Prawning

Is fishing meant only for fish? Are you fishing for prawns or prawning? Fishing for crabs or crabbing? Fishing for sotong (squid) or sotonging? We have done that before at Bishan and they do have prawn fishing at  various location.

But then conveniently located at Punggol, there have been a slew of activities coming up since last year or so at the stretch along Punggol East. I took a day off to be lazy, hang loose and destress, so we went prawning. In Singapore you have to pay to catch things.

They always seduce you by putting a display to tempt you, whatever the business like a few huge prawns in a tank. These are river prawns with big blue claw-liked pincers.

The picturesque Punggol Promenade is in the background. Taking a stroll or jogging and cycling along the river in the mornings and evenings is a very good idea. The picture you see is the entrance to the beer garden which is also operated by the prawn fishing owners and they start from 3pm till late.

Three hours for $33 per rod and if you don't finish, you can keep the unused hours as credit then come back again the next time. For that you can get oat prawns or salted-egg prawns from a tze char stall but that will finished in two minutes.

There was a big group of NSmen who booked one whole pond for their own competition and fun. May be ORD or whatever.

Obviously, there is some fun in trying to catch something. Anything. I was surprised that fishing for prawns is quite a favourite past time. There were couples, family and children.

If you wish to break the monotone, you get take a walk behind to soak in the lush greenery. Look what the recent hot weather has done to the plants and the lallang. This is what happens to us too when there is an absence of love.

I have still to make a night trip along the river. I am sure the lights along the banks which looks like lallang would be a spectacle. I noticed that some of the lights were already destroyed by some people with itchy hands.

You will get some prawns but the regularity and size differs and at certain hours, you will get to see them releasing more prawns into the pond from a big net scoop and you can get excited when you see the live prawns jumping up and down. When you get one, you will want more especially when you got a huge one.

That calls for a beer. That attap roof gave it a proper feel with a mixture of sunlight and shade.

I went prawn-staring - face to face. Looking at the intricate design of a prawn got me thinking. It is amazing. You can practise mind control to see if you or the prawn blink first.

There was once a VVIP function. The big boss got up and left for the washroom. His assistant followed shortly. Along the corridor leading to the bathroom, he saw his boss staring at a fish in a tank. He observed carefully what was going on then suddenly he saw the fish blink. At this point, the boss turned to him and said: "Mind over matter" and left for the washroom.

Being an intelligent guy, he thought about it and realise how powerful that was what his boss just did because he made the fish blinked. Fish do not blink . So he stood there and stared at the fish. Meantime, his boss was now coming back from the washroom. He saw his assistant staring at the fish and thought his assistant must have been a fast learner but on closer inspection, he saw his assistant moving his jaw and opening and closing his mouth like a fish!

I do not remember having tasted such prawns but I reckon chopping then up and frying them for omelette may be a good idea or for the bigger ones, slice them up the middle and fry them with butter and garlic?

They displayed a few chablis too. Have you eaten them before? Doesn't it look like a hybrid of prawn and crayfish?

This one is quite a good size catch!

Another almost a foot long.

The catch for the day is not much but good enough if you really wanted to eat some.

Like all fishermen and beer drinkers, they will say one more fish or prawn, one more hour, one more beer before we go.

The patin fishing pond opens at night only. I heard now you no longer fish with baits.

You just hope to hook them as they swim around. It is harder to fight and haul in a fish when you hook a fish on the fins, tail or body than the mouth and a flimsy rod adds to the difficulty.

And the probable reason why the fish pond is open only at night is that during the day, you can see so clearly all the fish, where they are and which direction they were swimming. In the night, the water looks dark and it is hard to see anything unless the fish comes out to breathe.

Watch out when disloging the prawns. There are sharp edges from its horn and the pincer can pinch.

It is good, clean fun as you can see just like those families in the background.

Look at this "tai tao har" or big head prawn.

This one has lots of eggs.

Anyone can do prawning.

If you don't like or prefer fishing you can too and what about crabs?

We brought back a few "live" ones in a plastic bag filled with water.

You may try to keep them as pets.

I am not much of an angler these days as I might end up confusing my golf swing with rod casting.

My nephew caught one almost as big as the one on display. I know where it will end up.



I saw this restaurant with the open seating area at the back. I thought to myself how nice it would be to live in a place like that. I can turn my back yard with space for sun tanning or massage with a sprawling space for BBQ and dining and drinking with a river just next to it. We can also go fishing. Then I can invite you over during your free time. Dream on. Dreamers are great!



The final tally was maybe 15-20 prawns.

The NSmen were celebrating there. They have catered food and they BBQ their prawns after washing and putting some salt.



Many hands make light work. There must have been some 30-40 of them. Teamwork was good because in NS you have no choice.

They have got some huge ones too and seemed to enjoy themselves.



A broken limb - a pincer. It has got many tiny sharp barbs on it.



We got a big one home to rear. A previous one could not survive as to some of the big fish these are fresh live food.

Just nearby the ponds, there are soccer ptiches for futsal. If only I had this kind of soccer pitches during my time, I may have prolonged my soccer career. Sigh.



Remember this day. It was a special day!

Happy prawning!