Ye Yaodong quickly pulled up the second net, poured the fish casually into the basket and continued to cast it, trying to see if he could catch two more fish while the fish were just beginning to spread out.
But things did not go as planned, and by the time he cast the third net, it was too late.
When the fishing net was pulled up, it was empty. Uh, that's not right, there were two small shrimps inside.
He shook the fishing net, grabbed the two small sugar shrimps in his hand, and threw them into the basket. "Damn, it's so fast? Fortunately, I caught two nets, so it's not a loss."
"Let's check again later. I just changed the location."
"Go check on the eldest and second brothers."
Father Ye nodded, drove the boat towards Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua, and kept an eye on the sea.
Ye Yaodong was the same, keeping his eyes and ears open. There was no net cast at the moment, so wherever there was a splash of water, they could go there immediately without any delay.
It's a pity that we were caught off guard before.
But when they paid attention, it disappeared again.
"Dad, Dongzi, how many nets did you cast just now? How much did you catch? I saw your boat has been here for a long time, did you catch a lot?" Ye Yaopeng asked as soon as the boat approached.
"There are only two nets, weighing about 70 to 80 kilograms. What a pity. I saw them early on, but they were hauling the nets and couldn't spare any time."
"Is that so? That's a pity. I saw you guys nearby and thought you had caught a lot of fish. We didn't see you at first. We were cooking and sorting fish. Who knew you would show up so soon today?"
Um
Ye Yaodong raised his eyebrows, "It showed up so soon today? Then there was one yesterday as well?"
Ye Yaohua said honestly, "Yes, in the past two or three days, there has been a frequent surge in black mullet in the surrounding waters. Yesterday, around two or three o'clock in the afternoon, we were fishing for squid and saw it from a distance. We drove over and caught about a hundred pounds."
"Yes, it also appeared the day before yesterday, but we only saw it when we were about to go back. We only caught about 50 to 60 kilograms. As it was getting dark, we hurried back."
Father Ye was surprised for a moment, "That lasted for many days."
"Yes, all the blackfish we caught have roe in their stomachs. It must be the spawning season."
"Yeah, mullet roe is good stuff."
"It has just boiled twice, and I don't know if it will boil again. I guess... Here it comes... Over there..." Ye Yaodong had just said half of his words when he saw a large number of black mullet jumping in the east. He became excited again in an instant.
As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately ran to drive the boat. This time the boat seemed to be quite far away, fortunately his eyesight was good.
Upon hearing the reminder, Ye Yaopeng hurriedly ran to start the boat.
The two boats were heading eastward one after the other. Another boat, whose owner was unknown, seemed to be following closely behind them.
This time they arrived in time and were not delayed, and they actually caught up.
When they were almost there, seabirds heard the news and flew over even faster than them, and small fish were picked up in the air from time to time.
As soon as Ye Yaodong drove the boat to the front, he immediately dropped anchor. Ye's father had already held the net in his hand while he was driving the boat. As soon as the boat slowed down and stopped, he immediately cast the net.
The father and son work together in perfect harmony.
When Ye Yaodong walked over, Ye's father was collecting a net. He saw black mullets on the sea surface were still jumping, not affected by their three fishing boats at all.
Ye Yaodong reached out his hand to help pull the fish. There were big and small fish in the net, and it seemed like there were quite a lot of them.
He took an empty bamboo basket from the side, and as soon as he untied the fishing net, the black mullets fell into the basket. When they were first poured in, they were still jumping there, and several of them jumped out on the deck, full of energy.
Both father and son looked delighted.
Fish schools are still better, the catch is fast, and a net is filled with just one throw and one pull.
Father Ye sorted them out a bit and then threw them out again. Ye Yaodong picked up the black carps jumping around on the ground and put them into the basket.
Looking not far away, he saw that his elder brother and second brother had just finished fishing in one net and were preparing to cast the second net.
This time was better than the previous two times. It took three scoops of nets before all the fish were gone.
Father Ye held the fishing net in his hand, looking at the sea and muttering, "Why is this fish still like this? Shoot and move to another position."
"Who knows? Let's take a break in the middle of the game and wait and see if there are any more. These fish dived into the water and no one knew which direction they were going."
"Isn't this a waste of time? It took several minutes to get the boat here, otherwise we could have cast two more nets... Where are we going to find it now?"
"I'll go take the boat and look around."
"I want to follow, but I can't even see its shadow." Father Ye muttered as he dragged the boxes of fish at his feet to the corner, took out ice cubes from the cabin and sprinkled them on the fish, then took some rags to cover them up to block out the sunlight.
The bad thing about hot weather is that you have to buy ice cubes, otherwise the fish will become smelly due to the sun, which is an extra expense.
"Dongzi, when we get back, go cut a piece of sunshade and tie it to the roof, otherwise it will be too sunny when the weather gets hot."
