"Hurry up, hurry up, that clam is going to roll back into the sea."
Lin Xiuqing was walking on the waves to pick up the water with a big smile on her face. Her whole face was full of light. Ye Yaodong couldn't help but look at her a few more times. It had been many years since he saw her smile so easily and happily.
After picking up the clams from the sea, she walked towards him happily and raised her hands, "This is the biggest one I've ever found. It's as big as my fist."
"Well, let's put it in. Let's go in the direction of the Boulder Reef and search as we go. By the time we get there, the tide will probably have reached the reef."
She smiled and nodded.
Ye Yaodong couldn't help but stop after walking a few steps. He squatted down and used his fingers to pick at the place where there were bubble holes on the beach, and he picked out a sand clam.
"You're so accurate!"
After saying that, she also picked a hole and found one.
Sand clams are unevenly distributed on the beach, and it takes time to find them on a daily basis. They are easier to find when the tide just goes out and the bubble holes are exposed.
"Do you want to dig here for a while, or move forward?" Ye Yaodong asked hurriedly when he saw her digging there happily.
She stood up with a look of unfulfilled desire, "Forget it, let's stop digging. Let's go to the reef ahead and see if there is anything good to pick up."
"Um."
When they came to a small pile of gravel with a mudflat, they were surprised again.
“There’s a fish there.”
“It’s sea carp.”
It was dead and stranded on the beach. Ye Yaodong opened its gills and took a look. They had turned dark red. It might have died in the sea and was washed ashore.
"It's not fresh anymore, don't keep it, throw it back into the sea!"
"Okay." Lin Xiuqing looked regretful. She had finally picked up a fish, but it was not fresh.
Sea carp is also called black carp. The biggest difference between it and crucian carp is their habitats. Sea carp lives in the sea, while crucian carp lives in lakes and swamps.
She picked up the fish and walked towards the waves. Just as she threw it back into the sea, she saw a wave rolling up. She quickly stepped back a few steps. Unexpectedly, after the sea water receded, there was a big blue crab on the beach.
"Adong, Adong, come quickly, there is a big blue crab, come and catch it, it is about to crawl away..."
Upon hearing this, Ye Yaodong hurried over and saw a big blue crab waving its two claws and crawling quickly horizontally on the beach. He stepped on it quickly and grabbed it. The two big claws were still waving wildly.
"Wow, this weighs two kilograms! I'm lucky, the typhoon was not in vain!"
Lin Xiuqing also smiled widely, "It's really the right decision to come out today."
"I asked you to do it before, but you were reluctant. This one is equivalent to two days of weaving."
"I don't know. Let's go and follow the waves."
Now it was her turn to pull him anxiously.
Following the tide, I picked up a lot of fish, shrimps, crabs and clams, big and small. They are not valuable, but they are still worth being happy about.
Their beach was not small. After walking down from the shore, they stopped and walked, and sometimes even walked upstream to see if there were any stranded seafood. It took them more than half an hour to reach the reef area.
As soon as he stopped, Ye Yaodong saw two whitebait fish swimming in a small pool between two reefs, and there was also an oyster snail as big as a baby's fist attached to the stone wall in the small gap.
After he caught the fish, he left the snail for his wife to crack at her request.
The whitebait is often mistaken for the small yellow croaker by laymen. The two are very similar and the prices are not much different.
"What a pity there are only two, and they are so small."
Lin Xiuqing raised her head and smiled, "It's okay. We can steam it together with the golden pomfret and the small sea bass we just picked up. It will be a mixed fish platter."
"Well, let's split up and look for it again."
The tide had receded, and the two separated to search faster. Ye Yaodong hadn't taken a few steps when he heard Lin Xiuqing's surprised voice: "Eel! Ah Dong, there's a eel here, it's so big!"
He walked towards her hurriedly. A large eel weighing about 3-4 kilograms was swimming in the low-lying water area. It seemed that it was also swept up by the waves and stranded.
The teeth in this conger eel's mouth are very sharp. A bite from it will draw blood immediately. You need to be careful when catching it. Ye Yaodong took good aim and stepped directly on its head, causing its tail to swing wildly.
No matter how it struggled, it was useless. He simply grabbed its head and threw it into the sack.
Seeing that he had caught the eel, Lin Xiuqing continued to search in the surrounding reef area.
"Adong, Adong, grouper, there are groupers here!"
Is his wife lucky today? She is the one who is screaming the whole time!
"Oh my god, it's a perch. Why is there a perch here?"
Lin Xiuqing couldn't recognize all the species of grouper, but she knew it was grouper. Ye Yaodong was more familiar with it and recognized it at a glance.
The black grouper is a type of grouper with an elongated oval body, flattened and sturdy laterally. It lives in coral reef areas with clear water. Juveniles often appear on reefs or tide pools, while adult fish usually live in deeper waters. Unexpectedly, a typhoon and rough waves would bring this fish up!
I gained a lot today. It was not a wasted trip. I should have brought a bucket earlier.
"You either run home and get a bucket or I watch from here?"
This is not like the ordinary seafood picked up before. Although it cannot be sold at a high price in this era, it is also a rare commodity. It is better to catch it alive. It is also very good to sell it to a big hotel for display.
“Is this fish valuable?”
"Of course, you can tell from the pattern that this fish is not common. This sea bass grouper is not from here. I don't know how it was swept here by the waves."
Hearing the affirmative answer, Lin Xiuqing was excited, "You stay here and watch it. Don't let it get washed away by the waves or rain. I'll run home and get a bucket right away."
I don’t know if he was lucky today or his wife was lucky, he picked up most of the things behind her.
It is said that novices have better luck when playing mahjong or other cards. Does this also apply to sea fishing
The key point is that she is not a novice, it’s just her first time going out on a typhoon day.
This fish was quite valuable, and he was reluctant to let it out of his sight while he went to catch some fish, so he just stood there and watched. Who would have thought that while he was standing there without looking for it, a blue crab actually crawled out from the cracks in the rocks.
It’s really delivered to your door, why not miss it
The resources of blue crabs in their sea area are still very abundant, but it's a pity that the blue crab that was delivered to the door was missing a leg, and the other leg didn't match its body size. It was obvious that the original one was broken and had grown back.
Although it weighs one kilogram, its value is greatly reduced!
Originally, if a blue crab is missing a large claw, its price will be at least one-third less. The other claw has just grown out, so it is equivalent to not having it, and it can no longer be sold at a high price. It is a good opportunity to keep it and stew it with Codonopsis pilosula to give the children strength.