334. Chapter 333 The Tacit Old Fisherman (1/2)

There are many rules for fishermen to follow when they go out to sea.

Fear heaven and earth,

revere the sea,

Respect living creatures.

Although there are a lot of fish in the sea, you can't be greedy and want to catch every fish in the sea.

The second uncle's generation, as traditional old fishermen, had never taken the initiative to hunt the whale shark in front of him.

Li Duoyu also heard some past events from his second uncle, eldest uncle, and uncle Zhuang.

In the past, when there were not so many trawlers, there were a lot of these big fish along the coast, and when they were young, in the 1940s and 1950s.

There are very few fishing boats on Dandan Island, and the boat that people use most is a boat that looks like a wooden basin.

This kind of barrel boat is easy to capsize and can only go out to fish when the waves are not big, but only in offshore waters.

There were very few trawlers at that time, and they often encountered whale sharks while paddling their tub boats.

This fish has a very good temper and has never been known to hurt anyone. If you feed it small fish, it will even follow you.

At that time, they often fed them small fish, and after luring them to the side of the boat, the second uncle and the others would jump on the back of the whale shark, grab its fins and ride on it.

Every time the whale shark is ridden, it will dive down, and they will hold their breath and dive down with the whale shark.

When my second uncle was young, since there were no entertainment options, he would ride a whale shark and go diving when he got bored.

The young people in the village even competed to see who could dive deeper on a whale shark and who would be the best.

My second uncle once boasted.

He said that he once rode a whale shark and dived to a depth of more than 40 meters under the sea. He even said that he saw a sunken ship.

Because this fish is quite silly, locals generally call it the Big Silly Fish or the Big Mouth Fish.

The whale shark's mouth is indeed very large. When fully opened, it is estimated to be as big as half a bed and can completely swallow an adult.

But apart from having a big mouth, which is a bit bluffing, this creature has a very small esophagus, and can only eat small fish and shrimps, even if you stuff a larger mackerel into its mouth.

It will also spit it out directly.

Therefore, even if fish is stolen by it, the fishermen are not worried at all, because it cannot swallow large and valuable fish at all.

The way whale sharks eat fish is also very simple. They first open their mouths, take a big gulp, and then use their gills to expel the seawater.

With just one opening and one closing, the small fish in the net can be sucked out.

The small fish that the whale shark under the net bag eats are anchovies.

It is a kind of sea fish that is cheaper than Balang fish. If the whole net is full of anchovies, the boat boss will probably cry out.

Because this anchovy is very small.

Each tail is about five to seven centimeters, one size smaller than the Balang fish, and the flesh of this fish is a bit watery.

After being caught and landed, it rots very quickly, and is also called by fishermen as a water fish that rots out of water.

If caught in the summer, it will spoil very quickly, and the purchase price is pitifully low, only about two or three yuan per load (100 kilograms).

It has to be fresh, otherwise it can only be used as fish fertilizer. Even if it is not broken, most of it will become feed fish.

However, this kind of fish is not without merit. Li Duoyu remembers that there was a period of time in later generations when anchovies were quite popular, and there were even specialized companies to collect them.

They were made into canned anchovies and dried anchovies. Later, packaging technology advanced, and they were also made into packages of snacks.

That's right, the dried fish in many snack shops on the street are made of this anchovy.

But in this era, if a trawler catches this kind of fish, it will basically lose its blood. The money sold will probably not even be able to earn back the diesel expenses.

However, Li Duoyu likes this kind of anchovy very much because it is very suitable for making fish meal and feeding it to eels.

It's a pity that this place is too far away from Dandan Island. Otherwise, we could really consider transporting them all back to Dandan Island.

Although anchovies are small, they are a very important link in the marine life chain.

Anchovies eat plankton.

The family Scombridae and Trevalidae, including tuna, whale sharks and the like, eat this kind of anchovy.

Some seine fishing boats will deliberately buy some cheap anchovies as bait to attract mackerel and trevally, and then catch them all in one catch.

Fortunately, in addition to anchovies, more than half of this net was composed of Spanish mackerel, and the best "blue-spotted mackerel" was among them.

Mackerel can be said to be hard currency along the coast. As long as you catch it, someone will definitely take it.

And the price is pretty good, usually around 20 cents.

In the past two years, as the price of large yellow croaker has increased, the price of Spanish mackerel has also increased. For blue-spotted mackerel, a mackerel weighing more than five kilograms can be sold for more than three cents.

