Cool fish hunting

One morning of April 2021, we followed the father and son Ho Van Deep (living in A Vao commune, Dakrong district, Quang Tri province) to hunt for cool fish. These fish are now being chased upstream, unlike the day before, they just went to the stream to meet them.
Old Giac held a small net with his hand, and his son Ho Chang brought a crossbow to fire an iron arrow and diving goggles. Taking half an hour along the trail through primeval forests, we hit the upstream of A Tang stream with countless waterfalls, deep pools. This is an ideal shelter for cool fish.

Noon, the sun shines through the forest canopy and falls down the waterfalls. Cool fish from the cave swims in groups to eat algae. Where the sun shines, they swim along. After carefully targeting the place to drop the net, Old Deep took off his shirt and jumped into the water. At nearly 60 years old, his arm span is still very strong. Less than ten minutes, the net, about 20 meters long, was released, close to the shore, blocking the doors of the rock caves that he knew there were cool fish hiding inside. Cool fishing in the upstream of A Tang stream Elder Sau said that the cool fish were very smart. When they saw the cave, they swim right into the cave to hide. When they feel really safe, they swim out. Therefore, after “staging” with a net, he cut down a long bamboo tree to kick the fish out of the cave. Deep cave, you have to dive, use trees to scare away. Fish panicked, swimming out of the cave, they met the net and got caught right away. While his father caught fish with the net, Mr. Chang wore diving glasses and slipped into each cave to find cool fish. “Cool fish entering the rock cave usually stand still, very easy to shoot. Every day, the familiar crossbow shooter will earn a few kilograms of cool fish” – Mr. Chang affirmed. That day, the father and son of worm hunted more than 1 kg of cool fish. According to Old Deep, there is still a lot of cool fish here because people do not use electric pulses and explosives to catch. Moreover, every time people go down to the stream, they only catch enough for their meal, they catch the big ones, not the “upper golden lower bran” style. On the way back to the village, Mr. Chang picked a handful of leaves that grow a lot in A Tang stream. He said that sour leaves are very suitable for cool fish, cook soup to fill up the water, and eat it very well. If the soup is not cooked, then grilled, steamed onions, and braised. Freshly grilled fish and then hung up in the kitchen guard. Then, crushing fish with salt, dried chili, galangal, and pepper will create a very unique dipping dish. The people here call it cheo. Cool fish is often used to dot with rice, sticky rice, meat, and wild vegetables and is often given to guests from far away.