259: School of croaker

Yang Qi and Bai Xue each carefully reviewed the contract terms.

The payment method was as follows: 40% upfront during the material preparation period, another 30% when construction began, and the remaining 30% upon the ship's sea trial and delivery.

The entire construction period was set for 30 months, which is two and a half years.

The two parties happily signed the contract, and the shipbuilding agreement officially came into effect.

Yang Qi, now considered a major bank client, immediately transferred 15.2 million yuan to General Manager Cao.

As soon as the money arrived, General Manager Cao promptly arranged for the procurement of the necessary materials.

Seeing them all busy, Yang Qi and Bai Xue bid farewell and left.

On the way home, Yang Qi called Zhang Jun to inform him that he had ordered a ship from the municipal shipyard, as General Manager Cao was introduced by Zhang Jun.

When the two returned home, they suddenly felt restless.

After calling home, the two went to the dock to refuel, take on water, add ice, buy bait, food, and daily necessities.

The setting sail once again embarked on its journey, facing the setting sun.

After about four hours, the two arrived at a sea area tens of nautical miles from Endless Island. Last time, they planned to explore Endless Island but returned early due to encountering a school of Large Yellow Croaker.

Yang Qi anchored the boat in an area with jagged, crisscrossing reefs on the seabed and began fishing.

Such places are clearly havens for fish to hide on the seabed.

Submerged reefs act as natural barriers, blocking currents and forming unseen eddies.

These areas are conducive to the habitation and reproduction of marine life such as oysters, Crab, shrimp, sea anemones, and seaweed.

These organisms at the bottom of the food chain attract a large number of predatory marine fish to gather and feed.

For Anglers, such places are excellent fishing spots.

However, the fish finder screen surprisingly showed that there were not many fish below.

This was not strange at all, because there were too many reefs on the seabed, and the fish were hiding in the crevices or caves between the reefs.

If Yang Qi didn't have his Golden Finger, he would definitely have missed it, thinking there were no fish below, just like other Anglers who rely on the fish finder.

Yang Qi started the fishing boat and drove dozens of meters upwind, then dropped both anchors.

In fact, there are generally two fishing methods for sea fishing: drift fishing and anchor fishing.

Drift fishing involves not dropping anchor, with the captain judging the direction of the fishing boat based on wind direction and current.

They stop within ten or dozens of meters of the fishing spot, then drift towards the spot under the influence of wind and current.

During the drift, they cast their rods and bait.

After the boat slowly drifts past the fishing spot, they drive back up and continue to drift down, repeating this process. This is drift fishing.

Anchor fishing, on the other hand, requires dropping anchor to keep the fishing boat perpendicular to the fishing spot.

However, it is difficult to stay in the same position when fishing at sea, as it will move with water depth, wind direction, and current.

Therefore, for anchor fishing, the captain must be a very experienced veteran, capable of fully considering the factors of wind direction and current.

They drop anchor a certain distance upwind or upstream from the fishing spot.

After securing the boat, they then adjust the tension of the two anchor ropes to move the boat's position for precise targeting.

Once everything was ready, the two began to bait their hooks and fish.

Through his Golden Finger, Yang Qi discovered that the water here was about 70 meters deep, and what he saw was completely opposite to what the fish finder showed.

He saw many Grouper hiding in the crevices of the reefs.

Yang Qi chopped up some frozen bait and scattered it into the fishing spot, and soon many fish slowly swam over from all directions.

The first to arrive was a school of fish, not small in size, mostly over ten catties, with some even reaching thirty to forty catties. There were hundreds of them.

This clearly attracted a wave of fish.

Yang Qi was overjoyed, but after he saw the species of these fish, he felt very disappointed.

Because it turned out to be a school of croakers.

Croaker are very cheap, only 20-30 yuan per catty.

Moreover, this kind of fish is difficult to clean and not very tasty.

But since they were already here, they couldn't just pack up and leave, could they?

Yang Qi suddenly felt that he shouldn't be so picky; even if the croaker wasn't worth much, he could just take it home, clean it for its swim bladder, and dry the fish meat.

In fact, while croaker meat isn't valuable, its swim bladder is worth something.

So Yang Qi braced himself and started watching the fish on the seabed.

When he saw a croaker bite the hook, before the fishing rod could even react, he immediately lifted the rod to set the hook, and the rod quickly bent into a bow.

The violent shaking of the fishing rod indicated that the fish was deeply hooked.

Even though this fish weighed nearly twenty catties, it was only worth four or five hundred yuan. So Yang Qi showed no mercy and immediately went on the offensive.

He quickly reeled in the line, retrieving it at the fastest possible speed. Under his aggressive reeling, the croaker was quickly pulled out of the sea.

Yang Qi held the rod in one hand and grabbed the landing net with the other, scooping the fish up in one swift motion.

He removed the hook, tossed the croaker into the fish box behind him, not even bothering to give it another look.

Then he re-baited his hook and cast it back into the fishing spot. Since individual croaker weren't worth much, he could only win by sheer quantity.

If he caught a hundred of them, wouldn't that still be tens of thousands of yuan?

"Husband, I've caught a croaker."

Bai Xue said to Yang Qi.

"Hmm, mine's a croaker too. At worst, we'll take them home, get the swim bladders, and dry the meat."

Yang Qi smiled and said.

His second cast's bait had only been at the bottom for a few seconds when a croaker weighing about ten catties lunged and swallowed it.

He immediately lifted the rod and reeled in the line, quickly pulling the fish up.

From then on, he barely stopped fishing. "Third one," "Fourth one"... Yang Qi was truly brutal, as if driving someone else's car, pushing it to its limits, wishing he could pull it out of the water in one go.

These croakers, pulled onto the deck by him, had already suffered bulging eyes and burst bellies, dying instantly.

"Xiaoxue, why do I feel like this croaker seems a bit different?"

Yang Qi said to Bai Xue.

"Ah! Let me see."

Bai Xue put her fishing rod in the rod holder and ran to Yang Qi's side to take a look.

"Hahahahaha, silly husband, this is no ordinary croaker."

Bai Xue laughed after looking at it.

"This is a very rare red-lipped croaker."

Yang Qi looked closely and saw the difference from the previous few.

The biggest difference was the color; this croaker's body was noticeably much darker, while its mouth and chin were golden yellow.

The specific species of croaker wasn't important; Yang Qi was concerned about the price, so he asked:

"So, is this red-lipped croaker valuable?"

Bai Xue smiled, shook her head, and said:

"This fish isn't worth much money."

Yang Qi pouted, immediately losing interest.