To kill time while waiting for the breaking of the fast, many residents opt for fishing on the lakes and rivers in Tangerang municipality.

One of the most frequented fishing spots during the holy month of Ramadhan is Situ Gede Lake in Cikokol district, which was full of locals as well as people from Jakarta when The Jakarta Post visited on Wednesday afternoon.

Many were sitting in neat lines along the lake side, while others were using rafts to reach the center of the small lake, where they believed more fish lurked.

Taufik, 34, a resident of Cipondoh subdistrict, said he usually began fishing at 3 p.m. and left for home at 5:45 p.m. But when the Post met him, the father of two wanted to go home even though it was still only 3:30 p.m.

'€œThis is the first time in my life I have caught four fish in this lake within 40 minutes. I want to give them to my wife before it'€™s too late, since there is still enough time to cook them for our breaking-the-fast meal,'€ he said, adding that he had gone fishing at the lake almost every day since the start of the fasting month.

Although he lives not far from Cipondoh Lake, the largest in the municipality, like many residents Taufik prefers fishing at Situ Gede Lake because it is located near two big shopping malls on Jl. Sudirman with several restaurants nearby.

Moreover, said Taufik, the anglers could fish for free and keep any fish they caught.

'€œIf I can catch two or three fish, it means that I can save some money which would otherwise be spent on food for breaking the fast and sahur [pre-dawn meal],'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Idol Okagani, 29, another Cipondoh resident, said it was his first time fishing at Situ Gede.

Before, he only accompanied his friends to the lake and was not interested in fishing at all.

'€œAfter several times, seeing how my friends enjoyed fishing, especially the moment they caught a fish, I decided to try it myself,'€ he said.

'€œI wasn'€™t bad at all [fishing for the first time] and I was satisfied even though I only caught one nila fish,'€ he said, adding that he presented the 500-gram nila fish to his mother as a surprise.

Idol said that he and his four friends also fished at the lake until the call for maghrib, the sunset prayer, was heard.

However, he said, they sometimes missed the time and kept fishing until it past the breaking of fast time.

Amal Botak, 47, a resident in Grendeng subdistrict said that he preferred fishing at the Cisadane River during Ramadhan.

'€œUnfortunately we can no longer find the native fish of the Cisadane River, which were very tasty. Some people said they have become extinct due to industrial waste disposed of in the river. Now there are only sapu-sapu [Borneo suckers], patin [silver catfish] and nila fish in the river,'€ he said.

In Tangerang regency, hundreds of people had gathered at Tanjung Pasir Beach in the Teluk Naga district on Tuesday and rented boats to fish in the middle of the sea or simply bought freshly caught fish from the fishermen.

Many had brought their families along and they waited to enjoy grilled fish at the beach.

'€œIt'€™s very nice '€” my family and I can ask the vendor here to cook the fish I have just caught from the sea,'€ said Mus Mulyadi, a visitor from Panongan district, Tangerang regency.

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