"good."
Last year, the top of the small wooden boat was empty and could not be covered, but this iron boat has a small cabin that can be tied up and the other side can be tied to the mast.
Their fishing boat started to patrol the surroundings, and the other two boats also started to move, all wanting to try their luck again to see if they could encounter any.
Trawl nets cannot harvest fish as quickly as encountering a school of fish.
Ye Yaodong not only kept his eyes and ears open, he also kept an eye on the seabirds flying over the sea. Seeing that many seabirds were flying towards the northeast, he also followed the seabirds in that direction.
Generally, where seabirds gather, there are schools of fish. The schools of black mullet that appeared several times just now attracted seabirds.
He felt that following the seabirds would certainly be right.
When Ye Yaopeng and his brother saw that Ye Yaodong's boat was suddenly moving far away, they didn't know what was going on, but they followed it. They were all family, and they could look after each other by staying together.
The other boat thought they had given up the search and left, not caring about them, just minding their own business and continuing to circle around.
Ye Yaodong drove in the direction where a group of seabirds were flying. Suddenly, he saw more and more seabirds flying, and his confidence increased immediately.
"Dongzi, why are you heading this way? Since we can't find it, let's continue casting the nets and don't waste time. We still have time to cast one more net, and then we can go and collect the longline."
"Dad, don't you see that there are more and more seabirds flying in this direction?"
"Oh? It seems so."
"Drive a little further and take a look."
After driving for another minute or two, Ye Yaodong saw a large number of seabirds gathered in the distant sea and swooped down to hunt. His eyes lit up instantly.
His judgment was correct!
"A school of fish!" Father Ye was delighted. "I didn't expect them to come so far. I almost missed them."
"Dad, please prepare the net. Have the boats of the eldest and second brothers caught up?"
"Yes, yes... the other boat didn't catch up."
"Um."
Or was it a school of black mullet, but this time it seemed a little smaller? The fish that had been boiling and jumping seemed to be only about three feet wide
He parked the boat and walked over to help pull it.
"Is this net so small?"
Father Ye also saw it, "It's nothing compared to the nets we just dragged. This net seems to be only about three fingers wide."
"Yes, this net is very small, almost the same size as the smallest of the previous ones. There is not a single big fish."
"It may not be the same wave. I don't know where the previous wave swam to. No wonder we didn't see it until we were so far away."
"I think so. Who cares? Let's catch him first."
As long as it can be sold for money, it's fine.
The Ye Yaopeng brothers on the next boat were also very happy, "Luckily we caught up."
"Yeah, I didn't expect that I could still find it after running so far."
"It must be that Dad is very experienced."
"It's possible. This time, the size seems a little small. It's definitely not the same wave as before."
"Well, it was almost dark the day before yesterday, and I was in a hurry to go back. I had no choice but to not look around yesterday. What a pity."
"Yeah, I thought it was just a moment, but I didn't expect them to be jumping around everywhere."
"So Dad is more experienced."
"After all, Dad is older and has worked as a boatman. He knows a lot and has experience..."
The two brothers were chatting while pulling the net.
This wave didn’t last long, and after catching two more fish, it was gone again.
"What's the matter with the plane? Can't it last a little longer? It's gone in just two seconds." Ye Yaodong was a little depressed. It took a lot of effort to find them, and they were gone in just two seconds.
"Well, let's wait and see. It's still early, so let's wait a little longer."
In view of the great harvest, they continued searching and chasing. Ye Yaopeng and his boat followed them. They felt that Ye's father was experienced and they would definitely not go wrong by following him.
As luck would have it, they actually found it again.
“It feels like a treasure hunt!”
"Hurry up, Dongzi, drive faster, but it's gone when it's reached."
"Crow's Mouth..."
But the crow's mouth is the most brilliant...
This time, by the time they arrived, it was gone.
Father Ye couldn't help but slap himself several times, "You really are such a bad person."
"Come on, it's too late. Keep looking. Remember to say something good."
"Oh, who knew it was so smart? It's right, look, hey... those seabirds are flying to the northwest...! Drive there..."
"Hmm..." His eyesight was much better than his father's, so there was no need for him to be reminded.
Only after chasing three more waves and catching more than 200 kilograms of fish did Ye Yaodong give up reluctantly. The sun was about to set, and they had to collect the longline before they could go home.
They spent the entire afternoon searching for schools of black mullet, following them and shooting one shot after another. Their harvest was quite considerable, catching more than 400 kilograms.
A lot of black mullet were caught from longline fishing. Today, they sold black mullet alone for nearly 60 yuan, and other fish for nearly 80 yuan. It was a good decision to come here today.
After tasting the sweetness, the father and son planned to stay in this sea area for the next few days.
It's a good opportunity to avoid the limelight and make some extra money.