But he knew that with a luck value of 90 today, there shouldn't be so little stock.
This time, Ye Cheng pulled the net for an hour and a half, then slowed down and let Xiao Hu set up the net.
Judging from the tightness of the rope, the net has a good weight; the question is what it can pull up.
The net was slowly hoisted up, filling more than half of it, revealing a sea of white, fishy bellies.
It looks beautiful, but...
They were all small fish, the tiny kind, each about 10 centimeters long.
Without even letting it out to look, Ye Cheng knew it was an anchovy.
Anchovy is a small, slender marine fish with a streamlined shape. Its back is blue-green or bluish-gray with a metallic sheen, which reflects light in the water to form camouflage. Its sides and belly are silvery-white, making it easy to identify.
Anchovies live in groups, and a single net can catch up to ten tons.
Anchovies are an important part of the marine food chain, primarily as food.
Because of its high yield, it is also cheap. It is generally not eaten directly, but is further processed into canned goods, fish meal, feed, etc.
The price is only 1-2 yuan per kilogram.
Xiao Hu untied the net, and several hundred pounds of anchovies fell onto the deck. Ye Cheng looked at the deck full of anchovies and had absolutely no interest in them.
Several hundred kilograms, that's only a few hundred yuan. This huge pile isn't even worth as much as a single rat-spotted mouse.
Duan Chunsheng next door had a similar experience; his net was full of anchovies, so he must have encountered a school of anchovies.
"Second brother, what do you say?" Duan Chunsheng asked into the walkie-talkie. "Should we call it a day or throw them away and do another round?"
Ye Cheng looked at the boatload of useless fish and was speechless. After checking the time, he figured he could catch them again, so he finally decided to release them back into the wild.
"Uncle Duan, let them all go, we'll do another round of netting."
"Okay, whatever you say."
With a luck rating of 90, if you give me this kind of fish, I'd rather die than accept it.
Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu worked together, using two shovels to throw the anchovies into the sea.
Some have died, but a large portion of them have survived.
These anchovies came to life as soon as they entered the sea, then quickly gathered into a small school and swam straight into the distance.
Duan Chunsheng had finished everything, and Ye Cheng was about to continue pulling the net when Duan Chunsheng suddenly shouted.
"Second brother, wait a minute, look at these fish."
Following Duan Chunsheng's finger, Ye Cheng looked towards the sea.
The anchovies that had just been released merged with the anchovies that Duan Chunsheng had released, and then swam in the same direction.
I don't know how these things communicate, but they manage to find companions.
"Uncle Duan, what's this? You're even studying other people's backgrounds?"
"No, look at the direction they're swimming; they seem very purposeful. I suspect there's a large school of anchovies around them."
"A large school of anchovies? You want to catch those? I don't want to catch them."
Even if you manage to catch a ton of this stuff, it's not worth it because the price is just too low.
"No, second brother, anchovies are prey for other fish. If there are schools of anchovies, there might be other schools of fish as well," Duan Chunsheng explained.
That makes sense.
Ye Cheng then realized that Duan Chunsheng was indeed an experienced fisherman, with far more experience than himself.
"Then, Uncle Duan, shall we follow them?"
"Hmm, let's go and see, maybe there's a school of fish."
The two hit it off immediately, adjusted the boat's course, and sped off to catch up.
After driving for about ten minutes, Ye Cheng saw the sea ahead shimmering, reflecting a metallic sheen in the sunlight. It was a large expanse of anchovies; they had indeed encountered a school of them.
"Uncle Duan, you're amazing! You even guessed that!" Ye Cheng exclaimed excitedly.
"That's right, your Uncle Duan has been fishing for decades."
"Uncle Duan, what should we do?" Although Ye Cheng saw the anchovies, he didn't see any predators.
“We drive ahead, then pull the net towards the anchovy school; there will definitely be a school of fish chasing us.”
"OK!"
The two men swung the bow of the boat, quickly passing the school of anchovies, then turned the boat around and lowered the trawl net, this time pulling up the upper layer of the net.
"Second brother, start!"
Duan Chunsheng shouted, and the two of them drove towards the side of the anchovy school to pull in the net, but they had to avoid the anchovies, otherwise they would only pull up these little creatures.
They barely avoided the anchovies when they saw a large school of fish appear on the sea behind them, with long, thin bodies and swimming very fast.
"Second brother, it's ribbonfish, let's take it over."
Ye Cheng responded and, together with Duan Chunsheng, pulled the net over, allowing it to come into close contact with the school of ribbonfish.
With a whoosh.
The trawl rope behind suddenly tightened, and Ye Cheng felt the boat shudder; they had caught a fish.
Ye Cheng didn't rush to get online. Instead, he slowed down the connection before letting Xiao Hu connect.
The two stood on the aft deck, watching as the fishing net was pulled out of the water, and the scene of fish leaping and frolicking was once again presented.
"Bro, it really is a ribbonfish, this time the net is overflowing."
This net is really bursting; even with the newly installed rope winch, it's still a bit difficult to lift the net.
Moreover, even halfway through the process, some small ribbonfish would occasionally slip out through the mesh.
The net was pulled onto the deck, and Xiao Hu used a lot of strength to untie the rope. Without any shaking, a whole bunch of ribbonfish in the net jumped onto the deck with a splash.
"Wow! A whole net full!" Xiao Hu laughed happily. There was basically nothing else in the net, just ribbonfish.
"Keep watching, hurry up and scoop them up, or they'll all get away."
The ribbonfish, with their long, slender bodies, slithered across the deck like snakes. Because they were stacked so high, several large ribbonfish, relying on their thick bodies, had already escaped back into the sea.
The two men frantically started throwing ribbonfish into the water tank. Damn it, the boat was too small and didn't have a conveyor belt, otherwise they wouldn't be in such a mess.
Later on, the two of them simply stopped using their hands to carry things and started pushing them with their hands instead.
Put both hands on the ground and push it directly. Although it's a bit rough, it saves time. The main thing is that even if the ribbonfish dies, you can still sell it for money.
After throwing all the ribbonfish in, the two of them were covered in the white, natural coating that comes with ribbonfish.
The silvery-white membrane on the ribbonfish is composed of guanine crystals, a natural protective layer that is uniform and shiny, but some of it will peel off when touched.
Now, not only Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu are covered in these white things, but the entire deck is covered in them.
Xiao Hu found a water pipe, rinsed himself off first, and then cleaned the deck.
Young people are generally stronger and don't mind their clothes being wet, but Ye Cheng didn't dare. He might develop arthritis from it when he got old, so he simply washed his hands and let himself be smelly.
After finishing his own task, Ye Cheng looked at Duan Chunsheng, who was working slower and still had a little bit left to do.
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