117: Swordfish washing gills

"Fei Ge, come have a Red Bull first. After this, we'll battle the giant together! I'll go deliver one to Brother Jun and my brother-in-law, and I'll be right back."

Bai Lang became the runner, delivering drinks to everyone. Yang Qi remembered how he was a quiet introvert at seventeen or eighteen, truly no match for a social butterfly like Bai Lang.

As long as this kid doesn't go astray in the future, he'll achieve great things.

Yang Qi shook the large drum reel, clearly feeling the force was much lighter than before. It seemed the marlin's first round of Impact was almost over, and about 1000 meters of fishing line had run out.

He pulled the boat rod from the rod holder, locked the line release switch, and began to exert force, preparing for a strong offensive.

He squatted into a horse stance, his body and fishing rod leaning back slightly. Using the motion of bending down, he reeled in the line, then leaned back again, holding the rod with both hands. Each bend and lean allowed him to retrieve about 10 meters of line.

Yang Qi, relying on the sturdy rod and line setup, shook it left and right, disrupting the marlin's rhythm of escape.

If the marlin ran right, he pulled left; if it ran left, he pulled right.

When the marlin exerted force again, he would slightly loosen the brake switch, letting the big fish run with the line for a while longer.

Then he would interrupt the marlin's rhythm again and reel in the line again.

For a time, he truly controlled the large marlin's rhythm, slowly pulling it several hundred meters closer to the setting sail.

Suddenly, Yang Qi felt the fishing line in his hand loosen significantly, even feeling increasingly slack.

Yang Qi was reeling so fast his hands were a blur, and he had a vague sense that something was wrong.

"Damn, is it preparing to sword-attack me?"

Yang Qi had read in novels that marlin fishing was very dangerous. If a marlin was provoked during fishing, it would charge the fishing boat and angler in reverse, often piercing holes in the boat.

Yang Qi had never encountered such a situation, and he didn't know if it was true or false.

Suddenly, he saw this marlin, about six or seven hundred meters from the fishing boat, repeatedly leaping out of the sea several times, shaking its head and tail at the same time.

The large marlin, with a body like a door panel, leaped high, then crashed heavily back into the sea, splashing water everywhere.

"Holy cow, it's a big marlin!"

"It really is a big marlin, so beautiful."

"Wow wow wow! Brother-in-law, what a huge marlin!"

The excited shouts of several people came from beside him.

"Damn it, this is bad! It's not trying to sword-attack, it's trying to gill-wash!"

Yang Qi quickly reeled in the large drum reel while tugging on the fishing line.

If the large marlin leaped to the left, he would pull the line hard to the lower right. If it leaped to the right, he would pull to the lower left. At the same time, he himself moved left and right, following the direction of the fishing rod.

Many times, he managed to forcefully pull the fish down from mid-air.

As soon as the large marlin exerted force, he would release the line. When the force paused, he would start reeling in.

"Fish gill-washing" is a common phenomenon during fishing, referring to the fish's action of jumping out of the water and shaking its head to dislodge the hook after biting. This behavior significantly increases the risk of the fish getting unhooked.

The most effective method is to move the fishing rod in the opposite direction promptly and quickly tighten the fishing line.

Following the core principle of 'enemy advances, I retreat; enemy retreats, I advance,' Yang Qi firmly maintained the initiative.

Yang Qi, in any case, had not encountered the situation described in novels where a marlin would reverse-sword-attack the fishing boat or angler.

After about an hour of struggle, Yang Qi dragged the large marlin to the side of the setting sail like a dead dog.

He took a rope and looped it around the marlin's large tail, then took the gaff hook handed to him by Bai Lang and fiercely plunged it into the marlin's large head.

The large marlin convulsed like an epileptic for a moment, then finally lay still.

They pulled over the crane and began to hoist this three-meter-long marlin onto the deck. It was a bit difficult to operate; it was too damn long, with a good portion of its head and long bill still stuck on the gunwale, unable to come up.

In the end, Yang Qi had to go and hold the marlin's head, and Bai Lang helped activate the crane arm to barely hoist it onto the deck.

Yang Qi immediately bled and gutted this three-meter-long marlin to remove acid. Only by doing so could he ensure the marlin's optimal condition.

He finally inserted the water hose into the cut below the marlin's gills, continuing to flush and bleed it.

He then went to Zhang Jun's side and asked, "Brother Jun, how's it going?"

"It's fine, slowly, I haven't tried to pull hard against the fish yet! I have a feeling it might also be a big marlin."

Zhang Jun did not take the fishing rod off the rod holder; he was relying on the holder's leverage, trying his best to complete the actions of lifting the rod and reeling in the line.

The advantage of this operation was that it saved a lot of effort. As long as the rod and line setup could withstand the force, there was no need to worry about losing the fish.

The disadvantage was that it was too time-consuming, as it was difficult to exert much force, making it impossible to quickly exhaust the large fish's strength on the hook.

"Hmm, you're right, slowly, no rush."

Yang Qi felt that Zhang Jun was right; being steady made it less likely to make mistakes, and they had plenty of time to wear it down.

Zhang Jun heard what Yang Qi said and secretly wiped away a non-existent sweat.

In fact, Zhang Jun had just tried the large fish's pulling force after taking the fishing rod off the rod holder.

Damn it, a huge pulling force came from the fishing rod, almost yanking him down.

Fortunately, he used all his strength to reinsert the fishing rod into the rod holder. Then he honestly relied on the rod holder's leverage, slowly lifting the rod and reeling in, plus manually helping to pull the line.

"Whoosh~, smack."

A huge marlin leaped out of the sea eight hundred meters away, then crashed heavily onto the water's surface.

Immediately, several meters of large spray splashed up.

"Hahaha, Yang Qi, it really is a big marlin."

"Second Brother (Brother Jun), you're amazing!" The other three shouted almost in unison.

Zhang Jun looked at the big marlin leaping out of the water, his eyes firm, and his hand movements became even steadier.

"Brother Jun, the big baby is gill-washing. Be careful."

This big marlin looked about the same size as the one Yang Qi caught, and its impact force was also very strong.

It must be said that Zhang Jun's technique was still good; he knew how to interrupt a large fish's gill-washing.

He kept the fishing line taut, and the big marlin's leaps seemed like they could break the line at any moment.

However, Zhang Jun always managed to disrupt the marlin's rhythm, making the big marlin miserable.

Yang Qi watched closely from the side, reminding him:

"Brother Jun, don't rush, just control the rhythm like this. I really didn't expect you to have such amazing fish-controlling skills."

Zhang Jun raised his eyebrows, then nodded, gritting his teeth, slowly reeling in the line, one pull after another.

The big marlin seemed to sense the danger and began to struggle wildly, constantly thrashing its tail, drawing lines across the sea with the fishing line.

The sound of the fishing line cutting through the water was like a frantic "woo woo woo," ringing incessantly.

Beads of sweat the size of soybeans appeared on Zhang Jun's forehead, and his hands trembled slightly from the exertion.

"Brother Jun, why don't I take over?"

Yang Qi looked at Zhang Jun's slightly grim face. He was afraid Zhang Jun couldn't hold on.