Review
WL Rating
I wasn’t sure what to make of this book when I downloaded it onto my Kindle. While I enjoy free/scuba diving and the occasional spearfishing jaunt, my knowledge on the blue water side of spearfishing was close to zero. Blue water hunting takes standard spearfishing along a reef or kelp bed and moves it into the deep water realm where huge pelagic fish like tuna and grouper live. Whereas most water sports have their own, odd sub-culture, blue water hunting enthusiasts have the obsessive qualities you see in big wave and slab-focused surfers. This group regularly launch spears into huge, fast moving fish that can drag the fisherman underwater for hundreds or yards, or worse, down into the sinus and eardrum popping depths, where getting to the surface before blacking out becomes a very real problem. Even more odd is the sub-sub-culture of the ghostly white sea bass fisherman who only seem to get excited by hunting this phantom fish. The book does a great job of drawing you into the psychology of the divers, providing details about method, approach and history. Perhaps my only real issue with the book was the author’s penchant for purple prose. That aside, this is a good book that I’d recommend to anyone interested in diving, spearfishing or the state of California watermen in the middle of the 20th century. (June 2009)
Last of the Blue Water Hunters - Carlos Eyles
