101: Hand-throwing net

Before the fishing boat had even fully stopped, Yang Qi had already found the cast net and run onto the deck.

"Bai Xue, cast the chum in this direction," Yang Qi instructed Bai Xue.

As the pre-thawed antarctic shrimp bait in Bai Xue's hand was scattered into the water, the fish school not far away went wild, swarming to snatch the food.

Yang Qi stood by, cast net in hand, watching expectantly. At the same time, he silently recalled the essentials of using a cast net that Bai Dahai had taught him last night.

That's right, Bai Dahai had taught him and his father how to cast a net last night. Of course, it was on the main road in front of their house; without an open sea, they wouldn't dare practice by the sea.

Otherwise, if someone reported them, they would be unable to explain themselves.

Yang Limin quickly grasped the essentials. After only six or seven throws, he was doing it quite skillfully.

Yang Qi, however, always missed the knack. He practiced dozens of times, but not once could he fully open the net.

Now it was time for real action, Yang Qi took a deep breath.

Left leg forward, right leg back, his back facing the area where the net needed to be cast. This stance allowed for easy turning.

Before raising the net with his right hand, he needed to grip it a bit lower, with part of the net draped over his left arm, and his left hand holding the pull rope.

As he turned, his arm would naturally swing up, and he would throw the net out with the momentum. Regardless of whether his hand released the net, the turning motion had to be completed. Otherwise, the net would clump together and not open at all.

After the net left his hand, the body's turn was to add inertia to the net, making the spread area of the net rounder and larger.

As Yang Qi completed a set of movements, a "swish" sound of the net hitting the water came.

The net only opened about 1/3 of the way, yet Yang Qi still praised himself unreservedly:

"Not bad, progress! At least it didn't clump together!"

Bai Xue just curled her lips slightly, listening from the side, and said nothing.

Normally, a cast net requires sinking to the bottom to be effective; this is where sea cast netting differs from freshwater cast netting.

Freshwater cast netting requires weights to sink to the bottom to slowly pull the net.

However, sea cast netting usually doesn't reach the seabed, so the weights for sea cast netting are heavier.

As long as the net covers the fish, when pulled up, the weights at the bottom are connected to the pull rope by a string.

When the pull rope is pulled, the bottom of the net automatically tightens, and the fish won't escape.

Although Yang Qi only opened 1/3 of the cast net just now, it couldn't withstand the high density of the fish school in the water.

As Yang Qi slowly pulled the net out of the sea, the fish in the net thrashed wildly. There were at least dozens of pounds.

Seeing Yang Qi struggling a bit, Bai Xue quickly went to help. Together, they pulled the net onto the deck.

Looking at the live White Pomfret flopping on the deck, Yang Qi still felt a tiny bit of excitement.

"My first sea cast net, perfect!"

After shaking the fish onto the deck, Yang Qi continued with the second net. Bai Xue, meanwhile, began picking up fish into several fish baskets.

With a "swish," the cast net entered the water again. This time it was much better, at least a semicircle.

This time the net was even heavier, at least 150 pounds. Bai Xue stopped picking up fish and went to the freezer compartment to raise the lifting crane.

This made it easy; by wrapping the pull rope of the cast net around the crane, with the help of mechanical power, a mere hundred pounds of fish catch was no longer an issue.

Next, Yang Qi threw two or three more nets, his movements becoming more skilled with each throw. Finally, he managed to open the net into an almost full circle.

Seeing that the fish school was about to pass the fishing boat, Yang Qi hurriedly ran back to the cockpit and drove the fishing boat.

He circled to the front of the fish school, then stopped the boat to chum, continuing to lure fish and cast the net.

By chasing and catching them this way, Yang Qi caught at least over a thousand pounds of White Pomfret.

Finally, the fish school, unable to bear the disturbance, sank to the seabed and swam away.

Yang Qi was also very happy looking at the dense White Pomfret on the deck. He joined Bai Xue in sorting and crating them.

White Pomfret, also known as silver pomfret, like fresh Beltfish, still has a faint luminescence on its body when freshly caught, which is very beautiful.

The pomfret sold in general supermarkets and rural markets are freshwater pomfret, which are cheap, but their taste and texture are completely different from these wild White Pomfret from the sea. Please do not misunderstand.

After a good while of work, the two finally crated and stored these White Pomfret.

Yang Qi continued to drive setting sail south. Another hour passed, and Bai Xue had already started making lunch when he finally spotted a good place.

It was a small island with a small mangrove forest to the north. At high tide, the seawater almost covered the forest, with only the treetops visible.

The other three directions were covered with reefs, with visible and hidden reefs interlocking like dog's teeth.

"Another treasure trove!"

As Yang Qi observed the endless marine life in the reefs around the small island, he also thought of Endless Island.

"This is the place!"

Yang Qi drove setting sail, circling the small island once. He secretly made up his mind.

The entire sea area was most abundant in crabs and lobsters. There were also various fish species like Grouper, and abalone, but not many.

"This place must be secured!"

Yang Qi immediately called Bai Xue to stop cooking and start claiming the area first.

The two, like a big yellow dog marking its territory with urine, surrounded the island, placing a dozen ground cages here and a basin of longline hooks there.

Yang Qi's main purpose this time was to occupy the space. In some places, he even just hung a few buoys, pretending that ground cages had been placed underneath.

Only then did he manage to barely cover the area.

"Next time I need to bring more ground cages!"

Yang Qi thought to himself, otherwise, what if he encountered another good spot? It's not possible to miss it, right?

As for the reef clusters near the island, Yang Qi deliberately did not place ground cages there. He would deal with it later.

"Next time, I'll claim a spot outside Endless Island."

After the two finished lunch, they went to find a place to fish. Sleeping was out of the question; making money was the priority.

Let's split the narrative and tell two stories.

Here, Yang Qi and Bai Xue were busy finding a place to fish.

Over on harvest, they were once again bustling with activity. They had dragged the bottom net again, bringing in nearly a thousand pounds of various crabs and sea shrimp, leaving the few people frantically sorting through them.

Especially Yang Limin, who didn't know how to tie crabs. He imitated and tied a swimming crab, only to be pinched by its large claw. It hurt so much that he almost shed tears.

Finally, he specialized in picking out sea shrimp. harvest was also forced to stop and anchor, with all three fully engaged in sorting the catch.

They couldn't stop! The other two simply couldn't keep up with the picking!

"Old Bai, I think we still need to hire a Ship worker!"

Yang Limin said to Bai Dahai.

"You're right! This is taking too much time! The main thing is, I didn't expect us to catch so many fish!"

Bai Dahai nodded in reply.

"Before, when we went out to sea, three people on a boat like this could usually manage the work. The main reason is that Yang Qi found us such a good fish nest."

Chen Zhongwei also chimed in from the side.