Catch the sea: start with a sand shovel and take over the entire beach

Zhao Ping entered the wheelhouse, and a moment later the engine roared to life, the ship swayed slightly, and began to slowly move away from the spot.

Zhu Zi also went into the wheelhouse, where he was writing in his logbook, noting down the coordinates of this place, so he could come back to sea again when he had time.

The weather is a bit overcast right now, with no sun, but thankfully there's a gentle sea breeze, so it's not stuffy.

Asi and his men laid tarpaulins on the aft deck, so the nets that would be retrieved later could be placed directly on the tarpaulins.

If we follow Zhao Qin's advice and return to port after hauling in the net, we can simply wrap it in a tarpaulin and carry it off the ship.

Of course, this net needs to be sorted and dried again before it can be stored in the warehouse.

Forty minutes later, the boat reached the spot where the net was to be cast. The anchor hook was cast, and one of the buoys was successfully brought aboard.

The Unity ship rarely used gillnets downstream because it lacked a haul-in machine for the nets; in other words, the nets cast into the water had to be pulled up entirely by manpower.

Of course, if you really can't pull it, you can use a crane, but that would be troublesome and time-consuming.

“I’ll pull it up.” Zhao Qin took the net. “Tell my brother to keep the boat speed at two knots.”

Manually pulling in a net depends on the coordination between the boatman and the person pulling in the net.

A net several kilometers long cannot be pulled up by manpower alone. First, ensure that the boat and the net are in the same direction.

Then, pull the net in at the same speed as the boat, smoothly hoisting it onto the boat.

It sounds easy, but the net is placed in water tens of meters deep, so the resistance is not small.

The catch at the head of the net is usually very small; after pulling it out for more than ten meters, not a single fish was seen.

"No fish?" Ahe muttered. "This net isn't as good as our trawl net."

"Yes," Zhao Qin replied simply. He had already sensed the activity coming from the internet.

After a few more pulls, a large fish, entangled in the net, was brought up; it weighed nearly ten pounds.

Its mouth was wide open, and its swim bladder was half protruding from its mouth. Although it wasn't dead yet, the fish was clearly doomed.

"Brother, it's a sea bass."

"Yes, let's dissect the fish."

Ah He responded, holding a small hook in his hand, used to loosen the fishing net if it was too tight around the fish.

This hook can also be used to break network cables.

Such wear and tear on fishing nets is unavoidable; even systematic nets have a limited lifespan.

Zhao Qin bought no fewer than seventy of these drift nets from the system, but only about forty are still usable.

With Zhao Qin's luck, once he starts catching fish, he often can't stop, and this is exactly what happened.

Following the sea bass, now yellowfin tuna and black sea bream have also been caught, and even a pair of dogfish have joined the fray.

Aside from bass, the other fish are all bottom-dwelling fish, but their nets are set in the middle layer of water.

The reason they can access the internet is because all fish don't stay in one water layer; they are living creatures and naturally move up and down.

It can only be said that certain waters are their comfort zone.

Furthermore, most bottom-dwelling fish tend to rise to the surface at night.

For example, typical bottom-dwelling groupers will also rise to the upper waters to hunt for food.

"Brother, another big load?" Ahe asked, noticing that Zhao Qin was struggling a bit.

"Hmm, it must be quite big."

A short while later, when the fish surfaced, Zhao Qin smiled and said, "Ahe, you just took this one back with you."

Ahe was also pleasantly surprised, because it was a red eel.

These past two days, Pingping has been clamoring for red eel, so he and Ayou went out to sea for longline fishing. They caught quite a few small fish, and even some that were quite valuable.

But they didn't catch a single red eel.

That's great! This one is huge enough, almost three meters long, with the middle section as thick as an adult's arm; it must weigh over ten kilograms.

Eels are always better the bigger they are, especially the belly, which is fatty but not greasy.

The haul stretched for about two hundred meters, catching quite a few conger eels, but the most abundant were the black wrasse, hence their name.

