Kareemen Now Reared in Ponds

Karemeen at a Fish Stall at Domlur, Bangalore

I remember a very old trip when I went for fishing with my Uncle, big cousins, and dad to the backwater part ( Veli) in Trivandrum. The previous day of the fishing trip, I hardly had any sleep. I kept rolling on the bed with the excitement of my first fishing trip till I saw daylight sweeping through the wooden windows.

Fishing Trip Day
With all eagerness I accompanied them to Veli lagoon area for fishing. We had carried bamboo sticks which was prepared for holding the fishing line, specially made fish bait, to start our fishing trip. However, with all the excitement, my line hardly got a bite. At times I thought that the float was pulled by a fish, but each time I took the line out, the bait was gone and so is the fish. The star of the day was my uncle, we got many small karemmen. Though the fish caught on the line was small, it brought all the excitement for the team.

Karemmen in Bangalore Markets

Karemmen was recently named as the state fish of Kerala is a sought after fish. The most favoured preperation is Karemeen pullechathi. In Bangalore fish stalls, this fish is a regular sight. I think, the Karemeen reaching here are the ones reared in ponds. So, gone are the fish caught in the line.

To this day, I haven’t bought Karemeen from the market. I stick to sardines or the typical sankara ( Pink Perch) from the fish stall.