We finally caught a big one each. I caught a five-foot, 38 pound giant barracuda (or rompe candado) at about 10:00 a.m. northeast of Fuga Island (the big one) on a 30 pd. line. The world record is 41 pounds. I am shy 3 pounds of the record but I am content. It is the biggest caught here and it may be the Philippine record. We are checking.
Ambassador [Henry] Byroade caught a 28 pound talakitock or jack at about 8:30 AM North or Fuga Island (the big one) on an 80 pound line.
We started off at 5:00 AM although I woke up at 3:20 AM having gone to sleep at 11:00 PM last night. But had to send for Conrad Antonio and Al Lim who slept a[t] Fuga while we slept at Barit.
I caught the first fish, a rainbow runner or sea salmon at about 6:00 AM. It was one in a school of hundreds of rainbow runners. It had a blue stripe at the middle of the side but the stripes disappeared when we arrived at the beach house at 11:30 AM.
This was west of Mabag and Barit. We had gone there guided by Conrad Antonio.
Incidentally I saw the giant shaped rocks on the south west shore of Mabag. The waves had cut into the rocks a few meters inland so that the lower portion of the rocks were eroded into figures like tree trunks while the upper portion were mushroom shaped and on top of them were green moss and lichens or small plants so that the whole top looked like tree foliage. These rocks are two meters high.
We then went back through the channel between the islands of Barit and Mabag and north through the channel between Fuga and Mabag.
After the strike of Ambassador Byroade’s talakitok, I hooked a smaller barracuda, we then let David Winnie [Wynne-] Morgan of BBC and London Times reel in a tuna so that he could go to Manila before noon and take his plane to London tonight.
I am glad I left Manila because today ex-Pres. [Diosdado] Macapagal in a letter for publicity (I say for publicity because I have not received the letter and yet it is already published in the media) asked me not to intervene in the Con Con [Constitutional Convention] elections. He claims that he has heard of my support for him. [Francisco] Kits Tatad issued a statement that I am not supporting him or anybody else. And that I am staying away precisely because I am neutral.
No Official Gazette entry for this day.
This noon we celebrated Linda Byroade’s birthday. She is the 6 year old daughter of Amb. Byroade and [Jitka Byroade].