"Yes, yes, yes. I just saw the group ahead swimming in that direction."
Father Ye was also overjoyed. He threw the hand-cast net aside and squatted down. "This net has caught more than 30 kilograms, and those traps have also caught more than 10 kilograms. We can sell them for more money today."
"Well, let's pack up later. Dad, you go and drive the boat first, and I'll go change my clothes." It was uncomfortable to feel the wet stuff sticking to his body, and Ye Yaodong felt a little uncomfortable.
"Okay~"
Father Ye threw down the squid in his hand and drove the boat towards the place where the branches with eggs were placed. Both sides were not far away, both around the island.
When Ye Yaodong walked into the small cabin and prepared to take off his clothes, he noticed the net bag hanging around his waist. He slapped his forehead and said, "I was so happy to see the squids that I forgot about this."
Today the net bag was empty, with nothing in it except two Jiang Yao. He almost forgot about it because he didn't feel the weight.
He put it aside first, took off his wet clothes and pants and changed into dry ones, then walked out carrying the net bag. His father just happened to stop the boat.
"Dongzi, hurry up~" Father Ye shouted to him excitedly as soon as he stopped the boat, "Bring the fishing net over here."
Seeing his excited look, Ye Yaodong knew that he must have seen a school of squids, so he quickly put the net bag aside and trotted over with the fishing net.
Both the father and the son leaned against the side of the boat and looked at the sea. They saw many squids gathered not far in front of them, one or two meters below the water surface.
That was where they dropped the branches for the eggs, and the buoys were still floating not far away.
Sure enough, the effect is great!
“Lots of squids!”
"Tidy up the fishing nets..."
The father and son quickly arranged the fishing net and then cast it towards the sea. They did not dare to cast the net too wide for fear of getting branches caught in the net.
After staying for less than 5 minutes, they quickly collected the net and hung the rope of the hand-cast net on the rolling wheel. As the wheel rolled, the fishing net was pulled to the surface of the water little by little.
Two people received the fishing net and threw it onto the deck. A large amount of ink directly dyed the deck black, and the squid wrapped in the fishing net was also pitch black.
Father Ye smiled from ear to ear, "This net weighs thirty kilograms."
"Using branches to lure squids to lay eggs is a good idea!"
"While there are so many around now, let's cast more nets."
The father and son then cast another net, and this time they caught a branch. These branches with eggs attached were tied together with ropes. When one was pulled up, the others moved with it, and the squid group also dispersed a bit.
How can that be possible? They are scattered, and it is not as easy to catch them as when they are gathered together.
When the fishing net was pulled to the side of the boat, it also caused the other branches on the rope to float to the surface of the water. On those branches were scattered strings of squid eggs, just like sea grapes. Some of them were piled up in piles, which looked particularly pleasing to the eye.
When female cuttlefish lays eggs, the egg-binding glands will secrete a lot of glandular fluid at the same time, which will wrap the eggs together and stick them into a string, so that the egg string is attached to the tree branch.
After seeing this, Ye Yaodong went to get a bucket, took out the branches that were caught by the fishing net first, and then took the squid eggs off the branches and put them in the bucket. There were not many, just a few strings.
After taking it off, he threw the branch back into the sea to continue attracting squids. However, because the branch was pulled up, it pulled the entire rope and the squid school was dispersed a little.
"Wait a minute before catching them. Put all the squids into the basket first."
"Well, there's still a bunch of fish that haven't been picked up yet, so it's too late to do anything."
It's such a sweet burden.
Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "You go sort them, and I'll catch the squids."
"I'll catch the squids and you sort them."
"It won't take long. Those fish are pretty big."
"Then you go."
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes and said, "I'll go if I want to. I'll give you a chance."
I'm old, but I still want to play.
He handed the squids to his father and sorted the fish himself. He couldn't just throw them on the deck. Fortunately, there was no sun today. He would bring ice next time he went out to sea.
The deck was littered with skinned fish; the skinned fish that had been cut by the propeller had been dumped into the basket and piled in the corner; these were pulled up by the second net.
However, some of them also had slight cuts on their bodies. It was estimated that their injuries were not serious and they were not dead, so they returned to the school of fish.
Ye Yaodong picked out the fish that had signs of cutting and kept them for himself, and threw the rest directly into the basket according to the type of fish.
There were four or five bamboo baskets placed around him. He swung them with both hands and shot the balls one, two, three, four.
Just when he was working hard, the boat started to move. Confused, he stopped what he was doing, turned his head and shouted to his father, "Why are you moving the boat?"
"There's another school of squid coming. Move forward a little and cast the net again."
He stood up happily and looked at the sea. It didn't look very good from the stern, but as the fishing boat moved forward, he saw many squids underwater around the side of the ship.
He quickened his movements and started picking things up quickly.
After he had picked out most of the goods, he put all the useless fish and shrimps at the bottom into separate buckets. He could take them back to feed the chickens. He would focus on catching squids for the next half month, so he probably wouldn't have time to use longline fishing. Recently, the trawl had yielded better results.
After dragging all the baskets of fish to the corner and piling them up, he ran to his father.
