As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 78: Chapter 78 The Night’s Glittering Gold【Bonus Chapter】

“What’s up, who’s looking for you?” Seeing her son replying to a message, An Xiuwen asked.

Chu Mingcheng saw that it was only five-thirty, so he wasn’t in a hurry. He ate a piece of fish and said, “A fishing buddy invited me to go fishing for yellow croaker tonight. He said to meet at Wen City’s dock at seven o’clock.”

“Fishing for yellow croaker?”

Chu’s father and mother were both startled, then, under Chu Mingcheng’s puzzled gaze, one took his bowl and the other took his chopsticks.

“What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and go back to Yanmen Island to gather your things!”

Chu Mingcheng was amused, “It’s seven o’clock. I’ll have time after dinner.”

Chu Yongxin directly pulled him up, “You’ve been eating for half an hour and you’re still not full? Those are yellow croaker. If you catch a few that are three jin each, you could at least buy an outboard motor for the boat.”

“Three taels would already be good, let alone three jin!” Chu Mingcheng retorted speechlessly, but he got up anyway, going along with his father’s momentum – in truth, he had almost finished eating.

An Xiuwen wasn’t idle either. She took out the thermos, put the fish soup and fish meat in it, and covered the rice.

“Son, take this for supper.”

Chu Mingcheng didn’t hesitate to take it. With this, he wouldn’t need to buy sandwiches or bread.

Leaving home, he first drove to Yanmen Island to load the fishing rods and other equipment he would need tonight onto the car; the cooler was still the thirty-liter one. @@novelbin@@

Fishing for yellow croaker wouldn’t be as exaggerated as fishing for cuttlefish, so this cooler was completely adequate.

However, he had used up all the ice cubes he’d frozen in his fridge, so he would need to buy some today.

Since he had to buy sand worms and shrimp bricks for baiting the fish as well, it would be convenient to do both on the way.

Today, Chu Mingcheng bought extra sand worms to avoid running out like last time.

Last time, he could continue fishing with small cuttlefish, but this time he certainly couldn’t use small yellow croaker flesh as bait; he couldn’t afford such a luxurious bait.

By the time he arrived in Wen City, it was just past six o’clock. Parking his car, Chu Mingcheng carried his fishing rods, the cooler, and the thermos to the boat boarding point on the dock. Just as he was about to call He Zheng, he saw him coming out of the pilothouse of a fishing boat at the boarding point.

“Ah Cheng, over here!”

Chu Mingcheng was somewhat surprised, “Brother He, you switched boats?”

He Zheng explained with a smile, “There are more people today, my friend’s boat is more spacious.”

This boat was actually about the same size as the previous one, about twelve meters in length.

The difference was that the pilothouse was very small; it consisted only of an operating desk and a narrow space for sleeping inside a small door to the left, with no area for sofas or lounging at all.

But while He Zheng’s boat could only take eight people for fishing, this one could accommodate twelve – six on each side and still spacious.

By six-thirty in the evening, the eleventh person had arrived, making up a total of twelve people including the captain.

They set off, heading toward the fishing spot.

After sailing for two hours, they finally reached their destination.

Just like last time, there were many fishing boats and trawlers nearby; it seemed that the fish situation today was indeed very good.

First, they baited the area to attract the school of fish. At night, yellow croakers liked to forage in groups, so baiting the area could easily draw the school closer and increase the chances of hooking them.

Then, Chu Mingcheng started tying his fishing line and attaching hooks, looking for the right water layer first.

If he didn’t find the correct water layer, he could forget about catching many fish tonight.

After a while, Chu Mingcheng noticed bites, so he concentrated and waited for the fish to bite.

However, as he waited, he felt something was amiss. Lifting his fishing rod, sure enough, the sand worm had been eaten.

The yellow croaker was very cautious; if it were cuttlefish, it would have bitten hard straight away.

Now that he had found the water layer and understood the biting habits of the yellow croaker, Chu Mingcheng had a good idea of what to expect.

