Reborn in the Millennium: Building a Fortune from Fishing

Chapter 180 Preparing a Grass Carp Nest
In the afternoon, Qin Dahe called Erhu and the others to start preparing for fishing.

These days, there are no orders for large three-wheeled vehicles except for motorcycle three-wheeled vehicles, so everyone is idle.

"It's getting hot pretty fast. I'll go check out the sluice gate later, but first I need to prepare the grass carp nest."

"Just go fishing for bighead carp, they're very valuable." Tiedan said excitedly.

He is getting married in May, so it would be great to earn some extra money and save it now.

"That won't work. The air temperature has risen, but the water temperature may not be stable yet. I'll take a thermometer and measure it over the next two days." Qin Dahe said with a smile, "If catching bighead carp at the sluice gate doesn't work, we still have a backup plan."

"Should we continue to cut the vines? The pumpkins and sweet potatoes in the field have just started to grow. We will get beaten if we cut them." Erhu was a little hesitant. It was spring now, not like last autumn when we had to cut the vines.

"Why else would I call you? I've planted a lot along the county road. Let's just go and harvest it."

The two nodded when they heard this, as long as there was something ready.

Wearing a straw hat and a sickle, Qin Dahe took them up on a motorcycle tricycle.

After cutting the vines, I will go straight to the nest and start raising it from today.

The plot of land where pumpkins and sweet potatoes were planted was right next to his house. Three laborers harvested more than 20 kilograms of them in a short time, and they deliberately left the roots alone so that they could grow again later.

"My mother helped me sow a large area of seeds, but now the ones grown are not enough." He said with a headache. It has not been long since the seeds were planted.

"You can also cut some tender reed leaves for use."

"That's fine. Let's go cut some more later."

I hopped on my motorcycle and headed to the place where I had fished for grass carp last year.

The fruits of the mulberry tree have not yet grown, so we use vines and reed leaves to support them.

When we arrived, last year's fishing spot was covered with green grass.

Qin Dahe went straight into the water and started cutting tender reed leaves. It wasn't too cold when his feet stepped in.

But be careful when going into the water so as not to get scratched by anything.

"The water temperature is OK. I'll go measure the water depth at the sluice tomorrow."

"It'd better be done quickly. We need to go to the fields to help plant the cotton embryos right away."

"It's just a few days of hard work. If you really make money, you won't have to go to the fields anymore." Qin Dahe said indifferently.

His family's situation is similar. Even if he could make a lot of money from fishing, Qin's father and others would not let him go to the fields.

Now we are just learning how to farm. The little chores at home are enough for the couple to handle by themselves.

After cutting 20 kilograms of reed leaves, he began to sweat.

"Divide it into four parts, tie each part with a stone, and put some foam crumbs in it."

"Just like last year."

The two of them started to work, and Qin Dahe sat on the side to smoke and rest.

Just like welding, he is the master and the unskilled workers are responsible for the busy work.

"Can you catch herring in this nest?"

"Nonsense, black carp eat meat. If you want to catch black carp, you have to dig a screw nest and dig it continuously." Qin Dahe curled his lips.

He also played in those black pits for grass carp in later generations. The snails and small medicines were really free and so difficult to catch.

"Tell us how to do it." The two men came over after finishing their work.

After lighting a cigarette, the three friends sat on the ground and smoked happily.

"Black carp eat things like snails and scissors (freshwater shellfish similar to razor clams), and they don't like dirt."

"If you make too many nests at once, the snails will become smelly if they can't eat all of them, so you can't make too many nests."

"You have to make the bait little by little, spread out about ten pounds at a time, and do it every day. After four or five days, you should have a chance of catching herring."

"Is there a probability? Can't you be sure of catching something with such a heavy bait?"

When fishing last year, Yanyan caught a black carp, and Qin's father even caught a giant one.

"Haha, you think herring are easy to catch." Qin Dahe smiled. "They're expensive for a reason."

The price of black carp has reached a new high, especially this year the price of black carp stone has increased, so more people are buying it.

"Forget it, let's just fish for grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp." Erhu said helplessly.

Everyone wants to catch big fish, especially big bluefish, which is both profitable and exciting.

However, it was too difficult to fish, so I had to give up and focus on making money.

We built two grass nests here, took the remaining materials and went to another place.

The location of the nest is the same as last year, and I will bring a net with me when I go fishing.

You may not be able to earn back your wages just by fishing for grass carp, so adding a net is much safer.

When he returned to the village entrance, he dropped the two off and went to pick up the kid.

It was still the same shabby yard, but it was a little tidier inside. At least the ground traps and shrimp cages were all put away.

"Kid, have you made any money fishing these days?" As soon as you enter the yard, you can see the silly kid mending and drying the nets.

