Spearfishing - Evolution of An Ancient Sport
Although I wouldn't even dare to guess at the statistics, spearfishing is the venue of choice for a small yet highly dedicated portion of the fishing community.
Here is an activity, while in my very distant past, has evolved from little more than an ancient practice to a science.
For many of us in the islands who've grown up around the water, spearfishing started with our wading along the reefs at night while the tide was low, a lantern in one hand and a hand spear in the other.
The image was the stuff that you'd expect to see on petroglyphs chronicling the means in which the ancient Hawaiians did some of their fishing and no doubt it's an indelible part of our fondest childhood memories.
The transition from hand spears to diving with "three-prongs", the local nickname for a three-pronged spear with rubber at the end, was a natural progression for many of us was a natural progression as we "came of age" in our ocean environment bringing home the "better" fish now available to us as we extended our "hunting" territory by diving.
For Hawaii's waters, with its numerous reefs and coral formations, the three-prong spear was ideal when compared to the rifle-like arbalette spearguns that were getting more advanced each year.
Throughout these years, spearfishing with scuba gear was somewhat popular but never as popular in Hawaii as simply donning a mask, fins, and snorkel and venturing out with an old Clorox bottle float tagging along as a fish stringer.
In the last just-over-ten years, spearfishing, particularly by free-diving, has exploded into a major fishing venue as evidenced by the number of specialized manufacturers of spearguns and assorted paraphernalia designed to enable the divers to be more effective in their pursuit of fish never before pursued by the free-diving submariners.
Tournaments all over the world are being held for free-diving spearfishing enthusiasts and all indications are that the sport is not anywhere close to leveling off in popularity.
Free-divers are now attaining depths in excess of 100 feet and a number of fatalities have occurred due to a phenomenon called shallow-water blackout in which the pressure combined with breath-holding causes disorientation and black outs resulting in drowning.
The accuracy and increased range of today's spearguns has opened up new hunting grounds for the modern spearfisherman making it not uncommon to see divers in pursuit of pelagic trophies like tuna, marlin, dolphin-fish, and wahoo.
Even fish in the over-100-pound category are becoming increasingly common as these divers venture into the blue waters that in the past would only be fished by anglers from boats.
Take a close look at spearfishing and you'll probably agree, here is a sport that over the last twenty years has evolved more than any other form of fishing.
And talk to any of the enthusiasts who stalk their trophies underwater and most will tell you there's no better way to take a fish than with a breath of air and the opportunity to witness the "fight" from a true fish-eye view! * * *
Here is an activity, while in my very distant past, has evolved from little more than an ancient practice to a science.
For many of us in the islands who've grown up around the water, spearfishing started with our wading along the reefs at night while the tide was low, a lantern in one hand and a hand spear in the other.
The image was the stuff that you'd expect to see on petroglyphs chronicling the means in which the ancient Hawaiians did some of their fishing and no doubt it's an indelible part of our fondest childhood memories.
The transition from hand spears to diving with "three-prongs", the local nickname for a three-pronged spear with rubber at the end, was a natural progression for many of us was a natural progression as we "came of age" in our ocean environment bringing home the "better" fish now available to us as we extended our "hunting" territory by diving.
For Hawaii's waters, with its numerous reefs and coral formations, the three-prong spear was ideal when compared to the rifle-like arbalette spearguns that were getting more advanced each year.
Throughout these years, spearfishing with scuba gear was somewhat popular but never as popular in Hawaii as simply donning a mask, fins, and snorkel and venturing out with an old Clorox bottle float tagging along as a fish stringer.
In the last just-over-ten years, spearfishing, particularly by free-diving, has exploded into a major fishing venue as evidenced by the number of specialized manufacturers of spearguns and assorted paraphernalia designed to enable the divers to be more effective in their pursuit of fish never before pursued by the free-diving submariners.
Tournaments all over the world are being held for free-diving spearfishing enthusiasts and all indications are that the sport is not anywhere close to leveling off in popularity.
Free-divers are now attaining depths in excess of 100 feet and a number of fatalities have occurred due to a phenomenon called shallow-water blackout in which the pressure combined with breath-holding causes disorientation and black outs resulting in drowning.
The accuracy and increased range of today's spearguns has opened up new hunting grounds for the modern spearfisherman making it not uncommon to see divers in pursuit of pelagic trophies like tuna, marlin, dolphin-fish, and wahoo.
Even fish in the over-100-pound category are becoming increasingly common as these divers venture into the blue waters that in the past would only be fished by anglers from boats.
Take a close look at spearfishing and you'll probably agree, here is a sport that over the last twenty years has evolved more than any other form of fishing.
And talk to any of the enthusiasts who stalk their trophies underwater and most will tell you there's no better way to take a fish than with a breath of air and the opportunity to witness the "fight" from a true fish-eye view! * * *
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