I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 246: Chapter 153: First Stop, the Oil Rig

Gu Nan rushed back to his rental to pack his bags, grabbed his fishing rods from his boat, and then drove to the docks.

He only brought three rods, figuring he would probably let Yi Chen use the electric one.

When he got out of his car at the docks, Gu Nan immediately spotted the large boat, its engine already running.

To his surprise, it was a massive fishing boat, not the yacht he had been expecting.

”Pretty nice boat, isn’t it?” Guo Xiao asked smugly after the two had carried their luggage aboard.

He had rented it specially. His original plan was just to borrow a boat.

But then he remembered that the fishing spots they were headed to were known for big catches, and a yacht wouldn’t have a refrigerated hold to store them. So, he ended up switching to a thirty-meter luxury fishing boat.

The boat’s interior was luxurious, with more than enough rooms for everyone.

There was plenty of deck space for fishing, but most importantly, it had a refrigerated hold. It could fit thirty or forty three-meter-long fish, and even more if they were stacked. It was more than enough space.

The boat had three decks. They were staying on the top deck, where there were five rooms to choose from.

The main deck housed the kitchen, dining room, and an entertainment room. The lower deck was all cabins for the chef and the crew.

Guo Xiao had hired a head chef, three assistant chefs, and even four cleaning ladies to keep the place tidy.

’Great boat, great company,’ Gu Nan thought. ’This is the life. I’ll have to find more ways to coax them out to sea like this in the future.’

He then introduced Yi Chen to Guo Xiao’s wife, Cheng Jing, and also to Su Qing.

After that, they took their luggage to the upper deck and picked out their rooms.

Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao were sharing rooms with their wives, but Gu Nan and Yi Chen hadn’t reached that stage in their relationship yet.

Not that Gu Nan was in any rush. They’d only been dating for a few days, and after he’d tried to get a little handsy in the cafeteria, Yi Chen hadn’t let him kiss her for ages. ’I’ve still got a long way to go!’

After getting his things settled, he returned to the deck and saw a delivery crew hauling box after box of bait into the refrigerated hold.

Seeing the sheer scale of the operation, Gu Nan went over to Wang Junhe and asked, ”Brother Wang, why so much bait? Where are you guys planning to fish this time?”

Wang Junhe replied, ”We’re hitting three spots. First is a deep-sea oil rig. Lots of big fish out there, plenty of tuna too. After that, we’re going to the Great Atoll and then an uninhabited island chain.”

”That many places?” Gu Nan was surprised. ”Is three days enough?”

He didn’t know where the uninhabited islands were, but he knew of the oil rig and the Great Atoll.

The oil rig was relatively close, about one hundred twenty nautical miles offshore, and was one of the best deep-sea fishing spots.

He’d heard the diving instructor at his club mention that he sometimes took people out there for spearfishing.

It didn’t take long to get there by speedboat; you could leave in the morning and be back by the afternoon.

Even on a large fishing boat like this one, it would probably only take seven or eight hours to arrive.

The Great Atoll was even farther, more than one hundred eighty nautical miles from shore, already bordering on international waters.

In the past, foreign fishing vessels would often sneak over to fish, but now, with the nation’s strengthened military, naval patrols were a common sight.

Add to that the hard-nosed attitude of the local deep-sea fishermen, who wouldn’t hesitate to ram any intruders, and you basically never saw foreign boats sneaking in anymore.

’There’s no way three days is enough for all that!’

”Who cares about that? We’ll come back when we’ve had our fun!” Three days definitely wasn’t enough; it would be too rushed. Since they were already going out to sea, they might as well stay until they were satisfied.

With his wife on board this time, Wang Junhe wasn’t worried about any ’domestic disputes’ when he got home.

Hearing this, Gu Nan had no choice but to pull out his phone and text An Jun to explain the situation, promising to treat him to a feast upon his return.

Fortunately, the boat was equipped with a small mobile base station, so they would have internet access even in the deep sea, and he would still be reachable.

It took the delivery crew a while to finish their work. In total, they hauled about fifty boxes of bait. With each box weighing twenty jin, it came out to a thousand jin—well over eleven hundred pounds.

When fishing for tuna, it was normal to use dozens or even hundreds of pounds of fish for chumming at once. A single fishing position might go through that much bait in one go.

Tuna often lurk in the mid to lower water columns, so you need to create a long chum slick to lure them over.

It was just like when Gu Nan had fished for swordfish—a very expensive endeavor.

Luckily, the bait was just cheap, sea-caught frozen mackerel.

Guo Xiao had also prepared some live bait—farmed shrimp kept in a livewell—but not much, only about twenty-two pounds worth.

They would generally start with artificial lures, only switching to mackerel or live shrimp if the lures weren’t working.

There was also Antarctica shrimp. This was placed in bait cages for deep-sea fishing and was an absolute essential for any trip, even more important than the mackerel.

Once everything was ready, the captain, who had been waiting on the bridge, got the word. He started the fishing boat’s engines to warm them up, preparing for departure.

BWOOONK~

About ten minutes later, the fishing boat slowly pulled away from the docks and headed for the open sea.

Yi Chen stood at the bow, feeling the wind in her hair. This was her second time out at sea, but it felt completely different from the first.

Her waist-length hair billowed in the wind, a few strands carrying a faint, fragrant scent as they brushed across Gu Nan’s cheek.

There wasn’t much of a view in the dark, however. After standing with her for a while, he said, ”Why don’t we head into the lounge? It’s a good chance for you to get to know the other ladies better.”

”Mm-hmm.” Yi Chen nodded. She had just wanted to come out to see the ocean and feel the breeze.

Since there wasn’t much to look at out here, she agreed it was probably better to go back inside.

They had departed at eight in the evening and were expected to reach their destination a little after four in the morning.

The three men chatted for a bit and agreed to wake up around four to start fishing, so they all turned in early to get some sleep.