That's right, you read it correctly, Shrimp Fishing. This is by far one of the most unique Taiwanese experiences we have had. Zach's language exchange partner introduced it to us, and took us so we could experience it for ourselves. You may think that you can only fish in the ocean or a lake, but Taiwan goes against that stereotype. It is pretty much a small room, with a three foot deep swimming pool, which is taking up most of the area. You pay by the hour and the owner provides you with a miniature poll and mini-shrimp for bait (which is a little cannibalistic if you ask me). You bait up on two small hooks. Then you throw it in, watch the small bobber in the water, and wait for it to bob. Yong-Da showed us the secret techniques to catching the big ones. Once you see the bobber start to move, you know there is a big shrimp eating the little shrimp on your hook. You may think, "SET THE HOOK!!!" but you must wait and let the shrimp eat.
Once you have waited a significant time (30 secs), you pull it up and swing it out of the pool, so it cannot fall back in the water. This is when our nice friend Yong-Da proceeded to grab the shrimp and take out the hook. This was so nice of him, because these shrimp have killer claws of death and destruction. In our pictures on Picasa, you can see the bright blue death claws. Some shrimp fishers immediately rip off the claws, but Yond-Da doesn't like to hurt them (until later when we eat them). After two hours of fishing, we caught a whopping 15 shrimp. "What do you do with them now?", you may ask.
Now we are responsible for cleaning, de-clawing, and skewering each shrimp. You then HEAVILY salt them, and place them on a grill. After flipping for about five minutes, it is eatin time. The Taiwanese really like to eat the shrimp's brains, Yong-Da told us. We both tried them, decided they tasted like burnt peanuts and avoided them the rest of the time. It was an amazing experience that everyone should have. Also, you can see more of the picture from shrimp fishing and our other adventures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/LauraRCarpenter/Taiwan#
