I Can Fish Up Everything!

WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~

The lure flew through the air again and again, tracing lines across the surface of the sea before returning.

Half an hour passed. For the first time since linking with the game, Gu Nan was once again experiencing the feeling of not getting a single bite.

’Looks like this spot is better for bottom fishing,’ he thought. ’Without using my daily guaranteed catch, I’m completely at the mercy of whether a fish happens to swim by.’

Gu Nan felt the chum he’d laid earlier should be taking effect. He was just about to switch to a different lure for bottom fishing when the satellite phone inside the cabin suddenly rang.

He was in a location without even a 2G signal, so anyone who wanted to reach him had to use the satellite phone.

He had apparently only given the number to Wang Junhe, and even then, it wasn’t him who offered it—the other guy had asked.

Gu Nan had also considered giving the number to An Jun. An Jun had a top-of-the-line phone with satellite capabilities, and he had specifically activated the service so he could be contacted anytime.

But he had been sidetracked by other things the last couple of days and forgot about it whenever he got busy.

Gu Nan went into the cabin and answered the phone. Wang Junhe’s voice immediately came through.

”Buddy, are you out on the water? I tried calling your phone, but there was no signal.”

”Yeah, I’m out fishing!”

”How’s the bite?”

”Don’t even ask. I just started and I’ve been dredging the bottom for half an hour with nothing to show for it!”

”Hehe, I know a great spot. I’m heading there now. Want to come along?”

”Your wife isn’t keeping you on a short leash today?”

”A grown man like me, being bossed around by a woman? You’re hilarious. I got a tip today that the bite is hot over at Big Rock Reef. Someone was having a frenzy with the rabbitfish over there, filled a whole cooler in just an hour.”

”They’re also catching lots of scorpionfish and black porgy, even some barred knifejaw. You in or not?”

”Oh yeah, I’m definitely going!”

”Alright, it’s at Big Rock Reef. Just pull it up on your GPS. I’m heading over now.”

After hanging up, Gu Nan started his fishing boat and headed over.

He wouldn’t have bothered for just an average bite. He had already chummed this spot, so the fishing here wouldn’t be too bad either.

But that place was having a frenzy. Even if it was just rabbitfish, a cooler full would be worth at least two or three thousand yuan, maybe more if it was a big cooler.

Gu Nan noted the coordinates of his current location and then set off.

This spot was pretty good too. Compared to the fishing spots with lots of fish but also lots of people, this one was more suitable for him to catch the fish of the Fengqi Coast.

’As for leveling up... it’s fine. A little delay won’t hurt. A chance for a fishing frenzy is much rarer.’

Gu Nan found Big Rock Reef on his GPS. It was quite close to the coast, only about six nautical miles from his position.

About twenty minutes later, at least twenty fishing boats appeared before him. On Big Rock Reef itself, a dozen or so anglers were rock fishing.

As soon as Gu Nan arrived near Big Rock Reef, his fish finder showed a dense mass of fish. The sheer number was staggering.

On some fish finders, a large school of fish shows up as a big red patch. Others display them as animated fish icons.

When there are a lot of fish, these little animated fish overlap, creating a dense cluster.

Of course, Wang Junhe’s visual fish finder was even more direct. A camera under the hull would pop out and show you everything.

Right now, there was a school of fish right under his boat. Gu Nan dropped anchor, killed the engine, and decided to start fishing here for the time being.

He came out with his fishing rod and immediately saw an angler on a small boat not far to his left pull up a whole string of scorpionfish—a full four of them.

Gu Nan had a realization. No wonder someone could fill a cooler in just one hour.

’Looks like this side is mainly scorpionfish. The other side probably has more rabbitfish.’

He unclipped the lure from his rod, took out his bait box from the tackle box, and pulled out five hooks.

Then he started tying a string rig. He also planned to target only scorpionfish, as they were slightly more popular than rabbitfish.

The smaller ones, around one or two liang, could sell for forty. The price would jump to sixty or seventy for ones weighing three or four liang.

As for a one-jin one... you couldn’t hope for that inshore. Besides, the ones that get that big are a different species.

The method was simple: a five-hook string rig with a heavy lead sinker, fished directly on the bottom.

You could use bristle worms for bait, but he didn’t have any. Antarctic krill would work just as well.

It seemed Wang Junhe hadn’t arrived yet. Gu Nan didn’t wait for him. He finished tying the string rig, baited the hooks with Antarctic krill, cast it into the water, and opened the bail to let the line out.

Once the baited hooks hit the bottom, he closed the bail and reeled the rig up slightly.

At the same time, he turned off the Fengqi Coast map to avoid catching a Rose Dragon or something similar in front of everyone.

Soon, he felt a signal through the rod. The tip began to twitch—a fish was on the hook.

Gu Nan waited a moment before turning the handle to reel in the line. Scorpionfish are very easy to catch; they bite deep, so there’s little fear of them getting away. Waiting a bit longer was to give more scorpionfish a chance to get hooked.

His luck was good. The first cast was a full house, and they were a decent size, all over two liang.

You had to be careful when unhooking scorpionfish and rabbitfish. It was best to wear gloves rather than use your bare hands.

If you were careless and got poked, the feeling was indescribable. You’d be guaranteed to never want it to happen again in your life.

After two more casts that brought up seven scorpionfish and one rabbitfish, Wang Junhe finally arrived, with Guo Xiao on deck with him.

”Ah Nan, how’s the bite?”

”It’s on fire! Get your lines in, they’re biting like crazy.”

Having a boat versus not having one really was a world of difference. With a boat, you could get to some fantastic fishing spots, and the fishing was just incredible.

Without a boat, stuck on the shore, whether you caught anything was entirely up to fate.

