Khe La - a dam teeming with 'sea monsters'

In Nghe An, below the Khe La dam, there used to be a residential area, but now it's home to thousands of large fish, attracting anglers from all over to cast their lines there for the past 13 years.

The Khe La Dam, located in Phu Son commune, Tan Ky district, is approximately 3 km long, over 500 m wide, with a maximum depth of 38 m and a capacity of 2 million m³. Viewed from above, the western side of the dam features a gently sloping forest interspersed with a few houses. The eastern side is a concrete embankment. To the north and south are numerous small islands where locals cultivate acacia and tea plants. Some areas are densely covered with vegetation.

In the 1970s, below the Khe La dam was Bac Son hamlet, Phu Son commune, home to more than 15 families. They cultivated rice and sugarcane for a living, but it was only enough to feed themselves, with no savings. Transportation was difficult, electricity had not yet been connected, summer droughts caused crops to wither, and the rainy season brought flash floods and landslides.

The Khe La Dam viewed from above. Photo: Duc Hung

Having worked as an official in Phu Son commune since 1980, later serving as Secretary, Chairman, and Vice Chairman of the People's Council until his retirement in 2019, Mr. Nguyen Ho Thu said that since 1982, delegations from the province and district had come to survey and build the Khe La dam to help more than 15 households in the Bac Son basin escape from hardship, while also solving the drought situation in the area.

But it wasn't until 2009, when the households were relocated, that the Khe La dam project was finally started. The irrigation enterprise mobilized manpower to build embankments and create depth. In August 2010, as workers were preparing to demolish more than 15 houses in the middle of the reservoir, a major flood struck, submerging the entire Bac Son hamlet, making further dredging impossible.

The Khe La Dam, completed in 2010, is only of average size compared to the more than 100 reservoirs and dams in Tan Ky district. However, the dam is famous throughout Central Vietnam for attracting many large fish species such as black carp and common carp.

Dang Van Tu, 33, who is bidding on a catfish farming project in Khe La, said that he estimates the natural fish population in the reservoir currently amounts to several tens of tons, including over 300 black carp weighing 30 kg or more, and notably about 10 fish weighing around 60-80 kg, but no angler has yet caught one. Most recently, on the evening of June 15th, a group of anglers in Thai Hoa town caught a 40 kg black carp with a belly diameter of 40 cm and a length of over one meter.

Currently, dozens of anglers come to Khe Là every day to set up tents and fish with their rods. Mr. Tú has put up signs prohibiting the destructive fishing of wild fish, only allowing anglers to catch large fish and record videos . If they catch a large fish, often called a "sea monster," the anglers can do whatever they want with it; smaller fish must be released back into the dam for conservation.

Khe La - a dam teeming with 'sea monsters'

A panoramic view of Khe La and the "giant" fish that were once caught at the dam. Video: Duc Hung

Why does Khe La have so many big fish?

According to Mr. Nguyen Ho Thu, in the 2010s, dozens of households in Quyet Thang hamlet, above Bac Son hamlet, dug ponds of 500-1,000 square meters to raise black carp, selling hundreds of tons each year, with each fish weighing an average of 7-15 kg. In 2013, the area experienced historic floods, submerging houses by nearly 2 meters, and all the fish ponds in Quyet Thang hamlet overflowed. Thousands of black carp, nearly ready for harvest, were swept away to Khe La and became trapped there. "The floods caused the people to lose hundreds of tons of fish, but Khe La received a significant replenishment of aquatic resources," Mr. Thu said.

Around the dam, there is an abundance of natural food such as snails, clams, mussels, and oysters, clinging to rocks, embankments, or hidden in the mud. Among these, snails are the most abundant, a favorite food of black carp. Mr. Dang Van Tu said that every day, people in the commune catch tons of snails to sell. Thanks to the abundant food source, black carp, as well as other species of carp, catfish, tilapia, and other fish residing in the dam, thrive and grow rapidly, with many reaching their maximum size.

Khe Là is home to many large fish, but anyone attempting to fish illegally or set nets usually fails because the bottom and mid-level of the water are full of traps. Large fish often take refuge in houses and trees at the bottom of the dam. When caught on a hook, they thrash around, wrapping the fishing line around houses and causing it to break. "Once, a fish dragged a fishing rod worth 30 million dong down into the dam and I lost it all. Every year I come to Khe Là 20 times with the goal of hunting these aquatic monsters , but I always come back empty-handed," recounted Tran Van Manh, 25 years old.

Mr. Dang Van Tu rows his boat to inspect the fish cages at Khe La dam. Photo: Duc Hung.

According to this angler, Khe La is over 30 meters deep, and he didn't dare dive to the bottom. However, in shallow areas of about 10 meters, he and his friend explored and discovered many caves near the hill, with diameters of over 20 cm, too deep to reach the bottom with their hands. On normal days, the surface of the dam is calm, but during storms, it's like a "furious tempest," with large waves crashing against the shore, and surrounding trees shaking continuously. In summer, the sun is scorching, while in winter it's bone-chillingly cold.

"I suffered from malaria and was constantly ill after each return from Khe La. In 2021, I had five bouts of illness, but things got better later, just mild colds that cleared up because I had adapted to the climate and knew how to prevent them," Mạnh said, adding that those familiar with the terrain could last a week, while others had to return home after about three days of fishing.

Fishing trips at Khe Là lasted from two days to weeks, during which Mạnh and his friends would often set up makeshift shelters and hang hammocks to rest overnight. One day, Mạnh saw a centipede as big as his thumb about to bite his friend's hand while he was sleeping. He had to use a cloth to catch the insect and then kill it. Therefore, anglers have a rule: when eating, they shouldn't throw food on the ground because insects will crawl over it.

"History, topography, climate... make Khe La mysterious, and every angler wants to come and fish there at least once. The biggest fish in the dam, the black carp, still safely resides beneath the dam, despite the many traps set waiting for them," said Mr. Manh.

Next article: Hunting the "sea monster" at Khe La Dam

Duc Hung

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