It was another random Friday night in Shinying and surely this one has to be one of the most enjoyable Friday nights of all time. We went Shrimp Fishing in Taiwan! Really! It was suggested to us on the Thursday night, whilst at the night market with two of Neil's workmates - Binh and David. They said something like "did you know that you can go Shrimp Fishing any time you like, round the corner from here for 150 dollars?" I was initially sceptical as I'm not a great fan of seafood, but then was loving the idea in the build up to it, and especially when we were sat there, relaxing, with a beer, fishing for shrimps.
It was hard to find the venue initially but once inside as the only foreigners in town we found it easy to organise - a shrimp marked a sign on the entrance and the place was busy - there were seats by the pool where you go fishing.
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.
We got our beers in and my goal was simple - I only wanted to catch one shrimp - that was it. I hoped I could do it - it was my first time. David and Binh, my friends were flying - they already had caught a few. I added bait to my rod and hung about - I put two fish as bait and waited!
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!
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.
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!
But alas it didn't take too much longer until I finally caught my shrimp!! I was happy! I felt it tugging, tanked it slowly up and then preceeded to drop it on the floor before securing it into my net! Job done - I caught a shrimp in Taiwan.
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.
It was hard to find the venue initially but once inside as the only foreigners in town we found it easy to organise - a shrimp marked a sign on the entrance and the place was busy - there were seats by the pool where you go fishing.
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.
We got our beers in and my goal was simple - I only wanted to catch one shrimp - that was it. I hoped I could do it - it was my first time. David and Binh, my friends were flying - they already had caught a few. I added bait to my rod and hung about - I put two fish as bait and waited!
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!
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.
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!
But alas it didn't take too much longer until I finally caught my shrimp!! I was happy! I felt it tugging, tanked it slowly up and then preceeded to drop it on the floor before securing it into my net! Job done - I caught a shrimp in Taiwan.
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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