Because my hometown is located in a water town near the Yangtze River, my ancestors were experts in casting nets and fishing. There are more than a dozen fishing boats in the village, and they often go out to sea to fish. I remember it was in the forties and fifties of the last century before and after liberation. Every early autumn, the waters around Duwu are preferred. Because Qiupu River forms a bend in Duwu, the water surface is wide, and because of the influence of summer water for many years, underwater rocks have been washed out of many water nests, which is the most hidden place for fish, among which carp and mandarin fish are abundant.
In autumn, crabs are ripe and fish are fat, which is a good time for fishing. The fishing fleet of my hometown has come. Fishermen often line up in a long line, stand at the bow and throw nets into the clear river from front to back. And the front team becomes the cycle of the back team. At that time, the fishing boats in a unified format were marching forward, and the spread nets were flying in the air. In the magnificent sunset photos, this scene is like a lyric poem and a touching oil painting.
At that time, the exciting scene of small fishing boats competing for the upper reaches and fish jumping into the net made the ancestors in their hometown intoxicated. So when they were happy, they couldn't help singing their favorite Huangmei ditty: fishermen live in the middle of the water, reeds on both sides of the river are like fences, laying boats and casting nets, a net of fish and shrimp, and a net of grains.
In Duwu, what is more poetic is what I saw when I was a child-the osprey fishing map. It was a cold winter with thin water and mountains. Qiupu River is very shallow, and fish are concentrated in the deep water around Duwu Ferry. There are dozens of grasshopper boats on both sides of a river. There are seven or eight osprey standing on each boat. Under the command of fishermen with long bamboo poles, the black long-billed osprey dived into the water to fish. On the originally calm water, at this time, the river suddenly became active because of the ups and downs of the inlets and outlets of many osprey. Maybe there were many fish at that time, and the fish were fat. Anyone who dives into the water and waits to surface again can catch fish with the sharp mouth of the osprey. What I admire is that an osprey, small in size, can firmly grasp a lively fish of about two pounds. What is even more exciting and surprising is that sometimes an osprey catches a big fish and gets information in some way. Many osprey nearby quickly came to help, and Qi Xin joined forces to subdue the big fish and lift it out of the water. At this time, the fisherman, who had already prepared, quickly covered the big fish and fished it out. Whenever a big fish is caught, fishermen and osprey on other ships cheer and celebrate.
Between the green hills on both sides of the strait, a bend of clear water slowly flows downstream on the wide river. Under the blue sky and white clouds, the grasshopper boat with lush foliage and the bright osprey called cormorant outline how harmonious the fishermen wearing hats and coir are in the outbound boat.