1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 107: Selling Hairy Catfish and Making a Good Gain

Since there was no need to worry about fishing, the boat sailed a little faster than usual. Moreover, going into the city by water saved a lot of time, as there was no need to wait for or transfer buses.

When he arrived at Sham Shui Po, he found that Du Ziteng had arrived earlier and was standing on the shore waiting for him.

"Isn't it that Ah Xian who came with you this time?" Du Ziteng asked when he noticed the new face next to him.

"This is my brother, Afeng!" Liang Ziqiang answered casually, and then brought the hairy catfish in a bucket to show him.

Du Ziteng looked at the fish carefully and weighed it with the scale he brought with him.

Weigh the bucket together first, and then deduct the weight of the bucket.

Du Ziteng calculated the weight in seconds:
"Exactly twenty pounds!"

"The weight is quite strange. The fish is very fresh. We just caught it with the net this afternoon. Brother Teng, what do you think the price is?" Liang Ziqiang asked.

Du Ziteng considered it for a moment:
"It's a good fish, but it's still a little small. I'll give you six dollars a pound, which makes a total of one hundred and twenty dollars!"

Liang Ziqiang had no objection to this price and put the hairy catfish into the bucket brought by Du Ziteng.

This amount of money is certainly not comparable to the income from sardines, but sardines can be sold for several hundred yuan because of their astonishing quantity, nearly 900 kilograms.

In terms of a single fish, this is the one that brought the most money among all the fish Liang Ziqiang has caught so far!

"There is probably about 2 taels of swim bladder in the belly of this fish. The bigger the swim bladder, the higher the price. If you can catch 40 or 50 kilograms of hairtail, the price will be more than 6 yuan per kilogram. If it is more than 100 kilograms, one fish can be sold for thousands! You are so lucky, maybe you can really encounter a bigger hairtail, or even a yellow croaker in the future. Remember to find me then!"

Du Ziteng did not forget to remind him before he left. After all, the fish maws of the super-large yellow croaker and hairtail will become more and more popular in the future.

Liang Ziqiang agreed to Du Ziteng, then took the 120 yuan, did not stay any longer, and immediately sailed back with Liang Zifeng.

It was still dusk when we came, and it was completely dark when we returned.

Liang Ziqiang slowed down the boat and turned on the boat lights, which were powered by diesel engines. He turned on the mast lights, side lights, and cabin lights so that he could see clearly around him and in front of him, and if there were other boats sailing nearby, they would be able to see him at a glance and avoid each other.

While he was driving the boat, he also asked Liang Zifeng to stand on the boat and keep lookout at all times, using the moonlight and the ship lights to watch out for any other ships that appeared.

In fact, it is quite normal to sail at night with the boat lights on. Some fishermen even choose to go fishing at night.

They go out to sea to fish at night, which they specifically call "night fishing", and they target certain specific fish.

Liang Ziqiang remembers that there are at least a dozen species of fish that are very suitable for night fishing. These fish have one thing in common, that is, they are very phototropic.

When they suddenly see the light of a fishing boat in the dark, they will actively swim towards it. Moreover, the fish that swim near the boat light will not leave immediately. For reasons of defense, feeding, and finding companions, they will stay under the light source for a long time, creating a clustering effect.

Although night fishing is not very convenient, the harvest is still very good!
At this moment, the return voyage was very smooth and there were no ships passing nearby.

After the boat sailed for a while, Liang Ziqiang suddenly heard Liang Zifeng calling him:
"Brother, do you want to come over and take a look? There are a few fish that have been following us all the way and they are following us closely!"

Liang Ziqiang came over to take a look and saw that they were a few saury fish. Needless to say, they were attracted by the boat lights.

The bamboo saury is one of the "phototactic" fish, and it is very phototactic. Can it be considered an avid "light chaser"?
It’s not surprising at all that the saury followed me all the way.

"It's the light that attracted us. Ignore it and just look at the sea."

Liang Ziqiang threw down this sentence and went back to take the helm.

After a while, Liang Zifeng shouted again:

"Brother, there are too many of them! They have surrounded our boat!"

Liang Ziqiang did not walk over, but pulled open the side wooden board of the cabin and took a look under the boat.

I originally wanted to say that Liang Zifeng was making a fuss, but after taking a look, I couldn't say anything.