The mackerel in this net weighed at least two thousand kilograms, even if it was calculated based on the cheapest two cents.

This net also costs 400 yuan.

For the fishermen, this is definitely a good thing that makes them jump with joy. If Li Duoyu remembers correctly, the last time he went to sea with his third uncle to catch swimming crabs.

It seems that after six days of fishing, I made less than 600 yuan, but now I have nearly 400 yuan in one catch, and this is the difference.

And this is their first fishing trip out to sea. This trip was originally scheduled to last for more than half a month.

If you run two websites a day, you can easily earn tens of thousands of yuan in half a month, but Li Duoyu doesn't think it's very possible.

Although there are many fish in the Zhoushan fishery, it is impossible to encounter several schools of fish in one day.

On the fishing boat, everyone watched the whale shark devouring anchovies, but after watching it for a long time, they all felt something was wrong.

The fish looked very big, but I ate it too slowly. It took me more than ten minutes to eat it, and it didn’t look like there was any shortage of fish.

Chen Liang and his father, who were rescued by Li Duoyu before, were also on the fishing boat.

"This fish eats too slowly. At this speed, how long do we have to wait?"

The second uncle replied while smoking a cigarette: "Young people are just impatient. Why are you in such a hurry? Look at this fish, it is so big, it must have a big appetite."

But just after the second uncle finished speaking, the whale shark, which had not eaten much anchovies, seemed to be full and swam away with its tail.

"Ahem."

The second uncle knocked the ash: "I think this fish, probably following behind the boat just now, has eaten a lot."

Everyone laughed.

Not wanting to knock him down, Li Duoyu also laughed. Whale sharks are slow fish and swim relatively slowly.

So they don't need to take in a lot of food like whales. Under normal circumstances, eating fifty or sixty kilograms is enough for them to move for a long time.

Looking at the net bag of fish, the boat boss, the third uncle, was also very troubled. His fishing boat was built in the late 1960s and is already a bit old.

The mast is not made of iron, but pine wood, and it has been nearly 20 years old.

The pole has been reinforced several times, and it is all made of iron sheets. When the net was raised just now, the mast made a loud "creaking" sound.

It feels like if it is pulled hard, it is very likely to break directly. In his fishing career, many crew members were injured because of mast breakage.

The captain Li Zhengfa really didn't expect to catch so many fish at once. The last time he caught so many fish was more than ten years ago.

At that time, everyone used bamboo poles to collectively catch large yellow croakers. The most exaggerated net was more than 10,000 kilograms.

Li Zhengfa looked at the masts that were all patched up, and couldn't help but sighed: "It seems that it's really time to change boats."

At this time, Li Niantian, who was on the tugboat opposite, shouted: "Zhengfa, if you really can't pull it up, just go down to the sea and catch the fish like we did when we caught yellow croaker. What do you think?"

Second uncle took a puff of cigarette and agreed: "I think it's okay too. We haven't done this for many years. Let the young people learn a lot."

Uncle Zhuang, who had inconvenient legs and feet, sighed: "Alas, my legs are inconvenient, otherwise I could also go down to catch it. I used to go down to catch it." "Just cook well, we'll do it."

Then.

The old fishermen on the boat took out the boat ladder, set it between the two boats, and fixed the two fishing boats.

Seeing this scene, Li Duoyu instantly understood what his uncle and others wanted to do.

If the net bag is too big to pull it up.

There are generally only two options, either cut a small hole in the net bag.

Pull while leaking.

Or they could open the net mouth directly in the sea, and hang people on the net bag to catch fish directly.

However, this method is very dangerous and requires tacit cooperation of the crew.

Next, several old fishermen put on their waders, and the younger uncle among the group had a rope tied to his body.

The other end of the rope was on the pulley. As everyone pulled, the third uncle was pulled up, and then he was guided by the second uncle to the top of the net bag, just like hanging on a wire.

Everyone put down the rope, and Li Zhengfa landed steadily on the net bag, stepping on the net rope and the net surface.

Then, four thick brown ropes were thrown down from the fishing boat, and the captain Li Zhengfa tied the rope to the net mouth.

As the fishing boats on both sides pulled the brown rope hard, the net mouth opened, and everyone saw a large group of living mackerels and anchovies jumping non-stop.

Several mackerels with a strong desire to survive found that the small motor vibrated after the net mouth was opened, and they jumped out with all their strength.

Seeing fishes running away.

Li Zhengfa said anxiously: "Hurry up, two more come down, big brother, give me the basket quickly."

