Fishing For Prawns

After dinner one night, Adrian had this sudden urge to go fishing. So he got up from his seat, went up to one of the hawker stalls and asked the owner if there are any fishing spots nearby. Unfortunately, there wasn't any but he gave us directions to the next best thing; a prawn farm. Yep. We went prawning.

Except for Adrian, we were all very much new to the idea of hunting with a hook. The concept is exactly the same as fishing; a rod with a string tied at the end and a quarter of an earthworm as bait. I was comfortable with the whole idea up till the 'quarter of an earthworm' part:

(After selecting the rods)

Adrian: Here's the bait.

Ben: Holy shit, IT'S MOVING!

Adrian: Yeah, it's better alive. Now fix it up on your hook.

Ben: [Reluctantly grabs a worm and pauses.] So what knot should I tie?

Adrian: You don't tie a knot with the worm. That's gross.

Ben: Ok, so what's the less grosser alternative?

Adrian: You're suppose to slice the worm into tinier bits and stab the hook right through their bodies.

Ben: ...

As if the idea of handling a live squirming earthworm isn't horrifying enough, we were required to divide its long body into smaller pieces with a penknife to conserve bait. There is definitely nothing more disturbing than slicing a worm into 3 parts and then watching each of the bleeding pieces wiggle around nonchalantly:

Adrian: Cut it.

Ben: Fuck you la.

As you can imagine, it took a while. After our baits were prepared, we immediately casted it off into the pond. Surprisingly, the actual fishing was a lot easier compared to the bait preparation and unhooking of the catch (will be discussed later). All we have to do is wait for our floaters to sink to indicate that a prawn has bitten and then we just yank the whole thing out of the water.

(10 minutes after casting)

Ben: Bored, bored, bored.

Adrian: Shut up la.

(Floater sinks.)

Ben: OH MY GOD!

(Quickly yanks the rod out of the pond. A huge prawn emerges at the end of it.)

Ben: Wuuuhuu! I caught one! I caught one!

Adrian: Ok, now unhook it.

Ben: [Turns pale] What?

Adrian: Unhook the prawn and put it into that pail there.

Ben: But I might hurt my finger.. and it might bite. Should I smack it to death against the wall first?

Adrian: No, you want it alive and fresh!

(Prawn starts to aggressively struggle.)

Ben: I think I want it dead.

As I prepared to 'subdue' the prawn, the owner quickly came to my aid. He held the claws against the prawn's abdomen and unhooked it with ease. I am such a girl. After our hour was up, I managed to catch two, Kim caught one and Adrian, the fishing expert unfortunately caught NOTHING. It must have crushed his ego so badly.

But as caring and supportive friends, we really wanted to make Adrian feel better. So the next day, we told all our coursemates about his problem:

(During class)

Mak: So Adrian, what did you do last night? ... Ahahahahahaha!!

Adrian: *Turns to Ben* You better have your running shoes on today because I'm gonna get you for this later!

Ben: -Gulp-

Mak: Don't worry Ben, you can easily shake him off.

Ben: How?

Mak: Just mimic a prawn.

Don't worry. Mak and I are still alive.