Chapter 411: Squid Fishing (1/2)

Chapter 411 Squid fishing

The fleet departed from Heron Island and traveled about five hours to reach the fishing ground for squid fishing.

In his previous life, Li Duoyu had visited this fishing ground several times. The locals called this fishing ground Minnan Fishing Ground.

Many ships from southern Fujian and fishing boats from Nan'ao Island will come to this fishing ground to operate.

Looking at the two small islands with cliffs in front of him, Li Duoyu knew where they were without looking at a map.

Dongshan Island, Brother Island.

Not only is it rich in fishery resources, it is also a very important shipping route. Because of the central line, all domestic fishing boats and transport ships that want to go north must pass through this route.

However, this route is not easy to follow because there are many reefs near Brother Island. I heard from people that there are at least 30 sunken ships near the two Brother Islands, and many of them are cargo ships that used to go to the South China Sea.

After arriving at the squid fishing spot, Lao Zhuang, the head chef, started cooking dinner. Everyone couldn't help but salivate as they smelled the aroma of pork rib soup.

"dinner time."

Lao Zhuang knocked on the iron basin.

The ship's lights were turned on again.

Immediately afterwards, everyone took out their enamel basins and lined up to get meals from Lao Zhuang.

As long as you are not in the deep sea, fishing with hand lines may be more efficient than fishing rods.

The crew began to help install searchlights.

And just when they turned on the searchlight, many lights lit up on the dark sea surface at about the same time.

Li Duoyu was the first to throw the string hook in. In fact, he still had four fishing rods on his fishing boat, which could be used for fishing.

Li Duoyu threw the string hook, and less than twenty seconds later, the fishing line on his fingertips began to shake.

At this moment, Li Duoyu used his hands to lift the fishing line directly.

After seeing this fish, the fleet did not change positions anymore, because this fish is also one of the main foods of the marlin squid.

After seeing the Balang Fish, everyone looked disgusted. When it comes to this fish, bigger is not always better.

The squid will be here soon too.

The moment he lifted it up, Li Duoyu could clearly feel that something was struggling at the end of the fishing line.

Not long after the searchlight was turned on, many "light fish" gathered around the boat.

"Damn it, it's Balang who's here."

If they gather here.

Almost ten minutes later, another school of fish gathered. This time it was not a Balang fish, but a smaller light fish than the Balang fish.

As soon as the fish finder was turned on, they were all densely packed with dots, and it was impossible to tell whether they were squid or balang fish.

Not to mention that the big Balang fish is not easy to dry, and the taste is not as good as the small Balang fish.

It is also very simple to catch squid, that is, just change the spot and continue to turn on the light to lure the fish.

Many of the small miscellaneous fish that Li Duoyu just bought at Ludao Wharf were baby fish.

Don’t use too much force when fishing for squid.

Usually, the fish is dried and matured and sold to the mainland. However, the fresh Balang fish is quite delicious when pan-fried, but it consumes a lot of fuel and many fishermen are reluctant to eat it that way.

At this time, the sky had almost darkened, the setting sun had completely fallen into the sea, the sea instantly turned dark, and the sky turned blue.

The fishing boat stayed in place for about ten minutes, and the little fish that were circling around the fishing boat suddenly became restless.

But thinking about it, it seems unnecessary. Handline fishing is the most traditional fishing method, and it is the most familiar to fishermen like them.

Then, the fishing line straightened.

But Li Duoyu was not in a hurry to reel in the line, but pulled it up at a constant speed, occasionally giving way to the line.

Li Duoyu looked at the sea surface and found some slender marine creatures in the water, chasing the little fish.

The locals call it Xiaoguyu.

Fishermen generally refer to these phototaxis fish as light fish.

Keep jumping out of the water.

After dinner.

Only then did everyone realize that there were so many squid fishing boats in the nearby waters.

Li Duoyu said to everyone: "Everyone can hang the bait and get ready to start fishing for squid."

After the fleet changed location.

In this fishing ground, the fish finder of Li Duoyu's fishing boat is basically useless because there are so many small fish in this fishing ground.

Large glass lamps were hung on both sides of the fishing boat. When the lamps were turned on, they were very dazzling, making it difficult for everyone to open their eyes.

"Fuck, these ribs are so damn delicious."

Everyone squatted on the deck to eat. Chen Liang, who had not eaten meat for more than a month, wished he could imitate a dog and chew all the bones into pieces.

It is a kind of sea fish that is cheaper than Balang fish. Because of its fishy smell, no one even wants it on a fishing rod.

It is usually used as fishing bait or sold to feed mills to make fish meal.

Because the burst of squid is instantaneous.

