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ARMED with their fishing rods, the group of middle- aged men stand next to the canal, patiently waiting for their next catch.
When they reel in a fish, they toss it to an old man standing nearby,who puts the fish in a plastic bag.
After the old man fills up two bags with the fishes, he proceeds to 'set up stall' along the walkway. Next to the plastic bag is a handwritten note that reads: "Fishes sale, $2 for all."
That is the scene at Rochor Canal every Saturday afternoon.
A group of five to 10 middle-aged men have been fishing at the canal from between a few months and three years.
About two or three years years ago, they got to know the man who sells the fish. He was the one who asked them if they could give him their catch.
But they said they know little else about him as he does not talk much.They don't even know his name. The man, they understand, has lost most of his hearing.
When The New Paper on Sunday was at Rochor Canal last Saturday afternoon, we saw the man, who had a device in his ear, trying to fish on and off.
But he did not catch as many fish - mostly tilapia - as the other anglers.
Perhaps it was because of his hearing, but the man, who looks to be in his 60s, was reluctant to be interviewed.
He asked curtly in fluent English: "Why are you asking these questions? I don't want to blow this up." The only question he answered was if he sold both the big and small fish at the same price.
His reply: "They're all $2 (each)."
The canal has fish aplenty despite its murky appearance, said an angler who gave his name as MrYang.
"Once, I even saw someone catch an 8kg catfish in the canal," the 43-year-old mechanic said of the 0.6m catch.
One of these anglers,Mr Mohammad Ishak, 40, who works in the cargo business, has been spending his weekends fishing at Rochor Canal since two months ago.
He said he either throws his catch back into the canal or gives the larger fish to the elderly man.
Little known
Like the rest of the anglers there, he knows little about the man.
He said: "I don't know his name or where he comes from, but I heard from the other guys that he's deaf and I took pity on him.
"Since I like fishing but don't eat the fish, I just give him what I catch."
But the anglers were modest about their good deed. Mr Yang said: "We're fishing only for recreation.
Besides, we don't eat long kang (Malay for canal) fish because it tastes muddy. So we might as well give the fish to him.
"The money he earns from selling the fish, he (uses that) sometimes to buy some canned drinks for us, to thank us."
Mr Yang said most of the old man's customers are foreign workers who drop by after their work.
The anglers said he is able to sell his entire yield on days with heavy traffic.
But there are also days when he sells none.
When The New Paper on Sunday was there from from 2pm to 7pm last Saturday, the old man did not manage to sell anything though a few people glanced into his bags of fish.
By dusk, all the anglers had left.
The old man, too, packed up his fishing rod, tied up two full bags of unsold fish and walked off.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
