To Spear One Billfish, You Stand on the Waves for Three Hours

Every September, the morning at Chenggong's Xingang harbour begins two hours earlier than usual.

By three in the morning the fishermen are already readying the boats. A four-metre iron harpoon, ropes, fuel — everything in its place, and out to sea by four.

Out toward the line of the horizon, the Kuroshio is running north, and the billfish are following it back to the East Coast.

Spearing Billfish Is Work You Do Standing on the Waves

Harpoon-billfishing is the most famous traditional fishing method in eastern Taiwan, born in the Japanese colonial era.

Unlike the longlines or trawl nets of the modern fleet, harpooning comes down to one man, one harpoon, one swell:

1. The fisherman stands on the harpoon platform at the bow (a wooden deck jutting out over the prow)
2. The boat creeps forward at low speed through the swell
3. The harpooner scans the surface with his own eyes, watching for the instant a dorsal fin breaks the water
4. He reads the boat's speed, the run of the waves, the fish's heading — then raises the harpoon, takes aim, and throws

A single throw lands less than three times in ten. If you miss three times for every one that strikes, you are already counted among the best.

As one of the old local fishermen puts it: "Spearing billfish isn't work for strength, it's work for patience. You stand for three hours, four hours, soaked through by the spray — all of it for that one second."

In all of Taiwan, this method survives intact only at Chenggong and Xingang. Because here there is the Kuroshio, there are hidden reefs, and there are people willing to spend a whole morning waiting on a single fish.

Three Fish, Three Seasons

Season	Main Catch	Character
September–March	black marlin / striped marlin	the peak of billfish season, the height of the harpoon fishery
March–June	mahi-mahi (鬼頭刀)	a regional specialty of the east, sweet and tender
April–July	flying fish	the traditional catch of the Amis (阿美族); dried flying fish is a staple of the villages

So "the best season to visit Chenggong Fishing Port" depends on what you want to eat — to watch live billfish landed off the harpoon boats, come September through November; for mahi-mahi, come April or May; to see the Amis flying-fish festival, come May or June.

How a Billfish Reaches the Table

A billfish speared off Chenggong goes from boat to plate in as little as four hours:

1. 05:00–08:00: the harpoon boats come in one after another, and the fishermen haul the fish ashore
2. 08:00: the Xingang Fish Market opens, and buyers — restaurants, wholesalers, retailers — bid on the spot
3. 09:00–12:00: the fish are carried into the seafood-restaurant kitchens across from the market, sliced into sashimi, simmered into soup, grilled into steaks
4. From 12:00: out to the table comes billfish sashimi landed that very morning

This is exactly why the billfish sashimi at Chenggong Fishing Port is sweeter than at any sushi counter in Taipei — not because of the chef's skill, but because the gap in freshness is simply too wide.

「

The taste of the east — you will never understand it until you have eaten a single slice of billfish straight from the water.

」

How to Eat Chenggong's Seafood

The Local Way to Order

1. Seafood restaurants (across from the market, several of them): the classic trio of billfish sashimi + mahi-mahi soup + flying-fish-roe sausage
2. Harbour breakfast: billfish rice-noodle soup, served from four or five in the morning until noon
3. Buying fresh at the market: at the fish market you can buy whole fish straight off the boat, sold by the catty — over a third cheaper than in Taipei
4. Cut to order: some stalls offer a fresh-sliced sashimi service — buy a whole fish and have the vendor slice it into sashimi right there

A One-Day Itinerary

Time	Plan
05:00	Sunrise at Sanxiantai (三仙台) (summer)
07:00	ten-minute drive to Chenggong's Xingang harbour
07:30	watch the harpoon boats land their catch (busiest September–November)
08:30	breakfast: billfish rice-noodle soup
10:00	wander the Xingang Fish Market, pick up gifts (dried flying fish, sea salt)
12:00	seafood restaurant: freshly sliced billfish sashimi
14:00	continue north along Provincial Highway 11 (Baxiandong Caves, Changbin) or head back south to Dulan

Corners That Are Easy to Miss

• Pisirian PaWuPawu Village (比西里岸): less than ten minutes south of Chenggong, with the goat-horn-creature land-art installation, a permanent exhibit of the East Coast Land Arts Festival each June through September
• Chenggong Elementary School: the loveliest school along this stretch of coast, its playground facing straight out onto the Pacific
• Xingang Tianhou Temple (新港天后宮): a century-old temple beside the harbour, where the old fishermen come before they head out to sea
• Chenggong Old Street: streetscapes left from the fishery's heyday in the 1950s, and rarely a tourist in sight

How to Get to Chenggong

• By car: about one hour north from central Taitung along Provincial Highway 11 (45 km)
• By private hire: recommended. Sunrise at Sanxiantai plus a Chenggong harbour breakfast is a classic pairing
• By bus: the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle East Coast Line (daytime departures)

A Closing Word

What Chenggong taught me is this — the freshness of food cannot be faked.

From the harpooner putting to sea, to the auction at the market, to the slicing in the kitchen, to the dish set down on the table — a freshness completed within four hours is something no cold chain, no transport, no packaging can imitate.

Next time you crave billfish sashimi, don't go looking for it in Taipei. Come to Chenggong, and come ashore with the Kuroshio.

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Further reading:

• To pair with the Sanxiantai sunrise: Across Eight Arches, to the Island the Three Immortals Left Behind
• To travel the whole East Coast: East Coast Tribes, 3 Days