463: Chapter 463 New Ship First Network

In fact, casting a trawl net usually doesn't require so many people; about four would suffice. However, as it was the new ship's first net, everyone wanted to be involved.

"Cast the net! Let's strike it rich!"

Following Wang Jinxi's hysterical shout, the others joined in with their own cries:

"Cast the net! Let's strike it rich!"

These uninhibited, hysterical voices caused Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan, standing not far away on the deck, to tense up. Their hair stood on end for a moment before they too joined the shouting.

After Wang Jinxi and Ding Kuan finished shouting, they saw that Zheng Tie and the other man had already prepared everything. They threw the net head into the sea. As the explorer increased its horsepower and moved forward, the trawl net was dragged into the water bit by bit. Finally, the two Otter Boards were lowered into the water.

With the Otter Boards in the water and the ship's power pulling them, the trawl net gradually spread open.

At this point, the process of casting the trawl net was complete. Everyone lit cigarettes and began to look forward to the harvest from the first net.

Depending on the number of operating vessels, trawling can be divided into pair trawling and single trawling.

Pair trawling involves two ships towing a single net for fishing; that is, two fishing boats maintain a certain distance and together tow a fishing net.

Single trawling involves a single vessel towing the net for fishing.

Yang Qi then opened up the throttle and headed straight for the school of fish. The explorer was like an ox plowing a field, slicing the calm sea surface in two.

About an hour later, Yang Qi's voice came over the broadcast: "Prepare to haul in the net!"

At his command, Wang Jinxi and the others started the hydraulic winch and began slowly reeling in the Towing Warp.

Once the Otter Boards were pulled onto the deck, Chen Lin and Chen Sheng detached them and set them aside. The upper and lower lines of the trawl net gradually merged, and the body of the net began to close up.

Ultimately, all the fish in the net were forced into the Codend at the back. Wang Jinxi operated the Crane, slowly lifting the heavy Codend onto the deck.

It was definitely a bumper harvest—about five thousand catties of fish—but they didn't know what kind of fish were inside yet.

After all, the prices of sea fish varied greatly. If it was valuable stock, the price of this single net could be several times higher.

Because it was the first net, everyone unanimously wanted Yang Qi to personally untie the Codend and reveal the catch. After all, everyone acknowledged that his luck with money was the strongest.

Yang Qi didn't mind and immediately stepped forward to pull the rope at the bottom of the Codend. The Codend was currently suspended by the Crane, and under everyone's hopeful gazes, Yang Qi gave the rope a sharp tug, opening the bag.

In an instant, countless fish fell onto the deck, immediately flowing out to the surroundings and forming a mountain of fish.

"Hahaha, wild White Pomfret! We're rich!"

The people on the ship looked at the mountain of fish and laughed heartily.

Countless fish could be seen flopping and jumping on the deck, the vast majority of which were White Pomfret. Moreover, each one was not small, basically weighing over half a catty.

Coal was also nearby. Seeing some fish jump far away, he ran over, picked them up in his mouth, and put them back into the fish crates. This pleasantly surprised everyone, and they all praised him for being clever.

Wang Jinxi operated the Crane to give it a few jolts, and the fish that had been stuck in the net instantly all fell out at once.

"Hahaha, we're rich! Hurry up and sort them for storage."

Zheng Tie said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah! Let's get to work!"

Everyone grinned and nodded, stepping forward together to pack the catch into fish crates.

"Whoa, there are quite a few Silver Pomfret in here too!"

"Yeah, these things are quite a bit more expensive than White Pomfret! What a great start!"

Everyone was in high spirits and quickly began sorting the catch. All nine people moved together, prioritizing the sorting of the Silver Pomfret and White Pomfret.

Pomfret are difficult to keep alive once they leave the water, so they didn't force it and prepared to send them all directly to the Freezer Hold.

Before long, crates of pomfret were sorted out and stacked behind them.

Zheng Tie and Chen Lin took time to carry the sorted pomfret to the Freezer Hold and then returned to continue sorting.

"Eh? There are even golden pomfret!"

Yao Shanshan picked up a golden pomfret weighing over four catties with a bit of disdain and tossed it into another crate.

She was no longer the rookie she was when she first went to sea with Yang Qi last year. She understood the prices of various seafood quite well.

By the end of the sorting, they packed the remaining miscellaneous fish into several crates and sent them to the Freezer Hold.

Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan began cleaning up the deck.

"Xiao Qi, do we need to cast the net again?"

Zheng Tie and the others returned to the deck after delivering the fish and asked Yang Qi.

"Not for now, we're setting off immediately!"

Yang Qi shook his head and said.

The explorer headed south all the way and finally arrived near the Pratas Islands around five in the afternoon.

Looking at the large atoll of Pratas Island in the distance, Yang Qi and Bai Xue glanced at each other in the Cockpit, both thinking of the great harvests they had in the atoll lagoon several times before.

However, the explorer now had a larger hull and a deeper draft. Unless it was high tide, Yang Qi didn't dare risk crossing the atoll to enter the lagoon.

Yang Qi shook his head at Bai Xue; they had to give up on this treasure trove this time.

"What a pity, my East Star Grouper, my Pufferfish!"

Yang Qi felt a secret pang of regret but could only keep moving forward.

In truth, even if the explorer could enter the lagoon, he wouldn't dare go in so blatantly in broad daylight. The previous times, he had only entered after dark.

Time passed until about seven in the evening when Yang Qi saw the brightly lit steel oil rig ahead.

"This is the Lufeng Oil Rig!"

Bai Xue looked at the maritime map and murmured.

"Why don't we stay here overnight and leave tomorrow morning?"

Yang Qi recalled his first time going to sea with Zhang Jun to fish in the South Oil area. Of course, they hadn't fished at this Lufeng Oil Rig back then; they had gone quite a bit further southeast.

"Sure, let's fish here for a night! I'll pilot the ship tomorrow."

Bai Xue nodded. Originally, neither of them had a captain's license and couldn't operate this ship.

This was a special permit granted to them by Leader Li when he was approving their High Seas Fishery Catch Permit and other documents.

Otherwise, following the normal process, it would take at least three years for a captain's license to be issued.

He couldn't very well give them a research vessel and then let it sit at the pier gathering dust for over three years, could he?

As they approached, Yang Qi found that two fishing boats were already anchored there.

In such a vast sea area, two boats were fine; they wouldn't interfere with the explorer's fishing.

Meeting is fate! Since they were already here, they would fish for a night.

Yang Qi didn't get as close to the oil well as those two fishing boats; instead, he found a spot nearby to stop the ship.

"Time to fish!"

Yang Qi shouted over the broadcast.

The others came out of their rooms one after another, laughing as they took their fishing gear bags from the storage. Each chose a rod, and after assembling them, set them up along the gunwale.

Naturally, the research vessel originally had no rod holders. These were specifically requested from the shipyard during the renovation.

Now, from the bow to the gunwale and then to the stern, quite a few rod holders were installed, spaced six or seven meters apart.