The 1980s were an era of extreme material deprivation, and it was a luxury to be able to eat a meal of meat. However, at that time, in the ditches or ponds in the rural fields, there were many loaches and yellow eels, and various fish. I think many of the friends at that time had gone to the ditch or pond to catch loach and yellow eel, when the capture of loach was not for leisure and entertainment, in order to be able to improve the diet, but making loach and yellow eel also brought us a lot of childhood fun, leaving a lot of good memories.
Childhood to catch loach yellow eel, friends meet and travel
At that time, every rainy season, there would be a lot of loach or yellow eel in the ditches or ponds in the fields. However, loach and yellow eels like to live in the mud in the water and like to lie out at night, so it is best to catch loach yellow eels at night. In order to embolden yourself, you ask a few childhood friends to carry small baskets or small wooden barrels and borrowed flashlights to the ditches, ponds or rice fields in the fields to catch loaches.
Loach or yellow eel grows slender, the body is extremely flexible, and can secrete mucus, so when catching must be steady and fierce, after discovery, quickly crouch down, immediately grasp with your hands, can not relax at all, otherwise they will slip away.
On difficult days, loach yellow eel is a rare meat
I remember that there was very little meat to eat at that time, so the loach or yellow eel caught was a rare delicacy.
Every time we go out to catch loach, our parents bless us to be careful, but as soon as we find loach, our parents' instructions are completely forgotten, usually covered with muddy water, like a small clay man, but we still enjoy it.
I remember that at that time, the way we ate loach or yellow eel was very simple, put the caught loach or yellow eel in a basin of water, let it spit out the soil, and then stew it with rural sauce, usually put some potato fries, the family conditions are better, you can put some tofu, the name loach drill tofu. This is how we eat in the north, and as for the south, I think it will be very simple, because in that era, the materials were too scarce, and there was usually a lack of condiments.
Hard days, forced out of wisdom
At that time, there were no tools specifically used to catch loach and yellow eel, usually by hand, giving full play to our wisdom and experience, chasing and intercepting loach or yellow eel, although the method was very clumsy, but usually harvested a lot.
In order to facilitate capture, small partners usually work together, work together, open some openings in the edge to release water, drain the water in small ponds or rice fields as much as possible, divide the ponds or rice fields into several pieces when the water in the pond or rice field is about to be cleaned, and then dig a drainage ditch in the middle, and the loach or yellow eel will run into the drainage ditch, which is very convenient to catch.
Of course, these tasks are completely done by hand, so we usually choose small ponds or rice fields.
Full of memories, childhood that can never go back. As we grow up, adults will also make us some simple tools to catch loach or yellow eels, I think everyone has used them, such as: rubbing, baskets, bamboo cages, bamboo bars, etc., that is the wisdom of our working people, I think the friends must have used.
Now that life is good, rural children rarely catch loach or yellow eels, because everyone has no worries about three meals a day, and all kinds of vegetables and meat are also very rich, and there is no need to be like us at that time, in order to eat a meal of meat, it takes most of the night to spend most of the night in the pond, not only muddy water, but also often bitten by mosquitoes, it is simply painful.
Although catching loach yellow eels is very hard, whenever we see us returning home with "booty", the family's satisfied and relieved smiles are nothing.
Looking back on those difficult years now, I feel very happy, because I can be with my friends, laughing and playing, catching loach and yellow eels at the same time, helping my family solve the problem of eating meat, full of happiness. Moreover, through their own labor, to improve the life of the whole family, although hard, but also worth it. Today's children can no longer experience that kind of happiness and happiness.
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