As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 121: Chapter 117: The Old Child

“Going fishing on a rainy day?” Jiang Luoluo, with her hair a bit messy, was obviously still enjoying a lazy sleep, as it’s indeed comfortable to sleep on a rainy day.

She opened the door to hear that Chu Mingcheng wanted to borrow her car to go fishing and was somewhat speechless.

Seeing her like that, Chu Mingcheng felt embarrassed and explained.

“Well, I met an old man who took me fishing for crucian carp before and bought a fish from me for a high price. He gave me the address for harvesting earthworms yesterday, and just now he called to say there’s a school of true sea bream and sea red spots appearing, so he wants to borrow my boat.”

“I see, take the keys then! Oh, and I’ll sort myself out for lunch, you just focus on enjoying your fishing.”

“Great, I’ll cook something delicious for you when I get back!”

“Mm-hmm!” Jiang Luoluo handed him the car keys, was about to say goodbye, but suddenly remembered something and quickly added, “Hey, have you taken your camera? Aren’t you going to record the video?”

“Oh right, I almost forgot. Good thing you reminded me!” Chu Mingcheng slapped his forehead, took the keys, and hurried home to get his camera.

After Double-checking all his gear and finding nothing missing, he said goodbye to Jiang Luoluo and set off.

He first bought two 120-liter fish boxes, both equipped with oxygen pumps.

Then he bought some sandworm bait and shrimp brick for creating the baited spot, and considering the chance that the fish might not survive, he inquired with the boss for an ice store location and then bought some crushed ice.

He wasn’t sure whether the live fish tank could keep the true sea bream alive, since he had never fished for them before and decided to prepare in advance.

When he arrived at the dock, Uncle Wei was already there, but the oil truck had not yet arrived.

Chu Mingcheng, with him, first moved all the equipment onto the boat, and then they went to add water.

He processed a water card directly, deducting from the balance, and since the water tank was only 150 liters, it didn’t cost much.

However, he still bought a case of large bottled mineral water to keep on hand, as well as some noodles, vegetables, eggs, cooking oil, and various seasonings to take care of lunch on the boat.

After everything was prepared, the oil truck finally arrived late.

The boatyard had only added a little fuel, which was nearly depleted by the time he arrived at this dock, so he had to fill up nearly 800 liters of diesel.

The price of diesel today was eight yuan per liter, costing him almost six thousand four hundred Big Coins in total.

After refueling, they immediately set off.

The two men entered the cabin and placed their umbrellas in the bucket by the door.

Knowing that Chu Mingcheng was still learning to drive, Wei Jiaguo took the initiative to sit at the helm and then called him over to explain the various navigational equipment on the boat and how to operate them.

Chu Mingcheng hadn’t expected the chance to learn how to pilot beforehand and paid careful attention.

Once the boat left the dock and headed out onto the open sea, Wei Jiaguo even stood up to let him take the controls.

Chu Mingcheng, driving a boat for the first time, was a bit nervous, but that quickly passed, and he found steering to be very simple—there was hardly any difficulty.

It was just that today’s wind and rain made the waves a bit big.

Seeing this, Wei Jiaguo also advised him on how to navigate in rough seas—all of it valuable experience from an old captain, which might not necessarily be learned in school.

In just a short while, the fishing boat under Chu Mingcheng’s operation became much steadier, and it was no longer battering against the waves as it had initially.

The fishing spot wasn’t too far; after traveling for an hour and forty-some minutes, they arrived.

From afar, Chu Mingcheng could see several boats at the fishing spot, though there weren’t as many as when they fished for yellowfin and hairtail before.

When he reached his destination, there was an uninhabited islet not far away, clearly indicating a coral group or reef group below.

After dropping anchor, both men prepared their fishing lines in the cabin.

True sea bream generally prefer to live in waters with a depth of 20 to 100 meters; the spot they were at was already over twenty meters deep.

Given the strong winds and quick currents that day, they needed a stiff fishing rod.

Chu Mingcheng had brought along boat rods, ones rated for 30 and 80 could be used, but the 30 provided a much better feel, so he chose that one.

