|  The
spear. If anyone has experienced the vast array of fish obtaining
equipment...it's me. My interest in spearfishing came fairly
soon after I began scuba diving. I initially learned how to
dive because my good friend in college wanted someone he knew
to take the class with him. "Well...I suppose so...but
I would rather surf" was my lackluster reply. Little
did I know how much that single scuba class would forever
impact my life. So...we took the class. Somewhere in the course
of that class, someone started a conversation about eating
lobster...how easy it would be to just dive down with a tank
on your back and pick them up. Hmmm...never really thought
about that one...but I sure liked what I heard. I think it
took all of 12 seconds to fully embrace the idea. Lobster
on the BBQ, cold beer on ice, college girls listening to my
dive stories. Oh Yeah, I was liking that idea A LOT.
My mission was clear, I just had to be set free from the confines
of the training pool and watchful eyes of the instructors.
Well...I graduated scuba class and started diving with my
buddy. I decided to really get a handle on my diving confidence
before going after those tasty crustaceans, so for the first
few dozen dives I just worked on skills. I wanted to know
my equipment, and know the ocean. We dove through surf, dove
in kelp beds, dove deep, dove at night. Naturally, every time
we went out I found myself surrounded by fish. Lots of fish...swimming
lazily around me, just out of arm's reach. I thought "Wow,
who needs to crawl under rocks for lobster, when these fish
are everywhere?". I know, I know, lobster are really,
really good...but I was excited to be underwater, and just
wanted to get some seafood. I figured the college girls would
also like a good fish fry. So, it was time to learn spearfishing...and
I had to get a spear. I went shopping. Spearfishing at the
time was rather simple in technology...pole spear or band
gun. The pneumatics came along a few years later. The pole
spears were cheaper, so I bought one. It was an aluminum breakdown
spear...came in 3 sections that quickly screwed together.
The 3 sections were stored in a really nice, and heavy duty,
nylon carry sleeve. The cool name "Poseidon" printed
on the front. Yeah...this spear was way cool. That first spear
was the beginning of a long trek of buying and using various
fish grabbers over the years. My aluminum Poseidon worked
well, but it always seemed heavy and stiff. I relocated to
Oregon and discovered seabass and perch lurking in the beautiful
bay waters of Newport and Barview. I needed something lighter.
My next purchase was a fiberglass
pole...light, flexible, quick...the perfect tool for the
smaller fish of bay dives. I ended up working in a local dive
shop and became a regular visitor at another dive shop on
the coast. I spent just about every summer weekend diving
and hanging out at the beachfront scuba store. I soon ended
up meeting fellow scuba divers that owned boats, and became
an offshore dive hound. Diving the offshore reefs was a totally
different experience for spearfishing. The seabass were much,
much larger...and lingcod common in the rocks. Big, big lingcod.
My lightweight fiberglass spear would often bend right over
with the larger fish, and I feared the day it would break
in half...watching a 25 pound lingcod swim away with half
my spear...the other half still in my hand. Not only did I
fear a broken spear, but I have a profound aversion to losing
any fish. I spearfish because I love seafood, and I am very
careful not to miss, and to take only what I will eat. I replaced
my fiberglass with a hollow
aluminum spear from JBL. I really don't remember what
happened to the fiberglass pole, must of sold it along the
way. I bought the JBL because of the sales pitch "aluminum
and lightweight". I'm paraphrasing, but that was the
selling point. I dove the JBL for awhile and it worked great...never
a problem taking seabass and ling. Most of the lingcod we
brought back were good size fish...10, 15, 20 pounds and made
wonderful meals. Bigger ling are a little more difficult to
find for a variety of reasons, primarily because they become
more paranoid the older, and larger, they become. Well, I
came across a bigger fish one day when cruising the reef with
my JBL. It was 30 pounds and sitting just inside a pitch black
hole in the reef. My UK400 lit up the critter pretty good.
I pulled back on the pole spear and let it fly... whoosh...perfect
shot. My pole spear locked in and the fight was on. Instead
of thrashing inside the hole, that fish decided to come barreling
straight out. All of a sudden the leeward side of the spear
caved, and the end of the spear, the end with the fish, suddenly
shifted 30° from center. It bent right over in the blink
of eye. "Nooooo..." was the instinctive and immediate
thought that raced through my mind. I quickly pinned the fish
to the rocks, disabled it, and returned to the boat. Time
to get something new. I am not critical of the JBL spear.
I loved mine, I would still be using one...but I could not
chance a bend, or break, the next time I stumbled across a
big ling. I bought a wooden band gun from AB
Biller. Honestly, this was my all time favorite spear...I
loved that gun. I would still be diving that gun. I loaned
it to a friend one day on a boat dive. She started coming
up, began an uncontrolled ascent, and let go in a quick response
to vent air. The ocean took my gun away. That was a sad day.
I thought about buying a pneumatic
next. One of my dive buddies had a pneumatic and let me
test it on a few dives. I love the design...very powerful,
and easy to hunt with in both open water and reef holes. However,
the pneumatics are a bit of a chore to load. I finally settled
on a 6 foot, solid aluminum pole spear. It was heavy and stiff...trustworthy.
Ironic, eh? Basically the same spear I bought when I learned
to dive many, many years ago...just not a breakdown. I have
been diving my trusty spear for years now and love it. I am
tempted from time to time to pick up a band gun just for a
little variety, but I always end up with my aluminum spear
in hand when I slip below the waves. Always reliable, from
seabass on top of the reef, to 37 pound lingcod at 80 feet.
Maybe someday I will pick up another AB Biller...or maybe
I will find my old one...it's still out there somewhere. I
keep looking.
By the way...that really cool Poseidon breakdown spear...I
still have it.
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