Chapter 239

With the three side by side, one could clearly see that the two behind were not as big as the first one, being a whole circle smaller.

He shone the flashlight back and forth. He estimated that the size of the two behind was about 1.2 or 1.3 meters, and they should weigh sixty or seventy jin.

One of them had a bulging belly. He estimated that it should have just swallowed that tern and hadn't been digested before being caught. He went to the corner to get a knife, planning to bleed it.

Ye Fu was overjoyed, "These three together weigh more than two hundred jin. Small fish like this aren't worth much money, but such big ones are quite valuable."

"Mm, it should be worth several tens of yuan. With these three, this trip today is already profitable."

Ye Yaodong skillfully operated the knife to bleed it. Ye Fu wasn't in a hurry to steer the boat, but watched his movements from the side, feeling very gratified.

The proficiency of the third son during this period made him feel that he was an experienced old fisherman, he had really grown up.

Sure enough, some men grow up relatively late.

After watching for a good while, and after he finished processing one fish, Ye Fu went to pick up the mullet on the side and put them into the basket.

These mullet varied in size, but the smallest one weighed more than a jin, and a few individual ones were relatively large, which should weigh five jin. He knew it as soon as he weighed it in his hand.

Mullet are also called black-headed fish. The back of the body is blue-gray, and the color is relatively dark. The abdomen is silvery-white, and the color is relatively light. In addition, there are some black patches on their bodies.

The period around the beginning of winter every year is when mullet are at their fattest, and it is also when mullet are most active in the year. At this time, mullet are carefully preparing for overwintering and spawning, swimming everywhere, grabbing food, and accumulating physical strength.

Ye Fu said while picking, "These mullet also weigh several tens of jin, good luck."

"Mm, just at the beginning of winter, there must be a lot of this fish. I'm almost done here, Dad, you go steer the boat when you're done. Steer forward a bit, I'll go set the gill net."

"Good."

After Ye Yaodong finished processing the three Giant Trevally on hand, he put them into the basket and then went to the cabin to get the gill net.

They had never set a gill net, but not having set one didn't mean they didn't know about it.

Every winter, because the temperature is low, most fish are not active, and they basically stay at the bottom of the water area all the time and don't forage often, so the difficulty of catching fish is relatively high. Some fishermen in the village would make gill nets to catch them. They still knew roughly how to set them.

After Ye Fu steered the boat out for a long distance, Ye Yaodong shouted to him: "Dad, just here."

The wind on the boat was strong, plus the sound of the machine, he had to speak loudly. After Ye Fu heard it, he immediately slowed down and stopped the boat.

Setting a gill net is different from trawling. You can't set the net while steering the boat, but you have to set the net in still water or slow water, otherwise the net is easily washed away. It also needs to be set deeper, so that it can contact the position where the fish are dense at the bottom.

And when setting the net, you must follow the order of the floats, setting one float after another, and you cannot jump positions, otherwise it is easy to get tangled into a ball when collecting the net, and then the net is ruined.

After Ye Yaodong set the net, he threw down the buoy. This needs to be collected on the return trip.

Because after using it once, if you want to use it again, you need to wash it clean after collecting the net, then tie it according to the original appearance when it was first made, and then dry it in the sun before it can be reused.

There are many kinds of impurities in the water. If it is not washed, it is easy to let various weeds on the gill net corrode and ruin the net.

This gill net is a bit laborious, so only in winter will someone in the village go to set it.

Otherwise, who would be full and have nothing to do, going out every day to set a net, collect a net, and bring it back to wash and dry for a day before it can be used again.

Generally, when people set gill nets, they are also incidental, unless you specifically set gill nets. There is no one in their village who specifically sets gill nets.

Immediately after, he took out the trawling fishing net again, not wasting any time. While waiting to collect the longline fishing, he could barely drag a net.

In order to work hard to make money, he was also desperate.

Seeing him finish setting the gill net, Ye Fu started the boat again.

Because of the cooperation during this period, the relationship between the father and son had improved a lot, and they had some tacit understanding. One steered the boat and one set the net, proceeding in an orderly manner.

At this time, the sky was already bright, but the sun was blocked by thick clouds. There was no sunrise at sea to watch today.

However, when it was past eight o'clock, the sun came out from the thick clouds. The dazzling sunlight shone on the sea surface, making the entire sea level look golden. Today was another good day with warm sunshine.

Ye Yaodong looked at the time and felt that it was almost time to lift the net, so he went to collect the net gear. Ye Fu also slowed down the boat's speed to let it move forward slowly, and went to help drag the net gear from the stern slipway to the deck.

A heavy net was dragged directly onto the deck with the joint efforts of the father and son.

"It's mullet."

"Is it its spawning season? In previous years at this time, mullet were also the most numerous."

Ye Fu was a little happy. They liked to drag to schools of fish when trawling. Dragging to a large amount of the same kind of fish was better than dragging to a pile of miscellaneous fish.

"Should be."

