One of the most interesting food experiences during my visit to Taiwan earlier this year was a visit to one of the signature Taiwanese shrimp fishing venues located in Taipei. Shrimping, also known as Prawning, is an activity unique to Taiwan until very recently. It involves using a lightweight fishing rod to "fish" for fresh water Prawns from murky indoor pools. The goal, to catch as many Prawns as possible and secure yourself a deliciously fresh and well earned dinner!
In China, it is standard to eat Prawns fresh. But there are yet to be any Prawning venues in the mainland, as such, the activity is extremely curious to me and many of my mainland friends. The experience is frequently brought up during conversations about visits to Taiwan by many of my friends in China. I decided I needed to experience this activity first hand to see what all the fuss is about, meanwhile put my prawn fishing skills to the test!
The first step to getting the Prawn on the hook is finding the ideal venue. Most of the popular touristy Prawning venues are situated around the Shilin District which is also famous for it's nightmarket. The venue I chose is in the Zhongshan District along Jinzhou Street.
QuanJiaLe (全佳樂釣蝦場) is a small understated venue with almost no foreign exposure. Where other venues will annotate everything in English alongside Chinese, QJL offers it's services entirely in Chinese, it comes across a bit raw, even unapproachable, but let's not judge a book by it's cover. It is after-all, the authenticity and experience which counts!
Inside, the place is not too large, the main function is of course prawn fishing, so the center piece occupying the most space is the pool. This is where all the Shrimp and Prawns are, and huddling around the pool, are all the keen fisher(wo)men.
At the back, you'll find the kitchen area, and that's also where the Shrimp stock is held. Every hour or so, the owner will come throw a few buckets full of fresh shrimp into the pool to replace those that have been caught by the guests. This as it turns out, is an unspoken metric for how "good" a place is. The more shrimps swimming around in the pool, the more chance you have of catching them, especially if you're a complete amateur like me!
Prices can vary, but expect to pay around 7 dollars an hour for the experience with the typical session lasting for about 3 hours. This will include rental of the fishing rod, use of the bait, and of course any shrimp you catch will be yours to eat!
After checking in, it's time to shrimp! First things first, the bait. Supplied inside a mini-fridge by the front counter are chicken guts. Take a few pieces of these to your spot, and cut them into little pieces. The next step is to test the depth of the water and adjust the distance between the hook and the float. The owner was kind enough to help me with this as I had no idea what depth would be best.
Place a bit of the bait on each of the hooks (there are two), and you're ready to go!
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Once the bait's out, it's now a matter of watching the float and waiting for some bites from the shrimp. It will be really obvious when they're taking bites, the entire float submerges under the water.
My little trick is to keep the line almost taut. That way, when the shrimp bites, I can tug really quickly and have minimal delay in pulling the hook up.
And voila! My first catch! It's surprising how much the shrimp can fight back. The lightweight rod bends a lot as they tug back trying to escape. I will be the first to admit, I am completely terrified of touching the shrimp and I had great difficulty unhooking them each time I caught one. Thankfully, an experienced uncle helped me with the unhooking each time.
After three hours, this was my haul! Around 30 to 40 in total. This is definitely the place you want to visit if you're a beginner because it is so easy!
I've heard and read reviews of other places where beginners only manage single digit hauls. This is largely down to the generosity of the owner and how many shrimp he is willing to put in the pool. Owners looking to make a larger profit margin will be quite stingy when it comes to putting more shrimp in the pool, clearly this owner wants his customers happy because the shrimp were flying out by the dozen!
Preparing the Shrimp to eat
After sitting down for three hours and catching all these shrimp, it's time to eat!
There are many ways to cook shrimp, but the most common is barbecued on a stick. For the braver ones amongst you, you can prepare this yourself. First you declaw them, then skewer them right through the length of their body, all while they're still alive. Once they're skewered, dip them in some salt and then they're ready to be barbecued.
Barbecue shrimps are a favourite because of how simple and easy they are to prepare (provided you're not squeamish), but you can also opt for a chef prepared dish for a little extra.
I decided to go half and half, Barbecued salted shrimps, and Thai style lemon shrimp.
These are my shrimp being barbecued. Soon they'll be a golden red colour, ready to eat.
The Thai style shrimp is a little more complicated to prepare. First the chef "declaws" the shrimp by cutting off it's claws, legs and part of it's head, then proceeds to cut open the back to devein the shrimp. It's rather barbaric but at least the chef works fast and efficient.
