Passing Hon Chua to fish for squid

After a long wait, the boat owner Tran Van Ty and his brothers at Phu Home - Tuy An Nam finally arranged a boat for me to go to Hon Chua. "You have to choose a day with calm seas, otherwise you won't be able to handle the waves," Ty said.

Around 6pm, Ty, his fishing friends and some tourists got on the boat. Before leaving, they brought mineral water, energy drinks, coffee, late-night snacks and a bunch of fishing gear.

After an hour of sailing, Ty signaled his fishing partner to drop anchor. The fishing location was nearly 8 nautical miles, or more than 14 kilometers, from the mainland. The boat was anchored tightly, swaying and rocking with each wave.

Tourists experience night squid fishing at Hon Chua.

Once the boat was anchored, Ty and his friends began to put fishing lines on the fishing rods and then began to cast. The bait was plastic shrimp, decorated by fishermen with parachute cords wrapped around them to create eye-catching colors. Right below the bait was a bunch of hooks. The squid saw the light from the boat's lights shining straight down on the sea surface and would come to them. These baits drifted in the water, they thought they were bait so they clung to them and got hooked.

After about 15 minutes of fishing, angler Le Thanh Nhu pulled up a squid. This squid was not as “welcomed” as the tube squid, because it was far less delicious.

To improve their income, many fishermen take advantage of their available boats to take tourists to experience night squid fishing at an average price of 200,000 VND/person/night.

Next, the arms holding the fishing rods continuously raised and lowered to pull the bait moving in the water. A squid was caught by Ty’s hook. He pulled it up and it was just a small squid, the size of a thumb. A few minutes later, Tran Van Hoan’s fishing rod was also bent. But when he pulled it up, it was a… silver pomfret.

At nearly 9pm, after nearly 2 hours of fishing, seeing that the boat had only a few dozen squids in it, we weighed anchor to find another location. In the distance, the lights of dozens of other fishing boats were still on, twinkling like the starry sky. On the boat, the fishermen were still clinging to the side, holding their rods and persistently pulling in their hooks.

According to Ty, summer is the season for going to sea, squid fishing, and also the season for fishermen to "earn rice". But this is also the season of strong southerly winds, when fishermen have to fight against each fierce wave to get to Hon Chua to fish or catch squid. Most fishermen with boats in My Quang Nam fishing village go squid fishing. They go out to sea in the evening and return the next morning...

Results after 15 minutes of fishing.

For fishermen fishing near the shore along My Quang coastal villages, squid fishing season is a hard season, but brings in a good income, averaging 300,000 - 500,000 VND/night. On lucky days, some fishermen earn up to 1 million VND/night.

“It’s hard to ride the waves, but after a few kilometers you can drop the line. Sitting there fishing is not too hard, sometimes you see fish swimming under the headlights so you can quickly scoop them up. When you hit a stream of squid, you can drop the line and pull it out continuously to remove the squid,” Ty shared.

Looking at the still-glittering squids neatly arranged by size in rectangular baskets, one can see how much fishermen value their labor. Because earning money from the sea is never easy, whether in calm seas or in monsoon season.

At 5am, the sun shone brightly, illuminating the entire beach. The last squid fishing boats finally docked, some with as little as 3kg, some with as much as 5kg. After helping their husbands bring the boats ashore, the women busily carried baskets of fresh squid to sell in time for the morning market, while the fishermen leisurely packed up their gear, strode with firm, strong steps across the breakwater, and returned home to catch up on sleep so they would have enough energy for the next fishing trip in the evening.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/xa-hoi/202509/qua-hon-chua-cau-muc-31115f0/