As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 34: Chapter 34 A Big Harvest from the Abandoned Pond

A single turtle couldn’t satisfy Chu Mingcheng; knowing there were turtles here, he definitely wanted to try fishing for them.

He hadn’t planned on fishing today, so he hadn’t prepared any bait.

Luckily, he had his car and could go directly to the market to buy some.

After placing the caught turtle in the fish box in the trunk, Chu Mingcheng started the car and left.

Turtles only eat meat, so buying some animal offal would do the trick, with pig liver as the top choice, so he bought five pounds of it. @@novelbin@@

Four pounds of bait were to make a loose bed on the bottom, which he had the shopkeeper mince into shreds with a machine; one pound for turtle fishing was cut into small pieces by the shopkeeper, and on leaving the market, he didn’t forget to buy two lighters from a small store nearby.

After the purchase, Chu Mingcheng saw a tiny fishing gear shop on the way back by car, which was timely as he was just wondering what size hook to use for turtle fishing.

He parked the car on the road ahead and then went to buy a small box of turtle hooks at the fishing gear store.

The turtle hooks were sufficiently thick and sturdy, not only suitable for turtle fishing but also capable of handling catfish and black fish if they were to bite.

Returning to the abandoned pond, the initially clustered Fushouluo had scattered all over the place.

Chu Mingcheng picked them up and took them back to be burned directly later.

First, he prepared for fishing; he had a lure rod, a rock fishing rod, and a hand rod, all suitable for turtle fishing.

After some thought, he chose the hand rod in the end, so he could set it aside and continue exterminating the Fushouluo.

He took out his 7.2-meter hand rod, set up the stand, fearing that the softer hand rod wouldn’t be up to the task if a black fish or catfish hooked on.

So he rigged it with a 6+4 line group, which was a bit of overkill to prevent any mishaps, as who knew what ancient creatures might inhabit this pond that had been deserted for so many years.

He threw two pounds of pig liver into the pond first, then tied a turtle hook with pig liver bait, placed the fishing rod on the stand, and tied the slip line to a large rock that he had intentionally brought to prevent the rod from being pulled into the water; for now, he would leave it alone.

Chu Mingcheng continued scooping up Fushouluo with a net along the edge of the pond and picked them up by hand if they were on the edge.

But while he was busy, he didn’t stray too far from the fishing rod and kept an eye on the float occasionally.

The bed had just been made and probably needed some more time, so there was no need to rush.

After clearing most of the visible Fushouluo near the fishing rod, Chu Mingcheng found some dry grass and dry wood and piled them up beside the Fushouluo.

He lit the fire, and only after the wood started burning did he toss the Fushouluo and their eggs into the flames.

No sooner had they been thrown in than a crackling sound immediately rang out, and the numbers on the data panel began to jump.

Once everything was burned, Chu Mingcheng checked the number, only 76, not a single life transformation, he still had to continue the effort!

However, the bait had been in the water for quite a while now, so he picked up the rod to check the situation, only to find when he lifted it that the turtle hook was empty; the bait had already been eaten.

As expected, trying to catch Fushouluo while fishing for turtles just didn’t work.

If that was the case, he would fish for turtles first. After eating lunch, when the temperature was higher, he would deal with Fushouluo again!

Chu Mingcheng re-baited the hook, and then took a lure rod out of the car as well.

However, he didn’t use a fake bait but also tied a turtle hook with pig liver, and cast it randomly in any direction.

After the bait sank to the bottom and the fishing line ceased to release, he reeled in a couple of turns of the line, tightening it up.

Just then, the float in the distance suddenly dipped below the surface; it was a bite.

Chu Mingcheng was stunned for a moment but quickly handed the lure rod to his left hand and picked up the hand rod with his right, jerking it upwards to set the hook.

But at the same moment, there was also movement on the lure rod; both rods had a catch at the same time.

Chu Mingcheng was a bit flustered for a moment; he was just a beginner and didn’t know what to do when both rods caught fish at the same time. He was so anxious!

