24: Invasive species

At this time, the fish was still struggling, but Chen Xiangbei's fishing rod was of good quality.

He directly used brute force to drag it in front of him. The Uncle was quick-witted and scooped it up with a swift hand.

Putting the fish on the ground, everyone gathered around.

They saw the fish had a peculiar shape, a long and flat body, a small and pointed head, and a dark olive-green back.

Its belly was usually light yellow or white, and its tail was long and pointed, somewhat resembling a crocodile's tail.

Some fellow anglers recognized this fish.

"Oh my god, this is an alligator gar, an invasive species. It eats everything, big fish and small fish, and will cause serious harm to the aquatic ecosystem."

"Yes, yes, that's it. This thing is incredibly fierce and highly aggressive. Kill it quickly. This fish's meat isn't tasty, so don't ever put it back. I don't know who was so malicious to release such a creature into the Zhu River," one person said indignantly.

Someone recorded this scene and posted it online.

Such a vicious creature certainly couldn't be let go. Chen Xiangbei found a stone and smashed it down onto its head.

"80... 80... 80..."

Before long, the fish stopped moving. He threw it into the trash can and came back to continue fishing.

An hour passed. The power of the secret recipe bait was still quite good; the speed of catching fish was several times faster than others, but the catch wasn't very ideal.

There were more medium and small fish, mostly White Crucian Carp and tilapia, along with a few Bream and Crucian Carp, none of which were large.

Chen Xiangbei increased the amount of bait, using 10g per bait, determined to catch a big fish.

He cast his rod into the water, and before long, he clearly felt much more movement in the water. There were probably more fish nibbling at the bait.

He waited patiently. Suddenly, he felt his fishing rod being tugged, then it returned to normal. The fish was testing the bait.

Chen Xiangbei was very focused and remained unmoved.

Seemingly feeling no danger, the fish directly swallowed the bait in one gulp.

Chen Xiangbei was waiting for this moment. He pulled the rod with one hand, and the hook firmly snagged it.

Threatened, the fish thrashed its body wildly, trying to break free from the restraint.

However, the 'cheater' on the other side didn't give it any chance.

No matter how it thrashed, it couldn't break free from the hook in its mouth, slowly accepting its fate.

Chen Xiangbei's manner of playing the fish made people feel he was unusually relaxed.

But when the fish surfaced, everyone was stunned. Such a large fish was pulled back so easily?

He took out a landing net, scooped the fish onto the bank, and the surrounding anglers were excited when they saw the fish!

This was a Black Fish, larger than any farmed Black Fish they had seen.

It weighed around 10 kilograms, was about 1 meter long, and was the size of a 'Fish King'.

The Uncle next to him was shocked again and said, "Such a large wild Black Fish, it's even bigger than the ones I've seen in reservoirs!"

"Yes, back then, in a reservoir south of Jiangnan Province, an angler caught a wild Black Fish that was 1.1 meters long and weighed 27 jin, known as the 'Reservoir Black Fish King'."

"This fish can compete with that Black Fish King from back then. Did anyone bring scales? Come and weigh it quickly," a man in the crowd said.

"I brought portable scales, young Brother, quickly weigh it so we can feast our eyes," a middle-aged man said.

"Alright, it's rare to catch such a big fish, so let's make everyone happy," Chen Xiangbei said.

He then took the portable scales, hung the fish on them, and the display showed 10.2kg.

"Wow~ it's over 20 jin. This is definitely a small Fish King. This one can sell for at least a thousand yuan."

"Yeah, Fish King priced fish are a bit more expensive than regular ones. Young Brother, are you selling this fish?"

"Yeah, young Brother, are you selling? I'll offer 1000 yuan. I've never eaten such a large Black Fish before. I'll buy it for my wife to try as well."

...

The onlookers chattered amongst themselves, while Chen Xiangbei signaled everyone to be quiet and said.

"Fellow anglers, I only have one fish, and I can't divide it among so many of you. How about this, whoever offers the highest price gets it, how about that?"

"That's right, since ancient times, the capable have held their place. Whoever bids highest gets it," someone echoed.

"Then I'll offer 1100 yuan."

"I'll offer 1200 yuan."

"Stop arguing, I'm treating guests tonight, I'll offer 1500 yuan."

"What kind of guests are you treating for 1500? I'll offer 1700, I'll eat it myself," someone said, unconvinced.

"Hmph, I'll offer 1800. It's not up to you whether I'm treating guests or not."

That person stopped talking. The top price for this fish was probably around 1500 yuan. Buying it at such a high premium just didn't feel right.

"I'll offer 2000 yuan. I, this old man, particularly like eating fish. I've never seen such a large Black Fish before, it should be quite tasty," an old man said with a smile.

Seeing this, the crowd didn't follow the bid. 2000 yuan was too high, and not everyone was willing to spend two thousand yuan on one fish.

In the end, the old man got the fish.

The transaction was completed, and Chen Xiangbei continued fishing.

At five in the afternoon, everyone packed up their belongings one after another and went home; dinner time was approaching.

Chen Xiangbei didn't catch many large fish that afternoon. The largest one was a 26 jin Qing Fish, which was bought by a Brother on the spot for 300 yuan.

The rest were medium and small sized fish, including Carp, Crucian Carp, White Crucian Carp, native Catfish, Redeye Trout, etc. The most annoying were a few Plecos.

Plecos are also an invasive species. They specialize in eating fish eggs, reproduce quickly, and are ugly with little meat.

Someone once made braised Pleco, the method was very simple.

When cooking, add scallions, ginger, and cooking wine to remove the fishy smell. After pouring the sauce, you must sprinkle finely minced garlic and white pepper powder on top, and then throw away the pot along with the fish.

It's hard to imagine how bad a fish must taste if even the foodies in our country don't eat it.

Chen Xiangbei was also preparing to go back and sell fish. As he was leaving, a few anglers who hadn't had good catches came directly to buy some fish from him, and he sold them at a fair price, since they were all fellow fishermen.

He took all the remaining fish to the market to sell. There weren't many, just about a hundred jin, enough to fill two portable fish boxes.

Actually, he had also sold a few large fish on the spot, otherwise there would have been more.

Chen Xiangbei was also remembered by the anglers. After all, someone who could catch so many fish was quite impressive in the fishing world.

He brought his catch to the wet market. Chen Xiangbei felt a bit embarrassed selling this amount of goods to restaurants and fish stores.

So he just started selling right at the market entrance.

He didn't plan to sell them expensively, just at a fair price to go home, as he still had to pack and move.

Wild fish were very popular among ordinary people, and they sold out quickly.

Many who arrived late and didn't buy any regretted why they hadn't come earlier.

The two boxes of fish sold for 895 yuan, adding the 2760 yuan sold at the park, his total income for today was 3655 yuan, more than ten times less than yesterday.

In fact, this was both normal and abnormal. It was normal because it's impossible to have a huge catch every time, but abnormal because he always caught much more than others.