Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – Squatting, a man stared intensely down at the water in front of him. Feeling a tug on his fishing line, he gave a quick yank. "Awww, not fast enough!" said the growing crowd of onlookers, as the man pulled up his empty hook.

Baban, 51, re-baited his hook and plunged it into the overflowing channel in Grogol, West Jakarta.

Flooding in the capital has caused havoc with homes and roads, but it also has given amateur anglers an opportunity to get their lines wet in their own front yards.

Floodwaters in Grogol, where houses and even the first story of Sumber Waras Hospital were submerged, began receding Wednesday, leaving behind water-filled channels and gutters teeming with fish. "I don't know, maybe the fish came from people's ponds," Baban's fishing partner, Dadang, 45, said.

The floods, which hit Jakarta and surrounding areas over the weekend, did not submerge his house on Jl. Setiakawan in West Jakarta, but they have prevented him from earning a living selling snacks.

"I usually sell snacks near Tarumanegara University, but since the floods the campus has been closed so there is no point selling snacks there," he said.

He said he usually fished in Cengkareng, paying Rp 10,000 for every kilogram of fish he caught. "Now I get to fish for free." "We could only go fishing after the water started to abate and became calm. Previous days the current was still too strong," he said.

Baban, an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver, said he had been out since the morning and had already caught three fish. In his bucket was a catfish and a couple of other fish.

He said the flooding meant he could not earn any money driving his motorcycle. "People don't want to take an ojek in the flood, they don't want to get wet."

"I haven't had any passengers today even though the water has subsided," he said. With no passengers, he decided to pass the time, and catch dinner, fishing.

It wasn't long before Baban and Dadang had a large audience, with many people waiting around to see if the two anglers had any luck. Not long after the two began hooking the fish, another man showed up with his fishing line.

Baban said he would fry the fish once he got home and share it with his family. "It's today's meal," he said.

In Kemang, South Jakarta, some children are spending their unplanned school holiday fishing.

Fifth grader Raju Yozar said he and his friends were fishing in the waters near their flooded houses. "It's fun, although if my mother knew she would not be happy," he said.