437: Oyster nest

Yang Qi greeted Bai Xue, grabbed a prying knife and two Net Bags, and climbed onto the reef.

For creatures like Abalone and Oyster, the sucker they use to adhere to rocks is actually part of their flesh.

Using a regular knife to pry them off can easily damage their flesh, which would definitely affect the selling price.

Compared to a regular knife, this specialized prying knife is really just a thin piece of iron, and it's not even sharpened.

So it can easily be inserted between the sucker and the reef to separate the two, while doing minimal damage to the flesh.

Yang Qi quickly reached the reef and found it was an Oyster bed, with Oysters densely packed, clinging to the rocks.

He started targeting those Oysters that were about the size of his palm.

After about an hour, the two Net Bags he brought were completely full, all of them weighing over half a jin, with about half weighing close to one jin each.

Yang Qi returned to the fishing boat, took some Oysters to the kitchen, and handed them to Bai Xue. He then started preparing the dipping sauce.

He minced garlic into a paste, added light soy sauce, a little sugar, and sesame oil, mixing it well. The garlic aroma could counteract the 'cold' nature of seafood, while the salty umami of the soy sauce enhanced the flavor. Bird's eye chilies and chopped scallions were added according to taste.

Bai Xue cleaned the Oysters, put them in a pressure cooker, added a little water, and started steaming. Once the pressure built up, she counted to fifteen in her head.

She immediately turned off the heat, placed the pressure cooker under cold running water. After the pressure released and the lid could be opened, they were ready to eat. At this perfect doneness, they were neither raw nor tough, but tender and juicy!

She also gave Coal two plain Oyster meats. He enjoyed them so much his tail wagged with the force of a propeller.

After the two finished their meal, they started the 'setting sail' and headed south. Passing the Diaoyu Islands, they arrived in the waters south of Chiwei Yu a little after seven in the evening.

This area was rich in fishery resources, abundant with Mackerel, chub Mackerel, flying fish, Japanese jack Mackerel, red Sea Bream, filefish, and so on, along with all other types of East China Sea fish.

By now, all the lights on the 'setting sail' were on, illuminating the sea around the fishing boat brightly. However, the light was swallowed by darkness just a short distance away.

With the light shining, after about a quarter of an hour, countless aquatic creatures of all sizes were drawn to it.

After Yang Qi and Bai Xue assembled two Electric Reels, they lowered them into the sea and left them. Each took a lure rod, found a fishing spot, and started casting.

For this trip, they hadn't brought much frozen fish. That was for chumming. As bait, it definitely wasn't as effective as live bait.

As for Shrimp, they were only really good for catching small fish. So, they decided to catch some live fish first to have on hand.

So, the two took everything that came, as long as it met the weight standard, one fish after another flying onto the boat.

In less than half an hour, the Live Well behind them was almost full.

Yang Qi pulled the Live Well over and sorted the catch. Fish like Black Sea Bream and flying fish were sent into the Live Well.

Those like Mackerel, scad, and red soldierfish could only go into the Live Well or even straight into the Freezer Hold.

Bai Xue's situation was similar. The two each hooked a live fish, and the sinker on the Electric Reel carried the scad down into the sea.

Yang Qi transferred some of the live fish into the live bait tank, worried that too many crammed together would die from lack of oxygen.

Around nine-thirty, suddenly a Yellowfin Tuna charged violently into Yang Qi's field of view and swallowed the live bait on Bai Xue's Electric Reel in one gulp.

The fishing rod immediately creaked. Bai Xue pounced on it first, grabbing the rod.

"A big fish has finally arrived!"

The thought had just crossed Yang Qi's mind when his own Electric Reel also hooked a fish. Looking closely, sure enough, it was also a Yellowfin Tuna, around a hundred jin.

"You little Yellowfin, come on up!"

Holding the rod in his right hand, he rapidly cranked the reel with his left, abandoning all fancy techniques, just going for a brute force fight.

Because he saw that a school of Tuna had arrived in the sea at that moment, none of them very large, all around a hundred jin or so.

This was a rare opportunity. They had to save time and figure out how to get more Tuna on board.

Bai Xue was now considered an experienced Angler and naturally understood the details clearly, so she also sped up her reeling.

About half an hour later, with Bai Xue's help, Yang Qi hoisted the Tuna onto the deck.

"I'll bleed it. You go get mine up first."

Immediately, Bai Xue took a knife and started bleeding the Tuna to prevent the meat quality from being affected.

Yang Qi re-hooked a live bait and cast it into the sea. Then he ran over, picked up the rod Bai Xue had been using, and started fighting the fish with all his might.

But before he could even reel this Tuna in, the other rod hooked another fish.

Bai Xue had just finished bleeding the Tuna on the deck. Seeing this situation, she hurriedly went to set the hook on the new fish.

There was no time for gutting; they'd have to deal with that later when they had time.

The two took turns like this, one finishing as the other began, continuing until finally the Tuna school dispersed, and they stopped fishing.

Without any delay, the two seized the time and worked together to gut the Tuna on the deck.

From this wave of the Tuna school, the two managed to land six Yellowfin Tuna together. Many more Tuna ultimately escaped into the distance.

The two used a cart to send the processed fish into the Freezer Hold. Only then did they start cleaning the deck, followed by cooking a pot of seafood congee for a late-night snack.

After deploying the crab traps and Longline Fishing gear into the sea, they washed up and returned to the Rest Cabin to sleep.

The next day's breakfast was steamed buns, century egg and lean pork congee, and pickled vegetable omelet. The steamed buns they brought on this trip were all made by his mom, using yeast-raised dough.

Ever since his mom and the others moved in, after they bought a dough mixer, the family never bought steamed buns from outside again.

Before this trip, his mom steamed several batches of buns for them to take along. They were usually stored in the Freezer Hold, and when they wanted to eat, they just took them out and reheated them.

After breakfast, Yang Qi and Bai Xue first retrieved the Longline Fishing gear. The harvest was substantial. Although there were quite a few less valuable catches, the hook-up rate was still over 70%.

"Husband, look quickly, what kind of fish is that?"

After retrieving about half of the second longline, Bai Xue suddenly shouted.

"Holy crap, a Bluefin Tuna!"

Yang Qi turned and saw a deep blue figure. Hanging from a hook in the middle section of this longline was actually a Bluefin Tuna.

Although this fish wasn't large, only about 90 jin, its status was high! After all, it belonged to the 'blue' lineage, ranking considerably higher than the 'yellow' lineage Tuna they caught yesterday.

This was also thanks to Yang Qi having replaced all the Longline Fishing gear with large hooks and thick leader lines during his last trip to the Korea Strait.

Otherwise, they definitely wouldn't have been able to keep this Bluefin Tuna.

Yang Qi hurriedly fetched the Gaff. When the Bluefin Tuna was dragged alongside the boat, he pierced its head with one swift strike.