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BAJA Spear fishing of yesteryear
I have been away from the board for several weeks doing research. In my seach for a particular article I found a long forgotten article and uncovered a stash of old spear points that I had used in Baja during the big fish glory days of the 1950s and early 1960s.
A few snipets of the article is as follows;
"It was during those halcyon days of yesteryear when Baja was devoid of roads, RVs, snowbirds- the years after WW11 when life and diving was much less complicated..
My tribe was actively sticking the big ones, consistently bening arrows, tearing up guns and on several occasions actually the gun was snatched from the hands of the shooter as he watched it and the stuck fish wave bye bye as the entire rig disappeared into the murk. So by trial and error over a period of a number of trips and equal number of years we developed special points and gun rigging especially for for the big ones in Baja.
In Baja we used Samson guns which had twin line releases. One side was for a normal shooting line, the other was for a detachable modified Samson or a "tricut" point which was attached to a 20 plus foot length of 7X7 SS cabling, attached to a line, terminating in a float which was stored as the fashion of the time in a line pack which was secured to the barrel of the gun.
The fish was stuck, the battle was on. The shooting line was attached to the gun, the other SS line was attached to the modified point which detached from the arrow but was attached to the cabling line and float. So the gun, the point stub and the shooting line remained with the diver, the fish was held by the detached point, the cable and the float.
We christened this technique as "drop shaft."
We always attempted to keep the fish from running and holing but were seldom successful, however the SOS cabling seldom broke but on occasion frayed. So as expected one necessary piece of equipment was a pair of very heavy duty workmen leather gloves to work the line and the fish.
So often the fish was allowed, generally not by choice to reach deep water ,hole up and bleed out.
To hasten the process of bleeding my diving buddy Jack Waite (see Skin Diver Magazine Vol 1 # 1 December 1951 He's all over the issue) made a special 38 caliber gun. It was a non descript 38 which he obtained at Hy Hunter in Pasadena ( remember him?.) Jack cut the barrel off at the back of the frame, a 1/4 hole drilled transverse where the hammer struck, the handles were removed and I fabricated and welded a new handle about 2-1/2 feet long complete with trigger.
When a fish was in a hole we placed the 38 caliber 6 shooter next to the fishes' head and had at it. We discovered after the first usage that it was always advisable to shoot up never down at the fish do to the excessive concussion..Kinda rang your bell --for several days. Any way the fish always received the message and became very docile and could be removed from the hole with out difficulty and gently horsed to the surface."
Those were the days that have come to a sudden and screeching halt.. The big fish are no more and no one in their right mind would ever take a fire arm no matter how modified or even ammo to Baja! If you do the authorities just may hole you up .
I have been away from the board for several weeks doing research. In my seach for a particular article I found a long forgotten article and uncovered a stash of old spear points that I had used in Baja during the big fish glory days of the 1950s and early 1960s.
A few snipets of the article is as follows;
"It was during those halcyon days of yesteryear when Baja was devoid of roads, RVs, snowbirds- the years after WW11 when life and diving was much less complicated..
My tribe was actively sticking the big ones, consistently bening arrows, tearing up guns and on several occasions actually the gun was snatched from the hands of the shooter as he watched it and the stuck fish wave bye bye as the entire rig disappeared into the murk. So by trial and error over a period of a number of trips and equal number of years we developed special points and gun rigging especially for for the big ones in Baja.
In Baja we used Samson guns which had twin line releases. One side was for a normal shooting line, the other was for a detachable modified Samson or a "tricut" point which was attached to a 20 plus foot length of 7X7 SS cabling, attached to a line, terminating in a float which was stored as the fashion of the time in a line pack which was secured to the barrel of the gun.
The fish was stuck, the battle was on. The shooting line was attached to the gun, the other SS line was attached to the modified point which detached from the arrow but was attached to the cabling line and float. So the gun, the point stub and the shooting line remained with the diver, the fish was held by the detached point, the cable and the float.
We christened this technique as "drop shaft."
We always attempted to keep the fish from running and holing but were seldom successful, however the SOS cabling seldom broke but on occasion frayed. So as expected one necessary piece of equipment was a pair of very heavy duty workmen leather gloves to work the line and the fish.
So often the fish was allowed, generally not by choice to reach deep water ,hole up and bleed out.
To hasten the process of bleeding my diving buddy Jack Waite (see Skin Diver Magazine Vol 1 # 1 December 1951 He's all over the issue) made a special 38 caliber gun. It was a non descript 38 which he obtained at Hy Hunter in Pasadena ( remember him?.) Jack cut the barrel off at the back of the frame, a 1/4 hole drilled transverse where the hammer struck, the handles were removed and I fabricated and welded a new handle about 2-1/2 feet long complete with trigger.
When a fish was in a hole we placed the 38 caliber 6 shooter next to the fishes' head and had at it. We discovered after the first usage that it was always advisable to shoot up never down at the fish do to the excessive concussion..Kinda rang your bell --for several days. Any way the fish always received the message and became very docile and could be removed from the hole with out difficulty and gently horsed to the surface."
Those were the days that have come to a sudden and screeching halt.. The big fish are no more and no one in their right mind would ever take a fire arm no matter how modified or even ammo to Baja! If you do the authorities just may hole you up .
