Black Market Merchant

Chapter 159: Fishy Fish (1)
After everything was unloaded from the boat trailer and it was stored away in the empty forklift garage, Lisa and the others were ready to go fishing. Lisa had left her coffin in her room and in its place, she carried the box with the net. Seeing that they all were leaving and curious as to what was going on, Sadie also decided to join them.

”So, Lisa, while you all were out, Gillian saw that I had come back and wanted to give you an update on their progress.” Sadie chattered as the group headed for the river below the dam.

”Oh? I hope everything is going well.” Lisa replied glancing upwards at the far end of the dam.

”He said that they are halfway done clearing out the forest path of trees and bushes. They are doing fine on supplies and the workers are in good spirits. He also asked if you had any plans to use the wood they had cut down.” Sadie answered.

”Hmm, I hadn’t given it much thought. Maybe after I inspect the wood, Gillian and I can see if any merchants are interested in buying wood.” Lisa said mulling it over. “Or perhaps use them as future power line poles.”

”We could use the wood to rebuild our towns buildings that were damaged in the battle.” Willis said listening in.

”That’s a good idea too, but we don’t have a sawmill to cut and treat the wood.” Tayvon retorted shaking his head.

”Yes, that is a good point, Tayvon.” Lisa said thoughtfully. ”Maybe in the future we could build one or get a company to build a mill out here.”

”But that all depends on whether or not we get the dam working correctly, right?” Willis asked.

”Exactly. I sure hope Mr. Sellers will hurry up and brings the equipment we need.” Lisa said with a sigh.

Just then they arrived at the rivers docks and turning left they headed for the end of the of the dock closest to the dam. As they approached, they marveled at the sheer magnitude of how wide and tall the dam truly was. From the rotting wood dock, they had to crane their necks all the way back just to see the top ridge of the dam.

Between them and the foot of the massive dam, there was about sixty meters of water. This area of river water was moving much slower than the rest of the river. The only sound to be heard was the distant muffle of the single pipe spillway rumbling at the base of the dam. It was here where Lisa noticed that it could potentially be a good spot to try fishing. She had seen this spot from above on the dam one morning while taking a walk. Due to the slow water, Lisa could see a sandy bottom poking up through the riverbed.

”Alright, this is the plan.” Lisa announced setting the net down with a thud. ”This particular net is called a seine net. I will use it to drag across the bottom of the river and corral the fish closer to the bank to where we can gather them easier. Tayvon, you will stand here on the docks corner closest to the river. You will anchor the net here and keep an eye out to see if we do catch any fish.”

”Wouldn’t you need me to help with pulling the net or something? We don’t have any boats to carry the net out far too.” Tayvon pointed out.

”True, we don’t have any boats, but I had already seen that this area isn’t very deep and mostly walkable. Of course, having one or two boats would be great, but we have to make do with what we have.” Lisa replied. ”As for you helping to pull, it’s not necessary. You are to lookout for any catfish that might be too big for this net to handle. I don’t want it to get ripped apart on our first try.”

”Alright then, I guess that makes sense.” Tayvon replied.

”What am I supposed to do?” Willis asked. ”If you’re pulling the net and Tayvon is on the dock, there doesn’t seem like there’s anything for me to do.”

”You actually have two jobs.” Lisa said holding up two fingers. ”Firstly, take as many fist sized rocks from the shore as you can and pile them up here on the dock. Then start throwing them into the center of the river further downstream. Then every other throw, shorten the distance you throw, so that the fish will be scared by the commotion and swim upstream to this spot here.”

”Wouldn’t that just scare them away instead?” Asked Willis scratching his head.

”It could, but chances are that they will go for the shallows instead.” Lisa replied. ”I’m not an expert fisherman, so if this doesn’t work then we will know for sure what we did wrong.”

”Ok, but what’s the second thing I am to do?” Willis asked.

”After I reach the deepest point of the river that I can wade, I’ll start corralling the fish and you’ll need to stop throwing rocks and make some three-pronged spears from any branches you can find.” Lisa answered as she started to pull out the net from its box. ”Like I said before, I don’t want anything big destroying the net. We don’t have any supplies to repair the nylon netting.”

”Got it. I can’t think of anything else to add.” Willis answered with a nod. Then turning towards the shore, he said, ”I’ll start getting those rocks ready.”

Lisa then turned to Sadie who had been listening in on the conversation and started to ask her something but was quickly cut short. ”Can you…?”

”Nope! This job sounds too messy and hard for me. I’ll just watch from the shade over there.” Sadie said pointing at a tree on the bank.

”If you insist.” Lisa replied giving a chuckle. After all Sadie was still very much a city girl.

Lisa then started unrolling the net slowly out from the box. At the net’s bottom edge there were half kilogram weights every fifteen centimeters to keep the net on the bottom. There were also foam floats on the top edge of the net, equally as spaced out as the weights, to keep the net on the surface and upright in the water. The net holes themselves were eight centimeters in height and four in length, allowing small fish to easily pass through while keeping only the largest and meatiest of fish in the net.

”One last thing, Tayvon.” Lisa said right before getting off the dock and into the river. ”Be sure to also check on the net as it comes out of the box. If it becomes twisted or caught somewhere, shout for me to stop and then fix it.”