Uncle Li Niantian, who did not tie the rope, stood directly on the ladder between the two boats and put a basket down.

Uncle San used the basket to scoop the fish in the net bag directly. After scooping, he shouted:

"It's OK, pull it away."

The crew on the fishing boat heard the signal and pulled the rope directly. When pulling, Uncle Er and his friends shouted directly.

"Hey, pull it."

"Hey, hey, pull it up."

"Hey, hey, there are so many fish."

After the basket was pulled from the sea to the boat, someone immediately poured the sea fish in the basket onto the deck.

"Go!"

Then, the basket was thrown back.

The young people on the boat were dumbfounded when they saw this scene. They didn't expect that it could be done this way. They looked at Li Zhengfa in the sea who was hit by the waves.

Only then did they realize that being a boat captain was not that easy.

Seeing the young men looking dumbfounded, the second uncle scolded them on the spot: "What are you looking at? What's so good about it? Go and sort the fish on the deck."

"Damn it, if you look at it again, today's wages will be deducted from you."

Li Duoyu on the fishing boat was also very surprised to see this scene, and had to admire these old fishermen.

This group of people really had a tacit understanding. The second uncle, the eldest uncle and the uncle Zhuang helped pull the rope and control the third uncle and others who were fishing on the water.

To be honest, he really couldn't do this level of cooperation.

This reminded Li Duoyu of the second uncle and the old men who played four-color cards in the village square. They often said.

The happiest time in life was in the 1950s and 1960s.

At that time, they were full of energy to do anything, not afraid of anything, and solved problems when they had them. It felt like they could withstand the sky falling.

With such tacit cooperation, these old fishermen used this most primitive method to reduce the net bag by at least half.

At this time, Uncle San tied the net mouth with a rope again, and then he was pulled onto the fishing boat.

After returning to the deck of the ship.

He took off his waders directly, poured out at least ten pounds of sea water, and also poured out an octopus.

Uncle San grabbed it and threw it heavily on the deck, cursing:

"Damn it, I just felt something was wrong just now, and I always felt something crawling on me."

Second uncle laughed and said: "It didn't get in from behind you."

"If it really got in, I would definitely not tell you, and secretly cook it for you."

"Wow, Zhengfa, you haven't done this before."

Uncle San, who was soaked all over, returned to the cab, changed into clean clothes, and then picked up the whistle and blew it.

"Attention, get ready to raise the net."

"Newcomer, don't stand where the net is raised, or you'll be knocked off."

Then the winch started rolling.

The shaky net bag was finally pulled onto the fishing boat, and the second uncle untied the rope tied to the net mouth.

In an instant, two or three thousand kilograms of sea fish poured down and instantly filled the entire deck.

In addition to anchovies and mackerels, there were many other sea fish and sea wolves in the net bag.

What everyone didn't expect was that there was actually a green turtle weighing more than 100 kilograms in the net bag.

When the turtle reached the deck, it turned upside down and couldn't turn over at all.

When the chef Zhuang saw the turtle, he took out a knife and walked towards it.

The young crew thought he was going to kill the turtle directly, but what everyone didn't expect was.

The chef Zhuang turned the turtle over, pried off the barnacles on the turtle shell with a knife, and then threw it back into the sea with others, muttering something.

"After returning, call those shrimp soldiers, crab generals, and fish generals."

It took more than an hour for everyone to finally sort all the sea fish and wash the deck.

What made the captain Li Zhengfa headache was that the two or three thousand kilograms of mackerel directly filled the ice compartment of his ship.

Under normal circumstances.

After catching so many fish, they should go to the nearest dock and sell these mackerels.

This time, however, was different. They had three boats. Li Zhengfa shouted, "Brother, how many pounds can the ice compartment of your boat hold?"

"The ice compartment on my side can hold about 2,000 pounds."

"Duoyu, how about your boat?"

"Mine can hold more than 1,000 pounds."

"Okay, the weather tonight seems to be okay, so we won't go to the dock, but rest directly on the sea. We'll try to make another net at dawn, fill all three boats, and then go back."

"Okay, then make another net."

But everyone had another worry, hoping that the next net would not burst again, and that it would be fine if it was almost done. They really didn't want to go to the sea to fish again.

At this time, Uncle Zhuang had already started cooking. He originally wanted to cook fish porridge, but everyone was doing hard work today.

After thinking about it.

He decided to steam the mackerel rice directly tonight. (End of this chapter)