Inside his cabin, Wang Junhe also saw the situation on his fish finder. He quickly found a spot nearby, stopped the boat, and started fishing. Today at Big Rock Reef was a feast for anglers; you don’t get opportunities this good every day.

The two of them had just taken out their rods when they saw Gu Nan lift five fish out of the water on a single line.

Holy cow, five scorpionfish. Not bad luck.

They then started tying their rigs, but when they glanced over again a moment later, they couldn’t stay calm.

Another three scorpionfish plus two rabbitfish. Did it have to be this insane? They immediately sped up.

’A bit of a mistake. We should’ve just bought a few pre-tied string rigs from the tackle shop. Now we have to tie them ourselves and waste time.’

Once they tied their rigs and started fishing, and strings of scorpionfish were continuously being pulled up, both of them were beaming. Now *this* was what awesome fishing felt like!

The two men, often kept in check by their wives, couldn’t just go out to sea whenever they wanted. So, most of the time, they could only mess around on the shore. Nothing compared to the thrill of fishing out at sea.

But they only had ten hours a week for sea fishing. So, apart from special occasions when they took their wives and kids out, they usually only went out as a group when they got a hot tip.

Of course, they could break this rule, but managing a family wasn’t so easy.

If an angler spent every day out fishing and neglecting his duties, he’d most likely end up either cuckolded by the guy next door or with his wife leaving him and his family falling apart.

For Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao, agreeing to these terms was, in a way, a small part of their interaction with their wives.

The window for an explosive bite usually doesn’t last long. As the sun began to set and the tide receded into a calm period, the feeding frenzy came to a complete end.

The fish either hid and stopped feeding or dispersed with the tide, and the bite was no longer as good.

The livewell on Gu Nan’s boat was packed with fish. Eighty percent were scorpionfish, about fifteen percent were rabbitfish, and the rest were black porgy, Yellowfin Gidai, and barred knifejaw.

There were, of course, some worthless ones, but they had all been thrown back.

As the bite slowed, many of the anglers left. At its peak, there had been nearly thirty boats, but now, including his, only six remained. Not every angler stays to fish all through the night.

Just then, Wang Junhe steered his boat closer.

”Ah Nan, when are you heading back?”

Gu Nan answered truthfully, ”I’m planning to spend the night out here. I’m not going back.”

Hearing this, Guo Xiao ribbed him, ”Did you get it mixed up? You’re a seafood shop owner, not a pro fisherman. Do you have to go this hard?”

”Fish I catch myself have a low cost, so the profit is higher!”

”Alright then, you keep at it. We’re going to head back. Today was great. We caught so many scorpionfish, we’ll make some fish soup tonight.”

Wang Junhe drove his boat away. Gu Nan rubbed his stomach. He wasn’t hungry yet, but he probably would be by the time he finished making dinner.

He took out his cooking gear and set it on the deck. He picked out three scorpionfish of about two liang each, a half-jin rabbitfish, and the smallest barred knifejaw, which was only about seven liang.

He took a knife and cleaned the fish first, then took out some pork belly he’d bought that afternoon, washed and sliced it, and lit the stove to render the fat in a pot...

Soon, a pot of fish soup was ready. He turned off the gas. You didn’t need to keep the flame on in the middle of summer; it would make the soup too hot to eat.

He first got out a bowl and chopsticks, ladled out some soup, and scooped up a scorpionfish to taste.

He had already cooked the noodles and set them aside. He would add them after eating some of the fish to keep them from getting soggy and soaking up all the broth.

Holding the bowl, he ate while admiring the sunset. A rookie to life at sea, he still very much enjoyed these sights.

His view ahead was blocked by Big Rock Reef, and by now, the reef itself was empty of people.

To his left, right, and rear, only two fishing boats remained, hundreds of meters apart. They couldn’t really see what was happening on his boat. It seemed another boat had left a little while ago.

Gu Nan, too, could only see that they were fishing, but couldn’t make out what kind of fish they were catching.

By the time he finished the pot of fish soup and noodles, the sky had grown completely dark.

The three remaining fishing boats all turned on their lights. The deep night was incomparably quieter than the day.

After a satisfied burp, Gu Nan picked up his rod to do a little fishing to help digest his meal.

He started by laying some chum, then activated the Fengqi Coast map. He swapped out the string rig, but he took off the whole rig intact to save himself the trouble of re-tying it later if he needed it.

This time, Gu Nan chose a jigging lure to bounce off the bottom and fish for the groupers of the Fengqi Coast.

The lure had just hit the bottom and he’d tapped it a few times when, not even ten-odd seconds later, a powerful tug hit his line.

Gu Nan glanced in surprise at his remaining uses of ”daily guaranteed catch.” The number hadn’t gone down. ’What’s going on?!’

But an angler’s instinct took over, and he still managed to raise the rod in time to set the hook.

The fish’s initial pull was fierce, but the subsequent struggle was just so-so. It was a pretty decent size, though.

Of course, for Gu Nan, ”pretty decent” meant over five jin.

For many anglers, anything over two jin was a big fish.

He quickly turned the handle, retrieving a few meters of line, then played the fish for a bit. It quickly ran out of energy.

When he lifted it up, he was in for a big surprise—it was a Tiger Stripes!

It looked to be about six or seven jin. A catch like this was extremely rare in today’s inshore waters.

Gu Nan immediately took out his phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao. Of course, he couldn’t forget the group chat.

Because he was close to shore here, his phone had a signal, though it wasn’t great and would occasionally cut out.

Just then, Wang Junhe, who had just sat down at the dinner table to eat, picked up his phone. He took one look and cursed, ”Holy shit! I just got home and you’re already catching big fish?”