There were already two more baskets of squids piled in the bamboo basket next to Ye's father, and now the net had to be collected again.
Ye Yaodong pulled the baskets containing the squids to the corner and piled them up to avoid taking up space in case there was no place to put the fishing nets when they were pulled up, and then he walked over again.
"How many nets have you cast?"
As he spoke, he looked towards the sea again. Many more squids swam over from under the water, crowded together.
He felt that the branches seemed not enough, and it was not yet the peak season.
"Just two nets. I wanted to wait a while before casting the nets, but when I saw a school of fish over here, I moved my position a little and just cast two nets."
"Pull it up first."
The two men caught the fishing net that had just been pulled onto the side of the ship and were about to drag it onto the deck, but at this moment, the squid sprayed them all over their faces through the holes in the fishing net.
"Puh, puh, puh~ he...tui...it sprayed into my mouth..."
Ye Yaodong wiped his face and then spat wildly, sticking out his tongue. He could barely see that his tongue was stained black by ink.
Ye's father is not much better.
The two of them had collected two nets before, and their clothes had been sprayed black, but their faces were not sprayed, so they were taken care of this time.
This is not the first time, they are somewhat used to it and don't care anymore.
After wiping his face twice with his hands, he moved to the corner and continued to cast the net. They caught a lot of squids while they were swimming over to lay eggs.
The rolling wheels haven’t been returned yet, so they can still borrow them, which saves some effort.
After pulling three nets in a row, there seemed to be fewer squids in the surrounding sea. The father and son also felt a little tired, so they decided to rest for a while and see when the next wave of squids would come.
Anyway, it's only a little after two o'clock and there's still early time. I can wait until there are more fish before casting the net and get twice the result with half the effort. Otherwise, I will get half the result with twice the effort.
While Ye's father was sorting the fishing nets, Ye Yaodong turned around to count the bamboo baskets. There were already four bamboo baskets filled with squids. Each basket held about 50 kilograms. In just over two hours, there were already nearly 200 kilograms, not counting the mackerel and skinned fish.
"We have a good catch today. We will have to bring more bamboo baskets to the boat tomorrow."
"Go to the old house to get them tomorrow. I've been knitting a lot of them recently, so I'll give some to your eldest and second brothers. I don't know where they put them. How was your harvest today?"
"Didn't you tell them how to do it when you were tying the branches yesterday? They should know it when they go back home tonight."
"Well, there are a lot of squids today. Let's pull a few more nets later and go back later. I hope it won't rain tomorrow." Father Ye looked at the island with a lot of seabirds flying nearby. "It's a pity that your mother didn't have time to go out to sea with us. Otherwise, with so many seabirds, many of them would have been stranded on the island today. What a waste."
Ye Yaodong also looked into the distance, "There's nothing I can do. I'm not a supernatural being. My younger sister is getting married, and mom has to take care of her during the confinement period. Otherwise, I can ask my eldest and second sisters-in-law if they want to come over? Let mom take care of the little ones? She can just come back from school and cook for them."
It is too extravagant to leave them for seabirds to eat. There are so many of them. It would be better to keep them for our own family.
"Ask when you get back in the evening."
While the two were talking, the squids slowly gathered, more and more, so they rolled up their sleeves and started to work.
Throwing in one net after another.
Although it saves some effort when dragging it up, it still requires strength and skill when casting the net so that the fishing net can be fully opened. Your arms will become sore after doing it a few times.
It was getting dark, and in order to catch more fish, Father Ye was reluctant to take a rest.
Ye Yaodong wanted to take a break in the middle of the process. Anyway, the number would be the same every day. But he couldn't just sit there and watch his father work himself to death.
They loaded nets one after another without stopping. The quantity was not as much as when the squids first gathered, but the harvest was also considerable. The bamboo baskets behind the two men were already piled full.
It happened too frequently, and even the father and son could not bear taking turns.
As it was getting dark, the number of squids coming to lay eggs decreased, and Father Ye was willing to stop.
Both of them twisted their arms and kept casting the net, and their arms and shoulders were so sore.
Ye Yaodong twisted his neck again, looked at his father's dark face, and said, "Can you be willing to go back now?"
"Go back, go back. I hope it doesn't rain tonight so we can continue fishing tomorrow."
"It's hard to say. If it rains, go to the mountain to cut branches and throw more branches."
"If we can go out to sea, of course we will go out to sea. One day off is one day's loss. Look at how many squids we have caught today. How many baskets? Count them? If we stop for one day, how much will the loss be?"
"Ten baskets?"
"That's about 5 loads. If the price drops, it's almost 200 yuan. There are other goods. If they don't come for a day, the loss will be huge."
"Well, let's go back first. It's getting dark." Ye Yaodong responded casually and went to drive the boat.
Who can predict what will happen at sea? The weather at the seaside is prone to change.
If it doesn't rain, we must go out to sea. The squid season is only this month, so we must not miss it.
In the past few months, due to weather reasons, it rained and winded intermittently and I was unable to go for several days. Now of course I have to seize the squid season to make up for the losses in the past few months.