172: Poor students have more stationery

As darkness fell, the lights on the fishing boat came on, reflecting brilliantly on the sea.

A quarter of an hour later, some phototactic fish began to gather around the fishing boat.

The water near the fishing boat was densely packed with small fish, along with some larger species like bigger Skipjack Tuna, Mahi-Mahi, and GT fish.

They lurked in the slightly more distant darkness or in slightly deeper waters. As soon as bait hit the water, they would dart over to snatch it.

The fishing boat provided free live bait: some Shrimp and Balang Fish. Frozen fish chum cost extra.

Actually, the deep sea is not like the nearshore; for example, the Pacific Ocean has an average depth of 4,181.78 meters.

The deepest part, the Mariana Trench, is 11,034 meters deep, the lowest known point in the world's oceans.

In the shallowest areas (like continental shelves), the water depth usually exceeds 200 meters, mainly distributed near various coastal fishing grounds.

Under the current circumstances, the Shrimp definitely couldn't reach the bottom; as soon as it hit the water, it was devoured by the swarming fish.

Balang Fish fared a bit better, but the lead sinker needed to be heavier to make it sink faster to reach the bottom.

Don't think this means you can't fish; in fact, the number of small fish will always far exceed that of large fish. Larger fish will prey on small fish, and once they are full, they won't attack the bait.

Big fish eat small fish; this is the law of nature.

More and more small fish schools often attract the arrival of large fish schools.

Yang Qi looked at the sea, picked up his landing net, and casually threw a few Shrimp into the water. Taking advantage of the fish gathering, he quickly scooped up fish with the net. One scoop could bring up half a net of Balang Fish.

He scooped two nets of Balang Fish each for himself and Zhang Jun, keeping them in the live fish tank behind him.

After thinking for a moment, he also got two nets for Liu Yao and Lu Hua.

Then he took out his long-unused lure rod, found the largest artificial lure, and started casting.

With a flick forward, the lure splashed into the water with a 'pop,' and countless fish could be seen with the naked eye chasing after it to bite.

“Ouch, damn it, I can’t bite through it! It almost broke my teeth!”

Unfortunately, the lure was bigger than their bodies, so they couldn't swallow or bite through it.

What followed was a school of larger fish, which came for the small fish schools gathered together.

Yang Qi clearly saw a school of Skipjack Tuna dart out from deeper waters and pounce on the fish school.

When the small fish school sensed something was wrong and scattered, some of them were still eaten by the Skipjack Tuna school.

The largest Skipjack Tuna among them directly pounced on the lure surrounded by the small fish school. Just as it felt this food was different and tried to spit out the hook...

Yang Qi, relying on the pull transmitted through the fishing rod in his hand, quickly reeled in, and the fishhook deeply embedded itself in the Skipjack Tuna's mouth.

A seven or eight-jin Skipjack Tuna could not cause any trouble in Yang Qi's hands now.

It was quickly pulled to the side of the boat and directly flung onto the deck. He carefully used pliers to remove the lure.

Watching Yang Qi keep this Skipjack Tuna with the Balang Fish, Zhang Jun beside him understood Yang Qi's intention.

“He's preparing bait for big fish. I'll get some too.”

So he also assembled his lure rod and immediately joined the ranks of fishing for Skipjack Tuna.

However, his actions clearly drew the disdain of Chang Jianqiang, the angler next to him, who even took the opportunity to mock him a few times.

“What good person goes so far out to sea to catch these things? Old Zhang, you're a bit degenerate!”

“Hehehe, just fishing for fun,”

Zhang Jun responded with a smile, secretly finding it amusing in his heart,

“You can laugh at me now, but don't regret it later! Hehe.”

Yang Qi smiled at Zhang Jun, gave him a knowing look, but said nothing.

“Come on, Yang Qi, have a cigarette. What's so good about fishing for these? Let's rest a bit first. I'm going to find Brother Jun.”

Liu Yao on the right also looked down on Skipjack Tuna. After handing Yang Qi a cigarette, he walked towards Zhang Jun and the others.

“Hitting kids on a rainy day, just doing something to pass the time.”

“I'm just playing around.”

Yang Qi replied to Liu Yao, but his hands didn't stop moving at all.

After Zhang Jun caught four or five Skipjack Tuna, he gave Yang Qi a look. He then joined the conversation with the other few people.

“Hehehe, I'll stall you guys now so you can't react. Later, I'll make you cry.”

“Just thinking about it is exciting!”

Zhang Jun deliberately led the group to circle the fishing boat, distracting them.

Yang Qi naturally understood Zhang Jun's meaning just now, saying,

“Hold steady, I'll distract them and make them regret it later! The bait fishing is up to you!”

Lu Hua, the newbie, however, remained diligently fishing at his spot.

But most of what he caught were Balang Fish, with one or two Mahi-Mahi and Skipjack Tuna.

Yang Qi guessed that he caught a Balang Fish, and his reeling speed was slow, so it was intercepted by a Mahi-Mahi, and then the big fish caught the small fish, leading to his catch.

Yang Qi looked at the live bait tank behind him; there were about twenty Skipjack Tuna, ranging from four to eight jin, enough for him and Zhang Jun to use.

So he stopped fishing, closed the lid, and started circling the fishing boat from the starboard side. He also wanted to see how the other anglers were doing.

When he reached Lu Hua, he saw two tackle bags behind him, both completely open. He probably hadn't zipped them up after looking for tackle earlier.

Both tackle bags were packed with fishing rods, long and short, thick and thin. Yang Qi estimated that these rods were several times more than his own, and all were branded.

Well, of course! He wasn't short on money, so how could he use common, mass-produced items?

Just then, Lu Hua, in his awkward way, reeled in an eight or nine-jin Mahi-Mahi, his grin stretching to his ears.

“Yang Qi, isn't this fish big? Hahahaha.”

Yang Qi lit a cigarette, not wanting to dampen the kid's enthusiasm, and replied,

“Hmm, not bad, about eight jin. You keep going, I'm going to walk around.”

Yang Qi looked at the fish tank behind him: three Mahi-Mahi, two Skipjack Tuna, and more than ten Balang Fish.

He then looked at the gear behind him and couldn't help but inwardly grumble:

“It's really true that poor students have many stationery items, and beginners set up roadside stalls.”

As he walked around, he found that most of the anglers were smoking and chatting in groups of three or five, while some were using heavier lead sinkers to fish for mid-to-lower layer fish.

Soon, on the aft deck, he met Zhang Jun and the others, who were almost done circling back.

The two exchanged glances, and Zhang Jun immediately understood Yang Qi's meaning: “Enough live bait caught!”

Zhang Jun occasionally chatted and greeted some familiar anglers, and he subtly hinted:

Who would go so far out to sea to catch these kinds of fish? Might as well come over for a smoke; he himself would be too ashamed to do it.

Yang Qi finally understood why Zhang Jun often didn't catch many fish before; he was now going to use this tactic on others... PS: Fellow readers, please help with the data.

Please like, comment, request updates, and provide free “power with love.”