I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 254: Chapter 157: Satisfying the Craving, Gu Nan’s Big Haul (Part 2)

”Quick, take over! I can’t hold on anymore!”

”...”

Wang Junhe sighed helplessly and took the fishing rod from him.

The moment he had a firm grip on the rod, a look of surprise flashed across his face. ”Holy shit, it’s been running for so long and it’s still this strong?”

He had just been watching Guo Xiao fight it. After the initial run, Guo Xiao had pulled and tugged on the line, which should have drained a lot of the fish’s stamina.

But now that he had taken over, the immense force was so great that he could barely move the rod.

After handing over the rod, Guo Xiao instantly felt a wave of relief. ”This fish is a real monster to catch. I used to think it looked so easy when Ah Nan was reeling in big ones, but you don’t realize how hard it is until you try it yourself.”

He’d always thought he could handle a fish over 220 pounds, but now it seemed he had somewhat overestimated himself.

Unless he braced the rod in a holder, he figured the biggest fish he could land by himself would be around 110 pounds.

”Everyone’s built differently. You’ve seen that guy’s muscles when he’s fishing—he’s incredibly strong! Plus, he’s young and has great stamina. How are we supposed to compete with that!” Wang Junhe, holding the rod, was having a relatively easier time and could still talk.

Having personally battled such a large fish, Guo Xiao couldn’t agree more with his words.

After resting for a bit, he ran over to the other side to watch the excitement.

Gu Nan was currently in the exact state Wang Junhe had described: muscles taut, looking incredibly powerful.

In reality, he was suffering in silence. To land the fish quickly, he had been holding the rod in his hands the entire time, and it had already drained a fair amount of his stamina.

He had thought the biggest thing he’d hook here would be a large GT or something similar, but the sudden force nearly threw out his back.

This one had a pull far exceeding the GT from before. Its swift swimming style was very similar to the Dog-toothed Tuna he’d caught in the morning, feeling slightly different from a marlin or a swordfish.

The swordfish from the competition, for example, was like a T-Rex, whereas this fish, by comparison, was more on the level of a velociraptor.

The big GT was, at best, a sub-adult dragonet—not even worth mentioning.

Guo Xiao’s fishing rod was groaning under the strain, CREAKING as if it might snap at any moment.

’Catching a big fish isn’t easy,’ Gu Nan worried. ’The line, the rod... please don’t let anything break.’

Seeing Guo Xiao approach, Gu Nan, who was bracing the rod and letting the fish run, quickly asked, ”Brother Guo, is this rod of yours any good? How many pounds can it handle?”

”Don’t worry. It might feel light, but this thing was expensive. It’s no worse than your rod!”

Guo Xiao, who had used Gu Nan’s rod before, could tell the quality of a rod just by its feel.

’Then again, Gu Nan has a bit of money now, so buying a top-tier rod wouldn’t be a problem. I’ve always been really curious about what brand his rod is, though.’

Hearing that the rod was fine, Gu Nan breathed a sigh of relief. The line should be fine too; he had checked it when he first picked up the rod. It was a twelve-strand Dyneema braid with a steel leader, more than enough to handle a tuna over 550 pounds.

Since the gear was solid, he decided to stop holding back. Gritting his teeth, he heaved the rod upward, veins bulging on his arms.

Having caught who knows how many big fish, Gu Nan felt as if he had already gotten used to their powerful surges.

He lifted the rod, then grabbed the handle to interrupt the fish’s rhythm. The pressure instantly increased, so he didn’t hold it for long, letting go after about ten seconds.

Sure enough, his maneuver caused the fish’s speed to drop suddenly. Now it would have to accelerate again, which would cost it extra stamina.

The fish had only just been hooked, so Gu Nan had no intention of trying to brute-force it in yet.

Guo Xiao watched for a while before heading back to Wang Junhe’s side. The big GT he’d handed off was his true love, after all.

The fishing boat was now under a layer of dark clouds, shielded from the sun, which was good news for the anglers.

But after just a short while, Gu Nan was still soaked in sweat. It poured from his head as if he’d been caught in a downpour.

Feeling a bead of sweat trickle down toward his eye, he instinctively squinted, afraid of the sting if it got in.

But just then, a fragrant breeze wafted over. The next moment, Yi Chen was there, dabbing the sweat from his head with a clean towel.

