Prawning Outing 1 - Thoughts from Da Wei

We just ended our very first prawning competition at Bishan organized by Sheen An and Henry. When we arrived at the prawning area, we spilt ourselves into groups of 4 and were told the rules and regulations of the competition which allows us to stand a chance to win Sakae Sushi vouchers!

When we took up our positions and rod to prawn, everyone seems like they know what they are doing and prawning like the pros around the pond really blending in with the rest. However it was very much revealed when we started shifting and changing our position over and over again. How the rods are supposed to be held, what are the signs of the prawns eating the bait are some of the many discussion points raised up throughout the whole session. There seems to be 101 ways and suggestions to prawning. As 4 persons were sharing one rod, we all tried and experiment the many different ways that we thought would increase our probability of getting a caught. It is like a new sport to many of us.

The intensity of the competition is high. Every team was determined to at least get 1 catch at the end of the end. It really takes a lot of patience for prawning. You have to focus on the float and the feel of the rod which will indicted whether a prawn got the bait. The intense focus of the rod bearer increases the seriousness of the situation at hand. It is not merely whether you are lucky or not, it really depends a lot on your skill level, which at that point of time we all seem to have neither.

It can be frustrating at times especially when you can feel the prawning nibbling on your bait, you feel excited and instead of holding that position and getting the prawning hooked, you tend to pull up too quickly and up comes the hook with bait but no prawn! So you tell yourself that its alright and you try again. That’s the whole spirit of prawning, you never really give up because you will always feel that you can do better. It difficult especially when everyone else around you seems to be prawning at ease, the prawns coming out the water consistently while you have yet to catch any.

Many kodex and funny moments occurred, such as the rod being pulled too fast and hard that it got stuck onto the straw roof that was above us, the anticipation of almost getting our first catch and the spies trying to obtain the status of the other teams.

At the end of the 2 hour competition, we concluded that we really need more practices and skill for prawning. Following the announcement of the winning team where William himself caught the most number of prawns for his team, we ate our very expensive grilled prawns. Teams were all rewarded with Sakae Sushi vouchers for all the effort they put in for the competition.

We went to The Roti Prata House at Thomson Road for supper with the much needed help from Shan Yong who drove all of us there. It was funnier when we were mostly zoned out when the person was explaining how much everything cost because all we see on the slip of paper was numbers, we needed detailed details to what the numbers meant.

After the Prata, that wasn’t the end of it! Some of us continued the night with lanning, Left 4 Dead, which by then, almost knocked ourselves out. It really was a fun and awesome night out which has definitely left a deep impression on al of us. Prawning is something which you cannot seem to get enough of it.

(For pictures of the prawning session, do click here, courtesy of Sheen An!!)