You know what, even though Dongzi is always fiddling with all kinds of things that he has never seen before, even though they seem to be nonsense, they are actually quite useful.
The second time, a whole row of fishing line was hung up. Before either of them could wait for a moment, the fish hook started shaking again. Before Ye Yaodong could get started, Ye's father couldn't wait to reel in the line first.
Father Ye feels that this series of fishing is much faster than holding a single fishing line. There is no need to wait for half a day, one fish after another, almost without stopping. Often times, the fish are shaking all at once and cannot be reeled in at all.
It's just that sorting out the fishing lines is a little troublesome and time-consuming, especially when the sea breeze blows them into a ball, which is almost fatal.
Ye Yaodong encountered this situation at this time. He was so overwhelmed that his hair almost became bald. He wasted a lot of time on this.
When he was about to fish for the third round, the fishing lines on the deck were blown into a ball by the wind. Fortunately, only three lines were in a mess, and the other fishing lines had already been put into the water with baits.
There was really no other way. Not wanting to waste time fighting with a ball of thread, Ye Yaodong simply picked up a pair of scissors and cut off one of the tightly tangled threads.
Everything went smoothly in an instant. One line rushed out from the chaos, and the other two lines also came out after a while. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief and heard his father calling for help.
He quickly threw away the string in his hand, and took two bamboo baskets, putting a ball of string into one basket to prevent it from being blown into a tangle again.
As Ye's father was reeling in the thread, he turned around and asked him, "That ball of thread that hasn't been sorted out yet?"
"I just got it done. I cut a thread and came out. Otherwise, I don't know how long it would take to sort it out. It's so troublesome and the wind is so strong."
"Then put those lines aside, reel these in first, and then bait them when you have some free time."
"Well, let's connect the one that was cut off later. We can't catch big fish anymore, so we can only catch small fish."
Tie a knot in the fishing line and reconnect it to continue using. This is fine for small fish, but if you catch a big fish, the strength of the reconnected fishing line will decrease.
Father Ye nodded, without stopping his hands, "The front one has already broken, if this one is still usable, just tie a knot and use it, and replace it with a new one when we get home tonight."
"Well, let's try our luck."
The group had a lot of fun fishing. The number of fish in the bucket increased at a speed visible to the naked eye. The father and son were busy with the row of fishing lines. Although it was more time-consuming to organize them, the amount of fish they caught in half a morning was four or five more than the four soldiers combined.
When Ye Yaodong finished cooking noodles and called the soldiers to eat, they all said they would fish one more time and wait a little longer...
"Shit... have you gone crazy? You guys are all fishing masters?"
"What?"
"Don't be a soldier anymore. Apply for discharge and come back to the sea with me. You can fish every day."
"Ah? That won't work. Being a soldier is so glorious..."
"It's an honor to fish! Fishing can also serve the people! And I can stay in our village and marry a wife, how great."
"No, no, no, you eat first, we'll come after we finish fishing this one."
"Then you can cook it yourself later."
"Okay, okay."
He originally wanted to give way to them, but now he decided to eat first as a sign of respect, and asked his father who was sorting the fishing line to eat first as well.
A fisherman will never come back empty-handed.
A pole, a pack of cigarettes, and sitting by the sea all day.
If I can’t catch big fish, I will fish small fish. If I can’t catch small fish, I will catch shrimps. If I can’t catch shrimps, I will pick wild vegetables. If there are no wild vegetables, I will drink some water before leaving. I will never come back empty-handed when fishing.
Ye Yaodong held a bowl of noodles and squeezed in between them, slurping it beside them and watching them reel in the wires.
Just at this moment, Ah San excitedly shouted, "Crap, crap, I finally pulled up a big fish. Ah, you little one, you little one~ It's quite strong, and you still want to run..."
Ye Yaodong quickly bit off the noodles in his mouth, chewed them casually for a few times, and said in a serious tone: "It's a big fish, awesome! Pull it up quickly and let's take a look. Make sure it's not a shark again."
"Crow's Mouth, I'm definitely going to catch a grouper weighing several dozen kilograms, or the red snapper you caught will also be fine."
"It may not work for a grouper weighing dozens of kilograms. The line will break and the fish will run away. This fishing line can barely bear more than ten kilograms. If you are unlucky, the line will break directly."
"Fuck, you're here to talk bad about me, right..."
"No, I'm an honest person and I love to tell the truth. Also, let me tell you, groupers have a strong sense of territory. There is only one in one area. I caught one yesterday, but today is unlikely. It will probably take several days for new groupers to come and occupy this place, so don't dream."
"Go, go, go, eat your noodles. If you don't have grouper, you can have one of those fish you caught."
"I feel... "
Ah San heard Ye Yaodong talking about sharks on one hand and disconnected on the other, and then he said he was dreaming and it was hanging, which made his temples throb.
"Can you take a beating?"
