16: Once again, explosion

After returning home and organizing his gear, he prepared to go fishing again.

He looked around the rental apartment and thought it was time to find a new place.

This place was too small, and parking was inconvenient. He would look for a new apartment in a couple of days.

He slung his fishing gear over his shoulder and headed towards the parking lot.

Passing by a convenience store, he went in and bought a case of bottled water to keep in the car. When fishing in the wilderness for long periods, he could drink when thirsty.

The parking lot was a bit of a distance away, but thankfully, this weight was no burden for him.

Soon, he reached the car and paid the five yuan parking fee.

He opened his phone navigation to find a fishing tackle shop. In this scorching weather, with the sun like a furnace, if he didn't buy a sun umbrella, he'd be sun-dried into a "fish jerky" within an hour.

Arriving at the fishing tackle shop, he told the Boss what he needed. The Boss recommended a fishing-specific sun umbrella with a very high protection level, which also came with a high price tag.

Spending 700 yuan, Chen Xiangbei felt it was worth it to avoid getting sunburned.

He drove to the tributary section of the Zhu River where he had fished this morning.

He found a river bend section that was relatively deep, had a gentle current, and was shaded.

The weather was too hot, and the fish liked to hide in deep, shaded water.

He found a place nearby where he could park the car and parked it.

This area was at the junction of the city and the suburbs, with no parking fee collection units. As long as it didn't obstruct traffic, he could park anywhere.

He opened the trunk, took out his gear, went to the river bend, found a relatively shaded and open spot, set up his sun umbrella, and adjusted his fishing rod and float.

He took out the Secret Bait from the System space and prepared 500g of bait, just like this morning.

He kneaded the bait onto the hook, cast the rod, and quickly pulled it back. Then, he repeated the same steps, quickly casting and pulling back two more times.

With the power of the Secret Bait, he didn't need to waste too much bait on pre-baiting.

This time, he used an 8-gauge hook, a hook specifically for catching large fish.

He put the bait on the hook, cast it about 8 meters out. The fish in the afternoon were not very active.

So, the speed of catching fish would be slower. He waited for a long time without any movement.

Finally, after a few minutes, the fishing rod shook, and Chen Xiangbei began to focus.

Suddenly, a fish took the bait. Chen Xiangbei quickly lifted the rod, and the hook set firmly.

After a struggle, the fish broke the surface. He couldn't yet see what kind of fish it was.

Chen Xiangbei quickly reeled in and used the landing net to scoop it up.

It was a mandarin fish. mandarin fish meat is delicious, suitable for braising in soy sauce or steaming.

The market price for farmed mandarin fish is around 50-80 yuan per catty, while wild large mandarin fish can sell for 80-150 yuan per catty.

Of course, this is the price for ordinary mandarin fish. There are many varieties of mandarin fish, and the price for each variety is different.

The one Chen Xiangbei caught was an ordinary Mandarin Perch, weighing about six catties, which should sell for several hundred yuan.

A good start. He had spent tens of thousands of yuan today, and now he could finally recover some of it. Chen Xiangbei was very relieved.

He continued fishing. The sun was too strong, and the speed of catching fish was a bit slow.

Chen Xiangbei waited patiently.

Soon, there was movement again. This fish was fierce and struggled with Chen Xiangbei for a long time before he finally landed it.

Looking at it, it was a Grass Carp weighing over ten catties. Catching such a cheap fish gave Chen Xiangbei a headache.

Because the price of Grass Carp is a bit low, the meat quality is average, and it's not easy to sell.

Especially in a big city like this, people are not short on money, so they prefer to buy fish with better taste.

"Forget it, I'll keep it for now. It would be a shame to throw away something I worked hard to catch," Chen Xiangbei thought to himself.

...

The next dozen fish were all Grass Carp and Carp. They were quite heavy, but their prices were not attractive.

Chen Xiangbei accepted it and kept them all, deciding to worry about selling them later.

After more than an hour, Chen Xiangbei finally caught a few mandarin fish.

The Secret Bait was still very effective. These mandarin fish were not as big as the first one, but they were all decent size.

Besides the mandarin fish, there were some other fish, including a Qing Fish weighing 30 catties.

Fortunately, his gear was durable, and Chen Xiangbei was strong, otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to pull up this Qing Fish.

The price of Qing Fish is decent, generally around 10-15 yuan per catty. The most important thing is that it's not small, and wild ones are quite popular.

At 5 PM, the sun was still high in the sky.

Chen Xiangbei reeled in his last cast and started packing up to go back.

He wanted to sell the fish during the market's peak hours around dinner time.

After nearly 3 hours of fishing, one catty of Secret Bait was just about used up.

He caught a total of 6 mandarin fish, 4 Qing Fish, 14 Grass Carp, 3 Black Fish, and 8 Carp, as well as some decent-sized tilapias.

Because he used a specialized hook, the fish he caught were all quite heavy.

All the fish combined weighed three to four hundred catties, which was an exaggerated number.

Just the 4 Qing Fish alone weighed over a hundred catties, and those dozen Grass Carp, each weighing eleven to twelve catties, with the heaviest ones weighing fifteen to sixteen catties.

Fortunately, Chen Xiangbei was well-equipped. He had two extra-large plastic fish tanks equipped with oxygen machines in the bed of his truck.

He also had two large portable fish catch boxes.

It took several trips to get all the fish into the car. Ignoring his soaking wet clothes, he wiped his sweat with a towel, started the car, and drove straight to the wet market.

Around 5:20, on the way to the wet market, he stopped to buy an electronic scale for easy weighing.

He arrived at a relatively large wet market, which was surrounded by large residential communities.

The flow of people here was very high. Chen Xiangbei didn't enter the market; he parked directly at the market entrance and started selling.

He opened the door of the truck bed, placed the electronic scale in a prominent spot, and began to call out.

"Come and see, come and see! Freshly caught various wild fish! Wild fish just caught, affordable price, nutritious and delicious."

Since it was after work hours, many people were out buying groceries.

In no time, the sidewalk next to Chen Xiangbei's car was crowded with people.

Everyone was very curious to see the lively, jumping fish.

Just then, an Auntie asked.

"Young man, are your fish really wild? Don't try to fool us with farmed fish."

"That's right. Some fish sellers always use farmed fish to pass them off as good quality and sell them to us. As a result, we buy them and only find out they are farmed fish after eating them. The meat quality is too poor."

"Rest assured, Uncle, Auntie, Brother, and Sister. Look, my fishing rod and everything are still in the car. I just came here right after catching these."

"How about, is there any Brother or Sister who understands fish? Come over and identify if these fish are genuine wild fish?" Chen Xiangbei said.

"I'll do it!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a Brother walked over.

"There are many ways to identify wild fish. This Brother said he just caught them, so we can check if there are wounds on the fish's mouths to know."

Saying this, he looked at Chen Xiangbei.

Chen Xiangbei gestured for the Brother to come up and check.

Indeed, when everyone saw the wounds on the fish's mouths, they all believed what Chen Xiangbei said.

So, everyone started asking what kind of fish he had, planning to buy one to take home and eat. After all, wild fish are rare, and large wild fish are even rarer.