After Ye Yaodong told his father to stand further away and not get too close, he drove the boat towards the buoy where the hook was placed.
There was trawling and catching fish, and it was now nearly five hours since the longline was let out.
He put away the buoy and pulled the stone, but failed to pull it up after several attempts. He couldn't help but frown, as he had also tried longline fishing on the bottom layer last time, but he didn't encounter any stones that he couldn't pull up.
Father Ye saw him standing there pulling the rope but no fish was pulled up for a long time, so he walked over to take a look.
"What's going on?"
"The stone can't be pulled up. I wonder if it's stuck on the reef on the seabed?"
Father Ye frowned and said, "What should we do? You didn't put the float today."
"I'll go in and take a look."
"Don't go too deep. Come up if you feel uncomfortable."
Ye Yaodong nodded, then took off his clothes, pants and arms, did a simple warm-up, took a breath and jumped into the water.
It was already late autumn, and the water felt very cold when he first jumped in. He was not in a hurry to dive deeper. He moved on the surface of the sea for a while, and when he felt it was okay after getting used to it, he dived deeper.
He didn't descend very deep, so visibility was still quite high.
The ocean had not been polluted at this time, the water looked very clear and there was no undercurrent today.
Relying on the weight of his body, he sank little by little in a straight line. When he was about 3 meters away, he saw a small group of shrimps swimming. His attention was immediately diverted, and he reached out and grabbed one with some surprise.
He continued to look around curiously, and just then, another black sea bream swam past him, wagging its tail, and he grabbed it.
This black sea bream weighed less than a pound, so he could ignore the strength of its struggle.
He felt a little bit unbearable after holding his breath for too long. After catching a black sea bream, although he was a little envious of the small group of prawns, he still decisively floated to the surface of the water to take a breath first.
"What's wrong? How deep did you dive? Did you see any rocks?"
"No, I went down to a depth of about three meters and saw a prawn and a black sea bream. I caught it first and came up to breathe."
Father Ye took the black porgy and a large prawn weighing about 300-400 grams and wondered, "Is it so easy to catch?"
"It's OK. I'll go down and see where the stone is stuck."
"If it's too deep and you can't get in, just find the other end of the line, bite the line off, and pull the other end up."
"Yes, I know."
Ye Yaodong took a breath and then sank down in a straight line again. This time he was not curious anymore. He decided to solve the problem of the stone first, and then he could fish slowly.
A small group of prawns were swimming back and forth beside him, and in the distance there were a few small fish leisurely swallowing and wagging their tails. He just took a glance and continued to sink along the rope.
But he didn't know how deep he would dive. When he saw the stone stuck in the crevice of the reef, he also saw several large conches attached to the reef, as well as abalone and several sea cucumbers swimming underneath.
He was delighted and was about to dive deeper to get it out, but he felt his ears were not working because the air pressure was too strong and he didn't have any diving equipment.
Feeling uncomfortable, he decisively let his body float up and quickly rushed to the surface of the water.
Father Ye had been watching the movements under the sea with a nervous look in his eyes. When he saw him rushing up from the water, he quickly asked, "How is it?"
"I found it. The sinker rope was stuck in the reef. I also saw a lot of abalone, conch and sea cucumbers clinging to it. But I couldn't get down. The air pressure was too strong. I didn't have any equipment. I estimated that I could only dive ten meters deep at most. It was still several meters below where I was just now. I couldn't get down."
Father Ye was delighted, but frowned again after hearing what happened next. "What a pity. If we can't get down, then forget it. Just find the other end of the rope that's tied to the stone."
"Um."
Ye Yaodong also felt it was a pity. The good stuff was right in front of him, but now he could only put it aside for the time being.
He paused on the surface of the water to adjust his breathing again, then dived in.
This time he paid special attention to the depth he was descending, which was about five meters. He swam around searching and avoided small fish when he encountered them.
After searching for a while in the sea, he finally saw the other end of the rope. He swam over happily and grabbed the fishing line. He saw two flounders hanging on the hook of the branch line next to it. He quickly pulled the main line at that end and floated upwards.
Father Ye was relieved when he saw him bring the main line up. He was about to use scissors to cut the other end of the main line when he heard Ye Yaodong say, "There are three branch lines tied to the main line in the sea. There are three hooks at the door with two flounders hanging on them. I'll pick those two fish first and then you can cut them."
After he unhooked the flounder from the sea and threw it onto the boat, Ye's father used scissors to cut off the end that was stuck at the bottom and let it sink in the sea. He would go back at night and have someone repair it and connect the other end.
He held the main line and asked Ye Yaodong who was still swimming in the sea in confusion: "Why don't you come up? Why are you still soaking there? Aren't you cold? Don't catch a cold. Come up quickly."
"Dad, I want to go take a look down there. I saw a small group of prawns up ahead. It's a pity that I didn't catch them. Can you collect these lines?"
Father Ye glared at him, "Don't be silly, how deep can you swim? A cold is a minor thing, but don't let your ears and nose bleed and leave sequelae."
"I don't go too deep. I stay about five or six meters below. When I can't hold my breath anymore, I come up."
