As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Hooked the Blue Star

After prying off a small bag of mussels, he had enough bait for the day and brought it back to place beside the Shrimp Brick.

Using the baiting spoon, he pressed on the Shrimp Brick, which had mostly dissolved by now, and then scooped up three spoonfuls and tossed them into the water ahead.

Then Chu Mingcheng took out his own No. 3 rock fishing rod, initially purchased for fishing on the rocks, so he went for a 5.4-meter one.

A 3000 model spinning reel, 3+2 line set up, teamed with a No. 2 Qianyou hook.

He took a mussel, opened it with a dagger, and since the mussel was not large, he used the dagger to vertically slice it into two halves. Picking up the mussel meat, he hung it on the fish hook, leaving just a bit of the hook’s point exposed.

Then he cast the fish hook toward the spot where he had baited, and it quickly sank to the bottom along with the lead sinker.

It was now high tide, and the waves continuously crashed against the rocks with a “whoosh” and “roar”.

Although he was standing in direct sunlight, wearing sun protective clothing and a hat, there was also a brisk sea breeze, so he did not feel overly hot.

What Chu Mingcheng did not know was that his hook was subtly shifting positions along the ocean floor due to the sea currents, and soon it became snagged in a crevice of a rock.

On the shore, Chu Mingcheng saw the fishing line tighten and thought he had caught a fish, so he immediately raised the rod to set the hook.

But as he lifted the rod, he sensed something was amiss—this felt a bit heavy!

Chu Mingcheng lifted the rod again, and the tight sensation confirmed that he had caught a stonefish instead.

He had caught heavy things before, like that old softshell turtle.

Even the old softshell turtle would exhibit some movement, unlike now where it seemed impossible to lift at all.

“What a bad start!” Chu Mingcheng sighed. Realizing he couldn’t haul it up by force, he had no choice but to cut the line.

After retying the line and hook and attaching a new sinker, he cast his rod again, but this time he was a bit more cautious. After the sinker hit the bottom, he reeled in two turns of the line.

This time, he did not let the bait sink to the bottom, keeping it just off the seabed instead.

The high tide, combined with the right temperature, and the proximity to the rocks, which Black Sea Bream loved, had already attracted five or six black sea bream to the area.

Compared to Shrimp Brick, the mussels naturally occurring around the rocky area were more appealing to them.

One of the black sea bream noticed the mussel meat and abandoned the shrimp brick, swimming over to the mussel meat and gently touching it with its mouth, as if sniffing it.

In the next moment, it opened its small mouth and swallowed the mussel meat whole.

But the sudden sharp pain in its mouth made it realize it had been tricked. The pain caused a panic, and it instinctively started to look for a hiding place by swimming frantically.

But an unknown great force pulled even harder, causing pain in its mouth to worsen, and it could not resist being drawn involuntarily toward the surface of the water.

It could only desperately thrash its tail in struggle, resisting the pulling force.

But all its efforts were in vain as it was brought to the surface.

Chu Mingcheng on the shore smiled when he saw the fish. It seemed his luck had turned around after catching a stonefish earlier. He’d landed a black sea bream that was not small, looking to be about a pound or two.

He didn’t dare pull it up directly, fearing the fish might drop, so he used an extendable net to scoop it out of the water.

Chu Mingcheng was over six feet tall, and his hands were not small.

The black sea bream was somewhat larger than his palm, robust in back, and plump in belly, perhaps indeed weighing two pounds.

After removing the fish hook, he threw the fish into his fishing box, dissipating much of the gloom from the earlier stonefish incident.

With a catch, the enthusiasm for fishing soared.

Chu Mingcheng continued to bait his hook with mussel meat and cast it to the baited spot.

About five or six minutes later, he caught another one, but this one was much smaller, weighing only about eight taels.

After unhooking, he threw the fish into his fishing box and scooped up another spoonful of Shrimp Brick to throw down.

Catching black sea bream required a consistent baiting method to ensure they kept gathering under the water.

But while the Shrimp Brick could attract black sea bream, it could also attract other species of fish.

