DAYS OF FISHING

I grew up in one of the coastal town of Bataan. During my childhood days the main source of income in our town is fishing. It is the same with the other neighboring towns. It is normal that every family owns at least one “banca”, a small fishing boat. However, we don’t own one because my father is not a fisherman. He is a security guard, but he always goes on fishing during his day off.


I am about nine years old when I first join with my father in his fishing trip. We use to borrow the boat of his “kumpare”, a friend of my father. He teaches me of how to properly handle the bait and wait for the fish to take it. And once the fish take the bait I have to pull it as hard and fast as I could. But since I am not yet that sensitive to fish bite, I would end up losing my catch most of the time. There are occasions that I am waiting for too long without knowing that I already have a catch. I am always reminded by my father to check on my bait and when I raised it up, there’s usually three fish dangling in my bait. It is because the fishing lines that we are using have three hooks attached to it.

I am always into a competition with my father when fishing. I used to separate my catch from my father’s catch. After fishing we will count our catch and whoever catches more fish is the winner. I remember beating my father only once, when I caught around seventy fish while he is five fish short. We had gone fishing for only four hours that day and we need to go back home immediately because the sea suddenly turns rough and a heavy rain is about to fall. But most of the time my father out do me in fishing.

Though most of the fisherman used to go out to the sea all night long, there is still a lot of fisherman who is out during day time. This is so because there are plenty of catch during those days. Even an inexperienced fisherman is assured of a good catch for the day.

The memory of a wonderful sight of the sea at night time is still fresh in my mind, where you can see a street of lights from afar. Those lights are from the fishermen, they will be staying there until early in the morning. And when the morning comes, there will be another batch of fishermen who will be out in the sea for fishing. Round the clock the sea provides a living for their family.

Today, there are still fishermen in my town but not as many as before. Most of the family depended now on employment, locally or abroad that offers much greater revenue than fishing. The reason for this is the development and advancement of technology. Our town now has become an industrial town.

I remember the song popularized by a local band, Asin, during my high school days. A part of the song goes like this,

“hindi na masama ang pag-unlad at malayu-layo na rin ang ating narating ngunit masdan mo ang tubig sa dagat dati'y kulay asul ngayo'y naging itim”.

(Advancement through development is not bad and we had achieved a lot, but look at the sea, the water that was once blue, are now polluted.)

The sea that once provides a living is still there. The fish is not gone but not as plenty as before. The family who still depends on fishing needs to go farther in hope of a bountiful catch.

It is also my dream that I can go out for fishing with my son. I want him to feel the joy that I felt when I had my first catch. He is five years old now and I hope that by the time that he reaches ten, we can go out to the sea on weekend and have fun fishing. I believe that the day for fishing is not gone and it will never be. The sea will always be there, the fish are waiting for our bait. And I hope we don’t have to go farther in order to catch one. Happy fishing everyone.