"You've been back and forth several times, why don't you come up and rest for a while?"
"It's okay. Young people have good physical strength. I'm fine. Give me that small hand net."
"What are you going to catch?"
Ye Yaodong was in a dilemma. His father was really too slow. "Give me the net first."
A grown-up son is no longer under the control of his father, not to mention that he is just a worker. The third child is becoming more and more opinionated, and it is impossible not to listen to him. Father Ye has no choice but to hand him the scoop net at his feet.
As soon as he got the net, he didn't waste any time and swam straight into the sea. He had just seen several prawns, and he would feel uncomfortable if he didn't catch them ashore.
That group of prawns were also very stupid, swimming back and forth in this circle. As soon as he went down, he didn't have to look for them specifically, he could see them again.
Holding a hand scoop net, he unceremoniously reached for the small group of prawns. As the mouth of the net was not big, he only caught half of them, and the rest were scattered.
It was difficult to catch these prawns after they were scattered, so he had to give up. He quickly reeled in the net and swam upstream. He saw a small group of bluefin bream swimming towards him in the distance, but he didn't bother to catch them because the fish were cheap anyway.
He had been going back and forth in the water too many times today. He was afraid his eyes would get infected because he didn't bring goggles. He couldn't dive too deep, and he was a little exhausted. So he had to stop here for today.
As he was swimming upstream, he saw a yellowfin snapper under the sea, biting the hook, swaying its body, and floating up as the fishing line pulled it.
It’s not bad. This yellowfin snapper looks like it weighs more than two kilograms.
When he surfaced, Ye's father was happily taking down the yellowfin snapper.
"Dad, catch this for me."
"What did you catch?" Father Ye saw that the opening of the hand-scoop net was tightly pinched by him, so he took it by the handle and looked inside curiously, "So many prawns?"
He was pleasantly surprised to find that the big prawns inside were still alive and kicking, and each one was quite large. He quickly poured all the prawns into the bucket and packed them separately.
"You just used the hand net to catch these prawns?"
Ye Yaodong climbed up using his hands and feet. After coming up, he wiped the seawater off his face and said, "Well, I saw it several times before, but I didn't have the right tools to catch it, so I thought of trying to use a hand net. I only caught half of it, and I didn't dare to catch the rest because they were scattered."
"That's enough. These weigh about 5-6 kilograms. There are no towels on the boat. Just wipe yourself with a piece of cloth and put on your clothes first to avoid catching a cold. Just collect all the threads for me."
"Um."
He sneezed twice and shook his wet hair. He was a little disgusted that the cloth on the boat was too dirty, so he simply used his autumn clothes to wipe it. Anyway, he should go back after collecting the rope.
The small yellow croakers on the boat were piled up there and couldn't withstand the sun, and no one knew how much the electric rays were worth. I guess only the big ones were more valuable.
After Ye Yaodong put on his clothes and pants, he also went up to help. It was not known whether their luck had run out or it was the season for bluefin bream. When they reeled in the lines, more than half of the hooks were bluefin bream.
He actually caught another fish at this moment. He was so depressed. Isn't this a waste of bait
The price of bluefin bream is comparable to that of mackerel and croaker, with the purchase price being only 3 cents per pound.
"Why are there so many fish?"
He just saw it all in the sea.
"September to December is its flood season, so it's normal to have more." Ye's father was not very disappointed. At least it was better than having an empty hook. Besides, the boat was full of small yellow croakers, and he had made a lot of money today. If he didn't want to sell them, he could take them back and use them as bait for the next day or the day after tomorrow.
The fishing season for bluefin bream is generally from April to July in spring and from September to December in autumn, and it can be caught along the coast all year round.
The more Ye Yaodong caught, the more depressed he felt. After he had caught most of the fish, he only caught 3 black sea bream, 1 yellowfin sea bream, 3 flounders, and eight or nine soft silk fish. The rest were all bluefin carp. It was really a shame.
It’s better to use a trawl net. When the electric ray is caught in the trawl net, there are still a lot of other fish mixed in it.
In fact, bluefin bream is also very nutritious and healthy. As for why it is so cheap, it is because its meat is old, tastes bad, and has a strong fishy smell, which makes it unpopular. In addition, it has a high yield and can be caught all year round.
By the time all the hooks were collected, the sun was already high in the sky. There were three more baskets of worthless bluefin fish on the boat, which looked to be about 200 kilograms, as well as about ten kilograms of soft silk, five flounders, three sea bass, five black sea breams, and one yellowfin sea bream.
"It seems that I can only use part of it to dry in the sun and the rest as bait."
"Keep it. You don't have to sell it. It won't go bad if you dry it. Keep it and eat it slowly. Then send some to your father-in-law. There are a lot of people there."
"Um."
"Let's go back directly. The sun is a little strong and hot today."
"good."
Don't lose the big picture for the small.
He gave up the idea of going back to catch the electric rays. Who knows if there are any more down there? How many there are? What if it's a waste of time
If he goes back early he can also take a nap. Yesterday they drank until almost ten o'clock and he got up at two in the morning. Now he feels a little overwhelmed.