This entire net of seventy or eighty jin was all mullet, and the harvest was not bad.

Ye Yaodong casually fiddled with the pile of fish. Besides mullet, there were also some mackerel, "Dad, if the bait is not enough later, take mackerel to cut."

"Mm, I know."

"Eh?"

He fiddled with the pile of fish, but found a fish with a special pattern from inside. It was densely covered with dark brown dots all over its body, and the abdomen was light in color without spots.

"Grouper?" Ye Fu said uncertainly. It was really because the spots on its body looked quite like a grouper.

"No, it should be a thick-lipped grunt, weighing almost two jin. Pick it up separately first."

"Right, right, right, this is a thick-lipped grunt." Ye Fu also came back to his senses after he said it.

Whether it is a valuable good fish, you can generally know by looking at the patterns on the body. These fish either have different patterns or are super-sized.

Grunts are a bit more expensive than ordinary fish, not as good as rare groupers, but the price should be about the same as tiger groupers and green groupers. This one should be able to sell for three or four yuan.

Ye Yaodong asked his father to organize the fish cargo, and he went to steer the boat. The longline fishing had been set for almost three or four hours, so it was time to collect a wave.

Just as he was steering the boat and preparing to drive to the sea area where the longline fishing was set, he saw a silver ribbon appear on the sea surface ahead.

He thought he had seen it wrong, but after looking closely, there really seemed to be a silver ribbon ahead, swaying on the sea surface.

"Dad, come over for a second."

He drove the boat toward that silver ribbon and called his father to come over and take a look together.

"What's going on?"

"Look at the sea surface over there."

Ye Fu immediately widened his eyes, "What is that? Why is it white and long, moving there?"

"Don't know, that's why I called you over to take a look."

"Follow it and take a look."

"Mm, it's drifting quite fast, so long, don't know what it is." Ye Yaodong frowned tightly.

Ye Fu stretched his neck but still couldn't understand, "Is it some garbage? It looks like a ribbon, white with a little red on it."

"It just looks like it. If it were cloth, it would just drift on the sea surface, how could it sway in the water? It looks a bit like a sea snake, but it's a bit long."

The ocean is really wonderful, with all kinds of magical things, don't know what it is?

He followed behind that long "ribbon" at a distance, not increasing the horsepower to chase it. After all, it was an unknown thing. What if it attacked the fishing boat if it got too close?

And he saw that it was drifting toward a small island ahead, planning to follow it first to see if it was going to that small island.

The fishing boat moved forward at a constant speed, but gradually narrowed the distance. It was that the speed of the "ribbon" drifting slowed down, and the small island opposite was also getting closer.

When the fishing boat was about to approach the small island, the father and son also clearly saw the figure looming on the shallow beach.

"Hairtail?"

"Oarfish!"

The father and son said in unison. The former was said by Ye Fu, and the latter was said by Ye Yaodong.

Both were stunned!

It was actually an oarfish?

"Holy crap! This damn thing is an oarfish!"

Ye Fu said excitedly: "It's an oarfish, Dongzi, go to the small island and dock!"

He didn't need his father to tell him, he also knew to go to the small island to dock first.

This small island had quite high terrain. It was currently at low tide, and part of the beach was exposed. Just as the fishing boat approached the small island, most of the oarfish's body was already exposed on the beach.

"Holy crap, so long..." Ye Fu also couldn't help but burst out a swear word.

Ye Yaodong watched this oarfish being washed directly onto the beach by the seawater, with only half of its body still swaying in the water, and couldn't help but lick his lips.

He thought of the oarfish's other name. It is also called the earthquake fish, because only when an undersea earthquake occurs will this kind of deep-sea fish be frightened, shaken up, and swim to shallow water areas to take refuge.

Some say it's because whenever an oarfish appears, a local earthquake or tsunami will follow.

Some also call it the Dragon King fish, Dragon Palace messenger, etc. In fact, its true scientific name is the giant oarfish.

"I'll dock the boat first."

In just such a moment, almost the entire body of this oarfish had already been washed onto the beach and was stranded.

Ye Fu didn't wait for the boat to dock, but climbed down from the boat first and waded through the water to the beach.

Ye Yaodong followed closely after docking the boat. He didn't even have time to take a second look at the dense young shellfish growing on the surrounding rock walls.

Looking at it from a close distance, its body length was even more shocking. He saw that this oarfish had a huge body, about four or five meters long, bright silver on the outside, a head like a horse's head, red pelvic fins, and red dorsal fins, which grew from the top of the head like tassels.

Its appearance was very similar to an ordinary hairtail, both having flat bodies. At first glance, it looked like a silver-shining ribbon, but one was super-sized, and the other was small.

At this moment, although it was stranded, its tail was still swaying occasionally, looking like it was breathing more than it was exhaling.

"Dad, have you heard of the oarfish?"

Ye Fu frowned, "I heard that the appearance of the oarfish also means that an earthquake or tsunami is coming soon."