The sky, orange-red fading, was soon swathed in black. Unbeknownst to him, most of the surrounding boats had already departed, leaving only scattered lights. His neighboring fishing boat had also vanished.
The vast expanse of the sea suited Li Haochen’s desire to catch fish properly.
The competition would end tomorrow, and Li Haochen intended to push through the night. If his ice chest filled up, he figured he could make at least a hundred thousand yuan this time, and there was still a chance for eighth place.
Li Haochen was determined to stay up all night, fighting until dawn.
Entering his space, he pried off about ten catties of mussels. As he turned to leave, he looked back and pried off a few more pounds. "Yes, that should be enough."
He placed the mussels on the deck and returned to the cabin to prepare dinner. For this night’s hard work, he needed to consume ample energy.
Therefore, dinner consisted of baked beef rice and steamed egg, with two bananas afterward.
After washing the dishes, he brewed a large pot of coffee and prepared his battle supplies, including Snickers and Red Bull, bringing them all out of the cabin.
He installed four electric fishing reels and double-checked the leader lines and hooks. With everything in order, he began preparing the mussel meat. Using four fishing rods required more bait, and fortunately, he had opened many mussels these past two days, becoming more skilled. The speed of opening shells and extracting meat had increased.
Ten minutes later, a large bowl of mussel meat was ready. He baited the hooks and cast them out, laughing heartily, "Fish, hurry into the hooks, hahaha…"
"Ring ring~"
"Ring…"
In less than a minute, the bells on the rod tips rang out, with all four rods within five seconds of each other. However, the drag on the fishing lines was not significant.
He reeled them in one by one. Without exception, they were all cunzhizi, each weighing about six or seven liang. Li Haochen wondered, "Why are they still cunzhizi after so long? Are there only them down there?"
After unhooking the fish and re-baiting, he rushed into the cabin with the still-struggling cunzhizi, taking them into his space to be raised in the ocean.
When he emerged, several bells were already ringing, and two rods were tangled. This frustrated Li Haochen to no end, and he could only grit his teeth and cut one line.
Fortunately, the fish was cooperative. Although it was still a cunzi, this one was a hefty one, weighing over two catties, which was quite large. The cut line wasn’t a loss after all.
He re-tied the leader lines and hooks and continued his endeavor.
While taking a sip of water, the bells rang again. Upon reeling them in, they were still cunzhizi. An hour later, Li Haochen had achieved a state of perfect calm. Even if the bells rang incessantly, his emotions would not be stirred.
Because for over an hour, he had reeled in countless fish, and all of them were cunzhizi. Eventually, it became like an assembly line operation: reel, unhook, bait, cast, repeat. He didn’t even glance at the fish.
This constant repetition created a psychological suggestion, causing Li Haochen to not pay too much attention to the fish he was catching. In reality, several large yellow croakers had been mixed in.
Half an hour later, Li Haochen steered his boat about a hundred meters to the left, as there were no more fish to be caught in the original spot.
The new fishing spot was promising. Besides cunzhizi, there were other types of fish. This revitalized Li Haochen; variety always helped alleviate mental fatigue.
At some point, a small fishing boat appeared about ten meters from the Xingchen. Like Li Haochen, the occupant was a lone fisherman, and he looked young, around twenty-five or twenty-six.
Li Haochen noticed it and looked over. The lights on the boat were not bright, only dimly lit. The small fishing boat had ten fishing rods rigged, which truly astonished Li Haochen. He thought to himself, "What a determined person."
However, Li Haochen felt a pang of pity for the man. With him there, could the man still catch any fish?
As expected, the frequent catches by Li Haochen made the young man’s eyes burn with envy. He cast his bait chains forcefully, but all ten fishing rods remained unresponsive.
Looking at Li Haochen reeling in several cunzhizi and a sea bass, the young man’s face turned ashen.
With a sour tone, he called out to Li Haochen, "Brother, you’re truly amazing."
Li Haochen was taken aback and was about to reply when the young man started his engine and roared away.
"Uh, he’s leaving already?"
If the man could hear him, he would have gone berserk. Lingering here felt like his face had been slapped repeatedly. Was he supposed to stay until his face swelled up like a pig’s before leaving?
At midnight, Li Haochen felt a bit sleepy. But the fishing boat not far away was still fishing under the lights. This persistence earned Li Haochen’s admiration. "If others are persisting, how can I indulge in pleasure?"
He quickly opened a can of Red Bull and ate it with a Snickers. With sustenance, his spirits lifted. "Continue, continue. I won't stop until the hold is full."
Ten minutes later, Li Haochen changed his fishing spot again, but the new spot frustrated him even more. After fishing for over ten minutes, he caught nothing. He had no choice but to move again.
This time, he had sailed much farther, and no other boats were visible in the vicinity. He anchored and began fishing again.
The fishing here was good. As soon as he cast, he got a bite, and it was a substantial one. They were all sea bass weighing over two catties. His live bait tank was already extremely crowded; ten more fish and it would be absolutely full.
Li Haochen estimated that the fish in his live bait tank alone were worth over fifty thousand yuan. His ice chest still had plenty of space, with only three frames of cunzhizi occupying it.
After catching another seven or eight sea bass, the bites stopped. He had to change fishing spots again. He couldn't count how many places he had moved to that night.
Time unknowingly crept towards three in the morning. Li Haochen anchored his boat again. "This is the last stop. If there are no more bites, I’m going to sleep."
He baited the hook with mussel meat and cast it out. In less than ten seconds, the fishing line was taut, and the bells rang incessantly. He remained calm with such quick bites. Whenever he changed to a new spot, if there were many fish, he would get a bite quickly; it was common practice. However, the fact that he was still catching cunzhizi made Li Haochen frustrated again. "Sigh, it’s this guy again. Now I finally understand the helplessness of those fishing boats yesterday."
"Ring ring ring~"
"Uh, again?"
He had just unhooked a fish and cast it out again a few seconds later, and all the lines were taut. Li Haochen was stunned. He hadn't seen such rapid consecutive bites since yesterday.
As the fish were pulled out of the water, there was still no surprise; they were still cunzhizi.
When he was unhooking the fish, the bait hadn’t been eaten yet. That was fortunate, saving him a round. He simply cast the lines out again.
"Ring ring ring… Ring ring…"
"What is this…?" Li Haochen was dumbfounded by the incredible speed of the bites. If the incessant ringing of the bells hadn't woken him up, he would have probably remained in a daze for a while longer.
With excitement, he unhooked the cunzhizi, re-baited the hooks, and cast them out. To his surprise, the bells rang again. This time, Li Haochen was fully alert. "Damn it, I’ve stumbled upon a cunzi nest, hahaha."
To increase efficiency, Li Haochen adopted a counter-clockwise carousel strategy. Within about an hour, the cunzhizi on the entire deck had piled up into a small mountain.