"You obviously can't take a beating... No, your idea is wrong. You are all living under someone else's roof, eating my food, drinking my water, and living in my house. How dare you beat others? Be careful or I will cut your fishing line now..."
Ah San turned around and glared at him, "You are so insidious!"
Ye Yaodong continued to pick up his noodles with a smile, "Who told you to say you wanted to beat me up? Don't look at me, I know I'm handsome, and I've become a little whiter recently... ah... shit... my noodles..."
"No... my bowl..." Ye Yaodong glared at the innocent Ah San, "I think you did it on purpose!"
"I really don't have that. You got too close. I was reeling in the line and the fish was struggling so hard..."
Father Ye also cursed, "Don't you have any snails in your hands? You can't even hold a bowl? Why are you getting so close?"
“Ah, fish, fish, fish…” Captain Chen shouted excitedly at the side.
Ye Yaodong also looked towards the sea and saw a group of small fish gathered near the side of the boat, snatching the noodles.
After he said "Fuck", he quickly picked up the hand scoop net on the deck and went to the small pile of fishing nets below that were grabbing food.
He just happened to catch the fish and caught them in the net. When he lifted the net, the fish gathered underneath all scattered.
"Sure, that's a pretty quick response."
"That's right. The last few times when those officials went out to sea, they made nests for fish and I didn't have the nerve to catch them. But those small fish were useless and worthless."
Ye Yaodong brought the hand net closer to take a look. "Sea catfish? It's a decent size, so-so."
"I was able to catch some small fish, so the bowl wasn't lost in vain. You should thank me."
"Okay, you can kill this fish tonight! Make up for your mistake."
It's so troublesome for him. This one is only about ten to twenty centimeters long. Most of them weigh less than one or two ounces, and some are even smaller. This net has about six or seven kilograms. I'll take my time to deal with it.
This fish is delicious when cooked with pickled vegetables or pickled bamboo shoots, and it is even more delicious when fried...
"Tsk, I'll kill you if I want to. You should know that I'm not alone..."
"Hey? Don't... You are alone!" Captain Chen quickly denied it and asked everyone to leave.
The other two soldiers echoed, "Yes, you are the one."
“Hehe~”
Asan glanced at the three disloyal people, snorted twice and continued to reel in his line. Who would have thought that he had just reeled in half of it and was still pulling it the previous second, but the next second he saw a white splash of water, followed by a long figure jumping into the air.
The height of the ascent was about two or three meters, which instantly stunned several soldiers. They kept shouting "Wow" in excitement.
They learned this verbally from Ye Yaodong, otherwise, they would have shouted other interjections.
Ye Yaodong was pouring a net of sea catfish into a bamboo basket when he heard a noise behind him.
When he turned around, his eyes widened. He dropped the hand net in his hand, threw it into the bamboo basket, and ran away quickly.
Fortunately, he arrived in time. The fish fell into the water from mid-air and splashed everyone's face. This was a good thing for him to do, so they all shared the same misery.
Everyone narrowed their eyes at the same time, and then wiped their faces with their hands at the same time.
"Fuck, what the hell kind of fish is this? So fierce?"
"Shit, it just touched the fish on my hook and it ran away."
"What kind of fish is this? It can actually fly, that's awesome."
"This fish is incredible. It can actually fly into the sky."
"Adong, Uncle Ye, what kind of fish is this? It's so awesome."
No one cared about their fishing lines anymore. They all pulled them up and planned to call it a day. They focused on watching Ah San fight with the fish that had returned to the water.
"Big tarpon." Ye Yaodong said.
After he came over to see what kind of fish it was, the feeling of surprise had disappeared, causing his adrenaline to surge.
He had caught these fish before.
Tarpon have developed an anti-shading technique. Their backs are usually black, and when marine predators hunt from above, the black color of their backs hides them in the darkness of the deep water below.
While most fish have lighter colored ventral sides, tarpon have a bright silver color, which helps them blend into the lighter upper water surface when marine predators search from below.
“That’s so fucking awesome, I’m so strong, you guys can help me hook it up later, or use the net to help me catch it, this fish is really big, we’re going to get rich…” Asan shouted excitedly and continued to fight with it.
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. "Fuck you. No one wants it at 2 cents a pound. It's the same as a shark with its fins cut off. You might as well catch a shark. At least you can sell its fins for some money."
In a few decades, wild fish will be a little more expensive, but by then, no matter what fish it is, as long as it has the word "wild" on it, its value will be a little higher.
For example, for some agricultural and sideline products, as long as they are labeled as farm-grown, local, or home-raised, the prices will be relatively high, and no one wants those produced on the assembly line.
Now, people living by the sea still look down on it.
The meat of this fish is soft, rotten and has many bones, and the taste is poor. In line with the principle of not wasting, people usually take the fish home and pickle it into salted fish after catching it.
Last time, his mother complained that the salt was a waste and even cut off most of it to give to his aunt.