From ancient times until now, Vietnamese people have always called freshwater fish "dong fish", although they are often caught in rivers, ponds, streams, canals, etc. Perhaps because the fish live most of their time in rice fields, farmers still catch many freshwater fish in rice fields, so they are used to calling them that.

In “Thuong nho muoi thap”, writer Vu Bang wrote: “The book “Thoai thuc ky van” by Truong Quoc Dung recorded that sardines are transformed from the tilapia, the intestines of the sardines are the gizzards of the tilapia.

At the end of September, while craving for the new rice of the tilapia after the Thuong Tan festival, there was not even a single tilapia left. Now, in the middle of October, the sound of selling sardines, the incarnation of the tilapia, resounds. How many people do not try to buy and eat them to reflect on the deliciousness of the tilapia and compare the deliciousness of the tilapia to that of the sardines?

The tilapia is a bird with especially delicious meat. After the tilapia season, it is the season for sardines, along with many other types of freshwater fish when they are plump and fat.

That is the time when freshwater fish are most delicious. In the midlands and semi-mountainous areas, this is most evident. The land is sloping, with shallow and deep fields, hills and ravines, and the fish season rises and falls like the rhythm of heaven and earth.

Around the 5th and 6th lunar months, when the rice plants have just taken root, the first rains of the season fall, and the freshwater fish frolic everywhere in search of food after their winter break in deep water to avoid the cold. The fish accumulate energy, silently carrying their bellies of eggs, waiting for the big rain.

Catching freshwater fish, including perch, in the countryside of Vietnam (photo from the internet).

By July, the weather was dry, with heavy rain pouring down day and night, and water flowed in large streams from the highlands to the lowlands.

That is when schools of fish in streams, rivers and lakes eagerly seek new lands and new waters. Adult freshwater fish eagerly swim upstream in schools, splashing and splashing on the water surface.

The fish are born in rice fields, they eat insects, algae, organic debris and when the rice plants bloom, they eat the rice flowers. At the end of the year, there is a sudden heavy rain, called "squirrel rain". The villagers have a saying "when it rains squirrels, even toads go away".

These are the big fish that come to the fields to spawn. At this time, when they have had enough food, they find their way down to the deep water to hide. The fish rush along with the current. This is the time to lay eggs, set the stage for the largest fish.

When the rice starts to turn yellow, the tilapia fish jumps around the field, pulling at the branches to grab the rice grains to eat. The rice flowers are submerged in water, the grains swell up and have a sour taste, becoming a favorite dish of the tilapia.

Then grasshoppers and locusts swarmed over the rice stalks, frogs, baby crabs, chopsticks, and fat octopus were bait for snakehead fish and catfish... The shepherds used a fishing rod to catch the grasshopper's tail, and nodded over the rice fields. Occasionally, they jerked the rod and caught a fat perch.

While the fields were still, a few light cool breezes blew, and that was when the fish felt the change in the land and sky.

As if telling each other, the black fish (snakehead fish, climbing perch, yellow catfish, etc.) in the dark of night jumped up to the drainage area at the corner of the rice field, where the land was newer and lower to cross from one rice field to another, quickly escaping downstream, to the streams and deep ravines.

At this time, villagers often make a sharp, smooth pestle; every afternoon they carry it out to the ripe rice fields to make a pit to catch the black fish that jump out of the bank in the dark of night.

When the rice is ripe and bowed, villagers often drain all the water in the fields to make the plants strong and avoid falling over; the dry fields are also easy to harvest, and create favorable conditions for plowing and harrowing to prepare for the next crop.

At this time, the whole field of water flows from high to low. The most stubborn fish, at this time, seeing the gurgling water, also race each other in groups to find their way back to the source of the stream to escape the cold.

At that time, just put that thing with its mouth facing up in a place with a lot of water and you can catch all the freshwater fish in all the terraced rice fields or the fields sloping down to the valley. This is the season for the most delicious freshwater fish. The fish heads are soft and crispy, yet delicious; even the fish bones are hollow and spongy.

When the stubble has been cut and bunched up, only a few corners of the fields and ditches still have some water, the slow-moving fish gather together waiting for farmers to collect them. Near Tet, the streams have reduced their flow, the water surface is quiet, but there are loads of fish deep in the bottom.

At this time, the fish almost lie still at the bottom of the water, the nets do not catch, the hooks do not catch. The only way to catch fish is to build up the stream banks and drain them dry.

A ravine sometimes requires several pairs of buckets, working in shifts day and night, without stopping. Because if they stop, the water will leak out and rise, blocking the flow and causing pressure to overflow the banks. After working hard for several days and nights, people can catch several baskets of freshwater fish to eat for Tet.