271: Red melon seed fish school

Watching Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan clean the deck with high-pressure water guns while splashing each other.

Yang Qi felt it was awkward to just stand there watching, so he turned and went to the freezer compartment, taking out a Redtail Bird and the smallest giant bass to start preparing dinner.

He prepared the Redtail Bird as sashimi, steamed a section of the giant bass, made chopped chili fish head, added braised beef steak, and stir-fried baby cabbage.

"Oh wow! That smells incredible! Is it this extravagant?"

"Do you need our help?"

Bai Xue and Shanshan came into the kitchen to take a look.

"You two should go take a shower and rest first; I've got the cooking covered."

"Okay, sounds good! Let's go take a shower."

Half an hour later, when the enormous chopped chili fish head was placed on the table, Yao Shanshan asked Bai Xue:

"That's a lot of food; can we actually finish it?"

Bai Xue laughed and said, "Don't worry, we'll definitely finish it. This is just the start! Isn't there still braised steak in the pressure cooker?"

Once they started eating and Yao Shanshan witnessed the combat power of Yang Qi and Bai Xue, she was instantly speechless.

It turned out that when they were back home, neither of them had truly let loose and eaten their fill!

Yang Qi, in particular, was practically a human meat grinder! His stomach was like a bottomless pit, and most of the food ended up in his mouth. No wonder he possessed such great strength.

"Could it truly be that eating more leads to greater strength?"

Watching Yang Qi and Bai Xue eat with such enthusiasm, she also grabbed two more pieces of steak. Regardless, the flavor was truly beyond reproach.

After the meal, Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan cleaned up the dishes. Yang Qi checked the time; it was already three in the afternoon, so he hurried to the cockpit to start the vessel and continue toward their destination.

As they neared the waters surrounding the Pratas Island archipelago, the sea had already become unfathomably deep.

Yang Qi anchored the "setting sail" near a reef. The closer they got to the reef, the shallower the water became; the depth at the anchoring spot was only about 30 meters.

He anchored there because he saw many Grouper and Red Seed Fish below. These species are quite rare in the East China Sea waters.

Bai Xue and Shanshan felt the fishing boat had stopped, so they stepped out of the cabin and put their sun protection clothing back on.

"Hubby, are we ready to fish?"

Yang Qi explained, "Yes, this is a reef with relatively shallow water. We'll fish here for a while, then head over to Pratas Island late tonight to fish quickly before leaving."

"Sounds good! We should definitely go in the middle of the night."

The three of them got straight to work, assembling all their fishing gear. Yang Qi's primary target was a Red Seed Fish.

He baited his hook and cast his line toward that Red Seed Fish. Unfortunately, there were so many fish on the seabed that fishing often turns out this way—you target one fish, but another bites the hook.

Yang Qi was experiencing exactly this; the Red Seed Fish he had been watching hadn't bitten yet when a small red head fish intercepted the bait and swallowed it whole.

"Damn you! You only weigh about half a catty, so how did you manage to swallow such a large Shrimp? Well, you've paid the price with your life! That's what you get for being greedy."

Yang Qi muttered silently to himself, but his hands swiftly reeled in the red head fish.

The red head fish, sometimes known locally as the 'Red Maiden,' is a beautiful red marine fish that lives in reef areas, characterized by large pectoral fins that look like a pair of wings.

The flesh of the red head fish is firm, resembles garlic cloves, tastes delicious, and has a very springy texture.

It is characterized by having few bones and thick flesh. Since fishing boats catch a lot of them every spring, the price is relatively low, making it a very economical type of fish.

Yang Qi paid little attention to this kind of inexpensive fish; in his hands, it was destined to become bait. This was perhaps the only way to maximize the fish's value.

Yang Qi unhooked the red head fish and tossed it into the live bait tank beside him. He quickly attached new bait and cast the line down again.

This time, the bait was cast perfectly, landing exactly half a meter in front of the Red Seed Fish.

Crucially, it landed right along the fish's path. In no time, the Red Seed Fish spotted the frantically twitching Shrimp in front of it.

When faced with such an easy meal, there was no reason to miss it. The Red Seed Fish accelerated with a flick of its tail, rushed over, and swallowed the bait in one gulp.

It certainly didn't want other fish to snatch it away; only when it was safely in its mouth did it truly belong to it.

Just as the seemingly delicious Shrimp was swallowed, the hook embedded in the shrimp's back was swallowed along with it.

The problem was that while it could swallow the fragrant Shrimp, there was no way it could swallow the damn hard iron hook!

Having achieved his goal, Yang Qi immediately leaned back, raised the rod to set the hook, and locked down the drag with one hand. The Red Seed Fish's strength was clearly insufficient to reach the drag's critical limit.

Yang Qi allowed the fish to struggle as much as it liked, keeping both hands tightly gripping the rod, refusing to give the fish even the slightest chance to flee into the reef crevices.

As soon as he sensed the Red Seed Fish becoming even slightly fatigued, he began cranking the reel and retrieving the line.

With the fish pulling down while he pulled up, the counter-force drove the hook deeper, which simultaneously spurred the fish to struggle even more violently.

But clearly, the harder the Red Seed Fish struggled, the faster it depleted its strength. Finally, completely exhausted, Yang Qi led it out of the reef area as if leading an ox.

Yang Qi successfully pulled the Red Seed Fish to the surface as he wished, and netted it onto the deck.

He carefully removed the hook and transferred the Red-spotted Grouper into the live well.

For this voyage, Yang Qi and Bai Xue had already agreed that if a catch wasn't high-quality, it didn't qualify for the live well; the freezer compartment was their final destination.

"Wow! This fish is so gorgeous!"

Yao Shanshan's voice reached his ears. Yang Qi turned his head and saw that she was also netting a Red Seed Fish.

Yang Qi said to Yao Shanshan, "Shanshan, bring it up and check if its swim bladder has popped out of its mouth."

Yao Shanshan asked, "Oh, the swim bladder? Let me look. Is there something special about it?"

"Hubby, let me teach her."

Just then, Bai Xue also landed a Red-spotted Grouper and brought it over.

"So, Shanshan, the pressure on the fish at the bottom of the sea..."

Yang Qi didn't intervene, letting Bai Xue chatter away while teaching Yao Shanshan. He let her enjoy her moment as a professor; having finally caught a chance to teach a novice, Bai Xue certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity.

He resumed his great fishing endeavor, and naturally, he continued to reel in quite a few fish.

Ordinary fish were bled and tossed into the fish basket, destined for the freezer compartment later, while those suitable for bait were kept alive in the live bait tank.

Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan also caught quite a few fish, and as time passed, Yao Shanshan's technique gradually became more proficient.

Of course, her knowledge of marine biology would only progress slowly. After all, even Bai Xue, who grew up by the sea and studied the subject systematically for three years in university, couldn't possibly identify every single species.

In the ocean, which covers 70% of the Earth's surface, the number of species is far beyond counting!