Block Island Spear Fisherman - A Day in the Life

Keeping Calm With The Beastro Boys

Spearfishing begins with a sleepless night, nervous as to what the sunrise brings. The alarm intended to jolt you out of a deep slumber only reminds you of your uneasiness. Because today you will be fishing with a lone spear and knife – bare-bones, in their world... not yours.

You un-tie the last dock line and push off, the sun finally starts to peek over the horizon. Your nerves begin to subside with the calming demeanor of the rest of the crew. It's fishing time. After searching for a school of stripers using the sonar you finally drop anchor right above one. The excitement of the crew rises, but there's one final battle before hitting the water. It's a one on one wrestling match between you and a damp wet suit. The winning technique seems to involve a series of jumps, shrugs, and yanks. Finally, after the pesky wetsuit succumbs to your will to get it on, it is time to get in the water. You excitedly turn around, but now you are the only one who remains excited. The energy has been sucked from the boat. Why? Because, while spearfishing sounds like an intense sport, it's really the exact opposite. Before taking a dive, full relaxation is crucial to the lowering of your heart rate. A slow heart rate results in a longer dive, and a better opportunity to find the best fish. A racing heart results in spooked fish, while slow heart results in fish swimming so close you can reach out and grab them.

You tip backward over the side of the boat and the cold instantly invades every inch of your skin not covered. You take a breath and dive down into a sea of green. You dive deeper and deeper while your breath demands the opposite. You keep diving, twenty, thirty, forty feet before you see the ocean floor. Visibility diminishes to a meager twenty feet at best. You make contact with the ocean floor in the middle of a bustling striper school, they vanish, your body demands oxygen. Your gun, perched perfectly on a rock capped in sea vegetation aims directly to where the school of stripers once was. Just like your friends told you, massive stripers begin to circle around you. Still, your breath pulls. You sight in on the biggest fish in the school, it has to be pushing fifty inches. Using your last morsel of air you pull the trigger, releasing a lightning bolt like spear.

The loud buzzing of the reel is all you hear amongst the bubbles and confusion as you swim frantically upward. You breach the surface gasping for breath, reel still buzzing. The air replenishes your strength like a sensation you've never felt. You grab the reel and begin to fight back. Less and less tension pulls on the other end, must have been a good shot. A flash of silver shows, it's an absolute giant. Unsheathing the knife holstered on the side of your calf, you instill the final blow and yell to the crew. They scurry over and pull you into the boat, the fish next. All the energy that once left the boat returns in a sudden stampede of frenzied excitement. Your efforts have all come to fruition. This is your reward.

Experience it in Pictures

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To see the Beastro Boys in action click below!!

For last week's fishing update, click here!
https://steemit.com/adventure/@modernsuperior/welcome-to-the-cape-cod-canal-the-power-of-the-sp-minnow

And to see a blue lobster (one in two million)!
https://steemit.com/adventure/@modernsuperior/the-time-we-caught-a-blue-lobster-one-in-two-million-chance