Silk Screen Canoe

Silk Screen Canoe

　　　　Although the history of the silk screen canoe is not long, due to Mianyang’s location in a lake region with vast water areas suitable for silk screen fishing, it has become highly favored by fishermen.

The silk screen canoe is small, agile, and no more than eight feet long or two feet wide. Its planks are extremely thin—light enough for one person to drag, manageable for two to carry, and portable enough to be carried on the shoulders over hills and valleys with ease. The entire canoe is arched in shape, resembling a crescent moon, even more sharply curved than a Venetian gondola. When floating on the water, using Su Dongpo’s phrase “to drift wherever a single reed may take you,” the “reed” in question would be no exaggeration. This reed-leaf-like little canoe glides swiftly and turns effortlessly.

There are many types of silk nets. In terms of the depth at which they are deployed, there are floating nets, sinking nets, and semi-sinking nets; in terms of the weaving material, there are silk nets, thread nets, or modern plastic nets. As for their use, they can be divided into coarse-mesh and fine-mesh nets, capable of catching both large fish—ones weighing over a hundred pounds that can’t break free—and small fish, so tiny they’re no bigger than a fingertip. Truly, they “catch everything in the net,” making them a formidable enemy of fish.

(Xiantao)