Spearo books?

[Old Man Dave]

Okay this is not a book but a DVD. That said I lashed out £25 for the DeepBlue DVD. Story of the spearo WR blurfin tuna capture. Didn't even realise it was a NZ thing, which is strange as I have just written about NZ in the last post.

Have only seen this DVD advertised by Apnea in Jersey. As my daughter was going over there for the day I stuffed some grubby notes into her hand with instructions to bring back said DVD. Spur of the moment thing to save the postage.

This is an hour long documentary about 2 experienced NZ spearo's traveling offshore to use their home made gear to spear a WR bluefin. These fish follow the giant factory trawlers fishing way out south west of NZ. On their first (only?) attempt they get one each. Biggest about 300 kilos (650lb), which apparently is the spearo WR.

You may have seen some clips which were available through some link here on DB last year? I saw them but hadn't realised it was from this DVD.

It is a bit of fun and well worth watching but certainly not exactly up to BBC documentary standard. Not really worth £25 but as it will I'm sure do the rounds it's the sort of thing that would be worth clubbing together to buy. Locals form an orderly queue and it might well make it across the pond in the bag of one of our summer visitors.

Dave

 

[jtkwest]

adrenaline spearfishing.com in california has a shite ton of books and videos, some of which have not been discussed in this thread. the selection of dvds is really good

 

[Old Man Dave]

Al Acecho 1 and 2 are partly advertising for the guns used, made by Victor. That said they are impressive guns. However they are in Spanish although the second one is available with English subtitles if you can get it to work. Also the first one was critisised as it appeared to glamourise deep diving with long breathholds. The second one tries to distance itself with lots of disclaimers and less detail.

No denying these boys are good managing to take some big fish from overfished waters. The twin band aballan wood guns look impressive as you see them endlessly spear literally hundreds of fish.

Worth watching but not worth crossing the road to watch or paying too much for. IMHO anyway.

Dave

 

[jtkwest]

xtreme spearfishing.com has really coolvideos you can watch for free.100 ft freedives 40 lb grouper!

 

[scottwilson]

moved to dvd section

 

[Marwan]

guys, i noticed we were veering a little off topic here with the dvd's versus the original thread thats supposed to discuss books,
i started a new thread on the spearo board for videos and DVD's and maybe one of the mods could move the dvd posts over there..to keep this one about books..
cheers

 

[Old Man Dave]

I've copied my posts to the new thread but haven't deleted these. Okay?

http://forums.deeperblue.net/spearo-board/76396-favourite-spearfishing-video-dvd-s.html#post695346

Dave

 

[jtkwest]

sorry to change subject,to be honest i have been looking for any and all books i dont have on spearfishing and there dont appear to be very many that are relevant to me or current. i have looked at this entire thread and everyone keeps talking about the same 4 or 5 books around and around. i mean thats cool and everything but where are all the spearo books? i looked on amazon, they have like 3, terry maas books,(the master, ilove them , but those guys are a little out of my league)there are those old books, that are interesting and i will buy them all, just to have them, but to be honest, they really are not that informative to me currently. what i mean is , i have been spearing for 12 or 13 yrs or so, so i know basics, what i need, is, information on camo techniques for example are not covered at all, most of my info comes from internet but the drawback is:you have to know WHAT to ask or you just might miss something all together, whereas with a book you get alot of info in one place. so, what books ARE there actually,?? i have been searching this thread with a pen and paper to see if i could find some new ones, but alas..... 2/terry maas books(freedive, blue water hunters)have em LOVE em !!!!!!! but i spear on reefs and wrecks in 30 to 60 ft water, not 6000 ft! intro to spearfishing,(foget author, Barsky,maybe,) )great for beginner , scuba spearos,(not me ) the 1951 volsky(spell?) bokk, which is cool to read but 1951 is not current, plus the book is vintage and i was recently outbid at 100$us for that and 1 other old book, on ebay, and now i cant find the thing anywhere, idont expect, however, to find too much pertinent info, but life is short, and i am a fanatic/obsessive ,so i will eventually find and buy it but i already looked at a copy once, so i know what to expect. the EYRES books are entertaining, but the whole reformed / environmentalist/crusader thing doesnt jibe with me: i kill edible fish, and i eat them , and i dont have a moral dilemna about it. i dont know why he does either, "you gotta eat. right??", why not fresh kill? any way, what else is there? anybody know any good ones? informative ones would be the best, current if possible, but any thing with the word spearfishing will do.

 

[Old Man Dave]

Hi JT. You must be one lucky mother, living in Key West. Looks a truely awsome place and I'm sure the spearing must be fantastic. Been as far as the Keys myself but not right down to the end where you are.

In defence of Carlos Eyles he gave up spearing when he got a dose of cigatara poisoning and can't eat seafood anymore. Think he now freedives in the Bahamas.

