We sailed up the river just as the sun dropped over the horizon. Our destination? A secluded stretch of water. Our goal? To fish with Cormorants. A Cormorant is a duck-like bird that excels at finding and catching fish. The fisherman ties a rope around their neck so they can’t swallow the fish though.

It was around 8:00 pm when we got in the boat and sailed alongside the fishing boat/raft. The fisherman turned a light hanging over a patch of water on to attract the fish. A lot like an angler fish. The birds dived in and swam around with blinding speed. One bird kept tugging on his fellow birds’ ropes. How mean! When the birds were idle or misbehaving the fisherman hit them with his stick. Also how mean!

    

After a while they still hadn’t brought anything up. “I think the fish are so small they can swallow them.” Carter said. I agreed. Just then the fisherman said he’d lost a bird. I vaguely remembered that one bird kept going ahead and figured it was him. Finally the bird was found and we docked a small island covered in green slime. We got off the boat and the fisherman brought both the birds and a big basket over. He took a bird by the neck and forced its mouth open. Six fish fell out and into the basket. We gasped, I had thought they swallowed the fish but really they were just sitting in their throats! When all the throats were empty Carter and I got to hold the bird. They were wet and shook themselves on us but I liked them and petted their backs. Then he tied one of the bird’s foot to one side of his pole. And likewise for the other side. Carter and I held the middle and Dad took a picture. While that happened all the other birds ate the fish in the basket and had to be emptied again. We thanked the fisherman and he went off to do more fishing while we headed back, the cool wind blowing in our faces.