Yingkou City is located at the mouth of the Liaohe River and is rich in sea salt. Heading south out of the city, but seeing a water town, Zeguo, ditches crisscrossing each other, and salt pans in an orderly manner. The small village where I was born sits in the middle. Listen to the murmur of flowing water in summer, look at the snow-capped scenery in winter, embellish wild ducks in spring, and harvest fish and shrimp in autumn. Throughout the year, there are many things that haunt me. However, what I miss most is the extremely common fish produced there.
It is "throwing ba" referred to as throwing ba, the scientific name is spear-tailed goby. Their skin is grey or gray-backed and yellowish, their body shape is carrot-like, their heads are large and flattened, slightly resembling freshwater catfish, their mouths are large but not bearded, and their tails are very thin, suitable for growing in waters where seawater and freshwater are mixed. Its biggest feature is that life is only one year, that is, they die after the spring produces the seeds, ending their short life, as the saying goes, "throw the fish and die every year". There are many folk legends about throwing fish and dying every year, but anyone who has lived by the sea can hear about it. There are more colloquial sayings: barracuda head, catfish tail, throw bar belly, toad legs, throw bar fish once a year.
Because of its delicious meat, low price, and fierce and greedy, it is particularly easy to fish, and is loved by people in the coastal areas. Every autumn is the season for our boys to catch and throw bass, because the throwing of the bass at this time is "adult fish", and soon their lives will end, in order to have children in the future, so that they can continue their lives, and there will be crazy eating scenes. Earthworms, silkworms and shrimp are all delicious foods. Swallowing the food in the mouth is reluctant to spit out, the lips are tightly closed, and the two cheeks are bulging, so it is very easy to catch.
This makes everyone who wants to catch a fish thrower, everyone is excited, and when they are young, they are often the people who have flown to the water's edge of the fishing in class. It is effective to use small shrimp caught in the river as bait; there are many fish in the pond where reeds grow; you have to wait quietly with a fishing rod in your hand; don't go to the steep puddles on the shore slope and fish in the river, it is very dangerous. This throwing barley is not only stupid, the bite hook is also extremely fast, often the hook just fell into the bottom of the water and was bitten by them fiercely, not like carp, crucian carp. The three or five sizes of the fish reflect the strength of more than a pound of fish in fresh water, and there is a violent shaking of the rod slightly, which is particularly refreshing!
Perhaps because they are small and numerous, or not as famous as the yellow croaker perch, in the early years fishermen did not take it seriously, and the piles of tossed bass unloaded from the boats were usually used as fodder for poultry. In the past, people on the beach did not only look at the throwing of the bass, but also aquatic products such as red cockles and shrimp crawlers (leather shrimp). Although throwing a bass fish is not elegant, it is also a cooking thing. The flesh of the foot throwing bar fish is tender, white, and the taste is also fresh, and it is also a beautiful thing to get together with three or two friends, sauce or stew on a pot of throwing bar, and cook a few pots of small roasts. Nowadays, when the tossed bass appears in restaurants, it is called "sea catfish". However, throwing a bass fish is still the "taste of hometown" in my heart, and it will not disappear in this lifetime.