As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up-Chapter 174 - 161: Emperor Fish?

Chapter 174 -161: Emperor Fish?

From the fish finder, the fish were active in the upper layers.

But Chu Mingcheng always felt that the water here was very deep. Thus, he took the fishing rod and let out line to test the depth, unexpectedly finding that the water was over eighty meters deep.

Generally, the waters around an isolated island are shallow, merely over thirty meters deep due to the cliffs. Surprisingly, the other side was even more exaggerated.

However, encountering peculiar terrain at sea was quite normal, as long as there were fish.

If the fish were in the upper layers, then he would fish in the upper layers.

He threw the dead shrimp he had caught in the afternoon into the water to create a nest and then cut up the sardines from the afternoon to use as bait, trying to fish to see what kind of fish they were.

The feeling of the fish biting was very familiar. When he pulled the fish to the surface, the sub-line suddenly broke.

It was rare for a fish to escape, but Chu Mingcheng didn’t feel any disappointment or regret; he had seen clearly what fish it was, a small Emperor Fish.

No wonder the feel was so familiar; it was just that it had been a while since he had thought of it.

For the teeth of the Emperor Fish, it was not strange that they could bite through his thin sub-line.

The electric reel rod was sent out again. Since he hadn’t prepared a Tianya Hook, he had to choose to use a string hook.

The bait on the electric reel rod was lowered first, and then he continued to tie another fishing rod’s line group.

Emperor Fish didn’t need to be bled; just pulling them up, unhooking them, and throwing them directly into the box was enough. An extra fishing rod meant more Emperor Fish.

While he was halfway through tying the line group, the electric reel rod at the gunwale started to show activity.

Because the fishing rod was thick and the electric reel was powerful, he had rigged seven hooks.

Plus, Emperor Fish biting was fairly fierce, so the activity was quite significant.

He pressed the button to reel in the line. The line was rapidly retrieved by the electric reel, without any resistance like the Sailfish had shown at noon.

In just a short while, three Emperor Fish were pulled up.

Not bad, all three were three fingers wide. Compared to the Sailfish, Emperor Fish not only fetched double the price but were also easy to sell.

After he had also readied the other fishing rod’s line group and started fishing together, Chu Mingcheng realized that the number of Emperor Fish tonight was not as plentiful as before; they only bit every so often.

“Could it be due to the water layer?”

Although Emperor Fish swim to the upper layer at night, it’s not absolute. Many larger ones stay in the middle layer or even remain at the bottom.

Therefore, this time he tried letting the bait sink to about forty meters deep to see how it went.

But after five or six minutes, the electric reel hooked something again, while his hand-held fishing rod remained still.

Seeing this, he pressed the button to reel in the line, then continued to lower the bait, reaching the seventy-meter-deep waters.

In fact, in this water layer, his goal wasn’t just Emperor Fish; he also wanted to see if there were other fish.

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After a short while, he took the Emperor Fish off the electric reel, threw the bait back into the water, and just set the depth when his line finally showed activity.

He lifted the rod for a stabbing fish and then rapidly turned the handle.

From the activity, it seemed to be Emperor Fish again, unfortunately not the big Emperor Fish he had imagined; the activity was minor, so he guessed the fish weren’t large.

But when the fish were almost at the surface, under the light, he saw a bit of red.

After pulling them all up, Chu Mingcheng was somewhat astonished.

The fish caught were indeed Emperor Fish, but they were red Emperor Fish.

He had never seen this type of Emperor Fish before; he had no recollection of them, indicating they were a very rare species.

There were two hooked in total, and both had died after being pulled up from the deep waters.

He removed the hooks, finding that although these fish were three fingers wide, they were shorter and lighter than other Emperor Fish of the same width, probably weighing about two taels.

From the looks of it, it was an edible fish.

Chu Mingcheng threw the fish into the box, washed his hands, and casually checked a marine life guide.

He then learned that the scientific name of this fish was Back Point Spine Red Knife Fish, named for a black dot on its red back, perhaps giving rise to its name.

But the marine life guide didn’t provide more specific information. However, its presence in the guide indicated indirectly that this fish was tradeable.

He walked into the cabin, took out an encyclopedia, and searched through it.

It took quite a while before he found specific information about the fish. Apparently, it was a bottom-dwelling species, generally living in waters around eighty meters deep.

The book mentioned it was a commonly seen fish, but Chu Mingcheng had really not noticed it before.

The fish felt soft to the touch, and the taste was likely not bad. He planned to check the price when he had a signal.

If the price was low, he would take it home to eat; if high, he would sell it.

But clearly, there was quite a quantity below.

This time, Chu Mingcheng let the bait on the electric reel sink to the bottom, to fish for bottom-dwelling fish.

He would fish for upper-layer Emperor Fish with his own rod, to avoid the fatigue of pulling them up.

Even though the fish density was not as high as when he previously fished for Emperor Fish, he still caught fish from time to time, until the time gradually approached three in the morning.

Hearing the sound of his phone alarm, Chu Mingcheng yawned and then turned off the alarm.

Using a life transformation once, his sleepiness was instantly reduced by a great deal, and so was his fatigue.

It was about time; Chu Mingcheng started to reel in his line to go collect the shrimp and crab traps and then head back to the dock to sell his fish.

Fishing all night, the catch was actually quite good.

He had caught about seventy to eighty pounds of Emperor Fish, and the Swordfish probably weighed about twenty pounds.

As he was reeling in his line, Chu Mingcheng was about to press the button to reel in the electric reel rod’s line as well.

Just at that moment, a nearly two-meter-long fish leisurely swam by underwater.

When it sensed the faint smell of blood from the sardine meat, it changed direction and headed towards it.

