20: Wild Largemouth Bass King

(Special note: The fish prices marked by the author are very different from reality, please do not take them seriously, and please don't scold me! Thank you!)

This fish was not small, and its temperament was fierce, making several attempts to break free from the hook.

Chen Xiangbei did not give him a chance, his strength far exceeding that of ordinary people, he firmly held the initiative.

Gradually, the fish's strength was exhausted, and it lost its resistance.

Chen Xiangbei prepared the landing net, and when the fish was pulled back in front of him, he quickly scooped it up.

Immediately after, Chen Xiangbei was shocked; even with mental preparation, he still underestimated the size of this fish.

This was a largemouth bass, about half a meter long, weighing about thirty to forty catties.

This should be a Fish King; wild freshwater largemouth bass rarely grow this large.

The bass on the market are generally largemouth bass, but they are farmed, and the price is around 20 yuan per catty.

Wild ones are much more expensive, around 60-120 yuan per catty.

But a Fish King is different, the price is even higher, and when someone who likes it encounters one, they buy it at a fixed price, not by the catty.

Largemouth bass are an invasive species, they are river tyrants in Zhu River, and when they grow up, they will eat small fish and even fish eggs.

But it is also quite unlucky, because its meat is delicious, it is very popular with foodies, and wild ones are gradually becoming fewer and fewer.

Chen Xiangbei first took this bass back to the car and kept it alive with an oxygen pump.

Then he continued, the previous spot had been startled by this bass, so he changed direction and cast his rod further this time.

"Buzz," before long, the fishing rod bent, and another big fish was hooked.

After some effort, this fish was also pulled up.

After seeing the fish, Chen Xiangbei silently cursed and threw it into the fish keep with disdain.

It's no wonder he was disdainful, because this was a large Grass Carp, extremely heavy and difficult to sell.

When putting the fish into the fish keep, he saw some small fish foraging by the shore.

Looking closely, they were Yellow Catfish, so these were not small fish; this size belonged to the large fish among Yellow Catfish.

Wild Yellow Catfish don't grow very large, generally large ones are only one or two catties, and ordinary adult ones are only a few ounces.

The few Yellow Catfish foraging here weighed about half a catty each, all relatively large ones.

He returned to his fishing spot, changed to a smaller hook, put on the bait, and extended the bait near the Yellow Catfish.

The strong scent instantly stimulated those few fish, and they all scrambled to compete for it.

Even the surrounding small fish were attracted, but the larger fish couldn't get close.

Finally, a strong and healthy Yellow Catfish won, successfully took the bait, and was pulled ashore.

After putting the fish away, he continued fishing for Yellow Catfish, casting dozens of times and catching dozens of Yellow Catfish.

Most were around half a catty, the largest one was 1.4 catties, its size two or three times that of the others.

He had caught enough small fish, so he switched to a large hook to continue fishing for giants, which was the main source of income.

At this time, the surrounding schools of fish had been attracted by the Secret Bait, and he got a bite soon after casting his rod.

First, he caught a Carp, and then several consecutive casts were Carp.

Among them was a Golden Carp weighing seven or eight catties, which was a premium among Carp.

It's not that it's particularly delicious, but it symbolizes good fortune, and many people buy it back to keep as Ornamental Fish.

Its value is not sold according to ordinary Carp; it can fetch a considerably high price when it encounters someone who likes it.

He put the Golden Carp in the fish tank in the car to keep it alive, and then cast his rod again.

Immediately after, over a dozen casts yielded some ordinary fish; the most satisfactory were a few Warp-mouth fish.

Wild Warp-mouth fish weighing five or six catties or more are around 70-100 yuan per catty.

Its meat is tender and delicious, suitable for braising or steaming, and it is still very popular in the market.

For the next hour or so, it was as if he had hit the old nest of Bighead Carp; it was almost all Bighead Carp, with only a few scattered mandarin fish mixed in.

Bighead Carp is a type of Carp, also called Spotted Silver Carp; the fish head used for chopped chili fish head is made from Spotted Silver Carp.

Wild Spotted Silver Carp is 15-25 yuan per catty and is very popular in the market.

Seeing that it was almost 4 PM, Chen Xiangbei quickly packed up his things and headed back.

It would take over an hour to get back, just in time for people to finish work and buy groceries.

The catch was pretty good; he transported it to the car in several trips, put away the umbrella, stored his equipment, and then started the car to head back.

He drove at the maximum speed limit the whole way.

At around 5 PM, he successfully entered the urban area. After another 25 minutes, he arrived at the wet market where he sold fish yesterday.

Chen Xiangbei did not stop to sell the fish directly, but first went to the restaurant from yesterday; it was easier to sell fish there.

He parked the car in front of the restaurant, and Chen Xiangbei walked into the shop, just seeing the Shop Owner at the cash register, so he walked over.

"Brother, I caught fish again today, do you want any fish?"

The Shop Owner looked up and saw it was the young man who sold fish yesterday.

"Of course I want fish, but let's be clear, I don't want them if they're not wild," the Shop Owner said jokingly.

"Don't worry, they were just caught, they're fresh, want to take a look?" Chen Xiangbei replied.

"Let's go take a look."

Saying that, the two of them walked outside.

Arriving at the car, Chen Xiangbei opened the truck bed door, got up, opened the fish tank lid, and invited the Shop Owner to come up and inspect.

The Shop Owner was also not polite, he stepped onto the anti-collision bumper at the back of the truck bed and got up.

Upon getting up and seeing, "Good heavens, you're doing wholesale here," he was truly startled by so many fish.

"Mr., are you telling me all these fish were caught by you?" the Shop Owner said in disbelief.

"Of course, they were just landed, look at the mouths, the wounds are still there, caught with large hooks," Chen Xiangbei replied.

"Haha, I'm not doubting your fish, I can tell if they're wild at a glance, I'm amazed that you can catch so many fish by yourself in one day. If I had your skill, I wouldn't have to work so hard running a restaurant, I'd just fish every day."

"Hehe, I got lucky, I happened to find a fish nest. Look at this box, it's all Bighead Carp, very plump and delicious, do you want to take it all?"

"I have dozens of Bighead Carp here, all around ten catties each, roughly three hundred catties in total."

"If you take them all, I'll give you a better price, 16 yuan per catty. I see your restaurant also sells Bighead fish, and this variety I have will definitely attract more customers for you," Chen Xiangbei said.

"Okay, your price is indeed fair, I'll call a few people over to weigh them. This scale of yours is too small, I have a bigger one there," the Shop Owner said with a smile.

Then he called a few young men from the restaurant to carry the large scale to the side of the car.

He also took an empty box, placed it on the scale to tare it, and then transferred the fish one by one from Chen Xiangbei's large fish tank into the empty box.

As the large fish were taken out one by one, it attracted the attention of pedestrians on the road.

People's curiosity is strong, especially when they see these large fish, it's quite interesting.

They weighed them, totaling 286 catties, for a total of 4576 yuan.

The Shop Owner had people carry them inside and put them in the fish tank to keep them alive, then took out the empty box and continued selecting fish.

The Shop Owner saw a few plump mandarin fish and took them all without a second thought.

There were 32 catties of mandarin fish in total, Chen Xiangbei gave a discounted price of 90 yuan, totaling 2880 yuan.