The old carpenter has also stopped working. There is no work now because everyone is busy with farming.

"Not much." The child stood up quickly when he saw his elder brother coming.

"How much money do you have?"

Upon hearing this, the child went into the house to get money, although he didn't know why his elder brother asked this.

I put the change and the big bills together and made up more than 800 yuan.

"Okay, keep this money at home. You still have 5,500 yuan with me, right? Go save it now."

"Yeah." The kid was very happy when he thought that there was still a large sum of money.

It's only three o'clock now, and there's plenty of time to ride a three-wheeled motorcycle to town.

He went back and asked Yanyan to bring his family's passbook so that they could deposit the money together.

There was no one in the bank in the afternoon, or rather, there was no one in the town. When the two went in, the salesperson was still dozing off.

He let the kid try to save the money by himself, thinking that a grown man couldn't be so incompetent as to not know how to save money.

"Sister, save money." The child held his throat and finally managed to stop stuttering.

"Hand over the money and passbook." The woman behind the counter was a woman in her thirties. She was quite happy to hear the silly kid call her "sister."

"Oh."

He handed over the passbook, counted the money, counted it again, confirmed the number, and started to change the amount of money in the passbook.

"I deposited 5,500 yuan. Now I have 14,000 yuan left. Please confirm."

"Okay, sister."

The silly kid took the passbook, looked at the number, and nodded quickly.

Although I can't read much, I have no problem seeing money.

Another form was handed out and I just had to sign it.

The bulk of the money came from the rosewood box and the income from this fishing trip. The kid himself had saved about two thousand yuan in the past few months.

Excluding his own expenses for buying rice and oil, it is actually very impressive for him to earn more than 2,000 yuan. Many families only have a net income of 4,000 to 5,000 yuan a year.

Qin Dahe then went forward to deposit the money. He had deposited 5,000 yuan, and his savings were almost approaching 30,000 yuan. Although he was good at spending money, he was even better at making money.

Last time I harvested corn, I gave my mother and her family 3000 yuan, but they refused to take the money. Some time ago, they gave them another 600 yuan.

When the couple got married, they had only 3600 yuan in savings. Three months later, they spent yuan on their parents, but they had more than yuan left. In other words, after deducting the cost of food and drink, they earned more than yuan during this period. It would be shocking if people told others about it.

You know, the young couple's consumption is not low. One likes to eat, and the other likes to add equipment. Their home is almost turning into a food processing factory.

Yanyan's current salary is 415, and she will be able to earn more than next month after becoming a regular employee. The treatment for regular employees at the grain station is quite good.

After saving the money, Qin Dahe went to buy a thermometer for use on construction sites, and then took his child to the sluice gate.

Take a rope out from inside the car mat and walk slowly down the path from last year.

It seems that many people have come here to fish this year, and the paths have been waded out.

When he got down there, he saw two fishermen fishing. He didn't know them, but he still went up to them, said hello, and offered them cigarettes.

"Brother, how's the fishing going?"

"I fished with corn for an entire afternoon and only caught a bream, but it didn't bite." The fisherman sitting on the tip of the fishing spot lit a cigarette and said with a wry smile.

Qin Dahe nodded. Nowadays, people are reluctant to catch corn when fishing, so there is no way they can catch any fish.

In later generations, when they went corn fishing, they would always go out with a big bag of corn.

If there is no nesting site, you have to fill it up and keep filling it until the fish in the nest are unwilling to leave.

You can't put too much corn at one time, or the nest will die. The fish will have enough to eat the nesting material.

"Can you lend me your fishing rod? I'll take the water temperature. It'll be done in no time."

"Okay, I don't have a mouth to eat anyway." The other party became interested when he heard Qin Dahe wanted to measure the water temperature.

The thermometer at the construction site is very long. After it reaches zero, hang it directly on the fishing line and throw it down gently.

The fishing rod in his hand was about four and a half meters long. He first tried a depth of one and a half meters, and when he pulled it up, it was 22 degrees.

Today's daytime temperature is about 25 or 26 degrees Celsius. The water temperature is quite high under the sun, just two or three degrees.

After shaking it a few more times, the zeroed thermometer was thrown into the water, and this time the water layer at two and a half meters was tested.

The water temperature actually dropped by six degrees, to sixteen degrees cold water.

"There is no obvious interaction between the upper and lower water layers here, so it's difficult to fish." He sighed.

"Brother, there's nothing we can do?" The kid felt a little regretful. Fishing for silver carp and bighead carp was very enjoyable.

"We have to wait until the water temperature at least reaches 20 degrees Celsius before we can fish."

He has read through the books on fish habits and fishing Q&A he bought many times. Combined with his experience in his previous life, he is confident that he has a basic understanding of fish.

