among the people who fish irregularly in our town is mang donio, a police officer. he actually fishes as a hobby, and to 'keep up with the joneses', too, because almost every self-respecting man in our community fish for food. mang donio owns a motorized banca that he uses once in a while to fish for mackerel, among many fishes that may be targeted, and he knows where the mackerel fishing points are.

anyway, one night he went fishing for mackerel in his boat. upon reaching the fishing site, he lighted up his gas mantle lamp to draw in photomorphic baitfishes, and prepared his lines. he has brought with him a few kilos of chilled horse mackerel as preliminary bait, and used two for his two handlines. the baitfish is normally just hooked once at the tail portion or the mouth area, and then let out at a certain depth. most times small sinker bars are used to keep the bait at the proper depth.

so he has laid out two lines and there is nothing left but to wait for a strike. at about nine in the evening, he had a strike, and therefore pulled in the other line immediately. playing the fish which he estimated to be about 8-10 kilos, he played out line. unfortunately, that particular line was the shorter one, around 200 meters only and 200 pounds strength. just as he recalled that the line was not tied to its reel, the line played all out and he was grabbing empty air. a waste! a waste of good fish and good line, was all he can think of. a price to pay for forgetting to tie the line to its reel.

not totally discouraged, he cast out again his remaining line without a sinker, hoping the the one that got away has its companions lurking nearby. but alas! for hours, not a strike, nor even a nibble. he was growing despondent, but stuck on because he wants to bring something home, even if only baitfishes. from afar he can hear some fish splashing, jumping and making noise, but it is far, and jumping fish do not normally bite a baited line.

getting sleepy, he started pulling in his remaining single line out to check the bait. he felt some heaviness in the line and assumed some floating weed or debris must have caught in the hook. as he pulled the leader in he saw that caught in the hook was another line! aha! he said, sorry for the guy who lost this line and lucky me! now i have two lines again. so he started pulling in the new line, and also felt something heavy at the end somewhere.

then he suddenly recognized the line as his own! it was the line he inadvertently and stupidly let go by not tying the end to the reel! very much excited, he pulled in faster, and lo! and behold, at the end of the line was a dead 8-kilo mackerel! the fish got itself tangled up in the line when it ran to and fro trying to lose it, that it got tired and died. meanwhile mang donio's single line snagged the other. so not only has he recovered his lost line, but also his catch! he was ecstatic, naturally, and let out a whoop of no mean intensity, grinning ear to ear.

well, his story got told around the circle that included me, and thus i am relating it to you. incredible as it may seem, this really happened, and the mackerel's tail adorned the mast of his banca for a long time. until it rotted out, it was reminder of the very happy, once in a several million coincidence in our fishing lives.