Brittany Brockway, a Saranac Laker living in Hawaii, holds an African Pompano she hunted spearfishing.
(Provided photo — Jack Mitchell)
SARANAC LAKE — Brittany Brockway grew up swimming in Lake Clear and the pool at Paul Smith’s College. Now, after living in Hawaii for nine years, she can be found 70 feet under the waves hunting jobfish and snapper with a speargun.
Brockway, 36, a Lake Clear native, earned a spot on the USA Women’s Spearfishing Team in May. The team is heading to the World Spearfishing Championships in Brazil at the end of November, and she’s set up a fundraiser to support their trip at tinyurl.com/ysw26das. Out of the 20 countries set to compete in Sao Francisco do Sul on Nov. 24 and 25, the U.S. team is the only one that doesn’t get government funding.
She’s trying to raise $30,000 to cover their airfare to the competition 7,800 miles away from her home, accommodations, boat and captain fees, equipment and food. The team is made up of three divers and a back up diver.
Brockway mostly does spearfishing recreationally, hunting meals for her and her friends.
“I don’t know how she got into it,” Brockway’s aunt Darra Wenske said. “The whole ‘gutting fish underwater,’ I don’t really get.”
Brittany Brockway, a Saranac Laker living in Hawaii, swims to the surface with a jobfish, or an uku, she hunted spearfishing. Brockway is competing with the USA national spearfishing team at the World Spearfishing Championships in Brazil in late November.
(Provided photo — Garrett Moss)
Brockway loves it. She’s traveled the world fishing on multiple continents. Now, she said she’s building visibility for women in spearfishing.
Brockway’s mother grew up on the Hawaii island of O’ahu, but she never learned to swim herself. When she was raising Brockway and Brockway’s siblings in the Adirondacks, she brought them to swim lessons at Paul Smith’s College where they learned to swim at the highest levels offered.
When Brockway’s Saranac Lake High School friend suddenly moved to Hawaii, she followed.
Soon, she made friends with a freediving instructor, got into the deep water sport and learned she had great breath control.
Her deepest dive on one breath is 167 feet, or 51 meters. Her deepest fish was shot at 95 feet. Her longest breath hold was 4.5 minutes. That was seven years ago, and she said she has not tried to beat it since.
“It’s not a comfortable thing to attempt,” she said.
Five years ago, she made friends who were into spearfishing, so she took her freediving skills and added a speargun.
On the big island of Hawaii, Brockway said people often need a hobby to stay there.
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t in love with spearfishing,” Brockway said.
She does more reef diving than blue water diving, because she enjoys that sort of hunt more. She eats everything she catches and gives away a lot of fish to friends.
Growing up in Saranac Lake, she did not fish or hunt. Her family did, and she hated seeing the dead deer hanging in basement. Now, after getting a taste for hunting fish, she’s interested in coming back and trying it.
She enjoys harvesting food, knowing where it comes from and providing for her friends.
“Being somewhere you love to be and also being able to hunt and harvest your food sustainably, knowing where it comes from and then you cook a really good meal and share it with friends,” she said.
She even enjoys gutting the fish in the water. After making a catch, she brings the fish to the surface and cuts it open there. This produces better meat and is cleaner than gutting in the boat. The blood in the water attracts sharks. It’s intense, but Brockway doesn’t really mind.
“I’ve definitely gutted fish right next to sharks,” she said.
She’s still chasing a yellowfin tuna, also called ‘ahi, one of the most sought-after fish in Hawaii. She’s seen them and taken shots at them, but is yet to land one.
The world spearfishing championships are held every other year. Nationals are held every year. Fishers must compete in two nationals to be considered for the USA world team.
In 2023, the national championship was held in Kona — right down the road from Brockway. She had never competed before, but figured she’d give it a shot since she was so close to it. She placed fourth. The next year, the championship was held in Florida. She was traveling to the Bahamas, so she figured she’d compete again. She placed second and said she was one fish away from taking the championship.
In competition, the competitors get a large zone to fish in. They get an approved species list and a limit for each one, unless it’s an invasive species. Then, the take a breath, dive down and start shooting.
Scoring is done one point per fish, one point per pound — the bigger the better. Some fish are worth more points.
Brockway said she has a lot of training to do in the next month before the contest — diving, breath training, working out and aiming.
She competed in 2025 national championship in April. To qualify to stay on the team, she’d need to do compete again in 2026.
To follow her journey to the world championships, go to instagram.com/britadele and to follow the USA team, go to tinyurl.com/4crs6zth.
