Category Archives: Uncategorized
Exciting News!
Do you love fishing? Do you love the Philippines? We are looking for a motivated individual to join our team at Fishing the Philippines! This is a great way to earn money while doing something you love!
What we are looking for:
A team minded individual based in the Philippines who can research and write content for our website. Ideally this person would be a college graduate, with excellent communication skills in both English and at least one of the many dialects of the Philippines.
What to Do:
If this sounds like you, please send your resume to: benaiah.fogle@gmail.com
We will review your resume and get back to you with the next step.
Great News!!
It is exciting to see sport fishing continue to grow in popularity in the Philippines! We are looking for contributors willing to send us articles, photos and ads in order to keep the content up to date on our site. Please feel free to contact us at our email: benaiah.fogle@gmail.com
Tight Lines!
Benaiah Fogle
Editor in Chief
Caliraya Snakehead
Striped Snakehead fish caught in Lake Caliraya
Lake Caliraya is most well known for its Largemouth Bass, but it also is home to many other species including the Striped Snakehead. Last week some friends and I took a little road trip out there for some fishing and though we were unsuccessful in landing any bass, we did manage to land three decent sized snakeheads. All three were caught on texas rigged curly tail worms that were a red/violet color.
It was interesting to note that all three fish were caught over a 30 minute period while fishing at sunrise. We had fished a couple hours the previous afternoon with no luck. The bite was on however the next morning.
We also noticed another fisherman there at the lake who had landed a large Knifefish. It was my first time to see a knife fish in Caliraya, but apparently they had made their way into that lake and are already established.
These two snakehead hit the culy tail worms that we were reeling slowly along the bottom
Needlefish ( Balo )
Had a successful morning spearfishing, landing my largest Needlefish to date. This monster weighed in at 2.4 kilograms! Needlefish are abundant here in the waters of the Philippines and can grow to enormous size. Here in Cebu we see schools of them in shallow water especially following around schools of small bait fish. Here in Cebu they have a reputation of being a dangerous fish because of their tendency to leap out of the water when spooked or when chasing bait fish. Their hard bony bill acts as a sort of spear head as they hurtle through the air and can inflict serious damage and even death on unsuspecting fishermen or boaters. Their teeth as well are incredibly sharp. It is not uncommon for needlefish to snap at your hand when you handle them. That is one of the reasons I started using cut resistant dyneema gloves when spearfishing, to avoid bites and scratches when I place these guys on the stringer.
Needlefish are actually a pretty good food fish. They have a strong fishy smell when caught which can be a turn off, however their meat is a white and flakey and is quite delicious when grilled, used in Kinilaw (something like ceviche) or used in soup. Larger needlefish can be filleted and the skin removed, this produces fillets of flakey white meat similar to mackerel.
Chinaman Snapper ( Symphorus nematophorus )
Common Name: Snapper, Chinaman Fish, Chinaman Cod
Local Name: Maya-Maya (Tagalog);
Max Size: 100 cm (14 kgs)
Biodiversity: Saltwater
Depth: 15 – 100 meters
Fishing Season: All Year Long
Minimum Size Limit: None
Recommended Bait/Lures: Shrimp, Crabs, small fish, lures, small jigs
IUCN Red List Status: (LC) Least Concern
Here is a species of snapper that can be found around the Philippines. It is fairly uncommon however in terms of how often it is caught. These pics were sent to us from Patrick in Palawan who caught this fish while spearfishing. If you have ever caught a fish like this or if you have any information regarding this species please contact us. 
Back Online!
Some of you may have noticed that our site was down for about a month recently. No, this did not have to do with our incredibly slow internet here in the Philippines 😀 We had a small issue with the domain renew, but we are happy to announce that we are back and looking forward to posting more helpful fishy content! 😀
You mean a lot to us and so please do feel free to contact us and share you experience fishing here in the Philippines or abroad. We still have plenty of fish species to add to our site here so if you happen to catch a fish here that is not listed please email us and let us know. We would love to feature you and your catch and add it to the database here.
Tight Lines and God Bless!
