WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Jul 06, 2017 / 17:33

Night squid fishing - Interesting experience during Vietnam sea travel

Visit Cua Lo beach (Nghe An province) these days, travellers can hardly resist to the squid catching boat at night to enjoy every moment and feel the truly flavor of the sea.


From 19:00 pm every day, Cua Lo fishermen's basket boats are ready to take visitors to squid fishing. Previously, to get this experience, the visitors must be very hard and money consuming. But now, squid fishing service has become a common activity on any day of the week (if weather conditions are favorable). The squid season is usually from April to July, when squid come closer to the shore for reproduction. Visitors should rent a motorized canoe or speed boat to save travelling time, flexibly reach any destination, or quickly come back when getting seasick.
Visitors experience the night squid fishing on a basket boat at Cua Lo Beach.
Visitors experience the night squid fishing on a basket boat at Cua Lo Beach.

The cost of renting a basket boat at Cua Lo beach is about 300,000 - 500,000 VND for 1-4 people. When the boat is anchored for 2 to 3km, the owner turned on the lights. Normally, visitors should go squid fishing on a moonless day. Because when there is bright moonlight, the squid can see the road for hunting and do not gather under the lights. The fishing rod is a long and small bamboo stick, and the hooks are connected around the mock shrimp to catch the squid’s attention. Squids at Cua Lo beach are not big, usually only two to three fingers in width as the water level is shallow.
Visitors experience the night squid fishing on a basket boat at Cua Lo Beach.
Visitors experience the night squid fishing on a basket boat at Cua Lo Beach.

When the fishing rod becomes heavy, the fisherman must carefully pull up the fishing line, and quickly catch squid with a racket. The victory feeling will make visitors very excited. When newly catched, the squid is as clear as ice with the tiny black dots.
The "outcome" of the fishing journey then be enjoyed right after the trip
The fresh squids are grilled right after being catched

After that, its whole body turns to white opaque, about 10 minutes later, the dots completely disappear. Normally, the boat owner will prepare a mini stove and some charcoal to grill the fresh squids. After 10 minutes of waiting, catchers can enjoy their achievements. Visitors can only feel the truly flavor of the sea by experiencing as a fishermen, watching the sparkling sea at night and enjoying the fresh squid with friends.