The next morning they were going out to sea to test the waters. Before going to bed, Ye Yaodong checked several baskets of fishing lines. Those that were previously damaged were repaired very well. Every hook was neatly hung on the edge of the bamboo basket, and the fishing lines were all coiled neatly. He went to bed only after he found no problems.
The next day, at nine o'clock in the morning, the fishing boat was pushed into the water with the joint efforts of everyone. Immediately afterwards, firecrackers popped on the dock, one string after another. Ye Yaodong and his father both had joy on their faces.
Buying a boat is no less important to fishermen than building a house. Villagers around the dock came forward to congratulate him and praised Ye Yaodong with good words...
Ye's father also felt proud, his face was flushed, whose son could afford a 17-meter boat at such a young age? He just followed his father.
Ye's mother helped Lin Xiuqing carry a load of sugar cakes to the dock and gave a piece to each of the friends who set off firecrackers, as well as to the relatives and friends who sent firecrackers.
Ye's mother helped to deal with things on the shore, and Ye Yaodong and his father set sail directly after setting off firecrackers.
Although we have just gone out to sea and time is a bit tight, it doesn’t matter. Today we are just testing the waters and first looking for a suitable sea area to set the hook.
The whole time, Ye's father just watched Ye Yaodong drive the boat, and by the way, he chopped up the small fish that Ye Yaodong left yesterday, and then hung them on the fishhook as bait. He was experienced enough, and it was Ye Yaodong who needed training. Driving the boat more often could also improve his sense of direction.
There are 1,000 fish hooks and ten baskets on the boat. Putting bait on the fish is a time-consuming task. Fortunately, he asked someone to organize the fishing lines, which saved him a lot of trouble.
When Ye Yaodong drove the boat to the target sea area, his father had not yet hung up all the bait. He was afraid that the number of shrimps was limited and not enough to be used as bait, so he also prepared a lot of small fish to be used as bait.
A basin of small fish was chopped into pieces. Ye's father quickly used the fish hooks to thread the fish, and Ye Yaodong also helped.
When the net is almost caught, let his father slow down the boat, probably to the same speed as trawling.
While the boat is moving, the fish hooks are lowered one by one, and then buoy ropes and sinker ropes are tied. After all the baskets of hooks are thrown into the sea, a stone is also put at the last end of the hooks, and then the last buoy is thrown down. This buoy is for positioning.
Longline fishing is divided into floating longline and bottom longline.
The float used in longline fishing is in the shape of a wooden ball or long stick.
The amount of float used should be determined according to the purpose of fishing.
If you are fishing for bottom fish, all the fishing gear must sink to the bottom of the water. There is no need to use a float, just use the hook string as an identification mark.
When fishing for mid-layer fish, the float must ensure that the fishing gear can be suspended in the middle layer of the water.
When fishing for fish in the upper layer, more floats are needed.
He had always been fishing for bottom fish along the coast, and now that he was in the offshore waters, he wanted to try what he could catch with mid-water longline fishing.
Experience is accumulated from continuous attempts.
After everything was done, he washed his hands with clean water, stood up and looked at the sea.
But at this moment, he suddenly saw a huge fish floating on the sea in the distance.
He shouted loudly to his father: "Dad!"
Father Ye turned his head and looked at him, confused.
Ye Yaodong pointed his finger in the direction of the big fish and said, "Look over there, let's drive the boat over to take a look. That floating object looks like a fish."
Father Ye looked in the direction of his finger and saw a big white fish floating on the sea in the distance to the east. He thought that he had already let out the rope and he might as well go and take a look since he had nothing to do.
As a result, when the father and son got closer, they were shocked.
“Fish cake?!”
"Sunfish!"
The fish cake mentioned earlier was mentioned by Ye’s father, and the sunfish was mentioned by Ye Yaodong.
In Minnan dialect, sunfish is called fish cake.
"Fuck, why is it so big?"
Father Ye's heart skipped a beat. This fish was unlucky. Fortunately, they didn't catch it, they just saw it. That was okay.
Ye Yaodong curiously leaned over the side of the boat and observed it carefully. "Dad, this one is so big, it should be more than two meters long. I estimate it should weigh more than a ton."
"Well, there should be. Stay away from it. This fish is unlucky."
These fishermen make their living from the sea and are very particular about food. They will not eat sunfish. To them, catching a sunfish represents bad luck, so if they catch one, they must release it to ensure safety.
If you don't believe in evil and don't release it, but use it for food, you will be possessed by evil spirits at any time and may even lose your life. Of course, some places believe in evil, while others don't.
People in Taiwan like to eat sunfish very much. Because its skin is thick and its bones are mostly empty, they mainly eat its intestines. The famous dish "Stir-fried Dragon Intestines" is made with sunfish intestines as the main ingredient.
However, the local villagers believe in superstitions and will not catch any sunfish no matter how expensive or valuable they are. If they catch one, they will release it immediately. To put it bluntly, it is superstition.
Going out to sea is all about safety.
In some places, fishermen are more unethical and cut off the fins of sunfish and release them back into the water, because they think that sunfish have no value at all and are simply a waste of their bait, and they are hateful thieves.
These sunfish whose fins were cut off completely lost the ability to swim in the water and could only die slowly.
