Legend of the 'water monster' Da river

During the upstream trip towards the upstream of the majestic Da River, I have heard many stories about "water monsters".

The story of the big and ferocious fishes that live hidden in caves and rocks in the fast water. With a weight sometimes up to a dozen, a hundred kilograms, bizarre shapes, specializing in eating animal meat and . bodies drowning, they are called by two people to "monsters ".

Crushed fish eat . dead bodies!

Mr. Ngo Van Tam, (in the fishing village of Tan Thinh, Hoa Binh City), an old fisherman has spent 40 years fishing around the streams and rivers in the Northwestern region, telling: Before, when the Da River was not yet prevented from making hydroelectric power, it was like an unremarkable horse, boiling water rushed through the same layer of rapids. At that time, the catch of big fish such as sesame, copy, drift, carp weigh a few tens of kilograms, then bamboo shoots and fried fish weigh nearly weight or even rare and special fish species like mausoleum, he is a story often…

Among the stories told by the Da River fishermen from Quynh Nhai, Muong La, Bac Yen, Phu Yen (Son La), Da Bac, Mai Chau, Tan Lac (Hoa Binh), recounting like legends, then Fried fish is referred to as a "monster" specializing in cannibalism.

In the early 70s of the previous century, the flood season was always the same, the Da river billowed waves of water, swirling and swirling, so it swallowed up several dozen bad people. There is a body stuck in a shallow area where people can find it, if they are stuck in a cliff, a cave in the river is tolerated. Many bodies were swept away by strong currents, rolling on the river bed, drifting a few dozen kilometers away to emerge .

By the time the drowned bodies began to decompose, stink, fried fish 'monsters' could be sniffed, they dragged to the flock. Sometimes a dozen of them are dumbfounded like bananas, kicking their boots and turning a whole river up, the water splashes up in meters. In an instant, the ill-fated body completely disappeared.

Mr. Tam recalled, once fishing on Chieng San (Muong La, Son La), where the Nam Chang line brought thousands and tens of thousands of cubic meters of water accumulated from aggressive Yen Bai forests into Da River, he saw a fried fish emerge with a black head lying on the ground, big and long, twisted like a giant torpedo toward the boat.

Be sure to clash with 'monsters' , Mr. Tam holds a three-pronged labor with a parachute cord with a long log ready . to fight. When the 'monster' was only a few feet away from the boat, Mr. Tam used all his strength to go straight to the big back. The javelin, it emerged, swam like crazy, dragging hundreds of meters of parachute rope and a running log on the water.

A group of hunters 'water monsters' Da river.

It took the whole afternoon that afternoon, Mr. Tam and nearly a dozen fishing friends hit the new thing forever 'to help' to be 'fiendish' ashore. It weighs 94kg, is longer than 3m, the jaw is enlarged and can fit into the thermos bottle. When operating this fish, there are still some undigested pieces of clothes in the stomach. It is guessed, it has just " finished" someone.

During several decades of fishing net along Da River, Mr. Tam has seen many times and heard his friends talk about this place, where he caught fish weighing 70, 80kg, even having children up to nearly two quintals. . Most of them live in whirlpools. As long as a young boatman is turned over by a boat or an 'amateur' swimmer drowning is swept away by the floods, it is also a good prey, a rich 'party' for 'monsters'.

At one time, most of the corpses who drowned the fishermen who hunted big fish on the watershed of the Da River picked up, were not intact. Those who lost their heads, lost their legs, hands, and guys had only one flare of flesh and bones in the shirt, torn pants could not be identified.

And the danger of extinction .

In the past, the fishermen's wings, Da river 'monster' hunters mainly used rudimentary means to catch. With wooden dugout boats equipped with a few copper casting spears, adding a gun fired from a detonator, the hunter like the otter had to dive, groping for tens of meters to detect 'monsters' in caves and niches. This means that the probability of success in these hunts is extremely low. Only skilled, talented hunters who are healthier than people with extraordinary courage are expected to 'win' them.

Later, the team of friendly hunters came from all over the neighboring provinces to crawl up the Da River with equipped canoes, modern boats, advanced diving equipment, detonators, homemade mines, not only 'Da monsters. Giang ' , but even species of carp, drift, sesame, copy . are also in danger of extinction.

At some point, hearing the rumors of 'monsters' appear in Song Khau (Moc Chau, Son La), the 'killer' everywhere gathered here like a festival. Boats and motorboats run around in the city during the day and night, turning a long river of dozens of kilometers of turmoil like the battle of Nguyen troops on Bach Dang Giang.

Roughly for several months, not knowing how many landmines, how many tons of explosives were dropped by these "assassins" , tearing every ³ cubic meters of Da river water. Where's the 'monster', I can't see it, only drifting, sticking, and sesame, floating on the surface of the black water. The people of Muong, Thai and Mong live tens of kilometers away and it takes several weeks to breathe the air with the smell of gunpowder, as though they had just experienced a battle of the enemy during the war.

Mr. Tam shook his head and choked his head: 'A few years ago, sometimes I saw saying' monsters 'appeared, now people use electric detonators, mines explode all day long, even small fish are no longer .'.

According to some fishermen and Da river since being dammed, preventing the flow of hydroelectricity, there are some sections like the immense, quiet lake. The fried fish, the mausoleum, which used to live in the waves of the rapids, now have to hang around in such a cramped 'cage' , the easier and more convenient they are caught. Therefore, the rare fish species here gradually went into the list of extinction, only in the Red book.

Also, because of the rumors about the most ferocious of freshwater fishes, ' everywhere ' mighty hero wants to conquer the 'monster Da Nang' , as a way to express the joy passion, demonstrating his 'fish-killing' talent. Sometimes they spend hundreds of millions on shopping for tools, hunting for 'monsters' to throw on . drinking tables. Because, according to rumors, people who eat fried fish, lemongrass are usually very healthy and live long.

Therefore, people rushed to the fish shops located along the river Da to Viet Tri to find the 'longevity, immortality' , even if each kilogram of 'monsters' amounted to several million dong.

Standing in front of a small source of customers who are willing to pay high prices to enjoy the taste of fried fish, mausoleum, and many shops, they also hire a team of professional hunters who are busy day and night by every cave. , Da river's recess to search for giant fish.

Recently, when the State issued a ban on fishing with electric jacks, homemade mines and explosives, big fish species on this river were almost exhausted. Long time no see people say somewhere fishermen catch any fish weighs only a few dozen, not to mention hundreds of kilograms.

Perhaps, just a few more years, fierce lord fish like monsters in the legend will also be eradicated by the commercialization of humans who have penetrated to the bottom of the Da Giang line. The story that old fishermen or talk about water monsters and extraordinary brave hunters will also gradually become legendary.