The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 2 of 2)Worcester, Dean C. (Dean Conant)
History
The Philippines: Past and Present (Volume 2 of 2)
Worcester, Dean C. (Dean Conant)
Philippines; Philippines -- History -- 1898-1946
The largest specimen yet taken in the Philippines and actually
weighed was a hundred ten pound monster caught on a trolling line
trailed behind the coast guard cutter Polillo, on which I was making
an inspection trip along the west coast of southern Palawan.
The largest specimen yet taken with rod and reel weighed fifty-two
and eight-tenths pounds. It was brought to gaff in Biobican Bay by
Governor Leo J. Grove of Nueva Vizcaya.
Very numerous individuals weighing between twenty and forty-five
pounds have been captured, and the only reason why numbers of much
larger specimens have not been taken is that tackle was not strong
enough, or the skill of the fishermen was not sufficiently great. Big
barracudas have teeth that would do credit to small sharks, and have
sawed through or broken many a wire leader.
In the Philippines, as in other civilized countries, there are not
lacking narrators of good "fish stories." From Filipino residents
of San Juan, Siquijor, I recently heard a tale of a barracuda which
towed a native dugout boat all day, jumping frequently, and was
finally cut loose after dark by its disgusted would-be captors who
found themselves unable to tire it out!
Of tanguingui, or sail fish, there are at least two species. The
smaller commonly attains a weight of twenty to forty pounds. In the
open sea off the coast of Leyte I took a specimen which measured
sixty-four inches in length and weighed sixty-five pounds. It proved
to be of a species new to science. This magnificent fish, when fresh
from the sea, was a sight calculated to cheer a graven image.
Tanguingui fight much as do barracuda, except that they seldom jump
out of the water after being hooked unless pursued by sharks. This
seems strange, as under normal conditions they leap for the pure joy
of the thing, attaining heights which I hesitate to specify lest I
be held to have qualified for the Ananias club. I know of nothing
more startling in its way than the shock one gets when his eye has
missed the upward leap of a big tanguingui but catches the fish as
it is dropping back toward the sea, apparently from the clouds.
While barracuda and tanguingui may be taken throughout the year,
there seems to be a time when the fish of the latter species "run." At
all events they are found in great numbers during April and May in
the vicinity of Fortune Island, a short distance south of Manila Bay,
but are very scarce, or entirely absent, there during the remainder of
the year. I once visited the famous fishing grounds around Tanguingui
Island, north of Cebú, in August, only to be assured by a light-keeper
that I would find no fish at that season. He said that the barracuda
would return in November and the tanguingui in February. His prediction
as to the fishing in August promptly came true.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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