Folks look forward to River Floods for Fish Lime

Trinidad and Tobago is situated in the tropics, it experiences two types of season wet and dry. In the dry season water is low in the rivers creating pond like formations or maintaining a steady but shallow flow. The environment created is conducive to family gatherings.
In  the rainy season however floods occur with the river overflowing its banks and flows in the buffer zones and surrounding areas.
The rural community looks forward to the flood for it is these floods that  the river cat fish locally known as the "Crabesaw" chooses to swim from the sea up river and inland. The river cat fish uses the high volumes of water to reach great distances in land to feed on the terrestrial or sweet water crayfish. These crayfish are excellent sources of amino and fatty acids that are important for egg development.
Rural folks usually in groups go to the river especially where the river crosses the road and place hooks on lines floating on the high waters, the hooks are usually baited with flour dough "dumpling" so that it will be visible to the catfish as it swims up or down the river. The hook which  baits the dumpling usually floats 5 inches from the surface of the water. The fish grabs the floating dumplings and is caught.
The catfish is then cooked by the group on the river bank, hunters camp or carried to an individuals home  where it is enjoyed with rice or provision.


Comments

  1. Unknown27 June 2017 at 08:16

    The catfish is hunted annually during the floods, the larger fish is caught when the water is high, it is considered a deliacy by the rural folks.

    ReplyDelete

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