466: Chapter 466 Zhongsha Atoll

Yang Qi used his Supernatural Ability to check the underwater situation and found that, compared to the seabed last night, the current underwater was as calm as the sea surface.

Although there was quite a lot compared to coastal waters, this kind of catch fell completely short of Yang Qi's requirements.

After all, having grown used to fine grain, he really couldn't swallow coarse food!

However, seeing that everyone had already cast their lines, he didn't feel right saying anything.

Could he clearly state that he was a cheater?

In about an hour, the group only caught some live bait like Barracuda, Skipjack Tuna, Mackerel, Sea Bream, and so on.

The best were a few Yellow Chicken Fish; of course, they also caught three Yellowfin Tuna, but they were all too small—still babies—so they threw them back into the sea.

"Let's pack up our rods. No more fishing; making progress is more important!"

Yang Qi finally couldn't help himself.

"Alright! Pack up, pack up!"

Everyone also felt it was boring. Although they could certainly wait for a school of fish here, their destination wasn't this "Lufeng Oil Rig."

Besides, they had caught so many large Yellowfin Tuna last night; maybe not many big ones would show up for a while.

Small Tuna were even less interesting; catching them just to throw them back was like taking off one's pants to fart—completely redundant.

This time, Bai Xue took the helm, heading south as always, pointing straight toward the Nansha Islands.

They passed several oil rigs along the way, and the fish finder showed many schools of fish. However, after asking Yang Qi, Bai Xue didn't stop the boat.

Either the schools weren't ideal, or there were too many fishing boats nearby.

There were no major harvests along the way; occasionally they encountered small schools of fish, but it wasn't worth stopping.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was around seven in the evening. At this time, Yang Qi took over the wheel.

The "explorer" arrived at the northern side of the Zhongsha Islands, in a sea area about ten nautical miles away.

The Zhongsha Islands are one of the four major archipelagos of the South China Sea islands, located in the central waters of the South China Sea.

They are east and slightly south of the Xisha Islands, 200 kilometers from Yongxing Island, and are the most centrally located group of islands among the South China Sea islands.

The archipelago starts from Shenhu Shoal in the north and ends at Bofu Shoal in the south, extending east to Scarborough Shoal. The sea area covers over 600,000 square kilometers, and the distribution of islands and reefs is second only to the Nansha Islands.

The Zhongsha Islands are oceanic islands, consisting of Scarborough Shoal and 26 named shoals on the Zhongsha Great Atoll, as well as four scattered shoals: Yitong Shoal, Xianfa Shoal, Shenhu Shoal, and Zhongnan Shoal.

Except for parts of the reef edge of Scarborough Shoal that are exposed above the sea surface, the other shoals and reefs are all hidden beneath the water.

Scarborough Shoal is the only island in the Zhongsha Islands, with an atoll area of about 130 square kilometers and a lagoon depth of 10-20 meters. Scarborough Shoal is about 170 nautical miles east of the Zhongsha Atoll, adjacent to the Manila Trench.

The main body of the Zhongsha Islands, the Zhongsha Great Atoll, is 140 kilometers long and 60 kilometers wide, with a general water depth of 13-20 meters, making it the largest atoll in the South China Sea.

At this time, the position of the "explorer" driven by Yang Qi was about ten nautical miles north of the Pratas Great Atoll.

In terms of geographical location, the Zhongsha Atoll is the true heart of the South China Sea.

Among the four major archipelagos in the East, South, West, and Central regions of the South China Sea, only the Zhongsha Islands are world-renowned for their specialty Tuna and Sailfish.

However, except for Scarborough Shoal 170 nautical miles away, all the reefs here are submerged underwater. The shallowest point exceeds 9 meters, nearly the height of a three-story building.

This makes land reclamation extremely difficult, so much so that China has not yet stationed troops in Zhongsha. This has allowed neighboring countries with ambitious designs to repeatedly covet this place.

The Zhongsha Great Atoll is one of the shallowest areas in the South China Sea; however, the terrain outside the atoll drops precipitously.

The sea area between the south of the Great Atoll and the North Danger Reef of the Nansha Islands is the deepest part of the South China Sea, with an average depth of 5,559 meters.

Its northern side, which is where the "explorer" was currently anchored, was actually on a steep slope.

Don't be fooled by the surrounding water depth reaching thousands of meters; it sounds quite terrifying.

In fact, the Great Atoll is equivalent to an underwater plateau. Its terrain is not straight up and down but has a gentle slope from low to high.

If this slope were divided into three steps, the first step would be at a depth of about 350 meters, the second step would suddenly increase to over 2,000 meters, and the third step would reach over 3,500 meters.

The current position of the "explorer" was equivalent to being above the first step, at a depth of less than 300 meters.

Waters at this depth cater to both surface and bottom-dwelling fish. Both deep-sea and shallow-sea fish have a chance to appear.

This was a decision Yang Qi had made after careful consideration.

"Hubby, there's a big catch in the sea!"

Bai Xue said, pointing at the high-precision sonar fish finder.

Yang Qi looked and indeed, there were about a dozen light clusters on the fish finder screen, indicating big fish.

He hurriedly checked with his Supernatural Ability and found a school of about a dozen Bigeye Tuna and Sailfish swimming and foraging on the seabed.

"Brothers, I've found a school of big fish. Quickly use the frozen bait for Chumming."

Yang Qi immediately shouted over the broadcast.

Everyone had finished dinner and was chatting in the dining room. Yao Shanshan was also finishing up clearing the leftover bones to give Coal an extra meal.

Hearing the broadcast, everyone immediately ran toward the deck, causing a brief moment of chaos.

On the deck, some set up the fishing rods while others chopped fish into chunks.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!" As Zheng Tie kept chopping fish on the cutting board, a pile was quickly produced on the nearby deck.

Wang Jinxi also took a cleaver and a cutting board to help. The two of them swung their knives so fast they made a whistling sound, quickly finishing two boxes of frozen fish, worth over a thousand yuan.

Yang Qi took a plastic bucket full of fish chunks and began throwing them into the sea.

After everyone installed their boat rods and hooked on live bait, they each took some fish chunks and threw out a chum line from far to near into the sea.

In truth, only Yang Qi knew the exact location and path of the Tuna. However, with everyone Chumming together, more bait would always make it easier to keep the Tuna around.

Actually, this chum line thing wasn't as mysterious as one might imagine.

After all, Tuna and Sailfish are high-speed swimmers; a single burst of speed can cover hundreds of meters.

It's possible that no matter how much bait you throw, if they swim past without noticing it, it's all for nothing.

But relatively speaking, scattering more chum will always make it easier to attract Tuna.

As long as there are Tuna active in this sea area, these fish chunks won't be wasted. Even if these few are missed, other Tuna will pass by later.

Yang Qi saw his Uncle, Zheng Tie, preparing to go to the Freezer Hold to get more bait, and said to him:

"Uncle, take out those Mahi-Mahi, Skipjack Tuna, and Mackerel from the cold storage. Let's give them something fresh."

"Alright!"

Soon, Zheng Tie pulled over another box of the miscellaneous fish they had caught yesterday. After another bout of "clatter and chop," everyone came over to take some fish chunks and threw them into the sea... PS: Time flows, and the years pass quickly! In the blink of an eye, it's New Year's Eve.

Thanks to all my loyal fans for your company!!