You're right that there are not many modern spearo books, in fact there are not that many spearo books fullstop. Somethings don't change much but as I said to someone in another thread the other day "a 30 year old book is never going to be the complete answer to modern spearing".

Problem is we are a very minority sport/interest and authors will never get rich selling spearo books. However some new books are now printed to order rather than having to pay for X thousand copies to be printed in advance. So maybe you could write one. Alternatively you could pay for me to fly down to the Keys and show you how it's done ... please .

Dave

 

[Mr. X]

I originally started the thread to find more spearo books but it looks like there simply aren't many out there. Several out there that are quite good -- and perhaps they say most of what needs to be said. Although I agree, I haven't seen anything bang up to date (haven't read Eric's book yet), perhaps the advent of Web & Web Forums have partially replaced the need/market.

I suggested to Spaghetti that he offer to translate Marco B's book from Italian to English - he seems to be a major influence on current equipment design - & I would think that would expand the market considerably (UK, US, Oz, SA,...). Perhaps we should plan out "the ultimate spearo book" & solicit for contributions...there are some amazing folk on the forum.

 

[jtkwest]

what about a deeper blue book? seriously, all the books i see seem to be collborations of stories , not one guys experiencences only, so we could all submit stories or info and someone could edit each chapter,(some of these gun builders on this site are easily among the best in the world! i mean have you ever seen 'setting steel's homemade gun pic's?, i mean i have gotten advice on stuff that the guys in the dive shops around here have no clue about the question i am asking hlf the time ,,, forget about an answer!!! and i live in a place where alot of peolpe spear,(not well mostly, thank golly) I know i got a really cool shark story , 9 ft bull shark, local, and i know lots of fisherman and boat captains who got pics and cool stories.. good idea

 

[jtkwest]

[
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the spearing is really good , the water is at its coldest right now at74degrees.to 72

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".

Problem is we are a very minority sport/interest and authors will never get rich selling spearo books. However some new books are now printed to order rather than having to pay for X thousand copies to be printed in advance. So maybe you could write one. Alternatively you could pay for me to fly down to the Keys and show you how it's done ... please .
there is a place called rebecca shoal, 56 miles from key west where the 60 ft reef line and the 30 to 20 ft deep reef lines cross in a couple spots about 1/8 mile long each and the result is bottom that is 60 ft deep then a ledge rising to 20 and thirty ft with ledges and caves . it is incredible!!! what you see on some video or something,, HUGE fish EVERYWHERE!! we are chartering a trip for 4 for a wkend overnight trip for 1100$ to split 4 ways,(i got high friends in places) plus my tournament fishing buddy works on a sport fisher out of KW and his captain is a famous local blue water spearo who just fishes now, but when i mentioned chartering his boat for a trip to kill tuna or dolphin or cobia or something he said his boss got all excited and said we can have the boat all day for 1000$ (fits 6 plus mate and captain) he just misses spearing ,, my buddy said this guy used to win all the local competitions and he got ALL the GPS#s in the world !! for wrecks in 30 to 50 ft where cobia patrol etc. so that is next week. you could maybe go if you come, but i gotta have a pint with you first to see if your ok or something airfare is on you buddy... move out of the sticks for gods sake
Dave[/quote]

 

[jtkwest]

sorry i messed up the last post , i was trying to quote 'old man dave' i am not computer saavy

 

[foxfish]

sorry i messed up the last post , i was trying to quote 'old man dave' i am not computer saavy

Neither am I but this one is easy to solve - press the "Quote" button, bottom right of the post you want to quote.

 

[Blenny]

May I remind forum members of my own book"Dive Free"published in 1998(cover price £15) which you can see on both the adrenaline website and that of Kostis Manassis. I am letting folk have it for £7 including uk postage so if interested see "goods for sale".

 

[Pastor]

but how do you take a PART of a message and quote only that part??. thanx for info

Just select and delete the text you don't want

 

[glowworm]

Two books that have already been mentioned but i am reading at the moment are as follows,

The Spearfisherman's Handbook by David Way

Spearfishing in Britian by Kendall McDonald & Phil Smith

Why both of these books are important is because they do pay homage to the early european and american spearfisherman but it concentrates on the UK Spearo and the men who pioneered the sport in the UK.I think we live in awe of the foreign spearo's because of the large fish they catch in exotic locations and crystal clear water.

The real hero's of the sport are from our own shores and while they did not have to deal with sharks and barracuda they had to contend with lack of equipment and support and total ignorance from the general public.

These guy's are my Spearfishing Hero's

 

[scottwilson]

Glowworm where do you find these 2 books they sound like a good read

 

[glowworm]

Scottwilson i was lent the books by Surfnspear but i have found them on amazon.

 

[scottwilson]

Just looked them up, looks like you sitting on a goldmine there mate £59.04 for a book in good condition.