Chapter 240 Retracting the Line

Father Ye was a native of the seaside. He lived to be about 50 years old. He had heard of some local legends. Although he had never seen it, he could figure it out.

This horse-stepping hairtail fish is known as the earthquake fish!

It's not hairtail!

Most people may mistakenly think that oarfish is a huge hairtail when they see it. In fact, although oarfish and hairtail have similar appearances, they are actually completely unrelated.

Officially, it is said that the oarfish belongs to the order Lunariformes, while the hairtail fish belongs to the order Perciformes.

In addition to the physical differences, there are also differences in their appearance.

The hairtail fish is "wrapped in silver" and looks quite plain.

The oarfish is much more beautiful. In addition to its "silver coating", there is also a beautiful "lace" - its eye-catching and beautiful red fins.

The long fins located on the head resemble a dazzling red crown, hence the name "oarfish".

"Relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to drink water", fishermen living by the sea naturally make a living by fishing.

For fishermen, finding big fish is a joyful thing, because it means that their labor has been richly rewarded.

But what they found was oarfish...

At this time, Father Ye had some inexplicable thoughts of fear in his heart.

Because according to folklore, oarfish are "devil messengers" who can bring earthquakes.

Seeing that his father's expression was constantly changing, Ye Yaodong couldn't help patting his shoulder and comforting him: "I've always heard of earthquakes in the Bay. We only occasionally experience aftershocks here. Maybe this fish came from the Bay." The people in the Gulf were so shaken that they fled here in a panic. It’s possible that the legend is false.”

Although he thought it was probably true, because he had seen the news in his previous life. Oarfish were found on the beach, and earthquakes often occurred soon after.

It’s because I’ve never encountered one before. When I saw the “white ribbon” on the sea, I didn’t associate it with the oarfish.

Father Ye's frown relaxed slightly. It was true that there were more earthquakes in Wanwan, and they were only occasionally affected here.

"Then take this fish back?"

"Definitely! Such a big oarfish is so rare. It doesn't mean that if we don't catch it, there won't be earthquakes. It ran to the beach on its own initiative and ran aground."

This is not a sunfish, nothing to avoid. I just heard that it has a legendary early warning function.

"Then take it to the boat first."

The father and son hugged one by the head and the other by the tail, but found that it didn't work. It was too long. When it was lifted like this, the middle section was still hanging on the beach.

The two of them had no choice but to hold the head one while the other held the middle part and lowered it a little, letting the tail hang on the beach, and then carried it to the boat.

"Grass... this one is several meters long and weighs over a hundred kilograms. I won't let Ah Cai take it. Send it to the town dock to see if there is a boss who knows the goods and offers a high price."

"Well, okay. By the way, I'd like to warn everyone that there might be an earthquake coming."

After lifting this huge oarfish onto the boat, it took up half of the boat.

"This one is four or five meters long..." Father Ye couldn't help but smile again on his face when he saw such a long emperor's belt.

"We haven't seen this fish here before, have we?"

"No, you and I have lived for so many years, and I have only heard of this legend. I thought it was just a legend. I didn't expect that there really is an oarfish. No one in the village may have heard of an oarfish."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but wonder, how did the third child know about the oarfish? This fish is so rare that most people have never even heard of it.

"How do you know about oarfish?"

He didn't react at first and thought it was a giant hairtail. It was only after he pointed it out that the memory of the oarfish came out of his mind.

Ye Yaodong was holding out his palm to make gestures on the head of the oarfish with a cheerful face. Its eye sockets were almost as big as his fist. When he heard his father's question, he said nonchalantly: "Read it from an old newspaper." I got a piece of news and you know."

"Old newspapers? Who are you bluffing?" Father Ye glanced at him angrily, "I only went to the second grade in total. I skipped classes every day. I got headaches and stomachaches when the exam came. I didn't even know a few of your words." If I can still read the newspaper, I can go to heaven..."

"No! Dad, you are not old, why do you need to curse yourself..."

Father Ye immediately glared, "Why are you talking?"

Ye Yaodong said with a playful smile: "I am studious and hard-working recently. I am taking literacy classes. I am planning to go to Tsinghua and Peking University to study for a few more days to honor my ancestors..."

Father Ye felt surprised when he heard the first half of his sentence, but he didn't expect the second half. He just wanted to ugh~

"You think you haven't grown up yet?"

"I heard that there are classes that special bosses can take. No, that's called further training..."

"Okay, I'll wait. When the time comes, I'll set off firecrackers for you and place them at your home from the entrance of the village. Then I'll hold a ancestral ceremony for you and open eighteen tables for you."

"Hey, keep a low profile. It's better if our own people know about it. There's no need to open eighteen tables. It's quite a waste of money. It's not easy for us to make some money..."

Father Ye gave him a disgusted look and shook his head. He actually thought that the third child had grown up before. There was no one else in the village who could talk about cheating.

Ye Yaodong laughed and boasted to his father for a while before untying the rope, intending to reel in the longline for fishing. However, when he was untying the rope, he saw various shellfish densely packed on the rocks on the shore, and his hands suddenly felt itchy. .

I've seen it before, but my attention was always on the oarfish.

