At this point in my life, I am having a hard time recalling exactly when I took this trip.  It would have been in 1962 or 1964.  So, I was about 12 or about 14.  My parents were missionaries in the Philippines.  We lived in the second largest Island, Mindanao.  Even then, the seeds of lawlessness which pervade that part of the country were there, never-the-less, it was somewhat of a fairyland in my mind.  I loved it!   One summer, I took a trip to Balut Island with Ken Marriott to visit the island where he worked as a translator.  While the drive took almost 13 hours, it was only a bit over 100 miles.  The highway was a wide gravel road where you drove in the middle except when passing.  At one point, the road was out for some reason.  We had to do a detour over a jungle mountain.  There might have been some sort of dirt road, but, I clearly recall the bus going in the mud up to its hubs.  The fact they got it out of the mud, going uphill, and got it over the mountain is a testament to the “Indomintable” spirit of the Philippinos.

We finally arrived in Cotabato City late in the evening and made arrangements to catch an outrigger canoe to go to Balut Island.  I am not sure how far out that was, but, the total trip was estimated at five to six hours.  We were leaving about 10 or 11 pm.  The canoe was about 25 feet long, two and a half to three feet wide and about 2 feet deep.  There was a bamboo cross piece about 1/3 of the way back and about 2/3 of the way back.  At the ends of the bamboo and about 10 feet or a bit more out on each side there was an outrigger made from a couple pieces of bamboo.  As most of the readers here are fishermen and women, I know you are seeing cane poles in your mind.  There are lots of kinds of bamboo.  Virtually 80 percent of several of the houses I lived in was made from about three or four kinds of bamboos.  In this case, the bamboo was about 5 to 6 inches thick and probably 30 feet long before being trimmed down for the outriggers.  About midway in the boat, there was a diesel inboard engine.  Sorry motorheads, I have no more information on that subject beyond it turned a propellor somewhere that made the outrigger canoe go.  The helmsman sat in the back and steered with a rudder.  

Well, we finally pushed off the sandy beach and headed out onto the flat, moonlit sea.  Soon, the combination of diesel fumes, the monotonous rocking of the boat and the steady hum of the engine lulled us all to sleep–likely including the helsman.  BANG! With a shuddering crash, we came to a halt.  As the moon had gone down and the sky was pitch black, a lantern was lit and we discovered we had ploughed through the outrigger of another canoe and our bow was nestled neatly on the side of their canoe.  Needless to say, There were four very unhappy Philippino men blaming each other for the accident.  Truth was, no one had lights on their boats and it was pitch black out.  After about 15 minutes, they parties resolved their differences and pushed apart.  Their outrigger was broken, ours had been knocked loose with the ratan lashingings broken.   So, I climed out on the far outrigger and one of the Philippino’s climed out and retied the broken lashings.  We continued on our way arriving at Balut Island as the sun was rising.  The end to a perfect night!

Here are the PS’s! 

#1.  The guys in the boat we hit had the hugest red snapper like fish I had ever seen.  Must have weighed 50 pounds or so. 

#2.  Looking at the map, we may actually have gone to General Santos vice Cotabato.  In my mind, it was Cotabato City, but looking at the map, because Balut island is just off the point of Mindanao, that makes more sense to me.

#3. Otherwise, this is all a true story, not just a fish tale.  For those, you need to get an Emmrod fishing system appropriate to your needs, head out into the wild, catch a few fish and send me an email with your fish stories!

Check out the Emmrod products at www.MyCountryhomes.com, www.Emmrodfun.com, www.Emmrodfunstore.com, www.EmmrodIdaho.com   Thanks for visiting us!  Dave