Wearing shorts, underpants, and in one case nothing at all, these villagers in China risked life and limb to catch fish for their dinner.
Armed with nothing more than a few nets, bowls and their bare hands, the opportunistic fishermen walked away with some huge catches after the fish were washed from a reservoir.
After days of heavy rain the floodgates of the Tong-shan-yuan reservoir in Quzhou city opened automatically to drain off the surplus water, flushing out the fish with it.
Along with millions of gallons of water came hundreds of fish which flopped straight into the arms of the waiting villagers.
Shi Su, 46, was among the fishermen who gathered along the reservoir’s runoff channel to make the most of the bonanza.
‘You had to be careful and watch your footing but with a bowl, a net or even your hands it was easy to catch the biggest and best fish,’ said Su.
‘They were pouring out by the barrel-full , fat, juicy and fresh.’
‘People would be lucky to eat fish once a week around here. Now they are stocking the deep freeze compartments of their fridges with fish and will be munching on them for months to come.’
In one water run-off day alone an estimated 15,000lbs of freshwater fish was caught, including carp, bream and trout.
Lo Meng, 52, a local water authority official, said: ‘It is entirely legal for citizens to take as much fish as they can carry, but the risks are entirely theirs.
‘Several people in previous years have drowned when they toppled into the raging run-off water.’
While some villagers waded into the rushing stream in order to take their prized catch, others waited on the relative safety of the bank and used long nets to catch the fish.
Associated Newspapers Ltd