I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 93: Chapter 89: New Fishing Spot, All-Night Battle

He just hadn’t expected a fish to dive for cover, so he wasn’t wearing them.

The seafloor was covered in reefs, making it a poor spot for playing a fish. Even though the fish was struggling powerfully, Gu Nan held the reel handle tightly in a stalemate.

Whenever it tried to bolt, he would jerk the rod sharply to stun it.

After a few jerks, the fish appeared on the surface.

Its back was a dark purple, and its belly was reddish with a hint of orange. It was a mangrove red snapper, the kind that liked to hide among the reefs, also known as a Red Friend Fish to fellow anglers.

The price wasn’t high—only about sixty yuan a catty during the current fishing ban. But this one was quite large, probably no less than five catties, so the price could be a bit higher.

Gu Nan cranked the reel handle, quickly pulling the fish to the shore, then grabbed his landing net and reached for it.

The fish hadn’t exhausted its energy and was still thrashing about. He aimed the net at its head several times, but it dodged every attempt.

Gu Nan finally set the net down, reeled the line in closer, and grabbed the fish gripper he had beside him. He walked over and, catching the fish off guard, precisely clamped its upper lip.

He lifted the fish out of the water. It was still thrashing its tail forcefully, splashing water all over his sun shirt.

’Finally got this little guy.’ Gu Nan glanced at the number on the fish gripper’s scale, then tossed the fish into the livewell and turned on the aerator.

Six-point-two catties. At eighty yuan a catty, it was worth over five hundred yuan.

That was only because of the fishing ban. Once the season opened, people would have more options, and it would be hard for the price to go up.

Having caught a big one, Gu Nan cast his line again, hoping to find another sizable fish.

Instead, after waiting a short while, he ended up catching several rabbitfish, also known as stinky-guts fish.

As the name implied, their guts stank, but the meat was incredibly delicious.

The price wasn’t high either. For fish between half a catty and one catty, the unit price was about thirty yuan. Larger ones over a catty could sell for forty or fifty.

It was rare to find one over three catties along the coast. Those could be eaten as sashimi, and their price would skyrocket.

After fishing for a little longer, the sun had already climbed high into the sky.

A boat was actually approaching the island. Judging by the clothes of the two men on board, they looked like fellow anglers.

Sure enough, after a short wait, the two men docked and came ashore.

They carried their gear off the boat, and one of them walked right over to Gu Nan. ”Hey brother, caught much?”

”Not much. I just got here not long ago.” Although surprised they were only just arriving, Gu Nan opened the lid of his livewell to let him have a look.

The angler immediately let out a classic curse. ”Holy shit! That’s a huge Red Friend Fish! And plenty of Sea Bass, rabbitfish, and black porgy too. Brother, you must’ve gotten here first thing in the morning, right?”

”Actually, it hasn’t even been an hour.” Gu Nan pulled out his phone and checked. Catching seven fish in over forty minutes was just average for him now.

’But it seems I haven’t sent a picture to the group chat today.’ So he aimed his phone at the fish in the livewell, snapped a photo, and sent it to the group.

The group chat, which had been relatively quiet in the early morning, instantly came alive. A few acquaintances saw who posted the photo and were speechless. ’It’s this kid again.’

’Why can’t he just be a good seafood shop owner instead of competing for business with us anglers every day?’

Next, a crowd of people started @’ing him, asking for the fishing spot. Gu Nan ignored all of them, only replying to messages from Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao.

But they were busy with work today and couldn’t come out to fish.

The angler across from him looked at his phone with a strange expression. ”Well, I’ll be damned. So you’re the guy who’s been showing off his catch every now and then, brother.”

”Uh, you’re in the group too?”

”Of course. So does that mean you caught all your previous fish here too?”

Gu Nan shook his head decisively. He didn’t want this reef island to become overcrowded, so he quickly gave up a spot he didn’t plan on visiting again.

”Nah, that was at the piers of Lingdou Bridge. I heard someone caught a Meter-Level Sea Bass and a nearly ten-catty striped beakfish over there. That’s where I caught my green grouper before.”

The angler’s face lit up with understanding. ”Oh, so it was over there. Under the bridge piers, that makes sense. I’ve caught a lot of fish there before. The haul was pretty good.”

Gu Nan nodded repeatedly. ”Yeah, it’s a hassle for me to get there without a boat. It costs fifty yuan each time, and I have to be back before eleven at night.”

”And if you pick a pier where the bite is bad, you’re just stuck. You have to pay again to move to another spot.”

