179: Two Old Six

Dinner was still four dishes and one soup, with rice and fried noodles as the main staples.

Braised Shrimp in oil, since Shrimp are used as live bait on the boat, buying them in large quantities is quite cheap.

Braised mixed fish, which the crewmen must have caught last night. However, the chef on the boat had good skills, and the dish was quite delicious.

A plate of pan-fried salted fish is a staple on fishing boats, good with rice or porridge.

Then there was garlic hollow-stemmed greens, which tasted remarkably good.

Finally, the soup was seaweed, dried shrimp, and egg drop soup, which, like the pan-fried salted fish, is a classic on all fishing boats.

However, if a fishing enthusiast provides seafood, the fishing boat's kitchen can also process it for free.

Three meals a day plus a late-night snack are all provided free of charge on the boat. Cigarettes, alcohol, and beverages are extra.

Yang Qi and the others didn't drink alcohol; they were all preparing for a big night and wouldn't go to bed before three o'clock.

After all, they had heard that they encountered a school of Squid last night, so many that the crewmen directly scooped them up with dip nets.

Learning that they missed out because they were sleeping, all the fishing enthusiasts felt a little antsy.

It wasn't entirely about catching Squid to sell for money; it was purely because they missed out on a bragging opportunity.

The only one at the table who was grinning was Yang Qi, not joining the conversation. Because among these people, he was the only one who participated in catching Squid; everyone else was asleep.

By the time the fishing enthusiasts finished eating, the fishing boat had steadily anchored in an unfamiliar sea area.

The few of them were not in a hurry to fish. Zhang Jun, along with Yang Qi and Liu Yao, began to inspect the fishing boat like leaders.

Along the way, familiar fishing enthusiasts kept greeting them. Some had already started casting their hooks, preparing to fish, while others gathered in groups of three or five to chat and smoke.

This immediately distinguished who the true professional fishing enthusiasts were.

A professional fishing enthusiast should always stay on the front lines of fishing, regardless of how many fish there are, or how big or small they are.

At this moment, Yang Qi even doubted his own integrity as a professional fishing enthusiast.

“I've really fallen into depravity!”

At this point, the group returned to their fishing spots. This time, Liu Yao learned his lesson and openly followed Yang Qi and Zhang Jun to see how they planned to fish.

He had to learn from them! Didn't they see that only Yang Qi and one other person on the whole boat caught Tuna yesterday?

Yang Qi and his companion saw Liu Yao following closely and didn't try to hide anything from him. Occasionally using a small trick to delay others from catching big fish had already proven successful.

Yesterday, the two of them caught three Tuna, becoming the most prominent figures on the entire fishing boat, so there was no need to engage in any more messy business.

Besides, Liu Yao was a true friend, and moreover, he was like a "dog skin plaster"—hard to shake off!

“First, let's use three to four-jin Skipjack Tuna with a lead sinker to fish the bottom and see if we can catch Grouper. We should save the larger Skipjack Tuna in case Tuna come later, right?”

Yang Qi suggested.

“You guys are still keeping Skipjack Tuna alive? All the ones I caught have been sent to the freezer.”

Liu Yao was stunned when he heard this.

“Solid information, absolutely solid! You're truly a good brother!”

It's not that dead fish can't be used as bait; on the contrary, the chum and bait on fishing boats are mainly dead or frozen fish.

So, very few people keep these caught, not-very-valuable fish alive.

The live fish provided on the fishing boat are Shrimp and Balang Fish, and sometimes small Squid (a type of small Squid).

“Then why don't you go secretly catch some Skipjack Tuna for live bait?”

Zhang Jun said, his tone as righteous as if he had thought of it himself.

“Okay, I'll go get some live bait first.”

Liu Yao hurried off, secretly thinking: These two old foxes, why didn't they say so earlier?

He understood the principle that "if you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools."

Otherwise, if Tuna really came later and he didn't catch any because of his bait, losing the chance to show off, how could he forgive himself?

He left in a hurry and didn't hear the rest of what those two old foxes said, or he would have stumbled.

“If Tuna really come later, we'll observe them. If there are particularly large ones, we'll use a fishing line with a large Squid as bait.”

Yang Qi said. Actually, his inner monologue was: if Bluefin Tuna come.

But he couldn't say that out loud.

Zhang Jun was a bit puzzled:

“If Tuna come, can you still observe them underwater? But perhaps this is my brother's skill; I'll just follow what he does.”

He still said sincerely, “Okay, I'll listen to your command then. By the way, you're still keeping live Squid, right?”

“Yes, look, there are over a dozen of them. We should at least exchange them for ten large Tuna, right!”

Yang Qi opened the live fish tank and showed him the large Squid, each weighing two to three jin.

At that time, Yang Qi had specifically chosen the largest and most vigorous large Squid to keep alive. So far, because they had been continuously aerated, these large Squid were still doing very well.

He looked at the Skipjack Tuna in the other live fish tank; there were only about ten, which he feared wouldn't be enough and would cause delays later.

“There aren't quite enough! I'll catch some more later.”

Yang Qi hooked a three to four-jin live Skipjack Tuna onto the hook of the boat fishing rod, let the lead sinker hit the bottom, then reeled in one and a half turns of line, tightened the drag, and left it alone.

He took out the small red reel, preparing to catch more Skipjack Tuna for bait. Seeing Zhang Jun also take out his small red reel, Yang Qi stopped him:

“Brother Jun, I can handle catching bait. You just keep an eye on the two boat fishing rods!”

“Okay, I'll leave it to you then.” Zhang Jun didn't stand on ceremony and nodded.

Yang Qi attached the largest lure, cast his rod, and with a "swish," the lure hit the water.

A school of small fish arrived first, but no matter how much they nibbled, they couldn't bite the lure. It seemed a few small fish, in their haste, got hooked on the lure's hooks, their bodies flailing, stuck by the barbs, and couldn't shake free.

In a flash, some larger Skipjack Tuna arrived underwater, found the lure and the small fish on it, and swallowed them in one gulp.

The distance was short, and the action was too fast; Yang Qi couldn't even clearly see if the fish had bitten the hook.

As the Skipjack Tuna pulled, the signal reached Yang Qi's hand, and he quickly lifted the rod to set the hook.

The Skipjack Tuna didn't even struggle for a few rounds in his hands before he pulled it onto the fishing boat. The entire process didn't take more than three minutes.

Actually, he was afraid of being robbed by larger, more ferocious fish, such as large Barracuda, Mahi-Mahi, or GT fish.

Hadn't he heard that the fishing enthusiast next to Lu Hua, who had caught a Grouper, was robbed by a large Barracuda, only pulling up a fish head, and cursed loudly?

Hearing the commotion over there, Yang Qi couldn't help but recall the thrilling scene when he retrieved half a Yellowfin Tuna from the gaping maw of a shark.

He couldn't help but chuckle. Speaking of which, the chopped chili Tuna head really did smell delicious.

However, he didn't want to try that again; catching whole fish was much better!