book gives a lot of information and
many answers, including the ones I couldn't find in
other spearfishing titles for beginners. I recommend the
book to every newcomer to spearfishing, if you just want
to get only one title to learn about the sport - go for
it. You will probably have to buy several books to learn
about whole spectrum of issues, but this book in my
opinion is perfect to start with. I think it is worth
buying, it will be useful for more advanced sportsmen
and on beginner's level - as the book is addressed to -
it is a complete, five stars title. |
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