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FTP Magazine 2017 issue!
Latest issue of our FTP magazine is posted. Check the FTP Magazine page on the bar above to download your free copy today 🙂 Happy Reading!
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Largemouth Bass ( Micropterus salmoides )
Large Mouth Bass
Common Name: Bass, Black Bass, LMB
Local Name: Tawis (Tagalog); ?? (Cebuano)
Max Size: 97 cm (10.1 kgs)
Biodiversity: Freshwater (introduced)
Depth: Surface – 7 meters
Fishing Season: All Year Long
Minimum Size Limit: 12 inches
Recommended Bait/Lures: Shrimp, small fish, worms, lures
IUCN Red List Status: (LC) Least Concern
Largemouth Bass were introduced into the Philippines at the turn of the century by Americans who wanted to propagate a sport and food fish in the islands. The bass were successfully stocked into lakes Lumot and Caliraya, two hydroelectric reservoirs in Laguna. Later bass were also seeded in the Pantabangan reservoir in Nueva Escija.
Bass have done well in the country though confined mainly to these three lakes. They remain a top angling species for anglers on the island of Luzon.
Due to the challenging terrain around all three reservoirs, most angler fish for bass from boats. Bass can be caught all year round though the best time of year to fish for them are the months of March to May.
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Philippines Record:
(This is the largest largemouth bass caught in the Philippines on rod and reel that FTP has received record of to date. If you know of one larger please contact us.)
4.58 kgs Caught in Pantabangan Reservoir, Nueva Escija in 2007 by Annie Gonzales.
FTP Newsletter
Have you enjoyed following our website? Starting soon we will be adding a newsletter to our site which we will be emailing quarterly to anyone interested in additional infomation about fishing in the Philippines. We plan to feature various fish species, fishing techniques and destinations around the country as well as add some additional tips and tricks. There will also be a brag board where we post photos from our followers from that quarter.
If you would like to receive the FTP (Fishing The Philippines) newsletter, please let us know via email at:
Benaiah.fogle@gmail.com
We welcome your comments suggestions and involvement in our website as we seek to promote sport fishing in the Philippines and teach the next generation how we can preserve and enjoy our waters and what’s in them!
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Dipolog City Fishing Ordinance
FTP would like to highlight progress in the country that is being made to protect the waters of the country as well as to promote sport fishing. Dipolog City in Mindanao is making great progress in this area. One such step forward was the passing a Barangay ordinance in the city’s central Barangay that established a 100 meter No Net Zone around the city’s breakwater. The breakwater is one of Dipolog’s prime sport fishing destinations where anglers can catch many species of saltwater and brackish water fish. Among these are the elusive Freshwater Snapper, known locally as Tandungan, Black Snapper, Mangrove Snapper, Rabbitfish, Tarpon along with many others. The breakwater sits at the mouth of the Dipolog River and is under the jurisdiction of the city’s central barangay.
This ordinance was passed in 2006 while Angler and Tackle shop Owner Kenny Ong was the Barangay Captain. The ordinance not only protects the anglers breakwater but also serves to minimize conflict between anglers and net fishermen. Since its passing in 2006 this ordinance has been enforced and the breakwater has been protected against illegal net fishing within its 100 meter no net zone. Because of this the Dipolog Breakwater has continued to be a prime sport fishing spot with the many Dipolog Anglers having caught prize fish since the establishment of the ordinance.
Steps like this are invaluable to the sport fishing community here in the Philippines as they help protect and promote healthy fishing practices. FTP would like to see more anglers partner with LGUs around the country to implement and enforce initiatives like this one. Hopefully in the near future anglers together with the LGUs can enforce such laws as the no electrofishing law in streams and rivers, as well as begin initiatives like a fish stocking programs to help increase the number of gamefish in rivers and lakes throughout the country. We hope that this will be an inspiration to you and also remind you that you can make a difference.
Do you know of any similar ordinances or work that is going on in your area? Let us know and we will highlight it and bring more awareness!
Below are attached copies of the documents for those interested in reading more on this:
Fishing The Philippines 