246: Arrival at Xisha

After a few more hours of continuous reeling, the two decided to leave this troublesome area.

Yang Qi piloted the "setting sail" towards the Xisha Islands, while Bai Xue began to prepare dinner.

In the morning, to save time, they had just hastily eaten whatever they could find. Now, they were both starving.

After Bai Xue finished cooking, they took turns eating. The boat continued to move towards the Xisha Islands without stopping.

Then, they took turns resting and steering the boat, finally dropping anchor and resting around 10 PM.

Yang Qi chopped up some cheap, less valuable fish to use as bait for the Crab traps and cast the traps into the sea.

Finally, the two simply washed up and fell asleep in each other's arms.

They woke up early the next morning, had breakfast, and then started to retrieve the Crab traps, piling them on the deck. Bai Xue was still responsible for tying the Crabs, while Yang Qi continued to pilot the boat forward.

The Crabs and lobsters here were noticeably larger and more numerous than those in the East China Sea.

Next, the two took turns steering the boat until about 4 PM.

As far as the eye could see, between the sea and the sky, large and small Anglers boats were shuttling back and forth.

Undoubtedly, this was the fishing paradise that countless Anglers dreamed of—the Xisha Islands.

The Xisha Islands are located in the northwest of the South China Sea, southeast of Hainan Island.

In ancient China, they were also known as: Qianli Changsha, Wanli Shitang, Baoshi Island, etc. Internationally, they are generally called the Paracel Islands.

As one of the four major archipelagos in our South China Sea, it is composed of the Yongle Islands and the Xuande Islands.

It is the largest archipelago by land area in the South China Sea, extending north from Bi Reef, south to Pioneer Bank, east to Xidu Bank, and west to Zhongjian Island.

It is administered by the Xisha District, Sansha City, Hainan Province. The administrative center of Sansha City is on Yongxing Island in the Xisha Islands.

The Xisha Islands are spread over a sea area of more than 500,000 square kilometers. There are 22 islands, 7 sandbanks, 8 atolls, one platform reef, one submerged reef beach, with a total land area of about 10 square kilometers and a coastline of 518 kilometers.

From 1956 to 1974, the Vietnamese army occupied Coral Island, Ganquan Island, and Jinyin Island for a long time. It was not until January 19-20, 1974, when the Battle of Xisha was launched, that our army recaptured the three islands in a victorious advance.

The Xisha Islands, the South China Sea islands, and the South China Sea waters have been sacred and inviolable Chinese territory since ancient times.

Due to the encroachment on the marine resources of the Xisha Islands by neighboring countries, the archipelago was under military control for a long time.

In recent years, after land reclamation, island construction, and the establishment of Sansha City, relevant controls have gradually been lifted.

And Xisha free travel has been opened, and individuals can also make reservations to visit.

However, the official channels have not been available for long, and the number of spots is not very large. Currently, the relatively popular way to visit is to participate in chartered boats organized by outdoor clubs under the name of "sea fishing."

The large number of Anglers boats that Yang Qi and Bai Xue saw were chartered by these club organizers to take people on sea fishing trips.

However, some have legitimate licenses, while others are completely illegal operations. If something goes wrong, you won't even find anyone responsible.

People like Yang Qi and Bai Xue, who drive their own boats, are truly few and far between. After all, taking guests out to sea to reduce costs is the norm.

But who made Yang Qi such a cheat? He didn't care about the gas money.

The two stopped the boat in place. Yang Qi wanted to check the water depth. He activated his ability, and darn it, he couldn't see the bottom at all!

He could only compress the scope of his X-ray vision and extend the distance to check. Finally, he concluded that the water depth here was 510 meters.

Before coming, they had done their research and knew that the average depth of the South China Sea was 1212 meters, which was still far from the average 1500-2000 meters in the Xisha sea area.

A water depth of 512 meters would at most be considered medium-low in Xisha.

However, compared to the less than 200-meter depth of the East China Sea, this water depth was already like a bottomless pit.

Some poorer line capacities might not even be this large.

Yang Qi saw that the Anglers on nearby fishing boats were all catching fish from the upper surface layers.

He had also seen that there were indeed many fish schools in the middle and upper layers here. They just weren't particularly large or expensive.

There were many fishing boats near some islands and reefs, where the water depth was much shallower, about 100 meters, and it became shallower the closer one got to the center of the island.

Yang Qi was naturally unwilling to fish near the islands and reefs; otherwise, he wouldn't have come all the way to Xisha.

What he was most interested in were the deep-sea giants in the bottomless water.

Moreover, he had experience in this area; he had equipment when he went deep-sea fishing with Zhang Jun last time.

"Xiaoxue, switch to the big drum reels!"

Yang Qi turned to Bai Xue and said. His two big drum reels had over 2000 meters of heavy-duty fishing line.

"Okay, husband."

Bai Xue responded with a smile.

Each of them took a fishing rod, baited it with live fish caught that morning, pressed the switch, and the 3-jin lead sinkers, along with the hooks, sank into the water.

"Oh, husband, I've already let out two hundred meters, why hasn't it reached the bottom yet? Are you sure we shouldn't change locations?"

Bai Xue couldn't help but ask Yang Qi.

"Xiaoxue, you've seen the situation near those islands and reefs, haven't you!"

"With so many boats stopped there, no matter how many fish there are in the sea, it won't be enough for them to catch."

Bai Xue glanced at the dense cluster of boats near the islands and reefs. She was even worried that if these people caught big fish, their lines would get tangled.

They both understood the principle of too many monks and too little gruel.

To be honest, both of them had thought that since they came to Xisha, they still hoped to catch some giant fish.

Having gotten used to catching valuable fish species, they indeed looked down on those surface fish species now.

The fishing line rapidly sank while the two chatted and laughed. And finally, it reached the bottom.

Yang Qi looked at the electric reel display, and darn it, it was actually 508 meters.

He reeled the fishing reel back a few turns, letting the lead sinker stop about five or six meters from the bottom, then adjusted the drag and left it alone.

"Husband, it's 502 meters to the bottom. I've reeled in 6 meters."

Bai Xue reported to Yang Qi.

"Good! That's fine."

Yang Qi nodded, indicating no problem.

They hadn't chatted for long when Yang Qi noticed the tip of his fishing rod trembling a few times, bending slightly, and the fishing line making a "wooing" sound.

He realized that he had a bite.

Taking a step forward, he gripped the fishing rod with both hands and lifted it to set the hook. The fish underwater, stung, began to struggle.

Based on the feel, he knew the fish wasn't big, so he directly started to fight it hard. After reeling in about a hundred meters, he clearly felt the fish's struggle weaken.

So Yang Qi pushed the electric reel switch, letting it reel in automatically.

After a while, a 40-jin Red Snapper was brought to the surface.

Yang Qi picked up the landing net and quickly, accurately, and fiercely scooped it up.

"Not bad, two to three thousand yuan in hand."

Yang Qi grinned and said.

"Hehehe, mine is also worth over 2000 yuan."

Before he finished speaking, Bai Xue also reeled in a Red Seabream.