Night fishing on the Nam Non River

(Baonghean) - On rainy days, the Nam Non River turns red. The receding water leaves behind dry tree stumps lying scattered on both banks.On a dugout canoe, we followed the Ky Son people (Nghe An) to fish all night on the Nam Non river...

One afternoon in May, we suggested to the Vice Chairman of My Ly Commune (Ky Son) Luong Van Bay that we want to go down to Nam Non to see the scenery. Mr. Bay smiled and said: "Then let's go on a night fishing trip to see". After saying that, he called his nephew Vi Van Binh from Hoa Ly to go with us. After 30 minutes of preparation, with drinking water, flashlights, wine... we set off when it was just getting dark.

Check the king sentence.

It was the low water season so the river sections through Hoa Ly village or Mai Son commune (Tuong Duong) were extremely difficult. The most dangerous was when the boat crossed the rapids, the water surged up and swirled as if wanting to sweep everything into the waves. The 25-year-old Vi Van Binh had firm and muscular muscles, just like a mountain man. While steering the dugout canoe, he shouted loudly when the boat reached the rapids: "Everyone, sit tight." We had to go through a scary time, the boat crossed the rapids, the water surged into our bodies in waves as if we were about to sink. Binh just laughed, took out a bucket to scoop out the water with an unusually calm expression. He said that from here to the fishing spot it would take nearly another hour, this was the biggest waterfall and the other waterfalls were not to worry about. Hearing that, we felt much more confident.

The place we stopped was a bamboo raft used as a resting place for fishermen in Hoa Ly village. This is the border area between Mai Son and Nhon Mai communes (Tuong Duong). On the raft, there were two brothers of Vice Chairman Luong Van Bay, Vi Van Tuan and Luong Van Cuong, who had been "camped" here for several years. The two brothers had become experienced fish hunters on this river with many waterfalls and rapids. They chose the river as their living space, on this bamboo raft, they became "the freest people on earth" and their joy was spending nights on this river with heavy nets. Only when they ran out of rice and food or on holidays and Tet would they go ashore.

We were treated to a “fish feast” on the raft by Tuan and Cuong. There were all kinds of fresh fish dishes just caught from the river: grilled fish, boiled fish, fish in sour soup… When we started to sit at the table, people from other fishing boats also gathered to join in the fun. The sound of laughter echoed throughout the river.

As the night got later, the cold began to set in. I secretly envied the two men who lived a carefree life on the bamboo raft because there was nothing more enjoyable than sipping a glass of wine with fresh river fish, in the cool breeze. Under the raft, the anchovies saw the light and swam around densely. I asked: "Why are there so many fish here but you don't catch them?" Everyone laughed and said: "How many people here eat this kind of fish, there are so many bones. There were times when I threw the net at once and caught hundreds of fish, but I didn't know what to do with them when I brought them home, they sold for 2,000 VND/kg so no one caught them." I took the basket that was next to me and quickly reached down to scoop them up, the anchovies scattered and ran in all directions, leaving only a few jumping around in the basket. This kind of fish is extremely cunning, you can only trick them to catch them once, but after that you can't catch them because they won't appear in that area again.

Night fishing on the Nam Non River.

The fun ended at 9pm so everyone could rest and prepare for the fishing trip in the early morning. Before going to bed, Mr. Vi Van Tuan told us to set the alarm clock at 3am. The night on the Nam Non River was unusually quiet. The sound of waves lapping against the boat, and occasionally a few fish splashing vigorously, dispelled the silence between the four sides of the river.

At exactly 3am, everyone got up to prepare to collect the nets and watch the fishing. Many households on the river had their lights on. People would go to the place where their nets were cast to collect them. There was absolutely no way one person would go to watch another person's net. This had become an unwritten rule among the fishermen in this river area.

Mr. Tuan and Mr. Cuong stood on a small raft, the remaining boat was given to us to row along. Each person carried a flashlight and a styrofoam box upstream of Nam Non. The place where the nets were dropped was not far from the raft, so rowing the boat was not too difficult for us. There were about ten fishing nets that the two men dropped from one side of the river to the other, each net was about 60 - 80 m long. When they reached their net locations, the two people stood at either end and pulled the net up. The fish caught in the nets were still struggling to escape, but the more they struggled, the more they got entangled in the nets.

Old fisherman Vi Van Viet (Hoa Ly village) was collecting the net nearby and shared: “Retrieving the net is not as difficult as removing the fish from the net. Carelessness will cause the fish to die or fall into the river immediately. This job is also very interesting, some lucky days you can catch a lot of fish, some days you can only get a few kilos. Also in this river section, last year I caught a catfish weighing nearly 13 kg. Just one fish like that is enough to make me happy”. Mr. Binh stopped removing the net, pointed to the dry trees still floating on the lake surface and said that last year in the same place, he caught nearly ten “giant” catfish. The heaviest one was over 8 kg. The price of catfish brought to Muong Xen town is over 400,000 VND/kg. Most of the fishermen on the Nam Non river have known about this fishing profession since the Ban Ve Hydropower Reservoir was built, and their family life mainly depends on income from fish.

A fish caught in the net

After collecting all the nets, everyone continued to check the king line. This is a type of fishing line with hundreds of hooks tens of meters long that are dropped down to catch large fish. Mr. Vi Van Tuan said: "This type of fishing line catches less fish than nets, but when it does, it is all big fish and special fish such as scorpion, catfish, and bream. A few days ago, Mr. Lo Vong Kham in Xang Tren village also caught a 25 kg bream with this line." However, today, dozens of his fishing lines were unlucky, only a few fish were caught but no "giant" fish. "That's the way of fishing, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't," Mr. Tuan confided.

The fishing trip ended at nearly 7am. At this time, on the river, the merchants' boats coming to buy fish were much busier. The fish were divided into many types for the merchants to choose from. It was also a rule that the fish from this raft belonged to any merchant who could come and take them, no one could compete with anyone else. The price of the catfish, tilapia, and dam fish was 30,000 VND/kg, the price of eel, loach, and small catfish was higher, the price of the big specialty fish was even higher. Each merchant went through the river to buy about 20-30 kg and then returned.

Traders come to buy fish.

The sun was high in the sky, the dugout canoe took us back to Hoa Ly wharf. The Nam Non river surface began to heat up, the fishermen returned to rest after a night of soaking in the water waiting for a new fishing session…

Dao Tho - Ho Phuong