After navigating the boat to the buoy where the net was to be placed, Feng Ye used a hook to pull the buoy up.

To catch bottom-dwelling fish, they lower their gillnets quite deep.

Therefore, pulling in the net was extremely difficult.

There were no machines on board the Rising Sun to collect the nets, so they had to pull them out by hand.

The two of them, one in front and one behind, pulled and dragged each other with all their might.

"Holy crap, this is fucking heavy."

Ah-chan reached out and pulled him, and couldn't help but curse.

Feng Ye guessed, "Maybe they got quite a bit of stuff stuck to it?"

"If only we had a machine, it wouldn't be so difficult."

"Let's harvest manually for a few days first, see how the harvest goes, and then decide whether or not to buy a machine."

"Yeah, that makes sense. If the harvest isn't good, then the machine was a waste of money."

With the combined efforts of the two, the net was gradually brought to the surface and pulled onto the boat.

"Holy crap, it's a rat-like creature!"

Suddenly, Feng Ye exclaimed in surprise.

A brightly colored fish, covered in dark brown spots, with a long head and a pointed snout, was struggling in the net.

However, the size of that spotted mouse was really disappointing; it was too small, still a baby.

"It's only the size of a palm, what can you do with it?"

Both he and Ah-chan were extremely disappointed.

This is a very expensive fish, costing 200 yuan per piece.

Unfortunately, it's too small.

This one probably weighs less than half a pound.

They pulled the spotted rat onto the boat, untied it, and casually tossed it back into the sea.

Such a small fish has hardly any meat. No matter how precious it is, it won't fetch a good price. It's better to let it live.

The water in this area is only a dozen meters deep, so there's no need to deflate it; it can still survive.

The operation to close the net continues...

As the net was gradually pulled up, a series of ugly fish emerged from the water.

"They're all toadfish, so ugly!"

"It's alright. Although it's cheap, it's not light. I estimate it weighs over 200 pounds. No wonder it was so difficult to carry!"

The group of toadfish were completely wrapped in the net and couldn't move.

After hauling all the fish in the fishing net onto the boat, Feng Ye tied the net up on the boat to prevent it from being pulled back into the sea, and then went over to help untangle the fish.

These toadfish all have gaping, blood-red mouths, making them look both fierce and ugly.

Two of them were extremely large, estimated to weigh over 30 kilograms.

Feng Ye and A-Can each unraveled one, and were quite amazed by it for a while.

They haven't caught a fish this big in a while.

Although this thing is a bit too cheap.

After untangling the string of toadfish, they continued pulling the fishing net.

Perhaps because of the reduced weight of over 200 pounds, it wasn't as strenuous and became easier.

They caught another ten or so toadfish, the larger ones weighing over ten pounds and the smaller ones weighing two or three pounds.

Then they changed the species and started flounder, and they caught several of them.

Because the net wasn't stuck very tightly, he let Ah-chan untie it by himself while he continued to pull the net along.

There was no time to distinguish whether the flounder that got stuck was a halibut or a flounder.

As a flounder weighing over four pounds was pulled up, a long section of the fishing net was found to be empty.

"Holy crap, is this fishing net just going to be ruined like this?"

Feng Ye had a bad feeling.

His fears came true.

As the fishing net was pulled up further, it was indeed found that there were not many fish, only a handful.

It's alright, though. This net caught nearly 300 pounds of toadfish and about 50 pounds of flounder.

Moreover, the net is not very long, only 100 meters in length.

After untying the knot between the two nets, Feng Ye continued to pull in the second net.

Ah-chan then put the nets he had collected into the basket.

A used net is very dirty, with a lot of seaweed and kelp stuck to it...

They didn't bother cleaning it, since they figured they'd have to wash, dry, and repair it before they could use it again.

Compared to trawls, gillnet fishing is obviously much more troublesome.

Therefore, this sticky net is generally only used in winter.

Otherwise, who would be so bored as to go out and cast a net every day, only to spend one or two days washing and drying it afterward?

Generally, people set up nets to increase their harvest, and they do so incidentally as a side effect.

Of course, this applies to trawlers.

Small wooden boats can only use fishing gear such as fish traps and longlines to catch fish.

Sticky nets are one of them, and they are used all year round.

There are also fishing boats that specialize in setting up gillnets, but I haven't heard of any fishing boats on Baishi Island that specialize in setting up gillnets.

Before the second fishing net had even been pulled up a few meters, it gave the two of them a huge surprise.

A huge lobster was caught on the net, estimated to be about 60 centimeters long. With its two long antennae on its head, it was estimated to be about 1.2 meters long.

"Holy crap, what a huge shrimp!"

Ah-chan blurted out excitedly.

Feng Ye's eyes widened: "Such a huge Chinese spiny lobster, that's amazing!"

Even if not a single fish is caught in this net, it's still worth it.

The two carefully untied the lobster from the net, afraid of hurting it.

For seafood like shrimp and crab, appearance is very important.

If a leg is missing or an antenna is gone, its value will be greatly reduced.

After the lobster was removed, it was perfectly intact, without any damage. Its shell was smooth and shiny, and all its antennae and whiskers were still there.

However, its activity level is not very good; it seems to be half-dead, indicating that it has been stuck for quite a while.

The Chinese spiny lobster is nocturnal, hiding in burrows or under coral reefs during the day and coming out to be active at night.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the lobster accidentally got stuck in the net while it was active at night, but it is unknown whether it was in the first or second half of the night.

Feng Ye held it in his hand and weighed it; it was about 7 jin (3.5 catties).

How heavy is it?

Ah-Can asked, as he hadn't yet gotten started.

"Seven pounds, no doubt."

"Great, this netting was totally worth it."

"Open the live water tank; we can't let this thing die."

"good."

Ah-chan opened the lid of the live water tank.

Feng Ye quickly placed the large lobster into the live water tank, hoping it would regain some vitality.

"Brother Ye, with such a good harvest, we should buy a machine to increase our work efficiency and make things easier for us."

As he spoke, Ah-Can continued to help pull the net, full of enthusiasm.

"Go back and tell my dad to bring one back tomorrow."

As Feng Ye pulled up the net, he said, "It doesn't need to be too good. After all, we won't need it for too long. Just buy a rolling net."

"Yes, anything that saves effort is fine."

As they continued to pull up the second net, they caught some more fish.

Although there weren't any more big surprises like the lobster, it was still alright.

Then came the third net, the fourth net...