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Going Fishing Becomes a Passion
 I guess going fishing was the
most natural activity that would interest me most in our new
environment, with the sea just a few meters behind our quarters. At an
early age of 10, there was nothing that evoked so much passion in me
during my growing up years than the love of fishing, which in my case,
was shoreline fishing.
Going fishing was a favorite pastime
of some base residents. It was common to see navy couples and
civilian visitors from the city going fishing along the shorelines of
the base.The sea waters along the base's perimeter were fertile
fishing grounds teeming with varieties of aquatic life: fish,
shrimps, squids, crustaceans, clams, oysters, mussels, eels,
jellyfish, etc.. You name it, I've seen it all and probably had caught
or gathered it, except for the deep-sea varieties.
I didn't
have to go far to have my first lessons in fishing techniques. As
fate would have it, Juanito, the husband of our next door neighbor's
household help, was a fisherman by trade. He would come often to fish
by the sea wall, usually very early in the morning, and I wouldn't
miss every opportunity to observe what he did while fishing. First, I
just observed, then asked some questions, and then eventually tried
what I had learned later on. It didn't take long for me to go into
action as the thrill and excitement of seeing him land his catch was
just too irresistible for me to ignore. I had to credit this fellow
for the invaluable first hand fishing information and lessons, and a
lot of other things that I picked up from him.
The first
method I tried was hand-line fishing, sitting by the sea wall early
in the morning during high tides, and dropping a line into the water
below. There were several species of fish that routinely travel and
feed early mornings in groups along the length of the sea wall. The
baits we used for these species were either banana or mashed cooked
rice. We plant the hook or hooks, if we use two hooks to a single line,
into a small chip of banana or into a tiny ball of mashed rice. A
single piece of banana or mashed rice the size of 2 golf balls is
usually more than enough to bring in a basketful haul of assorted
fish. The sheer thrill of landing each catch, especially if you
hooked two fish at a time, was more than enough to compensate for the
discomfort of getting up early from bed. To see my mother's face lit
up with joy upon seeing fresh fish, still jumping,
at the kitchen sink as she woke up in the morning, was more
motivating to me than the economic value of the catch. During the
last twelve years that we stayed here, the family's fish requirements
were practically sourced out from our backyard.
I also
learned to fish for other species which are farther out from the
shore. Initially, I had to do it manually throwing my line, hook and
sinker as far as possible into the open sea. Later on, I had an
easier time when Dad brought home a fishing rod with casting reel.
Live shrimp, peeled shrimp, or sea worm, were the baits I learned to
use for species farther out in the water. I remember Dad also brought
home some feathered artificial lures,
but they were not attractive to the shoreline species. There's
another kind of thrill you will experience with this type of fishing
compared to the drop-line method, especially when your catch is big
enough and a fighter. Here, there is a considerable distance to be
negotiated and fought for before you land or lose your catch. The
sound of your reel creaking as you start slowly pulling in your line
against so much resistance, or as your stubborn catch makes that spurt
to pull out extra yards of line as it darts from left to right, will
make your adrenaline rise and your heart pump faster. Imagine your
excitement as you finally raise your catch and land it on the ground
after a few moments of tugging battle. I've won so many of
such battles and lost quite a few.
Sometimes, while pulling in
your catch, your line suddenly gets limp and find out that it's been
cut. Or if you're fortunate enough, you land only the upper half of
your catch. I later found out that I was being victimized by those
preying small barracudas. This fish has very sharp teeth and would
respond only to a live fish bait.
To counter the sharp teeth, we've appended to the nylon line about
ten inches of thin stainless wire to which the hook was attached,
another fishing technique courtesy of Juanito. In clear water, the
barracudas can be spotted near the surface waiting motionless for its
prey. I'd just throw the fish bait, without a sinker so it does not
sink fast to the bottom, near to where it is. Or sometimes, I would
use a floater. You can actually witness how it would gobble up your
fishing bait almost instantly.
Groupers are very exciting fish
to catch for they are fighters and can be caught even in shallowest
parts of the sea. I had caught groupers underneath the very stones I
was standing on, just dropping a line with shrimp bait, dead or alive,
into the crevices. The pontoon barges behind our quarters, abound
with different species of groupers, relatively big ones. They hide in
the holes beneath the sunken pontoons. In fact, we had identified the
different fishing spots at the pontoons were we normally always get a
catch. I still recall that instance when my aunt came home from the
market one morning with some live shrimps. It was hot, almost noon,
but I decided just the same to go down to the first pontoon barge,
dropped a line with the shrimp bait at one of the spaces between
pontoons not very far from the gangplank, and presto, I came back to
the house in less than two minutes with a foot-long grouper. They were
all so happy and amazed at the ease by which I converted that one
shrimp into a nice and valuable catch. That more than paid for the
total cost of the shrimps.
When Dad
and I initially fished for the bigger night-feeding groupers at the
pontoon barges, we encountered a technical problem. We initially
dropped thick nylon fishing lines tied permanently to the pontoons at
several chosen permanent fishing sites, which we just checked the
next morning for any catch. For fishing baits,
we used small dead fish of the deep-sea tuna type, bought from the
market. What usually greeted us in the mornings were cut lines which
looked like it were scraped to the sharp edges of the pontoons below.
To remedy the problem, we changed from nylon lines to telephone wires
and immediately changed the situation. We just replenished the baits
every night and checked in the mornings. From then on, groupers,
which are some of the priciest fish in the market, were just common
fare to us. I still recall our biggest catch, a two and a half feet
long grouper which I could hardly lift out of the water. Dad had to
be the one to pull it up.
The passion for fishing was like a
beacon that lured me to the sea, a passion which seemed to push me
to spend every possible spare time into going fishing. I still miss
the experience until now.
[Fishing Trips with Dad]
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