Speaking of which, he hasn't been fishing for sea food in a long time. There were starfish infestation some time ago, and there will be no shellfish on the small islands along the coast for a long time. If you want to fish for sea food, you have to go to farther seas to look for them.

Today this island is quite suitable. The terrain is high, there is a small beach exposed even if there is no big tide, and the boat can be parked at the high water level on the side.

But today they still had work to do, the longline had not yet been confiscated, and they had to trawl the net to make money. There was no time to pry these shellfish, so he could only unfortunately untie the rope and sail the boat.

"Dad, in a few days, fifteen will bring my mother and little sister over to go fishing. Let's just use this island. The terrain is high. After the tide passes, more of the beach will be exposed."

"Well, okay, go back and talk to your mother. She has always wanted to come. She happens to be idle at home and can't make much money online." Father Ye had seen it before.

Now the boat is given to the eldest brother and the second child. Although the third child often keeps fish to share with them, there is less drying of shrimps and other dried products. They are all used as bait. If you can dry some shellfish, leave them slowly. It’s not bad to eat either.

After Ye Yaodong memorized the approximate location of the island, he sailed the boat away from the island and headed towards the sea area where long lines were released.

Now the sky is clear and the sea is calm. It is impossible for them to return immediately.

Father Ye had been squatting next to the oarfish and watching with great interest. He also imitated him in gesturing its length with his hands, and touched its tassels from time to time. He muttered something there, but he was too far away. He couldn't hear anything, but could only see his father's mouth opening and closing with an expression of wonder.

As he sailed the boat, he thought about it. There had never been a tsunami in his previous life. There had been a few earthquakes affected by the bay, but he couldn't remember if they happened this year. The interval was too long.

There was definitely no one that had a big impact, otherwise he would definitely remember it.

It is now November in the Gregorian calendar, and there is no guarantee that there will be an earthquake in the Gulf or the Gulf Strait in the near future.

When I go back, I wish I had been more alert at night these past few days.

His mind kept wandering, and he didn't stop thinking until the boat reached the fishing point where the hook was released.

Father Ye also stood up to help, no longer staring at the oarfish.

The father and son are now very skilled in longline fishing. A whole basin of bait has been cut and placed there, and the bait can be hung directly while collecting fish.

There will be less fish products in autumn and winter, and some products are more seasonal.

The season for black mullet has really come recently. He went through the 1,000 hooks and found that half of the baskets were black mullet, half were toads, and half of the baskets were black sea bream, seabass and flounder. With the ray.

Hmm... Toad fish are also very abundant during this time of autumn and winter.

We also caught five or six Niu Gang Piao, but their size shrunk by half and were not as big as the ones caught at night. They weighed about ten kilograms, so this small fish was not very valuable.

With only the last few hooks left, Ye Yaodong collected the line in an orderly manner, while Ye's father continued to cut the bait. 100 kilograms of small fish and 20 kilograms of small shrimps were only enough to hang the bait twice. It may not be enough. This is because of Ye My father also cut the fish into small pieces before it was enough.

At this moment, he felt that the line on his hand was a little heavy, and he was immediately delighted. He did not receive any particularly big fish in this wave today. Although it was not a loss, it could only be said that it was not as good as the previous one. More than enough.

In fact, it is also the reason for his hook. If you want to catch big fish, you must be equipped with hooks and fish lines to keep up. Now he relies entirely on luck, because when some fish eat bait, the hook will swallow it deeper, and some fish will eat the bait. You can still run away.

Using force on his hands, he slowly pulled the rope up bit by bit. The fish on the hook also floated to the surface, but it struggled very hard.

It’s still Cow Harbor Trevally, fish still like to stay together.

In his heart, he also guessed that it was the Niu Gang Piao. After all, he had already caught several fish here, and this fish was a large fish, so the heavy weight in his hand could perfectly match it.

If the fishing line is constantly being pulled by the fish, you can see that the hook has been swallowed deeply and has passed through the fish's lower jaw, exposing the pointed part. However, it is still resisting and struggling tenaciously, and it also makes "guagua" sounds. "The cry.

Some fish can cry. This Niugang trevally is also nicknamed Guagua fish by fishermen because of its special cry.

This fish doesn't look very big, but it's not small either. When you see it struggling on the water, it should be about one meter tall.

After nearly 2 minutes of fighting between the mermaid and the fish, he felt that the tension on the other end of the fishing line was gradually getting smaller, which meant that the big fish was tired. He slowly dragged the fish to the side of the boat, and then Father Ye saw the gap and fished it out with a hand net. rise.

"Made, this fish is really hard to catch."

Father Ye took it off with a happy face, "It's good that it didn't run away."

Ye Yaodong continued to reel in the line, and there were only a few hooks left. After collecting it, they could continue to drag another net.

After pulling it, he found that the hook was empty and the bait had been stolen. He casually hung up a bait, put it back into the sea, and then collected it again.

When the last hook was reeled in, he discovered that this hook was particularly heavy. It was the heaviest hook in today's longline fishing.

He thought it was Niu Gangbo again, but there was no struggle during the pull, it was just sheer weight. He was a little puzzled.

When the fishing line became shorter and shorter, and the large fish underwater gradually floated to the surface, he saw that something was wrong.

Why is it a group?