FISHING THE PACIFIC 



One of the biggest laughs we got was when we were hitting 

 the big marlin and swordfish over the head with persuaders 

 which we employ to knock out the fish before hauKng them 

 aboard the boat. The men would simply howl, particularly 

 when I suggested that the M.P.'s or S.P.'s couldn't have 

 handled those clubs any better. 



In the Chilean picture there was a 390-pound swordfish 

 being boated. When I would say that was the smallest we 

 caught on the trip, the men would all yell, "Throw him 

 back." But all of them were in general beautifully behaved 

 and during the entire forty-odd performances we put on 

 only one or two were ejected, probably because they'd had 

 a trifle too much beer. 



There are no fresh-water fish in the Philippines, with the 

 exception of one species called the "mudfish," which is just 

 what its name implies. But there are of course many salt- 

 water species around the islands and some good catches have 

 been made. Pacific sailfish are in the South China Sea and one 

 was taken off the Island of Palawan while I was there, and 

 another lost. I fished off Cebu and there were good catches 

 made of oceanic bonitos along with several species of tuna 

 and big mackerel. 



The wahoo is the crack game fish to be taken around the 

 Philippines, and wahoos were quite plentiful off the Island of 

 Samar, where the Navy had built a magnificent base provided 

 with all manner of repair facilities. The boats the men were 

 using for fishing couldn't be worse for the purpose, but there 

 was nothing else available. I fished the Surigao Straits where 

 Admiral Kincaid's fleet of old battleships under Admiral 

 Oldendorf crossed the T with the Japanese fleet which came 



190 