Main line 5, leader carbon line 4. Basically, a true sea bream under ten pounds was a breeze; if there was a chance to catch a really big one, then the leader would have to be thicker, with a size 13 Big Wave hook, fishing at the bottom.

Dressed in raincoats, they came out onto the deck.

Chu Mingcheng stood on the left, with the camera set up at the cabin door facing him.

Wei Jiaguo stood on the right, and the two fished separately.

You can choose to bait a spot when fishing for true sea bream from a boat, but with the rapid sea current, simply throwing in the bait was useless, and since they were fishing at the bottom, a shrimp cage was the only option.

Antarctic shrimp brick was a must-have; this cheap and versatile bait was considered universal.

The first cast usually required some waiting; Chu Mingcheng put his rod into a fishing hole and didn’t need to hold it himself.

The heavy rain tap-tapping down oddly brought a feeling of contentment.

Perhaps Chu Mingcheng naturally had an affinity for rain!

After quietly waiting for a short while, the fishing rod began to shake up and down—fish were touching the bait, grabbing his full attention immediately.

Chu Mingcheng grabbed the rod but didn’t remove it from the hole, letting out some line and continuing to wait patiently.

After a little while longer, the tip began to bend slowly and the line tightened.

A fish was running with the bait.

But Chu Mingcheng didn’t jerk the rod to hook the fish; instead, he started reeling the line back evenly.

As he reeled in the line, the rod bent more and more. Only then did he give the rod a quick jerk, and after hooking the fish, he no longer had to worry about it getting away.

Using his left hand to support the rod, he lifted it upward while his right hand sped up the reeling.

Sure enough, a pink true sea bream surfaced, probably weighing about a pound. He didn’t just grab the line to haul it up but used a landing net instead.

Catching a true sea bream marked a good start.

Although Chu Mingcheng had never fished for true sea bream before, Uncle Wei had passed on his expertise beforehand.

When Chu Mingcheng learned that true sea bream was also known as “truly tricky,” and understood its feeding habits, he knew how to fish for it.

The creature was just like the yellowfin snapper, very cautious when taking bait.

It liked to nip at the bait repeatedly but wouldn’t bite and sometimes would even run off with the bait in its mouth. If it sensed anything amiss, it would immediately spit out the bait.

The only difference is that Yellowfin Snappers like to bite the bait and flee outward, whereas True Sea Breams like to escape to deeper waters.

When Wei Jiaguo saw him successfully catch a True Sea Bream, he also began to focus on fishing.

The Sand Worm could still be used, so Chu Mingcheng threw the bait back into the water.

This time, his luck was good, and he caught a fish as soon as the bait touched the bottom.

The situation, however, was different from before. The fish bit fiercely and immediately started pulling the line, causing the fishing rod to make a “squeak” noise.

Chu Mingcheng knew it wasn’t a True Sea Bream when he saw this and quickly picked up the rod from the fishing hole, yanked it up sharply, and immediately started pulling the line back in after the fish was hooked.

But this fish was fierce. Despite not feeling very big, it kept tugging back and forth.

This familiar sensation reminded him of the time he encountered the same situation fishing for Striped Rockfish under the Yanmen Island Bridge.

He hadn’t expected to catch a Striped Rockfish down there, but he liked it since the fish had a nice price tag too.

When the fish surfaced, it was bigger than the True Sea Bream he had caught earlier, probably around four pounds, and he still used a net to scoop it up.

Who knew that just as the fish entered the net, the line suddenly snapped.

Chu Mingcheng was so startled that he broke out in a cold sweat, almost losing the fish.

He pulled the fish out and then examined why the line had broken.

It turned out that the Striped Rockfish’s mouth was too sharp and its biting force so strong that the number 4 carbon line was cut clean through.

But this wasn’t surprising, as fishing for Striped Rockfish typically required at least a number 8 leader line or thicker.

Knowing that there was a Striped Rockfish below, Chu Mingcheng definitely wanted to change his leader line, opting for a number 12 carbon line, while the main line was not an issue.

After biting the hook, a Striped Rockfish will tug hard on the line trying to run towards the rocks. As long as you’re careful not to let out line and pull it back in, the main line generally won’t break.

Keep it going, keep it going. Wild True Sea Breams are getting rarer these days, and they’re not easy to come by.

