In Harpoon Fishing, Accuracy Is Everything

For centuries, fishermen have killed big fish with harpoons. Today, the practice often begins not in the sea, but in the sky with a fish-spotter plane.

After the pilot spots the fish, he radios the information to the captain of the harpoon boat. The pilot directs the skipper to the fish by circling above.

Once the swordfish has been spotted by the pilot, Jerry Cicconi explains how it is harpooned: The skipper maneuvers the boat within the “kill range,” lining up the plank protruding from the bow over the fish.

Armed with the harpoon--a slender, 12-foot spear-like tool with a dart, steel rod and pipe--the harpooner takes his position in the pulpit, the standing-room-only perch at the end of the plank. The boat, of course, is pitching and rolling; the fish swimming.

In the posture of a javelin thrower, the harpooner heaves the tool, “sticking” the fish with the dart behind the dorsal fin. The dart is attached to a 14-foot nylon line spliced to a 600-foot rope secured to a series of three buoys. The largest buoy is fitted with a marker flag.

The harpooned fish drags out the line from the boat. Once the line and buoys are over the side of the boat, the crew can continue to fish and return to the marker in a couple of hours when the fish is exhausted or dead.

Though a swordfish can weigh as much as 600 pounds, a 250-pound fish is considered a very good catch. The prize is very carefully hoisted into the boat by hand. If not handled correctly, the fish’s bill can be dangerous. It looks like a ferocious medieval sword, and is capable of stabbing through boat hulls--and fishermen.