Lapu-lapu have a special fondness for crevices in the rocks, and for holes in coral reefs, and in consequence are responsible for the loss of much good tackle. One must fight them from the moment they strike and give them no slack. The penalty for any carelessness in this regard is a broken line.
Typical Scene at the Edge of a Hardwood Forest.
Leather jacks, commonly called dorados in the Philippines on account of their beautifully coloured yellow bellies, are extraordinarily abundant at certain seasons of the year when they run into the shallow waters at the heads of bays and sounds, apparently to spawn. When encountered at all they afford good sport for their size, fighting well and frequently making splendid leaps out of the water even after they are brought close to the boat and are apparently tired out. They commonly run from five to fifteen pounds in weight, but occasionally reach eighteen or twenty pounds.
The Philippine giant sea-bass, or jewfish, belongs to the same family as does the California species. While I was on shore at Mæander Reef in August, 1911, numerous hand lines with which sailors were fishing from the Polillo were carried away by jewfish. With the permission of the captain, the ship’s log line was then pressed into service. I returned to the steamer just in time to assist in landing a hundred-and-thirty pound specimen. A steam trawler, which operated for a short time in the Philippines, took a specimen seven feet three inches in length, which weighed three hundred thirty-four and a fourth pounds.
In Coron Passage during July, 1911, I fought a very large fish, probably a jewfish, for an hour and twenty minutes, at the end of which time his dead weight broke my line when Governor Forbes, who was with me, attempted to lift him by it after he had indulged in a prolonged sulk in deep water. Although I had fought him steadily, I could not see that I had tired him in the least. In the course of the fracas the butt of my rod had made a two by three inch black and blue spot on my right leg and had worn the skin off over a similar area on my left leg, while my abdomen lacked a good deal of epidermis and I was tempted to believe that it lacked some dermis as well. My companions who witnessed the fruitless fight christened this particular fish the “sea carabao.”[1]
Belt and socket should, of course, be used in fighting fish of such size. Heavy cots for the thumb and first finger of the left hand and the thumb of the right hand are very essential. I once got a badly burned thumb because I thought that I was not likely to hook a fish which would make a quarter-inch-thick leather brake heat through. A big ocean bonito promptly undeceived me.
Very exciting sport may be had by harpooning the huge rays which come to the surface in great numbers at certain seasons of the year. Specimens thirty feet across have been taken in the vicinity of the island of Siquijor. When one of these great fishes is harpooned, Filipino fishermen make two or three large boats fast to it as soon as possible for the reason that a single boat might be dragged under. Even so the taking of giant rays is not unattended with danger, for they make most extraordinary leaps into the air, and were one of them to fall on a boat the result would be disastrous.
We have knowledge of the existence of other very large game fishes which we have not as yet so much as seen. One species is taken by the natives of Siquijor, who use a three-quarter inch Manila rope and fish in water of considerable depth. A number of boats work close together and as soon as a fish is hooked all flock to the assistance of the lucky fisherman. A tremendous struggle then ensues and we are assured that if the fish is landed, it makes a meal for a whole village. What this species may be we do not know.
One of the charms of fishing in the Philippines lies in the fact that one can never tell what one is going to strike next. At Mæander Reef I took the first yellowtail ever caught in the islands with rod and line. Doubtless there are plenty more where that one came from. Indeed, yellowtails are common in the market at Zamboanga at certain seasons. Off the coast of Mindoro I took the first dolphin known to have been captured in these waters. On a recent trip I took a large porgy of a species new to the Philippines and likely to prove new to science. As yet we have hardly begun to explore the fishing grounds. What shall we find among the swift currents of the Batanes Islands, and what along the barrier reef of the unexplored east coast of northern Luzón? No one knows!