ALBACORA 209 



this locality was to troll live fish — in this case oceanic 

 bonito. After an hour of trolling we had caught just 

 two of the local bonito. 



"Hook them through the back," Walt said. "They 

 stay alive indefinitely that way." 



We trolled them alive but before long we were neg- 

 lecting our own trolling to watch fragile Felipe fish 

 from a bongo. He stood in his boat between the Explorer 

 and the shoreline, and while we had seen no action 

 ourselves, Felipe had hooked a beautiful black marlin. 

 The bongo was equipped with a small sail, and as soon 

 as the marlin struck, Felipe knocked it down. Felipe 

 could now guide the bongo only by the shiftings of his 

 own slight body. 



"We aren't getting anything," I said. "Let's go over 

 and watch him." Lou and Walt were no less fascinated 

 than L 



As we closed in, we saw that the fish was considerably 

 longer than Felipe's boat. The marlin lunged repeat- 

 edly for the bongo, but somehow the boy kept his boat 

 free and clear. He held the angry marlin only on a 

 hand line but he pulled in swiftly hand over hand. The 

 marlin thrashed and dove and then took off. The boy 

 let the line slip out and then, although the friction must 

 have been enough to break his skin, he clamped his 

 palms shut. He held tight and the bongo jumped after 

 the marlin. Felipe kept his tight grip as the fish headed 

 out for deep water. 