"We can still fish now, but the catches aren't quite as good as they used to be. The main reason is that the silver and bighead carp are not biting consistently." He said patiently, "If there were fewer fish, there would be no point in us driving all the way here."

You do what suits your status. Now I am in the countryside, and my main focus is on making money.

With this water temperature, you're just trying your luck. There's really no need to do that.

It’s better to go to the grass carp nest. At least grass carp doesn’t have high requirements for water temperature, and maybe you can catch some bream, carp and other fish.

Even if I earn less money, it is still spectacular to bring home hundreds of kilograms of fish. Add in the shrimp cages, and I can always make up some of the extra money.

The river management office is on this side of the sluice. You can't put shrimp cages right under people's noses.

I politely returned the fishing rod to the owner. The owner asked some further questions about fishing. I could tell he was very professional by the way he measured the water temperature.

"If you want to make a heavy bait, you have to make it overnight. If you are fishing on the spot, it is better to fish in small amounts and frequently."

"There are a lot of bighead carp here. Do you know how to catch them?"

He took the cigarette handed to him, smiled, lit it and took a deep breath.

"Last year I probably landed nearly 1,000 kilograms of silver carp and bighead carp, mainly for bait."

"You have?"

"Yes, but it's hard to fish now, and I haven't made it yet. Let's wait and see." He didn't mention selling bait.

At least I can catch a few more batches here at Dazha. It would be great if I could start selling bait after I make some money.

"How much do you sell the bait for?" Even the fisherman next door came over.

They also heard that someone caught hundreds of kilograms of silver carp and bighead carp here last year, so how could they bear to miss it when they saw the real thing.

"Let's set the price at ten yuan per pound for now. It's a dry powder bait mixed with milk powder, malted milk, etc." He said casually.

I don’t want to sell it now, so I won’t say more.

After hearing this, the two thought it was a bit expensive, but they still asked for his phone number. If he caught a lot of fish in the future, they would definitely come and buy it from him.

Fishermen are a special group. Regardless of their wealth, they are willing to spend money within their means.

It’s not so bad now, everyone fishes for the sake of catching fish and having fun at the same time, but in the next twenty years, most people will fish for the sake of having fun.

It is very common to spend dozens of dollars on secret bait and thousands of dollars on fishing gear just to catch two worthless carp.

For a black market medicine king like Qin Dahe, the amount of money he spends is simply terrifying.

A bottle of secret medicine costs hundreds or thousands of yuan, four or five bags of bait worth dozens or even hundreds of yuan need to be prepared a day, the line sets are all imported, and a float costs hundreds of yuan.

Then find a black pit that costs a few hundred or a thousand yuan per game, sit there and catch dozens of kilograms of fish, and then go home happily, feeling that today is really exciting and I will come again next time.

As for the fish, I sold them at three yuan a pound and then returned them to the boss. My daily expenses were hundreds or even thousands of yuan.

And those who engage in wild fishing twenty years later are even more ridiculous. The cost investment is indeed low, but it is useless if you don’t have the resources. You can sit down for a day to catch two crucian carp, carp, etc., so why not do something else with that time?

That’s why the market for silver carp and bighead carp bait is booming in later generations, and wild fishing is really a good way to get good stuff.

It does cost a lot of money. Bait worth a hundred yuan a day is definitely needed, and fishing rods, fishing lines, and floats are not cheap.

However, when the fish are biting hard, it is very normal to pull up dozens or even hundreds of kilograms of fish.

Just like the resource of the sluice gate, twenty years later, the river bank should have been full of people.

I brought my child to work at Liming Supermarket and asked him to keep the passbook.

"Brother, let me put it here for you." The kid said nervously.

He often has to go out, and he feels uneasy when no one is at home.

"That's fine. Leave it to me. Doesn't grandpa have any work?" he said with a frown.

"No." The silly kid shook his head. He could only log off the Internet during this period.

But it’s the busy farming season now, there’s no one in town, and the fish caught are not worth much.

"Come back with me." As he said that, he pulled the person into the car and took him home.

He took out a ten-pound bag of silver carp and bighead carp bait and several pieces of thick line from the utility room, and also took out the thermometer.

"When you're free, go to the sluice gate and fish for bighead carp. Measure the water temperature for me three times a day, just like I did today: measure the temperature at 1.5 meters and 2.5 meters."

"Okay." The silly kid's eyes lit up when he heard that.

I can catch big fish and help my brother with things.

"Just take a notebook and record it. I look at it every day."

"Uh-huh."

The kid was very excited. His aunt was already helping him find a partner. He still needed to earn more money. His elder brother really took good care of him. This bag of bait cost a lot of money.

(End of this chapter)