187: Cockpit chat

Actually, Cobia tastes quite good; its flesh is delicate and firm, with no small bones, and the price is also very reasonable.

"Hahaha, look! My one must be the champion!"

Zheng Tie pulled a large Cobia, weighing about 50 catties, from the pile of fish. He laughed triumphantly.

Not long after, Chen Dong found a large Cobia, over two meters long and weighing almost 100 catties, from the pile of fish.

"Hey, A-Tie, what do you think of this one? Hahaha!"

This net didn't have many small fish; most of them were over eight catties, and the vast majority were Cobia.

The fewer varieties of fish, the easier it is to sort them. Originally, for a net of fish like this, it would take the five of them at least two hours to sort.

This net was heavier, but the sorting only took an hour.

This is the advantage of having a single species and large individuals.

Actually, under normal circumstances, while fish are being sorted on deck, the trawl net is also in the sea, continuously trawling.

Only when there is an excessive amount of fish will the boat stop for a period, and everyone will sort together.

Yang Limin walked into the wheelhouse, offered Chen Zhongwei, who was steering, a cigarette, and the two chatted casually.

The others just quickly cleaned up and took the opportunity to rest for a while. This is standard practice on all fishing vessels.

Sometimes, when they are busy, they might not even have time to eat or rest. All fishermen on fishing boats develop the habit of resting whenever they have a moment, falling asleep three seconds after lying down.

Chen Zhongwei spoke about his experience with fishing boats and trawling operations.

For trawling operations, the flatter the seabed, the better. Although sometimes it's bottom trawling, it's not truly scraping the seabed.

It's like bottom sea fishing; the bait doesn't actually sink to the very bottom but usually stays about one to two meters off the bottom.

If the seabed is uneven, the net will frequently get snagged, and if it hits a large reef, the net is basically ruined.

As they chatted, Chen Zhongwei also recounted the experiences of fishermen in the past:

"In the early years, fishermen going out to sea to fish were truly risking their lives, betting on how tough they were. Every year, one or two people from a village would never return!"

"Back then, there were weather forecasts, but they were just for show, completely inaccurate. It was all based on the experience of old fishermen."

"So, back then, we fishermen observed the rule of 'father and son not on the same boat, brothers not in the same vessel,' just in case the fishing boat had an accident and the family's lineage was cut off."

"I heard my dad say that in the 70s and 80s, there were still sea bandits out here? They were entrenched on islands, usually with three to five boats."

"They would fish normally, but if they encountered other fishing boats operating nearby, they would form a encirclement and snatch the catch."

"Those who obeyed would get a beating; those who didn't would be thrown directly into the sea."

"Then they'd steal the engines and stuff."

"Ah! That fierce? So those who obeyed, with their engines stolen, how did they get back?"

Yang Limin listened dumbfounded, forgetting to flick his cigarette ash.

"They just drifted on the empty shell of a boat, what else could they do?"

Chen Zhongwei flicked his cigarette ash and said as if it were obvious,

"If they encountered a passing fishing boat and asked for help, they were lucky. If they drifted to an island nearby, they could swim over and rest for a while. If they were unlucky... sigh!"

"So, were these sea bandits eliminated by our 'boss' later?"

Yang Limin put out the hot cigarette butt and asked curiously.

"No, it wasn't," Chen Zhongwei smiled and continued,

"Every dog has its day. These people were so used to bullying others that they thought they were second only to heaven."

"Later, they set their sights on the smugglers' boats, which really pissed those guys off."

"As a result, several groups of smugglers teamed up and wiped out those sea bandits. I heard there was even gunfire, and many people died."

"They had the audacity of a dog! In that era, smugglers were the big shots. I heard some major smugglers even had warships escorting them."

"So, when that group of sea bandits was eliminated, it ended up being an unresolved matter, but it did us fishermen a huge favor."

"Since then, the atmosphere at sea has improved a lot, and going out to fish has become much safer."

"Indeed, one can still live through a calamity sent by Heaven, but one cannot live through a calamity one brings upon oneself!"

Yang Limin exclaimed. He hadn't expected those smugglers to indirectly do such a great deed.

Thinking about it, it made sense. In the past, those who engaged in smuggling also risked their lives, living on the edge.

However, some big-shot smuggling organizations indeed had very strong backing. Wasn't there a big boss in that era who single-handedly drove oil prices down to 50-60% of the three major oil companies' prices?

Not to mention various drivers, even fishermen thanked him.

Unconsciously, the two chatted for three hours. Time flies when you're sleeping, chatting, fishing, or playing games.

"Old Yang, it's time to haul in the net. Or should I notify them?"

Everyone enjoys chatting with people who have life experience, as they can learn about things they haven't experienced themselves.

"Okay, you notify them. I'll go out and wait."

Yang Limin walked out of the wheelhouse and onto the deck.

After everyone else woke up and came to the deck, Bai Dazheng and Chen Dong hooked the two warps onto the winches.

This was a single trawler, with three winches: two for simultaneous warp operations, and one for finally hauling in the net.

When the trawl doors came up, the two simultaneously unhooked them, placing them on the trawl door racks, completely detaching them from the warps, otherwise they would jam the winch.

After about ten minutes, the net mouth came up. When the net had come up about ten meters, they hooked it with a rope to another winch and began to haul in the net.

After a section was hauled in, they had to re-hook the rope and trawl again, repeating this process until the cod end emerged from the water.

At this point, the cod end was hooked to the crane's boom, and the boom was used to lift the cod end to the sorting area on the deck.

"I'll do it!"

Yang Limin saw the bulging cod end, his hands itching to untie the net, and volunteered.

He gripped the ropes of the net bag with both hands and pulled hard.

As the net bag's ropes were untied, the catch inside tumbled onto the deck with a "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" and began to flop around.

Zheng Tie was standing not far from his brother-in-law and saw two seafood items fall onto his shoes.

He jumped back two steps, somewhat frightened.

"Holy crap, what is that?"

Yang Limin was also stunned; he didn't recognize them either! They looked quite ugly.

"It's Nine-toothed Slipper Lobster! It's Nine-toothed Slipper Lobster! This is good stuff; these can be kept alive, quickly sort them into the hold. Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

After a while, Bai Dahai finally shouted excitedly. Everyone then seemed to regain their senses and collectively bent down to start sorting.

Any seafood that can be kept alive must be brought back to shore alive, as live seafood fetches a significantly higher price than iced fresh seafood.

Of course, cheap seafood cannot occupy the live fish tanks.

Or, if the fishing trip is relatively long, they will also consider it carefully.