Vic Vic Villavicencio
Out in Dasol Bay, particularly that part of the South China Sea where one finds the islets Hermana Mayor and Hermana Menor, the jacks and tanguigues are reported to be back and in a feeding mood.
It will be recalled that this used to be a favorite venue for many fishing competitions organized by the then Philippine Game Fishing Association. An Asian Fishing Championship was staged there with a place called Happy Beach Resort as headquarters. There were not enough cottages to accommodate all the anglers and the press, so we had to put up tents, and everyone had fun.
But the fishing got worse and worse as a result of poor law enforcement on the part of local officials, and even the yearly fun competitions we personally organized out of our beach house in Barangay Longos in Sta. Cruz had to be canceled. We've already sold our property there, but Vic Milan still maintains his two room cottage by the beach. So I wouldn't be surprised if our environmental journalists angler will be among the first to check out the reports about feeding jacks and spanish mackerels.
Similar good strikes are also reported from farther northwest in Bolinao, Pangasinan. The trolling is said to be producing jacks, tanguigue and juvenile dorado. From off Bolinao proper, the trollers go all the way to the waters of Anda island and the Hundred Islands.
This probably means that the two dozen anglers already registered for the Eastway Travel Goods Sportfishing Tournament (yes, that's the new name of the forthcoming Hundred Islands event) on September 25-28 are in for some good fishing.
By the way, the top 10 leaders in the race for Angler of the Year honors are Bert Azana, Edmund Lim, Ed Goyeneche, Rico Gueco, Isao Masaki, Bert Lingayo, Bobby Garcia, Mar Paras, Efren Chuayap and Elvin Reyes.
For those who want to stay close to home, there is always Calatagan for the weekend angler who is partial talakitok. They are also reporting productive outings here.
Another El Nino-related news item out of San Francisco, California says that ``Warm currents from a growing El Nino effect have brought tropical and subtropical fish to the normally cold waters off northern California.''
Reproduced from Manila Bulletin, August 8, 1998