Tum Pla Duk (Thai Catfish Pot Trap) — a 1 m Woven Bamboo Tube with a Low Door, Valve Funnels, a Horseshoe Cap Funnel, a Tin-Plate Lid and Roasted-Termite Bait

"When the catfish come out to feed and smell the bait, they find their way in at the door, pass the nga wai into the cap funnel, then climb from the cap funnel into the trap body to eat the termites." (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, author ทำนุ วรธงไชย (Thamnu Worathongchai), CC BY 4.0)

Split bamboo into flat strips. Start with a round or square base about 27 cm across and weave the strips close, bulging slightly; at one hand-span high it is about 30 cm across. Weave round strips crosswise into a hoop, then taper the weave, adding hoops at intervals. At about 70 cm high, flare the mouth out to 25 cm. Shave a long flat bamboo piece for the base rim and make a hoop for the mouth.

Cut a rectangular door at the bottom edge, at ground level, 5 × 12 cm. Shave bamboo pieces into a door frame, tie cord into a nga wai valve fixed to a crossbar, and fix the crossbar inside the frame as the entrance funnel.

Shave thick flat strips about 1 cm wide and 40 cm long, bend them into horseshoes and set about 9 side by side, tied with vine; then add strips of the same size 16 cm long from one side curving back to the other, tied fast. Close the gap at the top with a nga wai, tips pointing up. Put the cap funnel in through the mouth so it covers the door's nga wai, and wire it fast. For the lid, take an old tin plate that just fits the mouth, pierce its rim and tie it to the mouth with cord, tie cord loops on both sides, and lock it with a bamboo pin.

Photos of a real tum pla duk from the Nong Bua Khok Folk Museum (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, author ทำนุ วรธงไชย (Thamnu Worathongchai), CC BY 4.0).

Dig hard, dark-brown termite nest out in lumps, break it small and roast it over a fire, then scoop it, termites and all, into the trap. Set the trap in water with its base on the bottom and about a third of the mouth above water, staked with a stick and cord. Collect in the morning: lift it, pull the pin, open the lid, tip the fish into a khong basket, re-bait and set it again.

Paddy catfish are firm-fleshed and preferred to farmed ones. Skilled villagers say that set 2-3 nights in a row, the trap takes every catfish in a pond. Today tum pla duk are mostly hung under the eaves of the rice barn. Take care with the fire when roasting the termite nest. Source: Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Traditional Objects of Everyday Use database, "ตุ้มปลาดุก", author ทำนุ วรธงไชย (Thamnu Worathongchai), Nong Bua Khok Folk Museum, Buriram (CC BY 4.0 licence). **Limits** There is no listing for vine or the tin plate, so they are named in the text.