103: School of sardines

Yang Qi looked at the dense school of fish heading towards them and suddenly remembered,

“Sardine school, this is a Sardine school.”

Sardine, a small, silver, slender fish.

It has high edible value and overall nutritional value, and is extensively caught and used in the food processing industry.

Sardine is also an important economic fish globally, often being a significant product of deep-sea fishing.

Sardine is also preyed upon by many large carnivorous fish, but they use teamwork, forming a large, constantly rotating spherical mass, and their fast swimming speed, to evade pursuit.

Coupled with the Sardine's fast growth and strong reproductive capacity, the overall population can still be maintained.

“Let’s get some, let’s get some. When we go back, Mom can make fish balls and fish sausages, and I’ll fry some for Dad to keep as a snack with his drinks.”

Yang Qi drooled just thinking about it.

Yang Qi stopped the boat in advance, holding a hand-cast net, waiting for the Sardine school to approach.

“Bai Xue, the Sardine school is here! Come quickly and get some to fry at home as a snack.”

Bai Xue heard Yang Qi’s shout and hurriedly ran to the deck, picked up a scoop net, saw that the mesh was too large, and then grabbed another one.

Putting two together, it’s relatively a little better!

“Forget it, this will have to do, there are no other tools.”

After thinking for a moment, she ran to the other side and brought six or seven fish baskets, lining them up behind the two of them.

She planned to pour the fish directly into them once they were netted.

No sooner said than done!

Soon, countless Sardine formed a large sphere, slowly rotating to the side of the setting sail.

Yang Qi stood with his back to the Sardine school, suddenly flung the cast net in his hand, and at the same time turned around and let go.

With a “whoosh,” the cast net spread into a large, perfect circle, completely covering the Sardine school.

Yang Qi waited quietly for a few seconds, then began to pull the rope and retrieve the net.

“Holy crap, it’s so heavy!” Yang Qi immediately felt the fishing net in his hand was too heavy to pull.

Bai Xue had only scooped a few netfuls, and although many fish escaped due to the large mesh, luckily there were many fish, so even if some leaked out, with quick movements, she still caught quite a few.

Seeing Yang Qi struggling, she immediately pulled over the crane’s boom.

Yang Qi tied the pull rope to the hook, started the machine, and the entire net was slowly lifted onto the deck.

“Holy crap, at least four hundred catties.” Yang Qi thought to himself.

Lowering the crane boom, Yang Qi opened the cast net, and the Sardine inside poured into the fish baskets with a “whoosh,” filling several baskets in no time.

Many energetic, silver Sardine also spilled onto the deck, along with about ten Smoke Fish.

There was no time to pick up the fish.

Yang Qi grabbed a plastic shovel nearby.

He used the shovel to push all the wildly jumping Sardine on the deck to the other side.

He also pulled the six or seven already full fish baskets to the other side.

Then he found several empty fish baskets, arranged them side by side, tidied the cast net, and prepared for the next cast.

Again, he raised his hand, turned, and cast the net.

This time it should be even more.

Not because this action was more perfect, but simply because the previous net was cast at the edge of the school, and now the entire net was cast into the school.

Pulling the net and reeling in the line, it was indeed more and heavier, so he continued to use the crane to lift the fishing net onto the deck.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh,” soon the fish from the net filled several fish baskets, and a thicker layer of Sardine covered the deck.

Among them, five or six three to four-catty Smoke Fish could be seen flopping on the deck.

“Bai Xue, set up the boat fishing rods!”

Yang Qi suddenly remembered something.

Such a large school of Sardine would definitely be followed by predators.

And large predators were even better.

Didn’t he see Smoke Fish appearing too?

Smoke Fish are also called Skipjack Tuna, and they also have a fusiform body shape.

In some places, they are also called small Tuna; they belong to the same family but a different genus as Tuna.

Its flesh is quite coarse, and its color is relatively dark; compared to Tuna, they are two different types of fish, and their market price is also very low.

Skipjack Tuna are also carnivorous fish.

When Yang Qi saw this fish chasing and eating Sardine, he thought that large Tuna would also chase Sardine to feed.

While Bai Xue was assembling the fishing gear, Yang Qi cast another net, and indeed, another net full of Sardine was lifted onto the deck.

Three nets of fish definitely exceeded 1200 catties, that’s enough!

Yang Qi quickly tidied the deck, wielding the plastic shovel with great speed.

He used a cart to transport the fish baskets full of Sardine to the freezing compartment in several trips and put them away.

He immediately started the boat, circled to the front side of the fish school, anchored the fishing boat, and the two began to fish.

The bait consisted of the three to four-catty Skipjack Tuna they had just caught.

Bai Xue hooked the Skipjack Tuna onto the fishing hook and skillfully cast the line.

Yang Qi was not to be outdone and also cast his bait into the water near the fish school.

Not long after, Yang Qi’s fishing rod suddenly dipped sharply, and he shouted excitedly:

“A big fish is on the hook!” He gripped the fishing rod tightly with both hands and began to struggle with the fish.

The fish was incredibly strong, pulling the fishing line and thrashing wildly in the water, trying to break free from the hook.

Yang Qi gritted his teeth, holding on to the fishing rod tightly, his body swaying with the fish’s pulls.

“Great strength works wonders! Yellowfin Tuna, come on!”

Bai Xue also became nervous, her eyes fixed on Yang Qi’s fishing rod, ready to help at any moment.

After an intense struggle, Yang Qi finally slowly reeled the fish closer to the boat.

He picked up the gaff and plunged it fiercely into the Tuna’s head.

Indeed, it was a Yellowfin Tuna weighing a good one hundred twenty to thirty catties!

Yang Qi picked up a rope, looped it around the fish’s tail, and slowly hoisted the Tuna onto the boat with the crane, cheering excitedly as he looked at the plump big fish.

Yang Qi skillfully bled and de-acidified the Yellowfin Tuna.

Bai Xue had also hooked a fish earlier and was fighting it.

However, Yang Qi couldn’t go help her because another boat fishing rod also had a fish on it.

Yang Qi could only deal with the fish on his hook first.

While trying to stabilize the fishing rod to prevent the fish from escaping, he loudly cheered for Bai Xue:

“Bai Xue, hold steady, slowly wear it down!”

He finally managed to reel in the fish on this rod, and it turned out to be another Yellowfin Tuna weighing over a hundred catties.

Yang Qi hoisted it onto the deck, quickly bled and de-acidified it, and then rushed to help Bai Xue.

Working together, they got the fish she had caught onto the boat; it was a slightly smaller but still around one hundred catty Bigeye Tuna.

Before Yang Qi could catch his breath, the Sardine school, which they had pushed aside and ignored in the ability vision, suddenly became agitated.

The spherical Sardine school beneath the surface spun faster and faster.

Yang Qi watched the agitated water with vigilance, an ominous premonition stirring in his heart.

Suddenly, a huge silhouette swam from beneath the water; it was a Great White Shark over three meters long!

Several sharks followed behind it.

It opened its gaping maw and fiercely bit into the Sardine school.

For a moment, the surrounding seawater rippled.

The Great White Shark thrashed through the Sardine school, and wherever it went, Sardine scattered, forced to leave their spherical family.

Except for some that skillfully dodged the sharks’ predation and returned to the large spherical school, the remaining Sardine that were forced to leave were swallowed by the sharks.

Yang Qi realized that this Great White Shark might attack their boat.

Yang Qi quickly ran to the cockpit, started the boat, and prepared to leave this dangerous area.