”Understood.” Tayvon replied.

Lisa then took a small step forward and dropped into the dark waters below. As she expected, the river here only came up to her knees. The river bottom was mostly coarse sand and large, smooth, algae strewn rocks. Holding onto both the top and bottom ropes of the net, Lisa held them above the water and looked up at Willis.

”Go ahead and start throwing those rocks. I am set down here.” Lisa called.

Willis nodded and started chucking rocks out into the river to the right of where Lisa intended to wade. After a few moments, Lisa then started walking with careful swishing steps out into the river. The water was still cold and murky, but nothing to worry about.

As she continued walking, Lisa kept the net above water as best as she could. She wanted to be sure that the rocks wouldn’t tear the net as it dragged. Every rock she stumbled across she felt it through her shoe to see if it was safe. After feeling her sixth large rock, Lisa was satisfied that no rocks in the river would be harmful to the net. They all were nearly completely smoothed down by the years of flowing water.

Lisa dropped the lower portion of the net with a big splash as the weights dropped instantly to the bottom. By now she was twenty meters from the dock and the river had only reached up above her hips. ”Alright guys, how’s the net looking?”

”Looking good, boss!” Tayvon called back. ”Looks like only a third of the net has been pulled out.”

“That’s good! Willis, go ahead and get those spears ready.” Lisa shouted.

Willis waved back in reply and hoped off the dock and back onto shore. Lisa then started shuffling carefully towards the dam. She could feel the heavy straining of the net being dragged on the bottom and the pull of the current. However, this wasn’t enough to stop her in the slightest.

”Lisa, you have pulled out most of the net. Better turn to shore now!” Tayvon called to Lisa minutes later.

Lisa had already covered fifty meters and was starting to think the same thing until his call confirmed her thoughts. Fortunately, there were only two or three deep dips in the river bottom that might have caused the water to go over her head but stepping around them wasn’t that hard to do. The entire way the bottom was only sand and large rocks. She was truly lucky that there was no mud.

Turning, Lisa headed swiftly towards the shore. By now any fish that might be in the net would realize something was amiss and try swimming around the net. She had to reach the shore before they crossed in front of her and escape.

Lisa felt a bit tired for once as she reached the shoreline. Though her prosthetic arms and legs did most of the work, her shoulders and hips were very much still human, well mostly. Willis and Tayvon also joined up with her on the shore, three-pronged spears in hand.

”Alright, get ready to stab at anything that moves in the water.” Lisa instructed while still dripping wet. ”I’ll pull the net in slowly. If you do spear any fish, wacky it in the head with a rock to stun it. Then toss it high on the bank behind us.”

They both nodded and looked eagerly at the brown waters glistening in front of them. Lisa gently pulled the top and bottom ropes of the net in unison and piled it up behind her feet. Nothing happened for a long time. All three of them anxiously waited for what seemed like forever. Not a single fin appeared, nor was there any splash of water to be heard.

The bulging nets center was now only five meters from the river’s edge and Lisa couldn’t feel anything hitting the net either. She was about to announce their failure when she felt something faintly jiggle the net. It didn’t feel like a rock catching the weight either.

Her eyes lit up excitedly. ”Get ready boys! I feel something!”

Just as she called out, a Carp suddenly leaped out of the water. Its shimmering silver sides sparkled brightly in the afternoon sun light. Then crashing onto the rivers surface immediately caused a dozen other fish followed its example. Bass, Carp, Catfish, Brim, and other fish seemingly boiled the waters inside the net in their attempts to escape.

Tayvon and Willis laughed excitedly as they stabbed out at the glittering fish. Lisa had to hold back her own excitement to keep pulling in the net carefully. She really wanted to join them, but she had to do her part. Luckily, her metal prosthetic hands could handle all the ropes strain, otherwise her skin would have been shredded by now.

The net was nearly on shore when the largest of the fish were now in panic mode. Carp were clearly the best jumpers and many of them effortlessly sailed over the top of the net to escape. The two guys tried to stop their escape, but the fish were to many and fast. Bass and catfish were also able to do the same thing.

Seeing this, Lisa hurriedly pulled at the net to bring it in before they all escaped. She could hear the ropes straining at the weight of their catch. What looked like a hundred fish were now floundering desperately in the net as Lisa tugged at it towards the shore closest to the other end of the net on the dock.

”Quickly! Get that end undone, Tayvon.” Lisa shouted. ”Willis, help me hold the center of the net closed!”

Tossing their three-pronged spears aside, they hurried to help Lisa. In moments, the net was pulled entirely halfway up the shore. In it was an astoundingly large number of fish.

”I thought you guys said that there weren’t many fish in the river?” Lisa said with a huge grin on her face.

Willis shook his head in disbelief. ”I guess we were wrong!”

Tayvon let out a fit of laughter holding up a meter long catfish. ”What are we going to do with all these fish? We can’t eat them all!”

”Let’s have a huge fish fry and get as many people involved as we can.” Lisa said also picking up a sizable bass. ”This is a cause for celebration! Today many people are going to feel full! Hmm, and full people are willing to listen to proposals too.”