SkinDiver July 1957 - Wally Potts autobiography

Autobiography of a Skin Diver
By Wally Potts

Wally Potts, one of the greatest divers on the Pacific Coast, shown here with his 401½ pound black sea bass.

I started my underwater diving activities in 1937 after the advent of the Japanese face plate and made my first dive off La Jolla, Calif. The water was very clear and I was amazed by what was to be seen. I saw more per time spent on those first dives than I see today. In those days I saw all the things that swim and move, even the very smallest things, now I see only the things that I am looking for. For instance, if looking for halibut, I concentrate on the ocean’s sandy floor and unless something extraordinary passes by I pay no attention to it. I joined the Bottom Scratchers Diving Club in 1939, which at that time, had been operating six years. I became the sixth member.

The diving equipment that could be purchased in those days was limited to the early Japanese face plate. The older divers will remember this item as very uncomfortable and leaked badly. Because of this I developed my own design face plate which is superior, even to this day, to any commercial item. Many divers that have used my mask say they wouldn’t have any other.

I have teamed with another diver, Jack Prodanovich, and together we have invented, designed and built many items that are now standard pieces of diving equipment. These items include the early model spears, goggles, abalone irons, fish stringers, face plates, spear guns, floatation gear, powerheads and even diving sleds.

It is difficult for me to designate any one particular goggle fishing site as best. For instance, if looking for abalone I favor certain areas and if looking for halibut I like another area. If looking for white sea bass, yellowtail or black sea bass I like still another area. If I had to name one general area as best it would be the La Jolla region. Within this region one can find almost any kind of diving, excellent shallow water skin diving or the best of deep water lung diving.

As for the type of preferred equipment: I like my own designed equipment best. The only equipment that we do not make is the swim fin and even on this item we have contributed ideas that have been incorporated. As for the specific make of fin I like the Owen Churchill design.

In general I do not consider the average shark as dangerous, however, that does not mean that I don’t think any of them won’t bite. The great white shark will attack most anything, most of the shark attacks on people have been done by this specie. The thing that I am more prone to fear than anything is the killer whale. The largest fish of any kind that I have taken is a 401½ pound black sea bass.

The most interesting adventure that ever happened to me took place on an afternoon in which the big one got away.

This was many years ago before the days of spear guns. I was diving in the kelp beds of La Jolla with my diving buddy Jack Prodanovich. For spear equipment we were using .38 caliber power heads fixed to an eleven foot pole using darts and line, the power heads at that time were still in the development stage. We got into an area where there were yellowtail swimming about. Now as most divers can attest the yellowtail is normally a very fast and steady swimming fish and to take one with a pole spear you would really have to be on the ball. With this in mind I hope you can appreciate the experience I will attempt to portray.

After several attempts to get close enough to some of these speedy fish I was finally able, after a very long dive, to make a hit. As luck would have it the .38 cartridge was wet because it did not fire. I again made several other long dives, not deep but lengthy, before making another hit. Finally five fish came swimming by about ten feet under the surface and I took off after them. After a very long swim holding my breath, I caught up to the tail-end Charley, about a 45 pounder, and made a hit.

Again as luck would have it, or vice versa, I had equipment trouble. This time the cartridge fired but the force of the shot caused the line to break. I can still see that dart as if it had happened only yesterday. The dart came out the other side of the fish and kept right on going like a little torpedo. The line pulled out of the fish leaving it as free as a bird. However, the dart apparently hit a nerve or a bone causing the fish to react crazily.

It fluttered through the water like a butterfly not knowing where it was going. I thought, this fish having the shape tail it has, that maybe if I could get close enough, I could catch and hold it by hand. So as the fish was fluttering through the water I was frantically trying to catch it.

Finally, I made a near catch actually touching the fish. As soon as the fish was touched it sounded and went straight for the bottom with me in close pursuit. The water depth was about 45 feet. The fish was still in a state of shock and swam downward until it ran into the bottom, then would swim parallel to the bottom until it ran into a stalk of kelp or some other obstacle. In each case I would gain on the fish. I finally got my hand on the tail and was able to hold on. Due to the lack of air I had no time to properly get a better hold in his gills.

I noted that we had swum under a large kelp mass, so rather than come straight up through it, I turned around and swam out and then started to go up. I would get about ten or fifteen feet off the bottom then the fish would do his act and down to the bottom we would go again.

After making like an elevator a couple of times, I’d had it. Those white spots and stars started swirling around in my head and I decided to let go of the fish. I must still have been down thirty or forty feet. The last thing I remember is turning the fish loose, then awakening on top of my buddy’s surfboard with him pounding on my back in hopes of reviving me.

He filled in the rest of the story. Knowing I had been down much too long, he had started hunting me when he saw me pop to the surface. I floated there with my hands outstretched and my face down in the water. He got to me as fast as possible and pulled me aboard his surfboard and went to work. He said that I had been down five or six minutes.

After waking and resting about ten minutes we took off, me looking for my valuable power gun which must have dropped the same time that I turned the fish free and him looking for the fish.

Then we set off for the beach. I felt no ill effects of the near self-suffocation. To this day the experience that stands out foremost in my mind is not one of the big ones speared, but this incident in which the fish got away.

Who do I think is the best spearfisherman? I am going to side step here because I’m sure that this question is too controversial. Instead I’m going to mention who I think has done the most to promote the sport of spearfishing. This man, in my opinion, can only be Jack Prodanovich. He is responsible for the early day goggles, then the metal face plate, early underwater pictures and the complete system used in taking large fish, the power gun, floatation gear, etc.

Bottom Scratcher members Jack Prodanovich (l) and Wally Potts (r) land on the beach at La Jolla with their spectacular catches. The white sea bass from the kelp beds weighed a total of 140 pounds. The two famous San Diego divers make and improve most of their underwater equipment. Photo by Lamar Boren.