Canoeing through the canals in U Minh Ha forest, Mr. Le Van Dang, a native of Tran Van Thoi district (Ca Mau) ordered 50 eels, the next day he dumped nearly 4kg, earning 1 million dong. In addition, he also put snake stick, snakehead fish.
At 4:00 pm, Mr. Le Van Dang (78 years old) brought 50 bamboo tubes into the dinghy and swam into the canals in the forest of U Minh Ha, choosing the grasses and sedges to place the eels. While ordering, Mr. Dang also took advantage of ordering more fish and snakes.
“People usually put a bunch of old reeds or old grasses because there are many eels there. When placing shelters must look at the wind direction; waters and determine where there are more or less eels. When laying, the tube must have a moderate slope. The mouth is submerged into the water from 10-25cm and the tail must lie on the surface of the water so that the eels “run” in without being overwhelmed.
In particular, the person placing the shelter must know how to clear the channel for the eels to enter and know how to cover the “camouflage” grass to cover the mouth of the shelter to create a natural environment for the eels to enter,” Mr. Dang revealed.
The old farmer has more than 30 years in the field of locating in the U Minh Ha area, adding that the profession of catching field eels was formed very early in the West in general and Ca Mau in particular.
People choose old, straight, long bamboos and slang (slightly eyes) to make bamboo tubes. The piece of bamboo used to make bamboo shoots is 1m long, indented for drainage, leaving only the last eye at the tail.
The tail has a vent hole, when the eel comes in, there is air to breathe. Particularly, the mouth of the pot has 1 homie like a fish skewer. Hom trum is made of old bamboo slats, thinly sharpened, knitted with bamboo wire. The more polished the hops, the more “sensitivity” of the eel.
“Planning to “run” a lot of eels or not also depends a lot on cuttings. There is a saying “fish dies in the net, eels die in bait”, so the bait must be attractive to attract eels, especially large eels. In addition, each person has a “remedy” to order their own eel, but almost everyone uses pureed dead fish to create a fishy smell …”, Mr. Dang shared.
“In the past, there were a lot of fierce eels in the U Minh Ha forest. Ordered a session with more than 10kg of sticky rice without any medicine, just cooked the fish and then wrapped it up,” Mr. Dang added.
The hoard is usually placed the previous afternoon, and then “unloaded” the next morning. Sometimes the tubes are full of “terrible” eels.
“In the U Minh Ha forest, fresh water is available all year round and there are many eels, so every pipe is sticky. There are tubers that stick to 3-4 children. The sticky eels are usually big eels, yellow belly, black back and delicious fat,” Mr.
While laughing, Mr. Dang added: “Today, “lost”, eels can only stick to nearly 4kg. Each kg of eel sold to traders is 250,000 -300,000 VND, even 1 million when collected. Order stronger eels. go to work.”
While collecting eels, Mr. Dang also took advantage of visiting to order fish. “Today, ignoring “running” a few snakeheads and snakes,” Mr. Dang boasted.
Field eel is a specialty of the West. Eel can be processed many delicious and very nutritious dishes such as hot pot, stir-fried with lemongrass and chili, stir-fried with rolls, braised eel with cilantro or sour soup.