Chapter 368

Feng Chengmin took a broad axe, walked to a small tree not far away, and after a few swings, the tree was cut down at the base.

Then he chopped off all the branches on the trunk, leaving only the two large forks at the very top, and each fork was trimmed to about 40 centimeters in length, with the tips also chopped off.

In this way, the branch in Feng Chengmin's hand became an extra-large slingshot fork, only the handle was quite long, reaching the height of a person.

Finally, Feng Chengmin took a pile of used rabbit snares from the sled and started winding them back and forth around the two forks at the top.

Soon, a large triangular strainer was made by Feng Chengmin.

To be honest, this strainer looked genuinely quite useful.

Just as Feng Chengmin finished the strainer, 8 simple torches were also made by everyone.

It must be said that the vast majority of people in the mountains are ingenious.

You have to be, in an era where most tools have to be made by yourself; you're forced to be ingenious.

Wang Li, standing to the side, couldn't help but praise:

"Old Uncle-in-law, you're too fierce; whatever falls into your hands, I see it as just a toy."

Feng Chengmin chuckled and said: "That's a must. Let's go, let's go catch fish."

As Feng Chengmin spoke, he held a torch in his left hand and carried the large strainer on his right shoulder, walking toward the east.

Following behind Feng Chengmin were Wang Shun, Wang Gan, Wang An, Wang Li, and Mu Xueli.

Of course, these people's hands weren't empty either, as they carried unlit torches, ice chisels, pointed pickaxes, shovels, and sacks for the fish.

After walking less than 2 li, they arrived at a small river three or four meters wide.

This small river was the one that passed by the forbidden area.

However, they were upstream, while the forbidden area was downstream.

In fact, even downstream of the forbidden area, the river water wasn't dirty, because the river passed by the forbidden area, not over the white bones inside it.

Although Heilongjiang has plenty of fish, there is a knack to catching them.

First, you need to find a depression where the river flows, at least 2 meters deep, because the ice in Heilongjiang is at least a meter thick.

In shallow water, the water is basically frozen solid from top to bottom, so there are no fish.

Second, it's best to find a place with water plants to chisel an ice hole, because winter in Heilongjiang is extremely long, and there is a severe lack of oxygen under the ice in winter.

Water plants are hollow, so the oxygen under the water plants is richer than in other places, which leads to fish and forest frogs mostly gathering under the ice where the water plants are.

This way, as long as you chisel an ice hole next to the water plants, it's basically a big harvest.

Third, just keep driving the ice chisel into the ice.

Finally, wait for the fish to jump out for a while, then insert a net or a large strainer into the ice hole and shake it left and right.

After arriving at the river, they followed the small river upstream.

Saying "searching" is actually just walking, because they were walking along the mountain ridge; basically, you just need to walk downhill horizontally until you reach the mountain hollow.

Soon, they arrived at the depression, which was the bottom of the mountain hollow.

Finding the place with the most lush water plants, the brothers Wang Gan and Wang Shun swung their two pointed pickaxes.

To be honest, chiseling ice is damn well not just ordinarily tiring; the tiring part is one thing, but your hands also get numb and tingly from the vibration.

Ten minutes later, the brothers Wang Gan and Wang Shun had dug a round pit about 70 centimeters in diameter on the ice.

Immediately after, Wang Li and Mu Xueli started using their ice chisels to drive into the ice pit.

In fact, chiseling an ice hole has no technical content; as long as you have strength, you can do it.

But it must be said that this meter-thick ice is quite sturdy. The young brothers Mu Xueli and Wang Li, perhaps because they hadn't eaten their fill, couldn't move anymore after less than 20 minutes.

At this time, the depth of the ice pit had just passed half a meter.

Seeing this, Feng Chengmin said quite ruthlessly:

"Damn, you two are young, but you're good for nothing."

Hearing this, the three brothers Wang Gan, Wang Shun, and Wang An subconsciously laughed.

Feng Chengmin took the ice chisel from Wang Li's hand, and Wang An also took the ice chisel from Mu Xueli's hand.

At this time, Feng Chengmin said to Wang An: "It still has to be us two, strong and sturdy; those guys are all useless."

Wang An laughed out loud but didn't answer.

Because Wang An knew Feng Chengmin's mouth was quite capable of exposing people's shortcomings; if he didn't criticize others a bit, his mouth would itch.

Then the two of them started working together again.

It must be said that at thirty-something, Feng Chengmin was at the peak of a man's physical condition.

So Feng Chengmin was indeed much more enduring than Wang Li and Mu Xueli.

Although Wang An wasn't as good as Feng Chengmin in this regard, Wang An had great strength and explosive power.

With the cooperation of the two, after about ten minutes, the ice was basically about to be chiseled through.

After clearing all the broken ice from the pit, Wang An and Feng Chengmin started driving quickly toward the bottom of the pit.

Just like that, the ice pit perfectly became an ice hole, and the most difficult step of catching fish was finally completed.

Then, the water quickly surged up, and after a while, a large pile of small fish began to jump out impatiently.

However, Feng Chengmin and the six of them saw this but ignored it, instead starting to take out cigarettes and smoke.

Because chiseling ice holes to catch fish is always like this; the first ones to come out are always small fish.

The main reason is that there is little oxygen underwater, and the big fish have already adapted to this low-oxygen environment, so their endurance is stronger.

While the small fish have poor endurance and have long been suffocated, so they are the first to run up.

After finishing a cigarette, they lit two more torches to increase the lighting.

Feng Chengmin then picked up the large strainer, inserted it directly into the ice hole, and started stirring.

After stirring a few times, Feng Chengmin started scooping out fish, just like scooping water, only the speed was very fast.

In Heilongjiang, the so-called "beating roe deer with a stick, scooping fish with a ladle"—the scooping fish part is done this way, only it's not a "ladle," but a strainer or a net.

But it must be said that apart from the fact that chiseling the ice hole is quite strenuous, the job of "scooping fish" can be said to be very simple.

As Feng Chengmin's large strainer left the water surface one after another, the fish on the ice began to increase, and at the same time, many forest frogs also came to the ice surface with the fish.

Besides the common grass carp, carp, and crucian carp, there were also rare mountain catfish, burbot, northern pike, gudgeon, and mandarin fish, etc.

It must be said, although the water surface of this depression wasn't large, the variety of fish was genuinely not small.

Finally, Feng Chengmin gave everyone a surprise, which was using the large strainer to pick out a kaluga sturgeon.

Of course, these fish weren't particularly large; this largest kaluga sturgeon looked to be about seven or eight jin.

Until this wave of fish was all "scooped" out, Feng Chengmin threw the large strainer aside and watched the four of them pick up the fish into the sacks.

And at this time, Wang An held a torch in each hand, providing light for everyone.

Thanks to my good brother "An Lan" for the tip, thank you, thank you, I salute you!

(End of chapter)