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.
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.
It's a great night out - very worthwhile and you will almost certainly catch at least one shrimp. I found that you can see the shrimps in the green water and if you keep your fishing rod still you have a good chance of catching them!
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!
In total by the end we had 10 shrimps between 5 of us, but David had to shoot off home to his wife, so the 4 of us could share and cook the shrimps. Neil caught 2, David caught 2, Binh caught 5 and I was happy I had caught one. The shrimps were all still alive in the net, they survive a wee bit out of water. Then we placed them in a pot of jelly which kills them sadly. After this we got some silver strong skewers and put two of them through each shrimp ready to barbecue/grill them. A Taiwanese guy showed us how to do this, helped us and gave us an extra large extra shrimp for free for doing this.
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!
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.
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.
It's a great night out - very worthwhile and you will almost certainly catch at least one shrimp. I found that you can see the shrimps in the green water and if you keep your fishing rod still you have a good chance of catching them!
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!
In total by the end we had 10 shrimps between 5 of us, but David had to shoot off home to his wife, so the 4 of us could share and cook the shrimps. Neil caught 2, David caught 2, Binh caught 5 and I was happy I had caught one. The shrimps were all still alive in the net, they survive a wee bit out of water. Then we placed them in a pot of jelly which kills them sadly. After this we got some silver strong skewers and put two of them through each shrimp ready to barbecue/grill them. A Taiwanese guy showed us how to do this, helped us and gave us an extra large extra shrimp for free for doing this.
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!!
About the Author:
To read loads more stuff like Shrimp Fishing in Taiwan head to Jonny Blair's amazing website A lifestyle of travel for more travel stories and advice.