Chapter 304: Fox in the Sea

Chapter 304: Fox in the Sea

Chapter 304: Fox in the Sea
Father Li felt that a group of sea beasts that looked like they had inhaled black smoke and were dazed could not possibly find the school of fish, so he told Brother Li to avoid the dolphins and drive forward.

Unexpectedly, when two dolphins saw the fishing boat avoiding them and sailing away, they accelerated and swam towards this side, and the other dolphins followed.

"Oh no, we've angered these sea beasts." Father Li pointed at the dolphins and exclaimed.

Li Changle hurriedly comforted him, "Don't be afraid, Dad. Dolphins are very smart. They can sense our kindness and will not attack us."

"Dad, last time those killer whales asked us to help rescue their companions!"

Before Brother Li finished speaking, the two fastest dolphins rushed to the front of the fishing boat and swam forward happily like a team leader. One of them even turned its head to look at them, as if to see if they were catching up.

Other dolphins swam to the fishing boat, and some of them quickly dived and jumped out of the water, as if showing off their superb swimming skills.

A few of them raised their cute big heads, shook their heads at the people standing on the side of the boat, and chirped.

"Hello, little brothers!" Chen Yongwei greeted them with a grin, "Brother, look, they seem to be smiling at us."

Li Changle nodded, "It's a pity there are no fish. If there were any, I would feed them some."

After hearing this, Chen Yongwei leaned forward and shouted to the dolphins, "Don't leave. Wait until we pull up the net and we'll give you fish to eat."

Father Li was relieved to see that the dolphins really had no ill intentions. "You two idiots, they are sea beasts, they just need you to feed them!"

"I was so scared. I thought they were going to rush over and hit us!" Wang Xincheng, who had a nervous look on his face, showed a curious expression when he saw the dolphins shaking their heads at them.

After watching the dolphin show for a long time, Li Changle opened his mouth and yawned. He got up at two in the morning and began to feel sleepy as soon as he was idle.

"A Le," Father Li patted Li Changle, "Go get some sleep. We still have to sort the fish in two hours."

This time we have to drift on the sea for two days, dragging three nets during the day and two nets at night, and also long-line fishing. If we don’t get enough sleep, we will have no energy.

"Oh!" Li Changle yawned as he walked towards the cabin.

A straw mat woven from straw had been placed on the bare bed board, and on top of the mat were brand new cotton quilting and straw mats.

Li Changle climbed up the narrow ladder made of angle steel welded beside the bed, climbed to the top bed and lay down. He smelled the faint scent of straw and fell asleep in a short while.

Outside, the dolphins followed the fishing boat for a while, then left the boat and swam forward.

Brother Li drove the fishing boat at a constant speed. After nearly two hours at sea, a small island with rugged reefs appeared in front of them. On the island, there were two huge reefs about ten feet high standing out of the sea, shaped like the sails of a ship sailing against the wind.

Not far from this reef are two slightly larger islands, which are lush and green, and the vegetation is somewhat similar to that of Chuiyuan Island.

Big Brother Li turned his head and looked at Second Brother Li, and they nodded. They thought this sea area was good and planned to come to this sea area to set up longline fishing in the future.

"Raise the net!" Second Brother Li shouted into the loudspeaker. Father Li, who was resting against the head of the bed, turned over and got out of bed. Just as he was about to call Li Changle, he saw that he had already come down from the upper bunk.

"Let's pull up the net! The cabin is full of fish!" Loud responses came from Chen Yongwei and others outside.

The father and son strode out of the cabin. Brother Li had already started the net-raising machine, and Chen Yongwei and Wang Xincheng were standing on the deck waiting.

Chen Yongwei rubbed his hands together and asked anxiously and expectantly, "Brother, are you excited?"

Li Changle nodded heavily, "Excited!"

Yesterday was a trial voyage, and this was the first catch after the official start of operations. Sufficient capital had been invested, and he believed that as long as he was lucky, the returns from the open sea would only be better.

Father Li thought about this voyage, and A Le bought three days' worth of diesel based on yesterday's fuel consumption, as well as two truckloads of ice cubes. The diesel and ice cubes alone cost more than three thousand yuan.

For such a big ship, every time the machine turns, it turns out a lot of money!

Pray to the Dragon Lord to bless them and have a full hold of fish! When they return, they will go to the Lord's temple to serve the bowl.

Everyone was watching the two tugboats nervously as they were slowly rising from the sea driven by the winches, and several pairs of eyes looked towards the stern at the same time.

When the net bag rose from the drum to the deck, Chen Yongwei trotted forward with the cable, tied the mouth of the net bag tightly, pulled the hook to hang the rope on the hook, and blew a whistle to Brother Li.

The crane arm slowly rose up with the click of the winch, and the bulging net bag was pulled onto the deck by the crane arm.

When they saw the bulging bag at the bottom of the net filled with fish, everyone cheered excitedly, raised their hands and clapped their hands against the people around them.

"No, this net must be weighing 20 to 30 loads!"

Father Li didn't wait for anyone to respond. He ran briskly towards the bottom of the net bag. The two steps he took didn't look like someone who was injured.

Li Changle hurriedly followed and walked to the bottom of the net bag. With the lesson learned yesterday, the two of them checked it first. When they did not find the spear-like sharp beak, they untied the net bag.

The crane arm was raised again, and countless fish rushed out like a tide and piled up on the deck, forming a small hill of fish, shrimps and crabs.

