1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 122: Fat-eyed Herring and Spotted Shrimp Are Coming
"If we catch them now, will we scare away more fish that are on their way?"

Liang Zifeng said worriedly.

He knew that even if he encountered a large school of fish during the day, the catch would drop sharply after casting a few nets. The reason was that the fish were timid and would immediately flee and scatter after being disturbed by the nets.

Unexpectedly, Liang Ziqiang smiled and said, "Have you forgotten that last time we rushed back from Sham Lo Wan, those sauries couldn't be driven away and kept jumping onto the boat?"

The performance of phototactic fish in the dark is so magical, almost incredible. They will quickly flee when disturbed during the day, but the light at night seems to make them bolder. Even if they are facing fishing, they will scatter and gather again, and repeatedly gather towards the light. It is not easy to chase them away.

Facing the light, perhaps they really have some kind of incomprehensible obsession that makes them risk their own lives?
"Get ready, start casting the net! With the remaining distance, I'm afraid we'll have to fish all the way to Guanqi Island!" Liang Ziqiang joked.

With so many kinds of fish coming here all at once, who wouldn’t be happy?
"Cast the net! Damn Acai, stop counting the fish. How can the fish be counted into the net? Isn't there another net on the boat? Why don't you cast the net for me!" Li Liang picked up the fishing net himself, and at the same time, he did not forget to hit Deng Zhaocai with his elbow, urging him not to dawdle.

"Afeng, you'd better not cast the net by yourself. Shine the flashlight for me and then cooperate with me to pull the net!"

Liang Ziqiang did not ask his brother to pick up the spare net and cast it. Firstly, it would be more convenient to move with someone holding a flashlight to help, and more importantly, he was not confident in Zifeng.

Normally, it would be fine if he just took a quick look during the day, but in the dark, with insufficient light, he was really worried that when Liang Zifeng was casting the net alone, his feet would get caught on the rope and he would fall into the sea.

Since the side lights on the boat are closest to the water, the fish are densest on the left and right sides of the boat at this time. Usually, the net is cast either on the bow or the side of the boat, so it is really convenient to fish now.

Liang Zifeng couldn't see clearly, so he shone his flashlight into the sea water beside the boat:
"Second brother, this fish is so long and thin, could it be another bamboo swordfish?" he asked.

"How come you still can't see clearly with a flashlight? If it's a saury, it would have jumped right into your face by now! There are so many long and thin fish in the sea. This is not a saury, it's a fat eye herring!" Liang Ziqiang told him.

Fat-eyed herring is a small warm-water fish that gathers in the middle and upper layers. The fish usually rise and fall in groups at dusk and early morning. They like light at night and swim quickly when they gather under light. For this reason, fat-eyed herring is also one of the main targets of light purse seine fishing.

At this moment, there were some other fish mixed in with the side of his boat, but at a glance, the most numerous were the fat-eyed herring.

The fateye herring were not as anxious as the saury to jump directly, but they were still crowded together, vying for the first place, fearing that they would be left behind by the moving boat lights.

The boat almost came to a standstill, so the fish chasing from behind collided with the fish in front, forming an even larger group.

Liang Ziqiang decisively threw the fishing net towards the most densely populated area.

After waiting for a while, they began to pull in the net. Liang Zifeng quickly bit the flashlight with his mouth, freeing his hands to help pull the net.

Seeing this, Liang Ziqiang couldn't help thinking, it's a pity that people in the village don't use headlights very much. Next time I go to the city to ship goods, I must look for a headlamp to see if I can buy one.

That kind of head-mounted flashlight is simply a must-have artifact for night hunting.

The net was pulled up and a net full of fish dumped onto the deck.

I thought they were basically all fateye herring, but I found that there was another kind of fish mixed in, whose body shape was completely different from the long and narrow fateye herring.

This fish is spindle-shaped, laterally flattened, with serrated scales on the ventral edge; the head is medium-sized, the mouth is small, and the mouth is short; the body is covered with round scales and has no lateral line.