”It’s great that you guys have a boat. You can switch spots anytime. Lingdou Bridge has so many piers, you’re bound to find one where the fish are biting.”

Hearing this, the angler thought it made a lot of sense.

’We’ll check out the fishing here today. If it’s just so-so, we’ll go there in the future.’

Having successfully misled the anglers, Gu Nan returned to the shore and continued fishing.

This time, however, there were two other anglers fishing not far from him. Fortunately, he could now turn off the map, so it wasn’t a problem.

However, it was already 9:30 AM. As the temperature rose, the fish all hid in the cool depths of the water.

Plus, since it wasn’t high or low tide, the bite became extremely poor.

Forget the two newcomers, who hadn’t caught anything; even Gu Nan wasn’t getting any bites anymore.

Gu Nan wasn’t too bothered. Daytime wasn’t his prime fishing time anyway.

He didn’t plan on fishing in the afternoon at all. He intended to get a good sleep to build up his Spirit for an all-nighter.

After discovering the lack of fish, the two anglers, seemingly influenced by Gu Nan’s earlier suggestion, discussed it and decided to head over to the bridge piers to fish.

Even with the afternoon heat, there would still be fish biting under the bridge.

Seeing them leave, Gu Nan reeled in his rod and returned to his tent.

He dragged the tent into the shade cast by a few large reefs, turned on the small fan he had bought, and ate lunch.

After downing three boxes of mediocre self-heating rice, he got up and walked around to digest, brought back his livewell aerator and fishing rod, and then settled down for a nap.

But after lying down for a while, Gu Nan couldn’t stand the stuffy heat and rushed out. Even in the shade, the weather was hot and incredibly humid.

He decided to take the small cooling mat from inside and spread it directly on the sand in the shade. Lying down like this was much more comfortable.

Although it was bright, he still managed to drift off into a hazy sleep.

An unknown amount of time passed. Gu Nan had a nightmare in which a great fire fell from the sky, burning and burning right above his head, and he couldn’t put it out no matter what he did...

The next moment, his eyes snapped open.

’Oh great.’ The sun was beating directly on his head. No wonder he’d dreamed of a fire from the sky burning him.

Gu Nan quickly got up and moved to a different spot, shaking his head to cool his hair down.

He checked the time. It was only 2:00 PM, the hottest part of the day.

Still groggy from his nap, Gu Nan decided to lie back down and play some Honor of Kings on his phone.

He hadn’t played since binding it to his account. This time, he went on a five-game losing streak and was reported so many times that his rating dropped too low for him to play ranked matches.

He glanced at the time—it was almost 4:00 PM. It was about time to start fishing again.

Gu Nan went back to the east side to fish, as the sun was now shining from the west and was incredibly glaring.

He didn’t activate the Fengqi Coast map. It wasn’t time yet. Once it got dark, he could officially start ”stocking up.”

He chummed the water, flicked his rod, and started fishing.

The chum hadn’t taken effect yet, and the fishing wasn’t as good as in the morning. It took a long while to catch just one fish, and it was a tilapia that nobody really ate.

He fished until around 5:00 PM, when the boat captain who had dropped him off suddenly sent him a message.

He said he was back at the docks and asked if Gu Nan needed anything.

Gu Nan didn’t hold back. He replied on his phone: ”In that case, could you help me order some maoxuewang, fish with pickled greens, and stir-fried pork intestines? And five bowls of rice.”

The boat captain was shocked when he saw the message. ”How many people are you feeding over there?”

”Just me. I’ve got a big appetite, and I’ll save some for a midnight snack. The self-heating rice tastes awful.”

’So that’s how it is.’

Seeing that he would save some for a midnight snack, the boat captain understood.

He was quick, delivering the food to the reef island around 5:40 PM.

Gu Nan paid him, set the food down next to the livewell, and went back to fishing.

The tide was starting to come in, and the bite was on fire. He had to seize this opportunity to fish.

He gently cast his line, and it landed right in the chummed spot.

Thanks to the current, the Antarctic krill had been carried a certain distance, attracting a lot of marine life.

His baited hook had just hit the water when a large fish noticed it.

It had been drawn in by the Antarctic krill and happened to spot the splash of the lure hitting the water. With a flick of its tail, it immediately rushed over and swallowed the lure in one gulp.

Gu Nan saw the float bob a few times before being pulled completely under. He knew he had a bite.

”SWISH!”

He yanked the rod tip up sharply, and it made a wonderful sound as it cut through the air.

Gripping the rod, Gu Nan instantly felt a powerful pull. ’This feels even stronger than the Red Friend Fish from this morning.’