He baited the hook again, cast it back into the water, and before the bait had even sunk, a fellow angler had a catch.

Soon, a shiny golden yellow croaker was pulled onto the boat under the light.

“Gurgle, gurgle~” the yellow croaker made its distinctive sound as it was pulled up.

The angler took out the hook and checked the weight with the fish controller, then pushed the pectoral fin over its eyes, perfectly covering them, confirming that it was wild before revealing a smile and placing it in the fish box.

According to He Zheng’s purchase price, this one was worth about seventy yuan, which was pretty good.

After coming back to his senses, Chu Mingcheng focused on his own fishing rod, and within a short time, there was another bite.

This time he didn’t hesitate and immediately lifted the rod to set the hook, successfully hooking a fish.

Lifting the rod and reeling in the line without much effort, a large yellow croaker surfaced.

It was sleek and much larger than the one the fellow angler had just caught.

The angler next to him was somewhat envious, “That’s a nice one, probably about seven or eight taels.”

“We still have to see if it’s wild,” Chu Mingcheng said with a chuckle, holding the fish while he removed the hook, then measured the weight with the fish controller.

421 grams, a little over eight taels, and the purchase price for this weight wasn’t cheap, 401 yuan per jin, so this one was over three hundred yuan.

In the end, he adjusted the pectoral fin, which perfectly covered the eyes, and the scales were orderly and pretty. Although they grew up from stock, such fish were considered wild, and Chu Mingcheng happily continued fishing after putting it into the fish box.

Unfortunately, the chance of a catch wasn’t very high, about one yellow croaker every five or six minutes, and the weight was mostly three to six taels.

An hour passed, and Chu Mingcheng caught eight large yellow croakers. Apart from the initial one of eight taels, the following eight were only about four or five taels each but still good because they were all wild.

But it wasn’t that no one caught any over a jin; one of his fellow anglers on the boat caught one that was a jin and a half, making Chu Mingcheng extremely envious.

However, unlike the last time he fished for hairtails, it wasn’t just one kind of fish this time; he also caught two cod.

Three jins each, they too were tossed into the fish box to take home if He Zheng didn’t want them.

[Yellow Croaker (Level 0)]

[Current Experience: 8/10]

[Size +0%]

[Deliciousness +0%]

[Catch Rate +0%]

The data panel of the Golden Finger left Chu Mingcheng somewhat puzzled.

Actually, he had felt something amiss when he caught the green spot previously. If the upgrade for any fish species required a fixed number, he would never be able to max out species like grouper in his lifetime.

There were also many coral fish such as green dress, whose numbers were not abundant, so how could one catch tens of thousands of them?

He had no idea if the aquatic guide would change, and for now, Chu Mingcheng could only put those thoughts aside and focus on fishing.

He threw his hook into the water and scooped two spoonfuls of Shrimp Brick to create a baited spot to keep the school of fish around.

After two minutes, he hadn’t noticed any bites; however, the tip of his rod suddenly dipped, bending into a crescent.

“Whoa, what have I hooked? It’s so heavy?” This feeling definitely wasn’t a yellow croaker; it was almost as heavy as the green spot he caught before, likely weighing about ten jin or so.

If it was a yellow croaker, Chu Mingcheng feared he might end up being thrown into the sea as fish feed that evening.

“Wow, you’ve got a big one there, brother. You’re having some good luck tonight!”

The commotion immediately caught the attention of two nearby anglers, who were somewhat envious.

Any sea-fishing enthusiast couldn’t resist the lure of a big fish, especially since, under normal circumstances, a big fish usually meant money, unless it’s a particularly worthless fish species.

Chu Mingcheng just smiled at them without replying, continuing to concentrate on fishing.

The rod creaked as it was pulled, looking like it would snap at any moment.

But he wasn’t the novice he had been before; he had learned some fishing techniques online, such as what size of fish could be caught with rods of different strengths.

And now his skills were different from before; if the rod was too flexible, he would just play with the fish, avoiding any rough pulling or dragging.