For the last while we have watched a woman walk backwards into the water on our beach in Zacatitos with a big orange float.  Later on, she would come out of the water with a big fish.  Curious, I decided to do a little research on spearfishing in Los Cabos.  Clearly a skill that has been around for centuries, people can go out from the beach to free dive (or with scuba) to use a spear, guns or pole spears are used to get the fish and the float is used as a catch bag for beach entry.  Spearfishers from the beach are looking for headlands with 5 to 25 meters of water to search for the fish.  Spearfishers can also enter the water off of boats, which allows them to go to deeper water in search of very specific types of fish.  One of the most popular places is Gordo Banks, which is right out from Zacatitos on the East Cape.  The most popular are BlueFin Tuna, Dorado, Snapper and Wahoo.  For a good overview of spearfishing in Baja visit https://spearoscout.com/best-spearfishing-spots-in-baja-mexico/

Back to the spearfisher on our beach.  It turns out Lisa Ferrier, a resident of Zacatitos holds the International Underwater Spearfishing Association Women’s Speargun World Record for the largest Bluefin Tuna – 52 pounds from October of 2018.  She is a self-described addict, going out almost everyday and regularly bringing in bluefin tuna and dorado.  She said that she makes sure that everything that she spears is being eaten – it is not just a sport.  Describing deep water spearfishing, she said that when they see a school of fish, she just drops over the side and dives down and waits for the fish to go by.  I doubt that it is really that simple!  A recent article in Spearfishing magazine indicates that Lisa has set eight World Records for Women’s Spearfishing at 56.  What is amazing about this is that she has only been spearfishing for three years – although a lover of the water since she was very young.  Her husband, Rocky Rafkin has been spearfishing for 50 years.  When they met (a second marriage), it was clear that it was a spearfishing match made in heaven.  Rocky explained to me that spearfishing is more like hunting than it is like fishing.  He said, “You have to find the refrigerator.  Sooner or later everyone ends up at the refrigerator to get something to eat.”  In other words, spearfishing involves searching out where the bait is that your chosen fish is interested in.  You can’t chase the fish, they have to come to you. And her children are proud of her appearing in and being featured in Spearing and Spearfishing magazines.