At last, feeling that the force transmitted through the rod wasn’t very strong, he stood the rod up straight and tucked it into his embrace, leaving it be.

With his free right hand, he took the lure rod and, after hooking a stabbing fish, his left hand quickly grasped the reel to wind it in.

The fish caught by the lure rod must be a fish, given the strong resistance it exerted. The water’s surface was occasionally disturbed by the splashes of its struggles, but for the moment, it wasn’t clear what kind of fish it was.

Worried the hand rod’s hook might come loose, he resorted to brute force to lift and pull on the rod. The fish in the water resisted a few times at first but was then pulled to the surface and rapidly hauled to the shore.

Now Chu Mingcheng could finally see what fish it was, a black fish, a popular choice for the main ingredient in sauerkraut fish.

He personally wasn’t very fond of boiled fish, but had a particular preference for sauerkraut fish.

This black fish should weigh around two to three pounds, so it seemed Mr. Chu would get a chance to showcase his culinary skills that evening.

The black fish was quickly pulled ashore. Chu Mingcheng didn’t even bother to unhook it; he just threw it into the fish box and left it there, setting aside the lure rod. Then he grabbed the hand rod with both hands and lifted it straight up.

A softshell turtle, which would easily blur in videos due to its extending neck, immediately broke the water’s surface.

Seeing its size, Chu Mingcheng couldn’t help but laugh; it was almost as big as the one he had caught earlier. He hadn’t expected that this abandoned pond would still be such a treasure trove.

It was only nine o’clock in the morning now, and both the softshell turtles and the black fish were quite active at this time.

Throwing two pounds of pig liver into this neglected pond had an excellent effect in attracting fish.

Just as Chu Mingcheng re-baited the hand rod and let it down, he hadn’t even removed the hook on the lure rod when he got another bite.

Consecutive catches were always joyful. The point of increasing the number of rods was to have more chances of catching fish, and back-to-back catches made it even more relaxing to use just one rod.

Lifting the hand rod, a black fish was pulled out without even a chance to struggle; it was the same two to three pounds as the others.

Chu Mingcheng changed direction and lifted the fish to the shore first before going over to grab the fishing line and place the fish into the fish box.

In the following two hours, using just the hand rod, he caught seven black fish, three softshell turtles, and two catfish.

In the fish box, the largest black fish weighed around five pounds, and the smallest over two pounds.

The softshell turtles all weighed more than three pounds. He had thought the one he’d caught earlier was quite large, but to his surprise, they just got bigger and bigger.

Moreover, he checked and saw they were not bitten by mosquitoes. The turtles could agilely flip themselves back over when turned upside down, with swift movements, all of them were top-quality.

By then, Chu Mingcheng could be sure that this pond had been untouched by fishermen for a very long time, otherwise how could there be so many and such large black fish and softshell turtles.

He released the two catfish back into the pond and left with the remaining catch.

Catfish really weren’t worth much, and it was probably hard to sell them in this area, so he couldn’t be bothered with them.

He drove straight to the town market, entered, and upon reaching a stall that sold black fish, asked, “Boss, how much are you selling these black fish for?”

“Black fish, 18 yuan a pound.”

“18 yuan? These are farmed, right? Do you have any wild ones, and how much are they?”

“Wild ones are rare these days and expensive, lately going for about 40 yuan a pound! Actually, the farmed ones taste good too, you should buy one and try.”

“I’ve got friends coming over, and I was planning to buy a wild black fish to make sauerkraut fish. If you don’t have any, never mind, I’ll look elsewhere.”

After getting the information he needed, Chu Mingcheng turned and left, leaving the vendor looking helpless.

However, he didn’t leave right away but continued to inquire about the prices of softshell turtles.

The price of aquatic products often changes every few days and rarely remains the same for long.

He needed to know the current prices to sell his catch at a fair rate. If the price was too high, buyers wouldn’t be interested; if it was too low, he’d be at a loss.