The sunfish is shaped like a flat oval, with a short body and thick sides. The tail fin has degenerated, leaving only the dorsal fin and anal fin, which are very well developed.
Looking from a distance, the sunfish seems to have only a big head and a small tail, so in some places the sunfish is also called the head fish.
The name "sunfish" is actually a name used in Taiwan, because fishermen often see them lying on the sea surface basking in the sun, just like an overturned car.
But the color of the sunfish is not very good-looking. If it were to correspond to a type of car, it would probably be a garbage truck.
At this time, it should be lying on the sea to bask in the sun. It especially likes to bask in the sun, so it is also called sunfish abroad.
It is also called moonfish because it can secrete a special substance that can cure diseases and heal injuries for other creatures on the seabed. It can be said to be an "underwater doctor."
Many fish often surround it, including some small fish that can glow. These fish swim with the sunfish and look like a glowing moon through the water.
Both the father and the son felt that it was unlucky to encounter this kind of fish. Although it was large, looked rare, and could be sold for money, it could not change the fact that it was a sunfish.
The two men were not going to touch it. It was not easy for the fish to grow so big.
They were planning to sail away from the sea to avoid the sunfish, but suddenly a sea lion appeared from the sea, so the two stopped their actions again.
The sea lion looked small compared to the sunfish, but it was extremely ferocious and bit the sunfish's fin directly, chewing and swallowing it. The sunfish was stupid and did not fight back or run away, just lying there motionless and letting the seal chew it.
Suddenly, two sea lions emerged from the sea and bit the sunfish together, but the sunfish remained motionless. The father and son were worried about it.
"This idiot! No wonder he is called the number one of the three idiots in the army, navy and air force."
Father Ye looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean by the leader of the three idiots of the army, sea and air force?"
"You don't understand. It's useless to tell you."
Ye's father glared at him, is this the way to talk to me
"Hey, hey, hey, look, look, there, there, there..."
Father Ye's attention was immediately diverted again.
I saw a white figure thrown up from the sea not far away, the water waves were rippling and rolling, and one after another white figures were thrown out of the sea, like a flying saucer.
The father and son also saw clearly that those fish that were thrown into the air like flying saucers were all sunfish. The seabirds flying in the sky also took the opportunity to rush down to eat them, and more and more of them gathered.
In the distance, a large group of sea lions threw the small sunfish into the air, teased them, and then continued to attack the 2-meter-long sunfish in front of them.
The sunfish was bitten by the sea lions like a pancake, but it still didn't know how to resist or escape. It just watched helplessly as it was slowly torn apart and devoured by the sea lions, becoming their buffet.
The sunfish has a very low intelligence and may not realize that it is going to die. After all, it has a large body of about two meters but a brain that weighs only 6 grams.
It is also notoriously big and stupid.
Then the group of sea lions dragged it into the deep sea while biting it. Maybe it was too big to be thrown into the air, so they dragged it into the sea.
Generally, sea lions will throw almost-eaten sunfish into the air so that the seagulls can also have a good meal. Just like what the father and son just saw, there were several "flying saucers" flying in the sky.
The waves on the sea surface gradually became smaller, and the sea lions also dived into the sea. Ye Yaodong felt it was a pity. If it was any other fish, he would definitely find a way to drag it up.
It's not easy for this fish to grow so big. I heard it takes decades to grow to this size. It was killed stupidly without moving.
"It's a bit unlucky that we encountered a sunfish on the first day the boat set out." Ye's father was quite superstitious and felt quite uncomfortable.
"We didn't catch it? What's so unlucky? This is the first time I've seen such a big sunfish. What a pity! If it had a different name, I would have to drag it up even if I had to."
Father Ye glared at him fiercely, "What nonsense are you talking about? We go out to sea for safety. When we hear its name, we all want to stay away from it."
"That's why I said it would be better if it had a different name."
"Don't spend all your time thinking about random things..."
Ye Yaodong shrugged. His father was just so boring. It was unbearable to even think about it!
"Dongzi, it will take at least one or two hours to collect these hooks. It will take too much time. Go back and ask your mother to help weave a net. You can use your free time to trawl the surrounding waters. Or you can get some crab cages and shrimp cages and fish together. It will be more efficient."
Ye Yaodong also thinks so. This is the shortcoming of longline fishing. The time in between is too free. Unlike trawling, it is not like that the boat needs to be sailing on the sea all the time.
It is best to make use of this free time to increase efficiency.
"Okay, I'll find some time to buy some materials and ask mom to help me weave one. It's not convenient to go somewhere else to get a net at this time. I'll go back tonight and find Zheng and borrow the hand-cast net he has. I'll use it for a few days."
"It's up to you."
Before, when Ye Yaodong was setting up fishing rods along the coast, he could still go to Ah Zheng to chat and occasionally fish a few times. But now he can only fish a few times to pass the time.
Yesterday he moved all the things from the small boat to the big boat, including the simple fishing rods.
Seeing him take out the crude fishing rod, Father Ye's mouth twitched, and he wanted to say, "A dog will always eat shit..."
We've already gone out to sea, but we're still thinking about having fun!
Ye Yaodong: It’s unfair~
Although his broken fishing rod is crude, it can be used to catch fish and make money!
Some people can fish with nothing but fishing line and hook.