There are three of them side by side, and you can clearly see that the two at the back are not as big as the first one, they are a whole circle smaller.
He shone the flashlight back and forth, and estimated that the two at the back were about 1.23 meters tall and weighed about 60 to 70 kilograms.
One of them had a bloated belly. He guessed that it had just swallowed a tern and was caught before it could digest the food. He went to the corner and got a knife, intending to bleed it.
Father Ye was very happy. "These three together weigh more than 200 kilograms. Small fish are not worth much, but this big one is quite valuable."
"Well, they should be worth several dozen bucks. With these three, I've made a profit today."
Ye Yaodong skillfully operated the knife to drain the blood from the animal. Ye's father was not in a hurry to drive the boat, but watched him from the side with great satisfaction.
The third brother's maturity during this period made him look like an experienced fisherman. He has really grown up.
As expected, some men grow up later.
After watching for a while, and until he finished processing one fish, Ye's father went to pick up all the black mullets nearby and put them into the basket.
These black mullets vary in size, but the smallest one weighs more than one kilogram. One or two of them are relatively large, probably five kilograms. He can tell by weighing them in his hand.
The black mullet is also called the blackhead fish. The back of its body is dark blue-gray, and the abdomen is silvery white, and the color is lighter. In addition, there are some black spots on its body.
The period around the beginning of winter every year is when black mullet is the fattest and most active in the year. At this time, black mullet makes careful preparations for wintering and spawning, swimming around, snatching food, and accumulating energy.
As Father Ye picked them up, he said, "These black mullets weigh several dozen kilograms. We are quite lucky."
"Well, it's just the beginning of winter, so there must be a lot of fish. I'm almost done, Dad, go and start the boat, move forward a little, and I'll go lower the sticky net."
"good."
After Ye Yaodong finished processing the three Niugang trevally on hand, he put them into the basket, and then went to the cabin to get the sticky net.
They have never set up a sticky net, but that doesn't mean they don't know about it.
In winter, due to the low temperature, most fish are not active and basically stay at the bottom of the water, not often looking for food, so it is difficult to catch fish. Some fishermen in the village will make sticky nets to catch them. They still know roughly how to release them.
After Ye's father sailed the boat a long distance, Ye Yaodong shouted to him, "Dad, let's do it here."
The wind was strong on the boat, coupled with the noise of the machinery, he had to speak louder. When Ye's father heard this, he immediately slowed down and stopped the boat.
Casting a sticky net is different from trawling. You cannot cast the net while sailing. Instead, you have to cast the net in still or slow water, otherwise the net will be easily washed away. It also needs to be cast deeper so that it can reach the bottom where fish are densely populated.
Also, when lowering the net, you must follow the order of the float heads, lowering them one by one, and not offside, otherwise the net will easily become tangled when you collect it, and the net will be ruined.
After Ye Yaodong cast the net, he threw down the buoy, which he would collect on his return trip.
Because if you want to use it again after using it once, you need to collect the net, wash it, tie it in the same way as when you first made it, and then dry it in the sun before you can reuse it.
There are a lot of impurities in the water. If you don’t wash it, the various weeds on the fish net will easily corrode and damage the net.
This sticky net is a bit difficult to make, so people in the village only set it up in winter.
Otherwise, who would have nothing better to do than go out and cast a net and collect the net every day, then bring it back, wash it, and dry it in the sun for a day before using it again.
Most people put out sticky nets as a casualty, unless you do it specifically. No one in their village does that specifically.
Then he took out the trawl net. Not wasting any time, he still managed to drag in one more trawler while waiting for the longline to be reeled in.
He also worked hard to make money.
After seeing him put down the sticky net, Ye's father started the boat again.
Because of the cooperation during this period, the father and son have a much better relationship and have developed a tacit understanding. One drives the boat while the other sets the net, and they proceed in an orderly manner.
By this time, the sky was already bright, but the sun was blocked by thick clouds, so there was no sunrise over the sea to see today.
However, after eight o'clock, the sun came out from the thick clouds. The dazzling sunlight illuminated the sea surface, making the entire sea level appear golden. Today is another sunny and nice day.
Ye Yaodong looked at the time and thought it was almost time to pull up the net, so he went to collect the net. Ye's father also slowed down the speed of the boat to make it move forward slowly, and went to help drag the net from the stern slide to the deck.
With the joint efforts of father and son, the heavy net was dragged directly onto the deck.
"It's mullet."
"It's the flood season, right? This is also the time of year when there are the most black mullet."
Father Ye was somewhat happy, as they loved catching schools of fish when trawling. Catching a large number of the same kind of fish was better than catching a bunch of miscellaneous fish.
"should be."
The whole net holds about 70 to 80 kilograms of black mullet, so it’s a pretty good harvest.
