Josh on Spearfishing

Spear Fishing
By Joshua Morrison

In Chamela my dad and I (Josh) finally got the spear gun out. With the spear point sharpened (sharpened by me) and the Hawaiian sling ready we got in the dinghy and left. When we got to this snorkeling spot I showed my friend Bryce (from Capaz) the spear gun. At that point my parents shot out with the dreaded mandatory safety lecture. Even though it is important I still am not fond of lectures in any way. After that we snorkeled until there weren’t as many people so there was much less of a chance for accident. My dad and I tested the gun out in open water first with one of the rubber bands back and it jammed. The rubber bands are the rubber cords that get pulled back and allow the spear get launched. The second time we tried it with both bands back and it jammed again. The second time it jammed we couldn’t unjam it so we couldn’t use it. My dad and I fixed the spear gun at the boat after snorkeling by putting a washer in. We moved to Tenicatita and went to one of the snorkeling spots and it jammed again. By that time we were thinking “Heck with it we’ll put two washers on” and that seemed to do the trick because it stopped jamming.

One day my friend Nikita and I were spear fishing in Tenicatita while our parents were off wandering around. We weren’t getting anything until I saw a fish that was injured. I dove down and got it with the Hawaiian sling but  it got off. I got it again and this time I shoved the fish further in on the prongs against the ground. By that time I realized Nikita was right there with the spear gun. He shot through the fish and wrapped it up in the string to make sure it didn’t get away. When we got back to the dinghy Nikita told me the reason the fish was injured was because he had shot the fish first but it got off so he pursued and that’s when I came in. We brought it back to my boat and cooked it up and had it for lunch. It tasted pretty good.