When the squid explodes, if you happen to exert force, there will only be one result, which is that the fishhook will scratch the barrel of the squid, allowing the squid to escape.

Even if you use a fishing rod to catch squid, you have to adjust the leakage force of the fishing reel very low. The reason why many novices let the squid run away is that the leakage force is not done well.

The whole boat was watching Li Duoyu intently. As he pulled up the string hooks, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up. There were only five string hooks in total, but there were actually three gun barrel squid hanging on the hooks.

The moment the squid came out of the water, three jets of black water of different sizes shot out at once. Chen Liang, who was watching from the side, was sprayed all over.

"Damn it, uncle, why is there so much water?"

On the string hook, there was a gun barrel squid as long as a small arm. Li Duoyu quickly said: "Take the net, this one is too big, if you pull it up, it may run away."

Small squid can be pulled ashore directly, but for large squid it is best to use a dip net. This is the stage where many novices try to catch fish.

It took Li Duoyu less than two minutes from throwing the hook to catching the squid, and the squid that came up were all alive and kicking.

After catching the squid, Li Duoyu temporarily threw the squid into the bucket. The purpose of this was to make the squid spit out ink and also keep the squid alive longer.

Otherwise, if you throw them directly into the ice cabin, if these squid spit out ink together in the ice cabin, the ice cubes will probably be dyed black.

Seeing that Li Duoyu caught three squid so quickly, the old fisherman on the boat couldn't help but start throwing hooks to fish.

The squid hook that Li Duoyu taught you to make is so exaggerated that squid bite the hook immediately before the hook sinks to the bottom.

But when many crew members pulled up the string hook, they found that it was empty, and there were several more. When they left the water, the squid ran away, and they only caught a few small tentacles.

"There are so many fish, why don't the squids you catch run away? Why do all the squids we catch run away?"

Li Duoyu joked: "I can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. The squid is so soft. Don't be too violent. Be gentle and it will be easy to catch."

The old fisherman suddenly realized that only Chen Liang, a single man, was there. He said with a grimace, "How can I catch a fish and be gentle at the same time?"

Heigou, who had just been married not long ago, smiled and said: "When you find someone, you will know how gentle you have to be."

"Ganni's black dog, it's great to have a wife, isn't it? Believe it or not, before the end of the year, I will also marry a scumbag."

Black Dog smiled and said: "Hurry up then, if you get married this year, I will give you a big red envelope."

Chen Liang's father shook his head in disgust and said, "It would be great if he had this ability. All the money he earned in the first half of the year was spent on treating his group of gangster friends to dinner. Now he can't even find a coin in his pocket." Chen Liang scratched his head in embarrassment. Scratching his head: "Those are all brothers. They keep calling me, so I'm embarrassed not to treat them."

Chen Youquan couldn't help but pat his head: "I treat your brother to dinner every day, but I won't let you sleep with your brother's wife."

Everyone followed Li Duoyu’s method and stopped pulling the fish so violently. As expected, the barrel squid was easily caught.

The second uncle couldn't help but asked: "Duoyu, I've always had a question that I can't figure out. How do you know so much?"

Faced with this problem, Li Duoyu had at least a dozen solutions, and he casually replied: "It was introduced in a fishing magazine. I have never fished before, and I didn't expect the effect to be so good."

The second uncle sighed.

"It seems that we have all suffered the consequences of being uneducated."

If more than ten people fish for squid together, the catch will be very exaggerated.

On average, more than twenty barrel squid are caught on board every two minutes.

Due to the huge number of squid gathered by the lights, everyone caught more than 600 fresh squid in about an hour.

At the beginning, everyone felt it was very fresh and very interesting. They kept pulling on the fishing line and even competed with who could catch more.

But after two hours of continuous fishing, the crew's movements became slower and slower. Some people had begun to hammer their shoulders, because they kept repeating the same action, causing their shoulders and arms to be very sore.

Especially the index finger, which has become numb and even a little sore from shaking the fishing line all the time.

"Fuck, there are so many thorns on this fishhook, and I got stung again." Chen Liang couldn't help but curse.

"You wear gloves."

"If you wear gloves, you won't feel that way, and the fish won't even know it."

Li Duoyu looked at Chen Liang and agreed very much with what he said.

"Now that thing is really too thick. When I put it on, I really don't feel anything. Every time I use that thing, it takes at least two hours, and I am almost exhausted."

Chen Liang was stunned for a moment.

Then he came to his senses and cursed with a dark face: "Fuck, you just caught me and bullied me, right?"

The old fisherman on the boat couldn't help but laugh: "If I didn't bully you, who would I bully? You are the only one on the boat who has not yet had a partner."

"Ganniniang."

