Famous eel killer in rice field district

(Baonghean.vn)- When talking about Yen Thanh district (Nghe An), everyone in the eel hunting and trading community knows about Tran Van Than (also known as Than Hoi). He is considered by the district's eel traders as the "killer" of freshwater eels.

Go fishing since age 12

Coming to Yen Thanh rice district, asking eel hunters and traders about Mr. Tran Van Than (born in 1980, residing in Trung Nam hamlet, Hau Thanh commune), everyone "took off their hats". He is famous for his eel hunting profession and is considered by everyone as a "killer". Thanks to eels, his family has become well-off, with enough food and savings.

Eel "killer" Tran Van Than.

Mr. Than is the youngest son in a family of 3 children. When he was 2 years old, he lost his mother, and his family was always in a state of hunger. His two older sisters finished 5th grade and then dropped out of school to help their father. Mr. Than also finished 6th grade, but because he saw that his family could not support him to continue his studies, he stopped studying. At the age of 12, he started earning a living by catching eel tubes (also known as catching traps).

Since he was 12 years old, Mr. Than has been attached to the bamboo and eel for 25 years. “There are 30 days in a month, so I almost never miss a day. I have to do everything to catch eels. In fact, the eel catching profession has become “ingrained in my blood”. If I don’t catch eels for a day, I feel like something is missing, I can’t eat well, I can’t sleep well. As long as I have good health and can still walk, I will continue this profession,” Mr. Than shared.

Secret to 'luring' eels

To lure eels into the trap is a laborious process but also requires the person setting the trap to be very skillful. In other words, it is no different from 'laying out troops' so that the eels will obediently enter the trap.

The first step is to choose and design the trap. The eel trap is mainly made from bamboo, about 50-70cm long depending on whether it is shallow or deep, and one end is cut off to make a door for the eels to enter.

“The traps must not be too dry or too fresh, otherwise the eels will not enter or if they do, they will not be productive. If you release the traps every day, you should change the traps once a month to achieve the best productivity. The door cover must be changed twice before replacing with a new trap,” Mr. Than shared his experience in choosing traps.

In addition to the technical factors of making traps, the skill of choosing bait and how to release the traps is the decisive factor in luring eels into the traps. Yen Thanh people have a saying: "Fish are attracted to the traps, eels are intoxicated by the bait". Accordingly, to lure eels into the traps, bait is a very important factor. Eels like the fishy smell and their "favorite" dish is earthworms, so the bait is mostly chosen from this type of insect.

Every day, Mr. Than places about 400 bamboo tubes.

“In the past, finding bait was very difficult and time-consuming, but recently, it only takes about 20 minutes to have enough bait for about 400 traps. The simplest way is to use dishwashing liquid mixed with water. Then, choose a spot of land where worms dig nests and pour it on it. After a minute, you can catch them without having to dig, wasting time and effort. After catching the earthworms, chop them up, rub them on the trap door, and then release them. A special thing is that the earthworms must be alive. If the worms are dead and used as bait, they will smell bad and the eels will not enter,” Mr. Than shared how to find bait for the traps.

Choosing the release location is also a process of gaining experience. Therefore, not everyone can release the trap and release it in the right place where there are eels. With 25 years of experience in eel hunting, Mr. Than shared: “You have to choose a place with moss to release the trap, there will definitely be eels and big eels there. However, puddles with eel moss rarely live there and no matter how good the bait is, releasing the trap there will rarely get eels. Release the trap in the ditch to get bigger eels than in the rice field.

However, in places with large water flows, you should not put the traps down because the eels will not be able to get into the traps. If you put the traps in canals, the water must be just right to put the traps down; if the water is too big or too small, the eels will not go looking for food. If you choose a rice field to put the traps down, the water level should be around 10-15cm, which will attract more eels than in small rice fields or stagnant water. One taboo is to absolutely not let the water flood the ventilation ditches, otherwise the eels will suffocate.

In addition to going out to release fish, after harvesting the fields, Mr. Than often catches eels by hand. For him, just seeing an eel nest, he can put his finger in and take the eel out as easily as taking something out of his pocket.

"Change skin, change flesh" thanks to eel

Thanks to the eel, Mr. Tran Van Than's family, from being poor, if not struggling to make ends meet, has now "changed their skin" thanks to the eel.

Eel is voted as one of the 10 indispensable specialties for anyone who knows Nghe An. Recently, eel has become an indispensable specialty in restaurants and hotels.

With the characteristic of eels preferring to live in low-lying areas, eels grow very quickly in Yen Thanh. Not only Mr. Than but many people in this area have become rich thanks to eels. However, eels in this central rice granary are never out of stock.

“Every night, with 400 eel tubes, I catch 8-12kg of eels, sometimes up to 15kg. If I import unprocessed eels, 1kg costs 130,000 VND. After processing and cleaning, 1kg of eels costs 160,000 VND. Like that, every night I earn over 1 million VND,” said Mr. Than.

After each night he caught over 100kg of eels.

Thanks to the eels, Mr. Than was able to build two rows of houses, buy motorbikes, televisions, refrigerators, tractors, plows, nearly ten buffaloes, and two wedding tents for rent. With enough money, Mr. Than also deposited the remaining money in the bank. Mr. Than also revealed that his family is planning to buy a harvester to rent out for profit.

If before, we had to import or have traders come to buy, now, Ms. Ha (Mr. Than's wife) has processed it herself and brought it to the market to sell, which not only has a higher price, but also increases the family's income and creates a job. "Every morning, there are more than a hundred thousand eels, but by noon, the market is sold out. Sometimes, we even have to collect eels from other people who release traps, but they are all sold out early.

People trust and buy my eels because Mr. Than makes them himself, they are real eels. Moreover, during the selling process, because I am not a trader, I can add or subtract a little bit, so customers are very happy to buy. In addition, by-products such as bones, heads, and tails of eels also create conditions for poultry farming development, so they grow very quickly, Ms. Ha happily said.

With the current price of eel at 130,000 VND/kg, Mr. Than earns over 1 million VND per night.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Linh - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Hau Thanh commune said: Mr. Than's family is a typical example of household economic development. From catching eels, Mr. Than has become visibly rich. From lacking food and clothing, he now has a spacious house, has enough food and savings, and buys enough household items.

Le Dinh Quyet