As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 41: Chapter 41 The Dock’s Fishing Season

Chen Qing walked into Chu Mingcheng’s house and although the decor was pretty average to him, he grew fonder of the place as he looked around, feeling like it gave off the aura of a small farmhouse.

“Do you live here alone?”

“Just by myself for now, my parents live in the town. I’m always running around, so it’s more comfortable to live here.”

“Makes sense.”

After a cursory look around the house, Chu Mingcheng led him to the kitchen to check out the softshell turtles.

Although he had bought some once before, Chen Qing still checked them over, finding that they were all healthy and energetic wild-caught turtles, which greatly pleased him.

At that moment, he noticed another fish box in the kitchen and asked, “What have you got in there?”

“Got five Black fish in there, caught along with the turtles. I haven’t gone to the vegetable market the past couple of days, so I just kept them here for now.”

Chu Mingcheng went up and dragged the box with the Black fish over, informing him as he did so.

Seeing that there were just five, Chen Qing decided to take them all.

“I’ll take them all then, my friend really enjoys eating Black fish.”

“Alright, if you want them, they’re yours.”

Chu Mingcheng brought over the digital scale and began weighing them. @@novelbin@@

The five Black fish weighed exactly sixteen pounds. He sold them this time for thirty-five yuan per pound, which was the same rate he had charged at the vegetable market before.

Chen Qing was decisive in his shopping, and Chu Mingcheng didn’t want to swindle an acquaintance, so the total came to five hundred and sixty yuan.

There were three sizes of softshell turtles, ones between two and three pounds went for two hundred yuan per pound, totaling four turtles and eight pounds and five taels, which amounted to one thousand seven hundred yuan.

The ones under five pounds were priced at 350 yuan per pound, with the most number, totaling seven turtles and twenty-six pounds and two taels, costing nine thousand three hundred and ten yuan.

There was only one turtle that was over five pounds, exactly five pounds and two taels, priced at four hundred yuan per pound, selling for two thousand and eighty yuan.

All added up, the total came to thirteen thousand six hundred and fifty yuan, and with no change needed, there was no need to round down the amount.

After paying, Chen Qing instructed Chu Mingcheng to remember to contact him if there were any good catches in the future, before carrying his purchases and leaving.

Chu Mingcheng sat on the stool and started to account for his earnings, calculating how much he had made since buying the sea rod.

Eight hundred from Yao Xin, the first day of catching turtles earned him thirteen thousand, plus roughly one thousand five hundred for the Black fish.

Then came five hundred and thirty for the stream rockfish, adding to today’s sales of over thirteen thousand six hundred, his total income for these few days was about thirty thousand.

His current savings stood at sixty-seven thousand and more, with ten thousand of that being the final payment for the sea rod, leaving him with fifty-seven thousand in savings.

Discounting his expenses, in twelve days, his savings went from thirty thousand to fifty-seven thousand, an undoubtedly swift rate of earning money.

Unfortunately, wild softshell turtles were hard to come by, and he didn’t know when he’d next find a deserted pond like a feng shui treasure spot.

In the evening, just as Chu Mingcheng was planning to find a place to eat, Zhang Wei called him.

“Ah Cheng, I heard there’s a big school of Mackerel at Yanmen Island’s pier, and loads of Fishing Men have gathered. Is it true?”

“Mackerel?” Chu Mingcheng was stunned, “I have no idea!”

He hadn’t gone to the pier today, so he was indeed unaware of the situation.

“Damn, then you better hurry up and check it out, and call me immediately if there are any. I’ll come straight over.”

“Alright, I’ll go have a look right now.”

After hanging up, Chu Mingcheng immediately went out to drive to the pier, with all his equipment already in the car, which saved quite a bit of time.

A few minutes later, he arrived at the road above the pier, by then nearly both sides of which were full of parked cars.

From above, one could indeed see lots of Fishing Men by the pier fishing and even some fishermen casting nets directly from their boats.

There were also some people on the rocky area beside the pier, and judging from their rod-lifting motions, it seemed like they were having a good catch as well.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng immediately took out his M-hardness lure rod, the matching fishing line, and a box of lures.

As he took the tackle box and fish cooler down, he didn’t forget to call Zhang Wei, telling him to come over immediately.

Then he made another call to Zhao Jun, “Brother Zhao, are you at the dock?”

“Yeah, I’m casting nets from the boat, are you here too?” Zhao Jun would obviously know if there were fish at the dock since this group of local fishermen would be the first to know.

“I’m here to fish, Brother Zhao, do you have room on your boat?”

If there was no room at the dock, then why not create a good fishing spot? Going over to the rocks was a bit off, not easy to get up and down, and he guessed the catch wouldn’t compare to what he might find near the dock.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun immediately agreed cheerfully. By the time Chu Mingcheng got down to the dock stairs, Zhao Jun was already waiting for him with a basket of Mackerel on board, clearly just netted.

“Damn, Brother Zhao, how long have you been casting? You got a basketful so quickly?”

“Been at it for almost half an hour. Let’s hurry up, once it gets dark the school of fish might disperse.”

“Alright!”

Chu Mingcheng took this time to look up the habits of Mackerel on his phone.

Mackerel are incredibly cheap sea fish in China, easy to catch in autumn, and the average size is about twenty to thirty centimeters, over two taels.

For Mackerel, this size is quite significant, almost always over two taels.

Even if the price is cheap, quantity can change the quality.

Large Mackerel generally swim in deeper waters, while medium to small ones are mostly at the surface.

Catching the small ones is not interesting, so Chu Mingcheng decided to start by trying for the bigger Mackerel in the deeper waters and took out a seven-centimeter sinking minnow.

By the time he got his lure rod ready, Zhao Jun had already stopped the boat at the bow and continued casting his net.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng came to the side of the boat, cast the minnow close by to let it sink and test the water depth.

The small dock at Yanmen Island doesn’t accommodate large fishing boats, and the water depth he measured was about twelve meters. With this in mind, he started reeling in, lightly tapping the rod tip and intermittently jerking the line.

As the minnow swam along the bottom, it also jumped continuously. This was actually the lure sinking and jumping fishing technique.

Simply put, it’s about making the minnow move to attract the attention of fish.

In freshwater, this would likely attract the annoying little fish Whitebait, but the sea is different.

Fish in the sea are generally very aggressive, most with a strong propensity to attack, rushing up to bite at any movement.

Chu Mingcheng reeled in while flicking the fishing rod; as he did so—hey, he couldn’t flick it anymore.

“No way, was it that easy to catch?”

Hooking a fish on the first cast with a lure was a new experience for Chu Mingcheng, and the strength of the fish gave him the illusion that he might be fishing for Black fish.

He lifted the rod and reeled in the line, and soon, he caught a fish with a pattern of blue spots on its back, about thirty centimeters in length and round-bellied, weighing around two taels—he could tell it was fatty.

He tossed the fish into the fish box and continued fishing.

This time the minnow had barely hit the water before he hooked another fish, not even allowing it to sink to the bottom. Chu Mingcheng realized the terror of fishing over a school of fish.

It wasn’t just about catching them one after another; they wouldn’t even let the bait sink.

But this time, the fish that took the bait was much smaller and skinnier, likely weighing around four taels.

About twenty minutes later, Zhang Wei’s call came through.

“I’ve arrived, where are you?”

“I’m on a friend’s boat, it’s not convenient to fetch you. You can find a spot on the dock to fish, or you can swim over if you like.”

“Damn~”

Zhang Wei immediately hung up, found a vacant spot for himself, and squeezed in with others to fish.

Any frustrations were put aside for now—as catching fish was the priority.