Li Duoyu, who had caught nearly a hundred squid, stretched his shoulders and moved his body. Fishing for squid was indeed a pleasure, but once the line was put together, all that was left was boredom.

Li Duoyu suddenly remembered that in his previous life, there were fishermen on Dandan Island who were deceived into working on offshore squid fishing boats.

It was originally agreed that it would be one year, but as soon as the contract was signed, it became two years.

When he went out, he was still a young and energetic guy. When he came back, he was so dark and thin that everyone almost didn't recognize him.

The first thing he did after returning to the island was to take a knife and kill the villager who introduced him to work on the squid fishing boat.

The introducer was so frightened that he ran away all night. Later, after everyone's persuasion, he gave up his obsession with killing people.

According to him, squid fishing is a more terrifying place than coal mining in black brick kilns. There is almost no rest during the day, and you have to work at night. On average, you have to work at least fifteen hours a day.

It floats on the water all year round.

The food was not good either.

When you get sick, your medical conditions are still limited and you only need to take antibiotics. If you can't resist it, you have to rely on your own body to carry it on.

Interpersonal relationships are also extremely complicated, and things like picking up soap, forming cliques, and being isolated often happen.

Some particularly disobedient ones are more likely to get into a shipwreck and "accidentally" fall into the sea. A more conscientious captain may put the body in a cold storage and pull it back together.

The black-hearted ones will just say that they have smuggled away.

Moreover, the squid fishing boat is dirty, messy and poor. If there are big waves, it can shake out the internal organs of a person. According to him, going to jail is ten times better than working on a squid fishing boat.

While they were fishing for squid, Uncle San poured the squids that had already sprayed ink in the bucket onto the fish sieve and rinsed the squids with sea water.

At first, Li Zhengfa thought that even if it was feasible to fish for squid with hand lines, the number of fish would not be large.

But he didn't expect that in just two hours, he caught thousands of squids. Some large squids weighed one catty each, and the smallest ones weighed one catty with four squids.

Combined with large and small squids, the squids caught in these two hours weighed about 300 catties.

Li Zhengfa did a simple calculation. If calculated according to the purchase price at the dock, the purchase price of this level of squid (caught squid) is 30 cents.

In other words, he could earn nine big unity in two hours.

Li Zhengfa looked at his watch. It was only nine o'clock in the evening. If he fished all night, he would fish until seven o'clock tomorrow morning.

At least five more nine big unity can be made, and one trip can offset this month's debt.

Li Zhengfa shouted: "Don't be lazy, keep doing it. Let's do it for a few more days, and everyone will get dividends this month."

Chen Liang's face was dark.

"Aren't we going back? Why are you still doing it?"

"Now we have found a way to catch squid, why are we going back?"

Chen Liang collapsed instantly, tears were about to flow down, because this was the longest trip he had ever taken to sea. He had a hunch that it would take at least two months before he could go home.

Some old fishermen have long been accustomed to such intensity and think it is quite normal.

The second uncle shouted, "Captain, it seems that we have caught all the squids around here. There is no more. We can change places."

"Okay, then let's change places and continue fishing."

Li Duoyu looked at the whole row of squid fishing crews in front of him. This squid fishing mode is the initial form of squid fishing boats.

Glancing at the excited uncle, Li Duoyu frowned slightly. He didn't know why, but he had a hunch.

If the uncle was allowed to develop, he might really become the captain of the ocean-going squid fishing boat.

"Alas."

Li Duoyu sighed. The end of the captain is not how much fish he catches, but how much oil he can squeeze out of the crew.

The night is getting deeper and deeper.

The squid fishing boats on the fishing grounds are also gradually decreasing. In the second half of the night, several crew members are so tired that they lie on the deck, and some old fishermen are still fishing squid.

In this way, everyone fished until the sun came out the next day.

At this time, the light-gathering method has no effect, and the catch is also visibly reduced. Sometimes, not a single squid can be caught in five minutes.

In the cabin, the captain Li Zhengfa looked at the baskets of fresh squid in front of him. He was not sleepy at all, but quite excited.

Now he wanted to fly to the fishing port of Ludao immediately to let those who had ridiculed him see.

At dawn.

After everyone finished breakfast, the crew who had been fishing all night didn't even want to take a shower, and ran back to the cabin to sleep.

Li Duoyu discussed with his third uncle and uncle, and the fleet planned to stay and fish for squid until the season was over.

Li Duoyu had a lot of things to do, and he was also the village director, so it was naturally impossible for him to continue fishing squid with them.

And his eldest cousin Li Shuguang also had to go back to prepare for the kelp seedlings, and the two took turns driving the fishing boat back to Dandan Island.