Fishing with nets is not practiced except by a few Manóbos on the seacoast or by the Christianized Manóbos who have learned the practice from Bisáyas, though I have seen cast nets used on the upper Tágo, upper Simúlao, and upper Agúsan.
The búbo is a cigar-shaped trap made of slats of rattan, from 0.5 to 1 meter in length. The swifter the current, the smaller the trap used. The large end has a cone with its apex pointing inward. It is made of bamboo slats which are left unfastened at the apex of the cone so that the fish may enter but not get out. This trap is set with its mouth facing either up or down stream.
Another form of this trap65 is cylindrical and not conical like the búbo. It is set in swamps with an evil-smelling bait and quickly becomes filled with a very savory mudfish.66
65Bág-yas.
66Pán-tat.
The hí-pon, u-yáp, and u-yáp tá-na are varieties of small fish that at fixed intervals make their way up the Agúsan to a distance of from 20 to 30 miles in innumerable quantities. It is said that they arrive at the expected date and hour. They are scooped into dugouts with scoop nets in immense quantities and salted for sale. This method of fishing is confined practically to Bisáyas, but a goodly number of Christianized Manóbos who live in the vicinity of Butuán take part in it.
A fairly common method of fishing among the Christianized Manóbos, as also among the pagan Manóbos who do not live in too warlike a country, is by the use of a spear and torch. Going along the banks of the stream, the fisherman lures the fish with the light and secures them with a jab of his three-pronged spear. In this way he may secure enough for a meal or two. Where the water is deep enough, this method of fishing is attended with great danger from crocodiles, especially in the lake region where they abound in numbers beyond conception.