Cuttlefish, squid, octopus, shrimps and crabs wandering around waving their tentacles, the cuttlefish with small bones and fat bodies shining like silver ribbons in the sun, and the saury shaped like a waist knife.

The white belly of the fish is as slippery as white silk, and there are shiny silver pomfret, yellow bighead carp, small yellow croaker, rice fish, giant mackerel, and conger eels as thick as arms... The catch of this net is obviously better than the two nets pulled yesterday, and there are also several big fish jumping out of the pile of fish.

Wang Xincheng felt that his eyes were not enough. Many of the big fish he couldn't recognize looked not only ferocious but also ugly.

Father Li rubbed his hands happily when he saw the big fish, and kept muttering, "That's enough! That's enough!"

"Kill the armor! The big stuff is coming!" Chen Yongwei cheered, dragged up a tuna that was more than half a person's height, and grinned at Li Changle and the others.

Li Changle grabbed the tail of a tuna and pulled it hard, but it didn't budge. "Fuck, it must be over 300 kilograms."

Chen Yongwei picked up the fish and grinned, showing his full white teeth. "Brother, this fish weighs about 100 to 200 kilograms."

“The strongest man in Shatou Village.”

"It's not the strongest man in Shatou Village, it's the strongest man on Dongsheng!"

"You are the number one on the Dongsheng. You deserve it!"

"Wow, there's a big mackerel here." Father Li walked forward excitedly, "I haven't seen such a big mackerel in many years."

Seeing that Mackerel was still struggling, Brother Li came forward worriedly and said, "Dad, your leg hasn't healed yet, be careful and don't fall."

"Don't worry, I can easily carry a fish weighing forty or fifty kilograms." Father Li picked up a wooden stick and hit the fish's head, then happily carried the mackerel to drain its blood.

"Uncle A Le, look at that big green fish. It's so beautiful." Wang Xincheng pointed at a big fish and shouted.

Chen Yongwei, who was holding the fish, said hurriedly, "Ah Cheng, the fish is dead. Hurry and bring it over to bleed it."

"Not dead!" Father Li said cheerfully, "That's a swordfish. This kind of fish is cunning and will even pretend to be dead to deceive people."

Li Changle turned his head and saw a knife fish more than one meter long lying motionless on the deck. The bright green color of the fish's body shone a dazzling green light under the morning sun.

Brother Li smiled and nodded, "Yes, this kind of fish turns dark gray after death, not this bright green."

The scientific name of the fish is Mahi-Mahi. It has an elongated, laterally flattened body, a large head, a very narrow back, and a body that tapers gradually towards the back, resembling a guillotine. The head and back of an adult fish are almost square, with sharp teeth exposed, and it is ugly and fierce.

The knifefish likes to hide under floating objects to hunt. At first, fishermen thought it was afraid of sunlight and liked to live in the shade, so they named it "shade fish".

In fact, they choose to hide in a place with backlight, then wait for the fish to pass by, and then attack them unexpectedly.

When it accidentally falls into the mouth of a dolphin, it immediately pretends to be dead. Because of its cunning hunting method and escape method, it is also called the sea fox.

"Wow! Can a fish pretend to be dead?"

Wang Xincheng was a little skeptical, so he walked forward with a stick and knocked on its big square head. The fish's body suddenly arched up, and its tail almost swept over his head.

He took several steps back, looking at the fish swaying its tail in the fish pile with some fear, "Oh no! This guy is really good at pretending to be dead!"

When they saw him evading, they burst into laughter. Li Changle said with a smile, "Acheng, you should be more careful next time. The fish in the sea have brains just like the wild animals on land."

Chen Yongwei gave a thumbs up, "Kill the turtle! Even fish know how to play dead to deceive people."

When Brother Li heard the laughter, he came out of the cab. He was very happy to see the fish on the deck. He decided to go forward and drag a net, then go back to this sea area to longline fish. The timing was just right.

"Ah Le, quickly take down the fish hanging on the fishing net, shake it clean, and drag another net while it's still warm."

"okay!"

Several people pulled open the fishing net and saw hairtail, fish skin, etc. hanging on it. They took the fish out of the mesh and shook the net clean. While tying the knot at the bottom of the net, Father Li told Li Changle and the other two things to pay attention to.

Li Changle had already learned how to do these tasks. He agreed verbally while looking at the islands and reefs, thinking that he would come back and cast longlines here. There should be a lot of valuable fish under the islands and reefs.

After lowering the trawl net into the sea, Brother Li started the fishing boat forward and everyone began to sort the fish.

Wang Xincheng, Li's father and Li's second brother tied a bunch of hemp ropes around their waists and tied up the crabs with their claws and fangs bared.

These guys don't even look at where they are now. Instead of uniting to face the outside world, they are still fighting with their big claws erect and their small green eyes glaring.

After the crabs are tied up, they are sent into the live tank along with the eels and some fish that are not easy to kill. It is no problem to keep them for a few days.

There were two tunas, one big and one small, estimated to weigh four or five hundred kilograms, and the swordfish weighed about a hundred kilograms.

There were four giant mackerels, the big one was estimated to be 70 to 80 kilograms, and the smallest was 40 to 50 kilograms. The heads and tails of the fish were cut once and piled aside. After the blood was drained, they were directly pushed into the cargo hold.

Chen Yongwei and Wang Xincheng were also surprised to see that the dead swordfish was no longer green but had turned gray.

(End of this chapter)