Ye Yaodong casually fiddled with the fish pile, which contained some black mullet and some bluefin mullet. "Dad, if there's not enough bait later, use the bluefin mullet to cut it."
"Yes, I know."
"Huh?"
He fiddled with the pile of fish and pulled out a fish with a more special pattern. Its body was covered with dark brown dots, while its belly was light in color with no spots.
"Grouper?" Ye's father said uncertainly. It looked like a grouper because of the spots on its body.
"No, it should be a thick-lipped rock bass, weighing almost two kilograms. Pick it up separately first."
"Yes, yes, this is a thick-lipped rock bass." Father Ye came back to his senses after hearing what he said.
Whether it is a good fish with high value can usually be identified by looking at the patterns on its body. These fish either have different patterns or are of average size.
Stone bass is a little more expensive than other fish, and not as expensive as the rare grouper. However, its price should not be much different from that of tiger grouper and blue grouper. This one should be able to sell for three or four yuan.
Ye Yaodong asked his father to sort out the fish while he went to drive the boat. It had been about three or four hours since the hooks were lowered, and it was time to collect another wave.
Just as he was driving the boat towards the sea where the longline fishing was cast, he saw a silver ribbon appear on the sea ahead.
He thought he was seeing things, but when he looked carefully, he saw what looked like a silver ribbon swaying on the sea ahead.
"Dad, come here for a moment."
He sailed the boat towards the silver ribbon and asked his father to come and see it.
"What's going on?"
"Look at the sea over there."
Father Ye's eyes widened immediately. "What is that? Why is it so white and long and moving there?"
"I don't know, that's why I asked you to come and take a look."
"Follow and see."
"Well, it floats quite fast. It's so long, I don't know what it is." Ye Yaodong frowned.
Father Ye stretched his neck but still couldn't figure it out. "What kind of garbage is this? It looks like a ribbon, white with a little red on it."
"It just looks like one. If it were cloth, it would just float on the surface of the sea. It could even sway in the water. It looks a bit like a sea snake, but a bit longer."
The ocean is so wonderful. It has all kinds of magical things, and I don’t know what they are.
He followed the long "ribbon" not too far away, but did not speed up to catch up with it. After all, it was an unknown thing. What if it came too close and attacked the fishing boat
He also saw that it was drifting towards a small island ahead, so he planned to follow it to see if it was heading to that island.
The fishing boat was moving forward at a constant speed, but the distance was gradually shortening. The speed of the "ribbon" was slowing down, and the island on the opposite side was getting closer and closer.
When the fishing boat was about to approach the island, the father and son clearly saw a looming figure on the shallow beach.
“Hairtail?”
"Oarfish!"
The father and son spoke in unison, the first sentence was said by Ye's father and the second sentence was said by Ye Yaodong.
Both of them were stunned!
It's actually an oarfish
"Fuck! This is an oarfish!"
Father Ye said excitedly: "It's an oarfish, Dongzi, go to the island and stop!"
He knew to stop at the island first without his father telling him.
The terrain of this island is quite high. It is now low tide and part of the beach is exposed. When the fishing boat approached the island, most of the oarfish's body was already exposed on the beach.
"Fuck, it's so long..." Father Ye couldn't help but swear.
Ye Yaodong looked at the oarfish being washed directly onto the beach by the sea water, with only half of its body still swaying in the water. He couldn't help but licking his lips.
He thought of the oarfish's nickname, which is also called the earthquake fish, because only when an undersea earthquake occurs will this deep-sea fish be frightened and shaken up to swim to shallow waters for refuge.
Some also say that every time the oarfish appears, an earthquake or tsunami will occur in the local area.
Some people call it Dragon King Fish, Messenger of Dragon Palace, etc. In fact, its real scientific name is Le's Oarfish.
"Let me dock the boat first."
In just a short while, the entire body of the oarfish was almost washed onto the beach and stranded.
Without waiting for the boat to dock, Father Ye climbed down from the boat and waded through the water onto the beach.
Ye Yaodong parked the boat and followed closely behind. He didn't even bother to take a second look at the densely packed young clams growing on the surrounding stone walls.
Looking at it up close, its body length is even more shocking. This oarfish has a huge body, about four or five meters long, bright silver on the outside, a horse-head-shaped head, red ventral fins, and dorsal fins, which grow down from the top of its head like tassels.
It looks very similar to the common cutlassfish, both with a flat body. At first glance, it looks like a silver ribbon, except that one is oversized and the other is small.
Although it was stranded at this moment, its tail was still swaying occasionally, and it seemed that it was taking in less air and exhaling more.
"Dad, have you ever heard of the oarfish?"
Father Ye frowned, "I heard that the appearance of the oarfish also means that an earthquake or tsunami is coming."