Ahmed Fadl-Khartoum

Hundreds of fishermen go to the White Nile every morning at the reservoir of Mount "Awliya", 44 km south of Khartoum, but among these fishermen amateurs compete only in fishing with tilapia in the hook, given that this fish - as the owners of passion for fishing - says smart and bridges Difficult.

Just as professions are sometimes inherited, some hobbyists have inherited the hobby of hunting tilapia from their parents, and they are also passing it on to their young children.

Samir Mustafa, 54, inherited the hobby of fishing from his father, and as soon as the winter comes and the Nile returns to its main course after the flood season, until his 12-year-old son, Amen, accompanies him every Friday to the reservoir of the “Awliya” Mountain to catch tilapia.

Samir and his son are forced to cut more than 50 km from his residence in the auction district, north of Khartoum North, to Mount Al-Awliya, south of the capital.

Flight preparations
This trip starts at the early hours of dawn, with equipment for fishing, some fruits and fast food, and then driving to the reservoir that the Egyptians built in 1937.

When Samir arrives at the reservoir, he goes first to Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq - surnamed Abu Samra - the owner of a farm of earthworms known locally as "Sarqeel", the preferred taste of tilapia.

Abu Samra says to Al-Jazeera Net that he used to sell "Sargel" to Samir's father before his death, and now he is selling it to Samir, and he hopes that he will extend his life to sell the taste of tilapia to the grandson "Amen".

Abu Samra prepares his land in the form of ponds, mixing its soil with the dung of sheep and cows and sprinkling it with water for 25 to 30 days, before harvesting it from the earthworm and selling it to the tilapia hunters.

Samir (right) inherited the hobby of tilapia fishing from his father (Al-Jazeera)

Tilapia parks
After the fishermen have had enough of the "hills", they cross the river from the body of the ancient reservoir towards the West Bank, and from there they head slightly to the south at the "Sulaimaniyah" region, where they consider the river there a hotbed for their favorite fish.

As soon as Samir and his son arrived with other fishermen, Mustafa and Qadoura, they entered into negotiations with the owners of the boats, and he ended up renting one of them at 500 pounds (about $ 12).

Samir - who works as a carpenter - says that he saves the costs of each trip from his simple income by saving about one thousand pounds for fuel expenses, boat rent, and the taste of the "sargel", along with other equipment.

When the boat was sailing to the middle of the White Nile, which is characterized by a wide and shallow course compared to the Blue Nile, Samir was busy observing the wave heights and the air stream so that he could locate the appropriate place, then put the anchor and start hunting.

Samir, his son, and two brothers during a tilapia fishing trip in the White Nile near Jabal al-Awliya, south of Khartoum (Al-Jazeera)

Amateur Challenge
According to Samir, the challenge for the tilapia hobbyist is to find out where his fish could be a breeding ground or to draw it to the area he chose to fish if it was close.

It indicates that tilapia is the only species of indigo fish that lives in swarms and is fed by algae and fungi that grow on stones and shells, which requires the search for a stone-rich and seashell area in the riverbed.

Qaddura explains that the swarms are often homogeneous in terms of age and size of tilapia.

Tilapia hunting enthusiasts keep the hook on the back of the areas in which the tilapia prefers to live in the course of the White Nile, and he calls the pots of the Shawwal and Qatinah areas Wood Bilal and the cells behind the reservoir, and the Sulaimaniya areas in front of it.

Tilapia is the only species of indigo fish that lives in swarms and feeds from algae and fungi (Al Jazeera)

Types of tilapia
Tilapia hobbyists have names for this fish depending on their size, and Mustafa says that the small size of it weighs a quarter of a kilogram and is known as the "cuff", a name derived from the likeness of the fish to the palm of the hand.

The tilapia tilapia is the favorite for its distinctive after-cooking taste, and according to Mustafa it weighs approximately one kilogram.

The last type is called "rooster", which is the large size of tilapia and weighs 3-4 kg, and fishing requires great skill because tilapia of this size always damage the hook or cut its string.

Mustafa says that the skill in hunting "the rooster" manifests itself when you can pull it without tearing its gills due to the aggression that distinguishes tilapia at this age.

Tilapia ranks third among the most consumed fish species in the world, and comes directly after carp and salmon.

Tilapia enthusiasts with hooks memorize by heart the areas in which this fish prefers to live (Al-Jazirah)

Fishing tricks
Samir always talks admiringly about tilapia, as he considers it a deceiving fish and needs to be circumvented so that the hunter can catch it without harming it or his preferred hook.

He says that the challenge of tilapia fishing is the resistance he shows, and before that how to attract his swarms and force him to stay in the place chosen by the fisherman.

Samir shows that they are attracting tilapia flocks with "fodder", which are small clay balls mixed with wheat "peel" or litter left over from dates or corn, tossed in the area chosen for hunting.

Among the tricks of amateurs, too, is to use a wink that sounds closer to a faint bell, which Samir says attracts and attracts tilapia fish, and when his hook grabs one of it, he is able to determine the size of the catch from the wink.

Tilapia enthusiasts use pink-colored dimples in the daytime, but when evening does come, they prefer phosphorous dimples because their flights always last until night.