Photo: Catching crabs and frogs in the fields - rustic pleasures in the countryside after the first rain of the season

At the beginning of the rainy season, it is also the time when crabs and frogs come out of their burrows to find food and reproduce. In the evening, many people also go to the fields to catch crabs and frogs to find joy and improve family meals.

In late May 2023, the first rains of the season poured down continuously, making the fields in Ba Ria - Vung Tau become waterlogged. At this time, species such as field crabs and frogs come out of their burrows to find food and mate for reproduction. This is also the time when some people invite each other to go frog hunting and crab catching in the fields and forests as a rural hobby.

Mr. Thoi - a resident of Chau Duc district who is catching crabs in the fields - said that the best time to look for frogs and catch crabs is at dusk or late at night after a rain. Catchers often use a headlamp to search, and use their hands or a long-handled net to catch these species when they are discovered. Usually, each person only looks for one type of crab or frog.

Flooded land causes crabs and frogs to come out of their burrows in search of food and mates. At this time, the fields also echo with a bustling countryside symphony with the sounds of frogs, toads, and bullfrogs... croaking in unison. But in reality, it is difficult to find frogs while crabs are quite numerous and easy to find.

Mr. Thang (a frog catcher) said that frogs’ eyes reflect light with red spots, different from other types which are white or blue. Frog catchers need to have good hearing and be quick to determine the frog’s location. When the light shines directly into the frog’s eyes, it can make the frog “close” the light, lie still in place and quickly catch it. If it makes noise or the light moves back and forth a lot, the frog will immediately jump into the water to hide.

There are times when the frog is discovered but the frog is silent, the frog catcher must turn off the light and walk gently to the place where the sound is coming from and stand in wait. When the frog croaks again, the catcher immediately turns on the light and shines it directly into the frog’s eyes to “stun” it, then quickly captures it and puts it in a bag to carry. The frog bag is usually made of mesh or burlap for easy and convenient movement.

Crabsters also check deep water areas to find crabs lying on layers of straw, then scoop them up and catch them. Not only in rice fields, flooded grass fields or cajuput fields are also places where many crabs live.

Sometimes it's not just one crab but two, three or more that gather in one place and are discovered by the catcher.

After about 3 hours of wading through the water with a flashlight in 2 rice fields, Mr. Thang caught about 13 frogs with a total weight of over 2kg. The crab catcher got 3-5kg of crabs of various sizes.

Mr. Thang processed the frogs he caught into a delicious and rustic dish when stir-fried with young banana roots. According to Mr. Thang, the crabs and frogs he caught were also asked to buy at a price of about 60-80 thousand VND/kg of crab and 130-190 thousand VND/kg of frog, but most people rarely sell them but instead use them to improve family meals, or share with friends and relatives.

Laodong.vn