53: Large number of fish

It didn't bother to run, turned and rushed towards the fish hook, opened its mouth and bit down. Chen Xiangbei pulled, and oh wow, it had thrown itself into the net.

He got an ordinary Ornamental Fish, placed it in the fish box with oxygenation nearby, and continued observing the fish on the surface, looking for traces of Ornamental Fish.

Most of the fish in the center of the light were larger edible fish that wouldn't sell for much, so he didn't want to waste time on them.

He moved a few steps towards the deck edge, his gaze reaching the edge of the light, trying to find the small fish that couldn't squeeze in.

Sure enough, he saw some small Ornamental Fish swimming around the edge of the light.

Chen Xiangbei seized the opportunity, cast his rod precisely. The splash when the bait hit the water scared these small fish, causing them to scatter instantly and disappear.

After a while, a red and white Lanshou Goldfish swam back, foolishly nibbling on the bait. After being hooked, it wiggled its short tail, trying to break free from the fish hook.

It was impossible to break free. He had caught it, and its fate was only a beautiful fish tank.

...

Like shooting and changing spots, he kept moving left and right, changing places to cast his rod.

Chen Xiangbei caught many different types of Ornamental Fish, and also many miscellaneous fish mistakenly caught due to snatching bait.

Looking at Chen Wen and the other two.

There were quite a lot of fish in their fish box, but most were small miscellaneous fish, with only a few scattered Ornamental Fish, all of low value like Guppies and fighting fish.

About an hour later, Chen Xiangbei carried the fish box full of Ornamental Fish and came to Chen Wen's side, saying to them.

"What's the situation over here? How's the catch?"

Zhao Hu pointed to the fish box and joked about himself, "Great, it's great, it's all small miscellaneous fish. Look, it's full."

"Hahaha, don't be discouraged."

"The center of this lake hasn't been fished before, so the fish resources are a bit richer. As long as you find the trick, you can catch good stuff. Look at mine."

Saying this, Chen Xiangbei showed his catch to them.

"Holy crap! Are you cheating? How are they all Ornamental Fish? That's incredible!"

"This is amazing! If I hadn't come fishing with you, I wouldn't believe that the fish caught from the same place are completely different," Chen Wen and the other person said in shock.

"Alright, don't flatter me too much. Let's change places to fish. There aren't too many Ornamental Fish here."

"I have no problem. The miscellaneous fish here are too wild and always snatch the bait. Those Ornamental Fish are small and can't compete with them," Chen Wen replied.

"I also think changing places is good," Zhao Hu agreed.

Chen Xiangbei looked at Xia Qi, and before he could speak, he heard her say.

"Don't worry about me. I'm just here with you guys. You decide where to fish, I have no objection."

Seeing that everyone agreed, Chen Xiangbei restarted the scientific research vessel and drove towards the area opposite the fishing zone.

People often fish in the fishing zone, so he judged that the fish schools might all be on the opposite bank of the fishing zone.

The opposite bank was a mountain forest, rarely visited by people, most suitable for fish to hide.

After driving for about 5 minutes, Chen Xiangbei stopped. He didn't fish immediately, but first observed the water surface.

Leaving the cockpit, he came to the ship's side, turned on the strong flashlight, shone it in one direction on the water surface, and waited for a while.

The fish slowly began to gather towards the light. Chen Xiangbei observed carefully.

Suddenly, he noticed many colorful rays of light appearing on the water surface.

Looking closely, it turned out to be a school of Ornamental Fish. The flashlight's light shone on their bodies, reflecting off their scales.

Chen Xiangbei was a bit excited. This school of Ornamental Fish was not small; there were several dozen just floating on the surface.

Chen Xiangbei quickly returned to the cockpit, turned on all the lights around the top of the boat, and then told Chen Wen and the others to find their own spots to fish. He was about to get to work.

Coming to the side of the ship where he had just been, he threw a few pieces of chum from the bait box. The miscellaneous fish here were fewer and smaller, and the Ornamental Fish successfully occupied an area using their school advantage.

He waited for a while, until they had finished eating and were staying in the center of the light, then he cast his rod precisely.

The place they were staying was under the light closest to the ship?

His rod was just long enough. He didn't need to cast; he aimed directly at the fish and slowly lowered the bait to their mouths.

How could they not eat food that reached their mouths? They opened their mouths and bit. The scales of fate began to tip, and Chen Xiangbei pulled it up at the fastest speed.

After putting the fish away, he cast his rod again.

The speed of catching fish was like eating a meal; when you saw a dish you wanted, you just reached out and picked it up.

Ornamental Fish are generally much dumber than miscellaneous fish. As their companions disappeared one by one, they were still calmly blowing bubbles.

Chen Xiangbei was happy. Just like at home, as soon as the bait hit the water, he'd get a fish. If he didn't have to re-bait every time he caught one, his speed would be even faster.

In less than twenty minutes, those twenty or thirty fish on the surface were all in his bag.

There were also some colorful shadows hidden in deeper water, vaguely visible. It would take some effort to catch them.

He added a lead sinker to the fishing line so the bait could go deeper.

Then he cast his rod at the same spot. The bait slowly sank with the weight of the lead sinker.

Not long after the bait went down, there was movement. He saw a white figure swimming around the bait, but couldn't see clearly what kind of fish it was.

So, he pulled the bait upwards, and the fish followed it up.

In an instant, he finally saw clearly. It was a black and white Lanshou Goldfish. It wasn't clear yet whether it was the rare Pure White Cow variety or the top-grade Snow Leopard variety; the price difference between the two was huge.

Taking it off and looking closely, it was a Pure White Cow. It was a bit of a shame it wasn't the more valuable Snow Leopard.

However, he wasn't discouraged. He continued to use the same method to lure the fish from deeper water, bagging them one by one.

For the next hour or so, he was immersed in the joy of fishing. The feeling of outsmarting the "dumb fish" also had its own unique flavor.

More and more fish were caught, and the varieties became more precious.

During this time, he also had Chen Wen come over to take the full fish boxes into the cabin and put them away, making space for him to put more fish.

Chen Wen and Zhao Hu had given up long ago. They were okay at catching other fish, but they still lacked experience specifically in catching Ornamental Fish.

Each profession has its specialization; leave professional matters to professionals.

The few of them just quietly watched Chen Xiangbei fish from the ship's side, not making a sound, being dedicated spectators.

Watching him constantly catch fish, Chen Wen and Zhao Hu were already incredibly excited inside. Looking at those rare, top-grade Ornamental Fish, they knew they had made a fortune on this trip!

Just as everyone was intently watching where Chen Xiangbei was fishing, a huge dark shadow flashed by not far away, which was coincidentally seen by Zhao Hu as he turned his head and yawned.