Question about an old picture

Post by **Aucilla** » June 15th, 2004, 11:09 am

This is an old picture I found last night of my brother, and I have to admit I don't know what kind of fish he has there. Will one of y'all tell me? Also, while we're at it, that looks like a loonnng spear gun, doesn't it? I am pretty sure he was using it free diving.

Thanks for your help.
Bill

Post by GC » June 15th, 2004, 11:42 am

Fish looks like a Pompano to me!

That is a serious spear gun.....never seen one like that!

Post by GC » June 15th, 2004, 11:50 am

Capt Ron....
I was thinking one and wrote the other!

Wil · Post by **Wil** » June 15th, 2004, 12:23 pm

Yeah, a lot of the freedivers prefer really long guns. There's an art to loading/cocking those things. Here's a hillarious (and informative) thread about it on spearboard:

http://www.spearboard.com/forum/showthr ... eadid=8991

Post by **Aucilla** » June 15th, 2004, 1:47 pm

I really appreciate the input, especially about the gun. The guy was my hero but I was too young to join him in his adventures before he was killed in a boat wreck. Our house, when I was 9 to maybe 12 years old, was full of his diving stuff, like magazines and guns. He made his own Hawaiian sling, I remember, using surgical tubing, and it was really long too. He also talked of some kind of thing that I guess y'all call a bang stick, but to push down on a shark's head to take him out. I recall him [Larry] talking maybe to a buddy of his or my dad, or me maybe, about putting some kind of suringe on it with I think he said nicotine! This was probably just talk on his part as I never saw such a thing, but he was saying how a little bit would instantly paralyze the beast.

And we had a number of aquariums where he kept some of his catch, like the octopus that got out a few times, even after the top was on.

As you could imagine, as a little kid who loved snorkeling, I was enthralled by his tales and exploits and I couldn't wait to dive the reefs too. But a string of circumstances intervened, and it is only now, decades later, that I am doing so. Truthfully, and in a spiritual sense, on my first reef dive last March I felt almost that I was diving with him.

Last night, digging into a box of old pictures, I was so glad to find this picture of him. With your help in this thread, I now have some verification that he must have been what I thought as his little brother, i.e., he was one heck of a spear fisher!

Post by **Flats Rascal** » June 15th, 2004, 1:57 pm

Post by **Sir reel** » June 15th, 2004, 2:09 pm

That's special stuff Aucilla

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Post by **RodBow** » June 15th, 2004, 5:58 pm

Bill, What's that - about a '66 rambler?

Post by **Aucilla** » June 15th, 2004, 8:49 pm

Bill, What's that - about a '66 rambler?

RB,
I don't know what that is, my friend, but the mid-60's would be about right. But Larry's cars were not that, though. He had a motorcycle and when he graduated from high school he had a Chev Impala 409, with dual quads. Once, he had just me in it on the Turnpike late at night, and I looked over and we were going 120 mph.

Then he told me to "watch this" and he floored it, the second carborator [on a progressive linkage] kicked in and I was pushed hard back into the seat by the acceleration from 120! We were going about 160 and it rode smooth.

Later, he had a Firebird and pulled his boat with that! No Rambler for that guy.

There is a companion picture to this one, where he is bending over and holding a big starfish, with really wide "legs" on it, red in color. I haven't seen them around here, but saw one like it today on a FS photo forum thread about Biminii. Larry and his buddies used to boat over to the Bahamas and dove over there, so it is possible that's where he was when the Rambler was captured, if that's what it is.