Liang Zifeng was not exaggerating. Looking closely at the bottom of the boat with the help of the sidelight, the fish on both sides were lined up like a big market. It was not an exaggeration to say that the boat was surrounded!
With so many fish in front of him, Liang Ziqiang couldn't help but feel itchy. An instinctive impulse made him want to catch all the fish in front of him.

But Liang Zifeng kept encouraging and provoking him:
"Second brother, how about we stop the boat and cast a net? They have worked so hard to follow us all the way, it's hard to refuse their kindness!"

Liang Ziqiang: "..."

He felt that the words in the textbook were all good words, but when it came to Liang Zifeng, they all seemed to be used in a wrong way...

He took some effort to get rid of the temptation and instigation: "It's dark now, and we haven't had dinner yet, aren't you hungry?"

"We can eat the cooked saury right after we catch it. How can this be difficult for us?"

I don't know what's wrong with Liang Zifeng. When he was fishing on his father's boat, he was listless, like a salted fish that had wilted in the sun. But now that he is on his boat, he has become more interested in fishing and talks more. It seems like he is volunteering.

Liang Ziqiang wavered again, gritted his teeth and said:

"Stop looking at the fish and keep going! If we keep casting net after net, won't it be midnight when we get home? We've been to the city, and our family doesn't know it'll take us so long. If we keep waiting, won't they all get anxious and angry?"

In fact, there is another very practical reason: even if they cast their nets all the way, by the time they get back to the village, Zheng Liu will definitely not be at the dock. The profiteer will sometimes stay for a while after dark, but he will never stay at the big dock until late at night. It is impossible to have a large basin to keep so many saury in the net, and there is no ice to keep them fresh. If they sell them tomorrow, they will go bad.

Another more realistic reason is that saury is not expensive and is not worth too high a price.

"Well, I'm just afraid that you'll regret not picking up so many fish right under your nose." Liang Zifeng muttered and said nothing more.

My ears finally quieted down and the boat sailed for a while.

Soon, there was a bang on the boat. Liang Ziqiang looked up and asked, "What happened again?"

Almost as soon as the words came out, two more fish flew up from the side of the boat at the same time, as if they were hit by something, or like two silver bullets shot out from the bottom of the sea.

A fish landed on the boat floor with another thump and then two more bounces.

The other one was even more speechless. It hit Liang Zifeng's waist in mid-air. Liang Zifeng was unable to dodge and shook as if he was really hit by a stray bullet.

Liang Ziqiang then realized that he had forgotten that the bamboo swordfish has a very important special skill: flying fish in the air.

There are actually quite a few fish that can fly in the air above the sea, and the bamboo saury is one of them.

They usually like to swim on the surface of the sea water, and if they disagree with something, they love to jump high out of the water.

That’s what happened. After chasing the boat all the way and seeing that it didn’t stop, he finally got angry and started to demonstrate!

It’s just the beginning.

Probably because they saw a fish taking the lead, more fish followed suit, jumping up one after another, and then smashing into the cabin...

Hearing the rapid "bang bang" sound, Liang Ziqiang felt a pang of pain in his heart.

I'm not feeling sorry for Yu, but for Liang Zifeng.

Because two or three more fish hit Liang Zifeng's back and legs, Liang Zifeng dodged here and there, just like a soldier, miraculously surviving in the hail of bullets with his dancing-like dodging skills...

"Second brother! This fish has thrown itself into my arms! How can you remain indifferent?!"

Liang Zifeng was not knocked unconscious by the fish. He was still jumping around and shouting, and he even used three exclamation marks.

"Come in a little! Remember, if you are in a hurry, you must hurry. Do things with one heart and one mind. Resist temptation. Even if there is gold on the road, we will not pick it up!"

Liang Ziqiang answered decisively, like a commander who remained unmoved amid the gunfire and smoke.

He felt that he had to step up his game a bit.

If he continues to go this slow, Liang Zifeng might get a bruised face.

When he returned to the village, the villagers asked him who had beaten him. He answered: The fish had beaten him.

Is this ridiculous?

This is not the most amusing thing. On the first day of the new ship, it was attacked by a group of saury.

This will probably make them laugh for months.

Liang Ziqiang appropriately increased the speed of the boat while ensuring safety.

The lotus-patterned boat was like a giant fish over eight meters long, covered in moonlight, speeding forward on the sea.

The saury was now unable to do what it wanted, and was finally left far behind...

(End of this chapter)