Looking at the pretty face smiling at him, a corner of Gu Nan’s mouth curled up. He was once again reminded of the perks of having a girlfriend.

He thought back to his predicament while fishing for the marlin in India; it was a world of difference compared to now.

Draining the fish’s stamina is the most basic rule of big game fishing.

About twenty minutes later, the bent rod relaxed slightly. Gu Nan could clearly feel the fish was getting tired; it was slowing down, seemingly preparing to rest.

’This fish is better than a GT,’ he thought. ’At least it knows to rest when it’s tired.’

But Gu Nan wasn’t about to let it have its way. He immediately yanked the rod hard, setting the hook again, then rapidly cranked the handle to reel in the line.

He pumped the rod with his core, reeled, pumped, and reeled.

The great fish in the distance was pulled dizzy and disoriented. It took a moment to recover before the stimulus drove it to make another run.

But this time, Gu Nan wouldn’t let it. He held the rod tight and clamped down on the handle, refusing to let it run.

The big fish found it couldn’t pull against this force, so it went wild, thrashing its head back and forth trying to shake the hook.

The line swayed wildly. Gritting his teeth, Gu Nan yanked the rod hard again, driving the hook deeper into the fish’s lip.

Unfortunately, the great fish was not to be underestimated. It struggled madly, completely disregarding that it would quickly exhaust itself by wasting so much energy, as if it had been thoroughly enraged by Gu Nan.

With this burst of power, it managed to forcefully pull out nearly three hundred more meters of line.

Gu Nan was at his wit’s end with the fish. He had no choice but to hug the rod tightly and wait for it to quiet down.

Luckily, his 5% recovery speed was constantly in effect, allowing him to regain a good deal of stamina. So, once he felt the fish had vented its anger, he went back to what he was doing before, putting pressure on it.

Another ten-plus minutes passed. All in all, an hour had gone by, and the big fish was finally exhausted.

’This is what I get for using Guo Xiao’s rod. I have to rely purely on my own strength. If this were my own rod, it wouldn’t be nearly this much work.’

But for all his effort, he had managed to keep the distance to the fish at around five hundred meters.

Gu Nan took advantage of the fish’s pause to pump the rod and crank the handle, reeling in line. He had to hurry; the fish was only resting temporarily, it wasn’t helpless yet.

Without his special line and lure to drain its stamina, the fish would struggle again every time Gu Nan pulled it in a certain distance. It was incredibly time-consuming.

”Haha, it’s coming up! It’s coming up!” Just then, Guo Xiao’s excited voice came from behind him.

After he had rested enough, he’d snatched the rod back from Wang Junhe. With the two of them taking turns fighting the fish, the difficulty was more than halved.

And so, while Gu Nan was still fighting his own big fish, they had successfully brought theirs to the side of the boat.

He glanced back and saw two crewmen working together, quickly hoisting a GT the size of a door panel onto the deck with a crane.

The visual impact was immense. Catching a fish like that brought joy, even if it wasn’t worth much money.

Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao took turns posing with the fish for photos, sharing their joy. It was their time to show off again.

Gu Nan smiled and turned back to focus on his own fish. Soon, another half an hour had passed, and the faint shape of a fish appeared swimming in the water before him.

From its silhouette, it looked a lot like a tuna.

’From this, one could also see the difference between the two rods. If he were using the rod he’d bought in the game, the fish would usually be lying sideways on the surface by now, completely drained of stamina and recovering extremely slowly.’

But a fish brought in with a normal rod, even an exhausted one, could still swim a little.

Gu Nan lifted the rod high and continued reeling. A massive yellowfin tuna finally broke the surface.

”Wow, a tuna!” Yi Chen’s eyes widened. She recognized it was a tuna, she just didn’t know which species.

”Hehe, not bad luck. All that time wasn’t for nothing.” Gu Nan was happy too. This yellowfin tuna was huge, appearing to be about the same length as the GT, probably around 1.7 meters long.

Based on the feel of the fight, it was probably around 330 pounds.

A crewman was already standing by with a gaff. Sighting the fish’s direction of movement, he quickly thrust the gaff out to hook it, but unfortunately, he missed on the first try.

Gu Nan pulled hard on the rod, managing to hold the fish steady.

The crewman succeeded on his third try, the gaff sinking into the fish just in front of its pectoral fin.