Saturday, Jan, 21.
In the morning wind was light and weather looked fair. As soon there was a decent light I took some pictures of the bass caught the night before. "The ship had made very little progress during the night. We decided to have breakfast and go fishing about 9 o'clock. Left the schooner about five miles off the land, sand steamed straight in towards the shore, We found a very extensive reef and just onside the reef a very varying bottom. Once or twice we had to make a sudden turn to avoid shallow water, It was rather dis-cancering at times, However, the water was beautifully, clear and the helmsman could-see falxly well. like fishing in deeper water all the same. It was a long time before we got a strike, X, was the first. He Janded a pompano very near the shore and we trolled round the small' bays in this Sicinity, a5 we had got past the reef before mentioned, and had come to Nin Bay, a very irregularly shaped bay with bluff headlands here and there. We had many rises. There were Yish everywhere but remed shy and would not take the spoon properly. At one place in ttle cove things were—different. This was on the north side of Nin Bay. I hooked a fish and whilst was in the act of reeling up as fast og he could another fish took his and then we had a fine time trying to Keep the lines clear. We landed them both however, as they were not very large.
At the head of this bay and dotted about here and there we saw several picturesque fishing villages, mostly engaged in fishing for small fish with corals, Some of these were very extensive, and in the villages, themselves, were large quantities of all fish'spread out to dry in the sun, X, says the fishing is poor, but T do not entirely agree as we have only tried one kind of bait, so there knowing what could be done with another fashion lure.
Returned to the schooner a long way out at sea with only five fish; 4 Poripano, and one bass about 20
Acrobatic Fish Sunday, Jan. 22, During the night it was quiet, not much wind. X. got a good night, T only slept at intervals. I was nerve ous for some reason or other, I think, born of instinct, Was glad when the time came to call Ramundo for coffees, The sea was rough for the amount of wind so I gathered from this there would be more very soon. The ship made little progress during the night and I did not take any special notice of the land, as we reckoned we surely would be up to Gate Island at daybreak. This was X's favourite] fishing place but we had made mistake and found we were 15 miles further down the const. I told my opinion (which turned out to be} right) and he said: "Then I tell you what, It is about 70 miles to get home, we had better fill up with gasoline and leave the schooner as} the steamer calls here on the 24th." I immediately agreed, as we could fish practically, all the way, We packed up and left the schooner at 7am, We started trolling in and out along the coast making our way jato Island. As soon as we got many strikes, but for some time, there was nothing doing. The island we were alongside} of when we commenced was marked on the-chart as Capaloco Island. There must have been some good fish dnd locality. I broke my line twice and X. once. They must have been big fish. Mine went like piece of cotton. On the way up] toward Gate we got seven fine fish, this was about 11.30. The island i about {six miles off shore and is nothing more than rock—very) desolate.
We had no sooner left the share and had about 7 or 8 fathoms of] water, than we got amongst some Darracuda, X. got @ beauty, and then another took his spoon and) went into the air with it about 20 feet and east the spopn. out, of his mouth in mid air, throwing it quite a distance from him. This was the!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.