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!
It cost 150 Taiwan Dollars - no extras or hidden costs - you catch a shrimp you eat it - so if you are good at it you will be able to eat a feast!! You get a rod, a small bag of bait and you pay extra for a beer.
Neil and I also had a Taiwan Beer in there, this alone cost 100 dollars, almost the same price as unlimited shrimp fishing. My goal at the start of the night was simple - I just wanted to catch at least one shrimp that was all. When we arrived at the seats next to David and Binh, they had already caught 2 shrimps. Binh was doing well and caught another one while I was getting my bait ready. Basically there are two hooks, and you can attach as little or as much fish bait to each hook as you want. The problem is, if you put 6 on there, the shrimp may be able to eat the bait without getting caught on the hook. I put two fish bait on each hook and using the holder put my rod into the water near the others.
This was certainly a random night that we will remember - first time for shrimp fishing for me and just loving the travel lifestyle of it all! You can notice the shrimps in the murky green water - trick is not to move your rod too much and put them off.
When one of our rods bent down towards the water, you knew a shrimp was chewing the bait and it was a case of choosing the right moment to pull your rod up, hoping the shrimp wouldn't fall off. Hoping the shrimp was caught, Hoping the shrimp would make it into the fish net, which already contained quite a few shrimps. Ugly white and pink creatures these. I certainly had never seen or eaten one before. Soon I'd be doing both.
I heard a yank from Neil and he had caught his first shrimp! He pulled it out and the trick is to squeeze the shrimp and stop it from moving. It will put up a fight when you first ctach it. Then you need to pull the hook out of its mouth. Just after this I realised my bait had gone, a shrimp had eaten it but not been caught on my rod. It was just my dream to catch even one, and I was confident I could, especially when Binh was catching them for fun. She caught a total of 5 the whole night.
Then I got it - a shrimp was eating the bait and I slowly pulled it up! It fought with its pincers but I got it into the net! I had caught a shrimp! It was my first time and it wasn't too difficult!
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!
You just place them uder the grill and cook them on both sides. After 20 minutes or so (maybe earlier) they were looking crispy and ready. We took it in turns to remove the shell and go straight for the large bit of white meat in the middle. Neil felt it tasted like chicken. I felt they just tasted like generic salty seafood. That was the only ingredient to the killed shrimps - salt. Soon our shrimp fishing night was over, and what a random enjoyable way to spend a Friday evening! I'd recommend it.
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!
It cost 150 Taiwan Dollars - no extras or hidden costs - you catch a shrimp you eat it - so if you are good at it you will be able to eat a feast!! You get a rod, a small bag of bait and you pay extra for a beer.
Neil and I also had a Taiwan Beer in there, this alone cost 100 dollars, almost the same price as unlimited shrimp fishing. My goal at the start of the night was simple - I just wanted to catch at least one shrimp that was all. When we arrived at the seats next to David and Binh, they had already caught 2 shrimps. Binh was doing well and caught another one while I was getting my bait ready. Basically there are two hooks, and you can attach as little or as much fish bait to each hook as you want. The problem is, if you put 6 on there, the shrimp may be able to eat the bait without getting caught on the hook. I put two fish bait on each hook and using the holder put my rod into the water near the others.
This was certainly a random night that we will remember - first time for shrimp fishing for me and just loving the travel lifestyle of it all! You can notice the shrimps in the murky green water - trick is not to move your rod too much and put them off.
When one of our rods bent down towards the water, you knew a shrimp was chewing the bait and it was a case of choosing the right moment to pull your rod up, hoping the shrimp wouldn't fall off. Hoping the shrimp was caught, Hoping the shrimp would make it into the fish net, which already contained quite a few shrimps. Ugly white and pink creatures these. I certainly had never seen or eaten one before. Soon I'd be doing both.
I heard a yank from Neil and he had caught his first shrimp! He pulled it out and the trick is to squeeze the shrimp and stop it from moving. It will put up a fight when you first ctach it. Then you need to pull the hook out of its mouth. Just after this I realised my bait had gone, a shrimp had eaten it but not been caught on my rod. It was just my dream to catch even one, and I was confident I could, especially when Binh was catching them for fun. She caught a total of 5 the whole night.
Then I got it - a shrimp was eating the bait and I slowly pulled it up! It fought with its pincers but I got it into the net! I had caught a shrimp! It was my first time and it wasn't too difficult!
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!
You just place them uder the grill and cook them on both sides. After 20 minutes or so (maybe earlier) they were looking crispy and ready. We took it in turns to remove the shell and go straight for the large bit of white meat in the middle. Neil felt it tasted like chicken. I felt they just tasted like generic salty seafood. That was the only ingredient to the killed shrimps - salt. Soon our shrimp fishing night was over, and what a random enjoyable way to spend a Friday evening! I'd recommend it.
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To read tons more stuff like Shrimp Fishing in Taiwan head to Jonny Blair's excellent website A lifestyle of travel for more travel stories and advice.
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