Its scientific name is Black Pepper Sea Bream. Compared to Black Sea Bream, its surface is darker, with small black spots scattered on the lighter areas.

They're all quite large; the bigger ones weigh around ten pounds, and the smaller ones weigh over three pounds.

This fish doesn't taste as good as black sea bream, and the price is also average; it can sell for about 20 yuan per pound now.

Zhao Qin felt a sudden stop in his hand; he couldn't pull it anymore, and he could feel a strong tremor in his hand.

With his current strength, he could pull the net up even if it was stuck at the bottom, but he didn't dare use brute force.

One wrong move and the net would be completely torn apart.

Moreover, the force transmitted from the internet should not be from the bottom.

"Did it get snagged?" Ayou asked, seeing Zhao Qin repeatedly adjusting the net but unable to pull it up.

"If you can't speak properly, then shut up," Ahe retorted irritably, then looked at Zhao Qin and asked, "Brother, did you get stuck?"

"Your mouth isn't spitting blood, it just stinks a bit," Ayou retorted without backing down.

"Alright, shut up, all of you!" Asi roared angrily. Couldn't they all hope for something better? "Um, Qin, is it... hanging up...?"

Zhao Qin turned to look at the three of them. "Alright, it's not a bottom-mounted truck, it should be a medium-sized truck."

All three of them had their eyes light up. Ah You said excitedly, "Judging from this, he probably weighs over twenty pounds."

“My brother is pulling this with such difficulty, it must weigh at least thirty pounds.”

Zhao Qin ignored them. He was happy to have caught a large fish, but so far he hadn't caught a single one of his target fish, which was making him a little annoyed.

Zhu Zi walked over, glanced at it, and asked, "A-Qin, do you want to switch hands?"

"fine."

Zhao Qin wasn't tired. After hesitating for a moment, he simply stopped struggling with the fish. Since it wasn't his target fish, he figured it was fine if it got away.

With a strong pull of both hands, the effect was obvious; the net was pulled up more than a meter. The force of the pull was evident as both hands worked together.

Before long, the big fish lost its resistance. It wasn't that it resigned itself to its fate, but rather that the rapid changes in water depth made it unable to withstand the water pressure, thus losing its vitality.

With no resistance, although still heavy, Zhao Qin felt much more at ease pulling the fish up. Before, the sudden exertion had prevented the fish from breaking free, and now it was even less likely.

A moment later, the fish surfaced, and everyone exclaimed in surprise. It was a red snapper weighing about sixty pounds.

"Haha, this is good stuff."

"This fish sashimi is delicious."

Zhu quickly found a hook, reached into the water, accurately hooked the fish's gills, and with a sudden pull, hauled the fish onto the deck.

On the deck, the fish, still defiant, flicked its tail twice more.

"Asi, bring the bloodletting knife." Large fish in the sea have a high blood content, and if they aren't bled out promptly, the blood will seep into their flesh.

That fish is ruined.

Zhao Qin ignored all of that. Even though the fish could conservatively fetch over 3000 yuan after it came ashore, it didn't bring a hint of a smile to his face.

But after pulling the net a few more times, his eyes lit up. "Haha, we finally caught one!"

Ah-He and Ah-You stopped preparing the net and climbed onto the railing to look. They saw a pale red fish, shaped like a whip, entangled in the net.

It is definitely a pipefish.

Zhao Qin's joy was fleeting, because the fish was too small. The old Taoist priest had requested a length of over one meter, but this one was at most sixty centimeters long.

"Brother, it seems too small."

"Okay, let's keep it for now."

It seems we encountered a school of pipefish; this small net pulled up more than ten of them.

However, they were all between 50 and 70 centimeters in length, and none of them met the required standards.

"Damn it, we've fallen into a worm pit!"

Zhao Qin cursed angrily.

Even if they manage to catch a hundred-pound large yellow croaker on this voyage, or seafood worth tens of millions,

But if you don't catch a single compliant pipefish, then the trip is a waste.