Soon enough, Chu Mingcheng’s line reacted again. Seeing only a few tugs, he knew it was another True Sea Bream and swiftly let out some line.

Watching the slackened line gradually become taut, he lifted the rod!

Having not made a mistake fishing for Yellowfin Snappers the previous two days, he was now very skilled at fishing for True Sea Breams.

After the fish was hooked, the True Sea Bream struggled more fiercely. This time, the rod bent even more, which brightened Chu Mingcheng’s eyes, signaling it was a big one.

Simply reeling in was a bit slow, so he decided to lift the rod and tug to speed up bringing the fish in.

After five or six minutes, a True Sea Bream at least forty centimeters long was pulled to the surface, and Chu Mingcheng hurriedly scooped it up with the net.

Unexpectedly, this True Sea Bream was uncooperative. Whenever he tried to scoop it, it would flick its tail and move away.

After dodging twice, Chu Mingcheng gave a slap with the metal rim of the net, hitting the fish’s head.

The hit wasn’t very hard, but the True Sea Bream suddenly stopped moving, seeming a bit stunned.

Seeing this, he quickly grabbed the line with his left hand and scooped the fish into the net with his right, finally dealing with it.

If he had let such a big True Sea Bream get away, he reckoned he’d even dream about it on his wedding night.

Using a fish grip, he checked its weight. It was six pounds and an ounce.

Goodness, wild True Sea Breams are pricy nowadays. This one could probably sell for just under one thousand.

But the prerequisite is that it has to be alive; iced ones sell for half the price.

Chu Mingcheng hadn’t expected his second catch to be such a good-sized prize.

Instead of continuing to put the fish into the live well, he, with a hint of show-off intent, said to Wei Jiaguo, “Grandpa, take a look at this one, how’s that?”

Wei Jiaguo turned and glanced at it, expressionless, “Not bad, I’ve already grown tired of catching these.”

“…” Chu Mingcheng felt like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat and didn’t know what to say for a moment.

Grown tired of them, yet he scurried over upon hearing there were True Sea Breams here; was his blanket not warm enough?

Feeling a bit miffed, he just decided to put the True Sea Bream into the live well and continued fishing.

Unbeknownst to him, as he turned away, a flicker of envy appeared in the old man’s eyes. These days, big True Sea Breams were truly not easy to come by!

Wei Jiaguo looked back, then started reeling in his line, secretly changing his leader line and hook, clearly preparing to go big.

Half an hour later, Chu Mingcheng harvested three more True Sea Breams weighing around one or two pounds each, along with a sea red spot weighing just over a pound and a Stone Bream.

As expected of a quality fishing spot that people would specifically come to, the catch was indeed delightful, mainly because these fish were quite expensive.

But at that moment, Wei Jiaguo’s voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Ah Cheng, come over and help me net this fish.”

Net a fish?

Did he catch something big?

Chu Mingcheng didn’t bother with his own spot and quickly took the net over, only to see a large True Sea Bream lying flat on the surface, visibly larger than his own catch.

Your uncle is still your uncle, just after boasting, he turns around and lands an even bigger one.

With one person controlling the fish and the other netting, the True Sea Bream didn’t get a chance to struggle and was quickly scooped up.

Wei Jiaguo removed the hook, then lifted the fish with the grip.

It’s worth noting that the grip’s weight display faced Chu Mingcheng.

Wherever his eyes looked, the holding Wei Jiaguo would shift in that direction. If he looked left, the weight display on the grip would also appear on the left.

“…” Chu Mingcheng fell silent for three seconds, then exaggeratedly exclaimed, “Grandpa, you really are amazing, catching such a big True Sea Bream! This one is eight pounds and three ounces, truly respectful of you!”

“Not bad, I’ve already grown tired of catching these!” Wei Jiaguo repeated his earlier words, but his hands, which had started to tremble, finally relaxed, and he put the True Sea Bream in his fishing box.

Today was not bad for him either. With this catch, he now had four True Sea Breams in his box.

Chu Mingcheng saw him turn back to continue fishing, chuckled and shook his head at the old kiddo, then went back to his own fishing spot.