While the two were talking, they didn't forget to haul in the net and prepare the fish.
The last net caught mostly mullet, and quite a lot of them.
These mullet vary in size.
The smallest weighs over a pound, and some of the larger ones weigh five or six pounds.
For experienced fishermen, the weight of a common type of fish is such that they can estimate it with a very good sense at a glance without even handling it.
Feng Ye also has this ability.
"We're really lucky. We caught nearly 100 pounds of mullet with the last net we used."
Ah-chan's face was beaming with joy.
"Tomorrow is the start of winter, and there will definitely be more mullet around this time."
Around the time of the Beginning of Winter each year is one of the two periods when mullet are at their fattest and most active.
At this time, the mullet prepare for overwintering and spawning by swimming around to find food and accumulate energy.
People living by the sea generally believe that mullet caught after the winter solstice are rich in oil and incredibly delicious, making them a rare delicacy in winter.
The other season is spring.
Especially when the peach blossoms are in full bloom, the mullet is at its fattest and most delicious, hence the saying, "When the peach blossoms are in full bloom, the mullet is at its fattest."
Mullet in spring have tender flesh, delicious flavor, and are rich in nutrients.
Therefore, the mullet caught in spring is also known as the "peach blossom mullet".
After casting all ten nets, the biggest catch was toadfish, weighing approximately 300 jin (150 catties).
Next are flounder and mullet, along with some sea bass, swimming crabs, and blue crabs...
They tidied up the deck, moved the catch and nets into the hold, and then continued trawling.
Feng Ye hid inside the cabin and separated the toadfish according to their size.
Actually, the size of the toadfish doesn't affect the price much.
However, he plans to keep the smaller ones for himself to dry and only sell the larger ones.
Their workshop already had dried toadfish, which sold quite well.
Toadfish is actually very delicious; its flesh is tender, smooth, and flavorful, and it is also rich in nutrients.
However, its ugly appearance affects its price, making it very cheap.
At the same time, Feng Ye was also thinking that when he got back, he should go to that grandmother's house again and ask her to weave another batch of sticky nets.
I didn't make enough before, only ten.
When he ordered the net, he was just thinking that if it got cold and the trawl nets weren't catching well, having another type of fishing gear would at least increase his catch.
Therefore, we did not order too many at once.
After all, sticking nets is quite troublesome, and each time you use them you have to spend time and effort washing, drying and repairing them.
Unlike trawl nets, which only need cleaning and repair when they are too dirty or broken.
However, now that we know the netting harvest is very good, the situation is different, and we need to increase the number of nets.
Large portions, enough to fill you up.
Once his father buys the reel and installs it on the boat, hauling in the nets won't be as difficult as it is today, saving a lot of effort.
Well, we can also have his dad buy a batch of netting while we're at it.
After all, the adhesive net is a consumable item; it will be completely ruined after only a few uses, so having a little more won't hurt.
After dividing the fish, he looked up at the position of the sun, estimated the time, and realized it was almost noon, so he went to make lunch.
For lunch, we had rice noodles. The soup base was made by simmering a mullet weighing over a pound after frying it, and the side dishes were swimming crabs and mantis shrimp.
After finishing this simple and unpretentious lunch, we lingered for another half hour before setting up the net.
The heavy net was hoisted above the deck by a crane and poured out.
"So many mullet!"
"It's the mullet season, isn't that normal?"
Seeing that the net was mostly filled with mullet, Feng Ye was very happy.
Fishermen love encountering schools of fish when trawlers, which is much better than catching a tangled mess.
This single net yielded at least 400 jin of mullet, which is quite impressive.
"Then why are there not a single net left from those two nets that were hauled in before?"
"That's a question for you. Don't forget, you've been the one sailing the boat."
Ah-Can pouted: "I'm just unlucky!"
"It's good that you have self-awareness."
Feng Ye smiled and patted A-Can on the shoulder, then got busy tidying up the trawl net.
We need to hurry.
It's almost one o'clock now. I can only haul one more net before I have to go back.
The days are getting longer and shorter, with dawn breaking late and dusk falling early. The time available for work is getting shorter and shorter throughout the day.
After setting the trawl net back down, Feng Ye busied himself sorting the catch.
Most of them are mullet, and there's no need to distinguish between sizes, so sorting is very quick.
Mullet can also be made into dried fish.
After cleaning and washing the internal organs, sprinkle with an appropriate amount of salt, place in a cool, ventilated place to dry for a day, and finally smoke in a smokehouse for 3 hours until it smells fragrant.
This preparation method not only preserves the original flavor of the mullet but also adds a unique smoky aroma, though it is a bit troublesome.
Making a small amount for personal consumption is fine, but large-scale production becomes quite difficult.
Therefore, they do not have the mullet variety in their dried fish products.
He doesn't plan to make dried fish from this batch of mullet either; he'll sell them all.
This last net took a long time, a full three hours, until after four o'clock before it was finally pulled up.
Generally speaking, the longer the delay, the more goods will be delivered.
However, there are always exceptions.
This three-hour wait disappointed them, and the situation returned to what it was like in the morning with the two online scams.
There were mullet, but not many; surprisingly, the most abundant fish were mantis shrimp, which was quite strange.
Actually, mantis shrimp is much more expensive than mullet.
However, although there are quite a lot of them, covering the entire deck, the problem is that they don't weigh much!
Moreover, you have to be very careful when sorting.
Mantis shrimp are extremely fierce and highly aggressive.
Don't underestimate it just because it's not very big.
Despite its small size, it possesses immense strength; being struck by it can be quite painful.
It is said that some unlucky people have been maimed by mantis shrimp, with one shrimp piercing their thumb, causing an infection and damage to the finger nerve.
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