The most eye-catching thing is that there is an obvious "black mole" behind the gills of this fish, which makes it look like a beauty mole!
"Gold earrings? I have so many gold earrings in this net!"

There was a shout from Li Liang.

The golden earring is actually the strange fish with a "beauty mole" in front of you. Its scientific name is Eupatorium punctatum, and it is also called bubble fish, dace fish, and golden earring.

Whether it is the fat-eyed herring or the spotted mullet, both of these fish are strongly phototactic and are also fish with strong gregariousness.

So, just like a team-building activity, everyone came together and called their friends.

After emptying the fishing net, Liang Ziqiang did not stop. He found that the water surface hollowed out by the fishing net was filled with new fish in an instant. That spot on the side of the boat was so popular.

This phenomenon is almost impossible to occur when fishing during the day.

So Liang Ziqiang didn't change his position much and cast another net... In this net, the proportion of fat-eyed herring decreased slightly, but the proportion of spotted mullet increased a lot.

It seems that in the fierce battle for the popular spots on the side of the ship, the spotted mullet has begun to reverse the situation with its strength and is about to overthrow the position of the fat-eyed herring!

On the third network, more than half of the fish are spotted mullet.

The number one position of fat-eye herring has thus changed hands.

However, in the third network, Liang Ziqiang discovered a new figure.

This fish looks quite friendly. Its body is slender and silvery, like a narrow sword. The most special thing about it is its mouth, which looks like an extended needle in a nurse's hand...

Well, it was the kind they had caught before, good fish, good rod. Swordsman on the sea...

Not only does the needlefish like to jump out of the water during the day and use its long, thin beak to pounce on small shrimps, it also has a hidden characteristic: it is phototactic.

Just as Liang Ziqiang was pouring out the third net of fish, there was a noise on the water beside the boat. He turned his head and was immediately shocked.

Just now there were only a small number of needle fish mixed in, but now they suddenly came in large numbers like a tide.

The key is that these fish not only swim over, but also use their long and harmful beaks to stab here and there...

The spotted mullet that had just occupied the prime spot on the side of the boat, although it was also quite peculiar, probably couldn't stand such a group of strange fish that suddenly appeared.

After being stabbed with countless needles, he began to withdraw from the battlefield and had to reluctantly give up his position...

"Brother, didn't Dad say that needle fish are a good omen? Let's quickly catch two nets. Ouch..."

Liang Zifeng was holding a flashlight and was about to help Liang Ziqiang cast the net when he cried out in pain.

He never expected that his right hand holding the flashlight would be attacked by a leaping needlefish!
He seemed to have forgotten that the leaping ability of the saury is just as good as that of the saury.

The key is that the ability to fly plus the long needle, these two things combined are really scary.

The saury was just smashing Liang Zifeng at that time. But the needlefish were different. They didn't smash him, but stabbed him...

Before Liang Zifeng could fully react, he was hit three or four times in a row. His hand was almost numb.

Seeing more needle fish leaping towards the light source on the boat, Liang Ziqiang's scalp almost went numb.

At this time, I don't know what Liang Zifeng was thinking. His hand was hurt, so he put the flashlight back into his mouth, and then freed his hand to sweep away the needle fish that were flying towards him.

Liang Ziqiang's voice trembled, and he said fearfully:

"You are stupid. If you hold the flashlight in your mouth like this, it won't just prick your hand, it will prick your eyeballs right away! What are you looking at? Turn off the flashlight now!"

Liang Ziqiang shouted, snatched the flashlight from his mouth, and turned off the light.

This time there was no "bang bang" sound on the boat. Instead, the tune was a little different, it was a "do-do" sound.

After those needlefish successfully jumped onto the boat, their mouths pierced the planking, and Liang Zifeng's eardrums were hurt by the noise.

Although there were still many fish following him, Liang Ziqiang no longer thought about catching fish.

He quickly increased his horsepower and quickly fled forward from the siege of a large group of needlefish...

(End of this chapter)