Friday night in Taiwan meant another amazing chance to do something new and tonight we went for Shrimp Fishing! It was only 150 Taiwan Dollars!
The shrimp fishing was a bit difficult to find at first - a shy hidden venue. But once we found it and got inside it was excellent. A great experience. Firstly we got our rods and a few beers then we sat down ready to catch them. Every one you catch, you get to eat!
At the counter we paid 150 dollars each for the pleasure of shrimp fishing. There are no hidden costs or extras. If you catch 20 fish, you can cook and eat them there and then, or even take them away with you. This cost included a fishing rod (pick your own), a small bag of bait (wee fish), the seat where you want to sit, a net to put the ones you catch, and as much time as you want sitting by the pool trying to catch shrimps. Whether you catch one or 31 its the same price. And after that you put them on a skewer and grill them yourself before eating them!
The Taiwan beer was flowing as it did in most of my time in the country. 2 of our mates, David and Binh were already there and had caught a few shrimps already! The trick is not to use too much fish for bait and the shrimp can also sometimes eat the bait without becoming fodder.
As Neil and I sipped on beer we realised this was some kind of random night that would be remembered. I knew it was special. I had never been fishing before, of any description and here we were fishing for Shrimps in the city of Shinying! Looking into the murky green water you could see the shrimps. The owner of the centre obviously fill the water up with shrimps to ensure we catch them. Where there were bubbles there were shrimps basically and we moved our rods accordingly.
It was a simple process. Feel the shrimp tugging on the bait, pull your rod up, grab the shrimp and put it in the net and you've caught it! Next step to cook it!
Neil caught his first one and I thought I was next but it appeared the shrimp had taken my bait and eaten it and swam away. I was out of luck!
Then a shrimp was tugging on the bait and I pulled it up, but felt the shrimp get away. It was exciting stuff. A bit of skill and luck is needed. Soon though a shrimp was tugging again on my rod and I slowly pulled it up to see a large pinky orangey white ugly sea creature on the end of my rod. I pulled it in and was very happy to have caught one. The job wasn't done yet though. I then had to hold the shrimp and remove the hook. It proved tricky to hold the shrimp, it was fighting with its pincers and I dropped it on the ground, though it was still attached to the hook. I had no problem pulling the hook out of its mouth - it came straight away with a short tug. Then I held on without dropping the slippy shrimp and placed it in the net. On that note I retired! I had done what I wanted - CAUGHT A SHRIMP!
We caught around 10 between us in the end which was good for first timers - but the locals seem to catch a lot more - it's like a local sport or obsession and they're good at it! Now that was out of the way,we settled on another beer and cooking our shrimps!
To cook them just grill them on both sides and it's fast - between 10 and 20 minutes. They were quite big and of course we shared them and ate them with just salt but you can get all sorts of dishes and side orders to eat them with. All in all this is a fantastic way to spend a Friday evening in Shinying - Taiwan!!
The shrimp fishing was a bit difficult to find at first - a shy hidden venue. But once we found it and got inside it was excellent. A great experience. Firstly we got our rods and a few beers then we sat down ready to catch them. Every one you catch, you get to eat!
At the counter we paid 150 dollars each for the pleasure of shrimp fishing. There are no hidden costs or extras. If you catch 20 fish, you can cook and eat them there and then, or even take them away with you. This cost included a fishing rod (pick your own), a small bag of bait (wee fish), the seat where you want to sit, a net to put the ones you catch, and as much time as you want sitting by the pool trying to catch shrimps. Whether you catch one or 31 its the same price. And after that you put them on a skewer and grill them yourself before eating them!
The Taiwan beer was flowing as it did in most of my time in the country. 2 of our mates, David and Binh were already there and had caught a few shrimps already! The trick is not to use too much fish for bait and the shrimp can also sometimes eat the bait without becoming fodder.
As Neil and I sipped on beer we realised this was some kind of random night that would be remembered. I knew it was special. I had never been fishing before, of any description and here we were fishing for Shrimps in the city of Shinying! Looking into the murky green water you could see the shrimps. The owner of the centre obviously fill the water up with shrimps to ensure we catch them. Where there were bubbles there were shrimps basically and we moved our rods accordingly.
It was a simple process. Feel the shrimp tugging on the bait, pull your rod up, grab the shrimp and put it in the net and you've caught it! Next step to cook it!
Neil caught his first one and I thought I was next but it appeared the shrimp had taken my bait and eaten it and swam away. I was out of luck!
Then a shrimp was tugging on the bait and I pulled it up, but felt the shrimp get away. It was exciting stuff. A bit of skill and luck is needed. Soon though a shrimp was tugging again on my rod and I slowly pulled it up to see a large pinky orangey white ugly sea creature on the end of my rod. I pulled it in and was very happy to have caught one. The job wasn't done yet though. I then had to hold the shrimp and remove the hook. It proved tricky to hold the shrimp, it was fighting with its pincers and I dropped it on the ground, though it was still attached to the hook. I had no problem pulling the hook out of its mouth - it came straight away with a short tug. Then I held on without dropping the slippy shrimp and placed it in the net. On that note I retired! I had done what I wanted - CAUGHT A SHRIMP!
We caught around 10 between us in the end which was good for first timers - but the locals seem to catch a lot more - it's like a local sport or obsession and they're good at it! Now that was out of the way,we settled on another beer and cooking our shrimps!
To cook them just grill them on both sides and it's fast - between 10 and 20 minutes. They were quite big and of course we shared them and ate them with just salt but you can get all sorts of dishes and side orders to eat them with. All in all this is a fantastic way to spend a Friday evening in Shinying - Taiwan!!
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