Following U Minh Ha’s waterways to discover the craft of eel trapping

In the middle of the rainy season, U Minh Ha’s cajeput forest stretches green beneath a dense canopy, while reddish acid water runs through its network of canals. This is when forest workers in Ca Mau begin the season of setting eel traps.

People in the forest region pass down a saying: "Fish die because of nets, eels die because of bait." Among the many ways to harvest rural products, the eel trap used by early settlers remains a distinctive invention and part of the area’s cultural life. That ingenuity reflects a careful way of living with nature.

From roughly the sixth to the 12th month of the lunar calendar, heavy rains thicken the vegetation around the production forests. Rice-field eels move toward canals filled with sedge, water grass and duckweed, where they hide and hunt. Traditional traps were made from mature thorny bamboo, carefully hollowed while leaving the final node intact. Today, trappers often use plastic because bamboo has become scarce and plastic is lighter.

The essential part, however, is the funnel made from thinly split bamboo strips. It must be smooth enough for an eel to slide inside toward the bait, but shaped so the animal cannot simply turn around and crawl back out.

The bait provides the real lure. Trappers use chopped snails, crabs, fish and frogs, stir-fried with dried coconut and fragrant fried fish. U Minh Ha workers also add herbs such as rice paddy herb and sawtooth coriander, along with fish oil. Garlic and chili give the bait a mild spiciness, while the scent carried by the flowing water helps draw eels toward the trap.

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Fish die because of nets, eels die because of bait.