Chu Mingcheng saw the tip of the rod tremble fiercely, then suddenly bend downward.

With quick eyes and hands, he stabbed the fish, and the tip of the rod instantly made a “whoosh” sound as it cut through the air.

As soon as he got a grip, his face was filled with excitement. This one’s pull was quite strong! Although it was much less than the Stone Fish from yesterday, it was definitely a big fish.

It seemed the fish resources of Yanmen Island were not as bad as he had thought.

Chu Mingcheng grabbed the rod with his left hand and tried to reel in with his right, but the fish underwater kept running, making it impossible to turn the handle.

Seeing that the main line was about to hit a reef sticking out of the water, he hastily let go of the handle and pulled the rod in the opposite direction to avoid it.

The big fish, which had been darting outwards in the water, abruptly stalled, and Chu Mingcheng immediately turned the handle to reel in two loops of line, pulling the fish back a bit.

But the fish’s burst phase wasn’t over yet, and in the next moment, it turned and darted to the other side.

Chu Mingcheng repeated his technique, gripping the fishing rod with both hands to wrestle with the fish.

However, with a “swoosh” sound, the tip of the rod snapped back fiercely, and he staggered, then a wry smile appeared on his face—the line had broken.

He felt so heartbroken it was suffocating—the big fish was gone!

“Sigh~”

After sighing, Chu Mingcheng checked where the line had broken. It was the leader that had snapped, probably because it had hit some obstacle underwater, most likely the reef.

Chu Mingcheng was not surprised by this; in such rocky areas, one would need to pull the fish to the surface to avoid snags, but unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to pull it up.

Fortunately, his target fish was the Black Sea Bream, which he estimated to be no more than two or three pounds in this area, so it didn’t require much tiring out.

One afternoon, during the rising tide, he caught a lot of Black Sea Bream, but as it reached a calm period, Chu Mingcheng found that Black Sea Bream stopped biting, giving way to other fish species.

For instance, small mullet, small sea bass, and some other miscellaneous fish showed up, with even the Red Armor joining the commotion.

As the tide ebbed to about a third, Black Sea Bream started biting again and continued until the tide was completely out.

By now the sun had already moved to the west, and seeing that it was four in the afternoon, Chu Mingcheng quickly made a call to Zhang Wei, asking him to bring Chen Yang over to his house for dinner that evening.

After hanging up the phone, he started to pack up the rod to head back.

Though he had a fair catch through the afternoon, the fishing line had broken five times and snagged three.

He ran out of sinkers and ended up tying small stones as makeshift weights, at least that wouldn’t hurt as much when lost.

It seemed he would have to search online later for how to avoid snagging while bottom fishing.

After packing up the rod, he checked the catch in his fishing box.

There were seven Black Sea Bream, each weighing over one pound, with the largest at three pounds.

There were two sea bass, both over two pounds. A large Red Armor, weighing around eight taels, was put in a bag to prevent it from injuring the other fish.

Of course, he had caught more than these, but all fish under one pound, including two mullet and sea bass just over a pound, were released.

Chu Mingcheng actually thought that domestic regulations should follow those abroad, where fish under a certain size must be released, or else a heavy fine would be imposed.

Perhaps in a few decades, the coastal resources could recover somewhat, allowing those without money to go out to sea to experience the pleasure of catching big fish.

After packing all his gear, Chu Mingcheng drove to the dock, carrying his fishing box and electronic scale to a spot and called out, “Fresh Black Sea Bream and sea bass I caught this afternoon, anyone interested?”

People had already taken notice when he arrived with the fish box, and his call quickly drew a crowd around him.

In almost no time, the catch in the fishing box was sold out.

Black Sea Bream, US$ 50 per pound, seven fish totaling fourteen pounds and seven taels, sold for $735. @@novelbin@@

Two sea bass, weighing over four pounds and six taels, sold at forty yuan per pound, for a total of $184.

The Red Armor, less expensive, was taken by the person who bought two sea bass for twenty yuan.