Feliciano Hernandez, left, poses for souvenir photo with his son Roberto, daughter-in-law Ma. Florida Hernandez and granddaughter Karen Gennibeth Hernandez before the trio get back to Palau from their 18-day vacation in 2009. Three months later, the jack of all trade Feliciano passed away. (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
CONTRASTING STYLE IN FISHING
My father, Feliciano, is jack of all trades (Master of
None). He is a farmer, who toils a 1-hectare farm, whose owner gets 30% of the
harvested rice grains (palay) while he gets 70% which is always enough for our
1 year consumption. He plants rice only once a year. Sometimes, twice a year
using a special variety of palay that grows faster in less time.
During
the non-season of planting, he used to convert the field into a fish fond with
no fingerlings of milk fish or tilapia fish. At this time, anybody can fish in
any farm for small fishes like tilapia. Some farmers who can afford to buy
fingerlings do so and any ‘entrepreneur’ who will fish there will notice it. In
the early 1970’s, that’s the trend: you can fish anywhere without asking
permission to the owner. Unlike now, all farms now are converted to fish, crab
and prawns/shrimps fond.
My
father is also a carpenter. When there is a project in Manila, he will go home
to us only once a week because the bus/jeep fare can’t be afforded because of
the distance.
He
is also a barber. We never experience going to barber shop for decades. Even at
age of 88 years, he was able to give me a haircut before he passed away at the
age of 92.
And
being a fisherman, we have a completely different style in fishing and how to
keep the catch. Whenever he caught a mud fish or a catfish, he always bent the
head of the fish so that it will die instantly and no chance to get away
especially the slippery mud fish. It’s better for him to have a dead fish than a
live one that might get away.
It’s
totally different with my style. All my catches, especially mud fish, that have
long lives, reach home all alive. One sunny day, I’m fishing with a “salakab”
(a fishing tool which is arc-shaped made of bamboo, which has a hole in the
middle to put arms to check the catch) in the half-hectare farm where the water
is about 4 inches deep. There are footsteps from water buffalo where the water
is cloudy. I Put my “salakab” there and check if there is a catch… there’s a
10-inch mud fish. I put it in my “suwiki” (a catch container made of bamboo
also). I tried all the water buffalo’s footsteps and caught about 70% from
those. My “suwiki” is almost full of live mud fish! In going home, many people
on the street ask how many did I catch. When I show them my catch, they are all
impress with the live mud fish still alive.
One
sunny morning, I fish with a “salambaw” or “saltod”, which is like a bigger
version of food cover made out of net to keep the food from being feasted by
house flies. But that fishing equipment is open at the front side so that when
you put it in a farm canal, all fish will be trapped at the other end.
When
I am about to wear my denim shorts, I put my right hand inside the back pocket.
I felt like I touch the pointed part of a needle. I pressed that finger so that
blood will come out but nothing comes out. There’s a different feeling about it
–I realized it was a sting of a small scorpion. I took off my denim short
pants, get a hammer and crushed the scorpion before going fishing.
I
put my “salambaw” in a farm canal next to my father’s farm. As I am walking to
chase some fish to it, I saw a very big mud fish swimming fast to my net trap,
the salambaw! I chase it for a few seconds and I saw a big “bounce” at the end
the net. When I caught it, I immediately go to a place where there is no water
that it can escape. It’s the biggest mud fish I ever caught! If my father caught
it, he will immediately kill the fish for ‘security’ so that it cannot get
away. But I keep it alive till I reach home.
One
time, I caught a catfish about half of the size of that big mud fish that I
caught. I know that it has some stinging fins on its left and right part of the
head so I took off my t-shirt and put it in my suwiki to avoid being stung by
it in which sometimes people will get fever by being stung by it.
One
time before harvest season of palay, I was asked by my father to pay a visit to
the farm. In going there, I brought our transistor radio with 2 size D
batteries. I put it on an AM radio station, where it played the Spanish song
“Eres Tu”. I was so carried away by the very good harmonious singing and
“sing-along” with it even though I don’t know the Spanish lyrics. It was one of
my first memories of being hooked to music during my teenage years.
There
is one time also that a childhood friend and I are both fishing using only
salakab. While walking on our way to fish where we thought we can catch a
variety of fish, we saw a big mud fish at a farm canal swimming fast. We looked
at each other with the same thing in mind… catch that mud fish! We decided to
split, I’m in front and he’s at the back. At the same time, we ‘nailed’ our
salakab at the exact place where our instincts thought the mud fish will be. We
looked at both sides to see if it got away. We see no trace of mud fish swimming
so we started to put our arms inside our salakab to see if either of us caught
it. To our surprise, it’s not inside his or in mine! After a short confusion, I
realize it’s in the middle of our salakab and I’m not mistaken! I’ve got it!
And as usual, I bring it home alive.
After
every harvest of palay, my father will have the farm fill with water about
thigh deep. That’s the time for the shrimp to breed and some tilapia fish and
mud fish to enjoy the ‘freedom’ to swim for a few months. But it’s not totally
free with me around. I made a spear gun and climb on acasia tree and waited for
mud fish to ‘get’ some air once in a while where it will float for a few seconds
to get some oxygen and release a bubble or two. My spear gun has a string
attach to the arrow. At that time, I can’t find a straight bamboo as my arrow
and I used a straight piece of wood and meticulously shaped it round so that it
will fit my spear gun. But the problem is, there is a small part where there is
a little hole where a nail pierced it. When I hit one mud fish, it swam away and
the arrow was snapped. I can still see the half end of the spear still attach
to the head part of the mud fish.
Source: Music and Me
By Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
March 15, 2012 -- April 2013
http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
April 2013--November 05, 2015
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