The surrounding Swordfish instantly scattered, frightened away.

This fish was all white, with a body as elongate as an Emperor Fish’s, but what looked like a crown on its head was actually its dorsal fin.

Its pair of bright, Karicare large eyes looked terrifying in deep waters.

Unlike the Emperor Fish, its tail was not thin and pointed but had a scissor-shaped caudal fin like that of the Golden Spearfish.

As it moved, it looked like a soft strip of cloth, not vertical like a steel plate as the Emperor Fish.

Its mouth was not as sharp as the Emperor Fish’s, but its teeth were equally sharp. When it approached the sardines, it opened its mouth and instantly swallowed the fish meat.

On the boat, Chu Mingcheng was about to press the button to reel in the fishing line from the electric winch.

Before he could press it, there was a significant reaction from the electric winch.

Of course, this reaction was compared to that of the swordfish getting hooked earlier.

Looking at this, it seemed he had hooked an unknown large fish!

He hastily pressed the button, and the moment the fishing line retracted, it pulled the slightly loose fish hook, making it sink in tighter and deeper.

The big fish that originally had a chance to spit out the hook now had no way to escape.

Although this fish was nearly two meters long, it had no chance to struggle against the powerful electric winch.

Even because it moved from a deep to a shallow area, its internal organs burst suddenly due to the change in pressure.

This caused the fish to be nearly dead by the time it was fully pulled to the surface.

“Yoho!” Chu Mingcheng thought it was a Stone Fish or something but didn’t expect it to be such a long Emperor Fish.

It was quite different from the usual Emperor Fish, with a red back and a translucent silver-white belly, making it very beautiful.

Chu Mingcheng lifted it onto the deck, then positioned it, took a photo, and then stored it separately in a foam box covered with ice.

He didn’t recognize this fish, so he looked it up in the marine life guide and found the fish was called a Striped Narrow Skull Emperor Fish.

He further researched in the book and discovered that this type of Emperor Fish wasn’t economically valuable because of its rarity.

However, it was an edible fish, and curious folks might like to purchase and taste it.

Thus, even if the customers in the group didn’t want it, he could still sell it to Sea King or Jiang Yuqi. As gourmet YouTubers, they wouldn’t possibly refuse it.

He returned to the cockpit, started the boat, and collected the pots.

Because he used shrimp bait last night, all the sea breams caught on the floaters when retrieved.

Moreover, seven of them were Black Sea Breams, and the remaining one was a Yellowfin Snapper. Also, the bait on two hooks was eaten.

His success rate was pretty good, but unfortunately, the fish weren’t very large, all around two to three pounds.

After collecting the shrimp pots, there wasn’t much surprise, but he caught some Mud Shrimps.

Keeping the Mud Shrimp could attract some Groupers or other fish with the bait this afternoon.

The crab pot, however, yielded a lot, catching over thirty pounds of crabs, and they were all quite fat, nearly a pound each, only releasing two skinny ones.

The fuel cost at night was about 3,500 dollars, depending on how much the fish could sell for at the dock in the morning.

He reached the dock at exactly five-thirty.

The dock was already bustling, as the morning’s first batch of fishing boats were all returning around this time.

Not only fishmongers came to the dock to buy fish, but also some seafood shop owners and customers who wanted to buy fresh fish.

On the dock, a middle-aged man with graying hair but neatly dressed was picking fish.

He keenly spotted a fishing boat returning to the dock in the distance.

Thinking there might be good catches on the fishing boat, he walked over with curiosity.

Chu Mingcheng was somewhat surprised to see someone boarding his boat.

“Boss, what kind of fish do you have?”

“We have Emperor Fish, Swordfish, and swimming crabs.”

“Oh, you have Swordfish?” When he saw the red figure inside the box, the middle-aged man became interested.

But he didn’t say much, instead, he opened each box to check and then found the separately boxed large Emperor Fish.

“Is this… Emperor Fish?” the middle-aged man exclaimed.

It wasn’t strange that he couldn’t recognize it; some large Emperor Fish might all have the title of Emperor Fish.

But actually, this large Emperor Fish didn’t have the title, it just looked similar, and those not familiar with it definitely couldn’t recognize it.

Chu Mingcheng shook his head to explain, “No, this is called the Striped Narrow Skull Emperor Fish, which belongs to the Emperor Fish family. The real Emperor Fish isn’t from the Emperor Fish family, they look similar but are completely different species, with no close relation.”

“I see!” the middle-aged man nodded in realization, “Boss, how much are you selling this large Emperor Fish for?”

“The price is US$ 150 per pound, non-negotiable. This kind of Emperor Fish is in demand, especially popular with restaurant owners who favor its rare sight yet delectable taste, and it even adds quite a bit of flair.”

Chu Mingcheng had already checked the price. Even ones preserved on ice for several days could sell for 115 yuan.

His was larger and fresher, so the price of US$ 150 was quite reasonable.

The middle-aged man was initially thinking of haggling, but when he heard Chu Mingcheng directly refuse to negotiate, he couldn’t help but smile wryly.

“Okay, then boss, weigh it and see how much it weighs; I’ll take this one.”

“Meanwhile, give me a pound of Swordfish, how much is that?”

Seeing him so promptly accept the large Emperor Fish, Chu Mingcheng became more agreeable.

“I’ll give you a discount on the Swordfish, let’s make it US$ 50 per pound. You should know that just caught, it could actually sell for more.”

“Alright, boss, calculate the price.”

At last, Chu Mingcheng weighed the large Emperor Fish, which was one meter ninety-three long, but weighed only fourteen pounds two taels.

The price came out to 2,115 yuan, and with a pound of Swordfish, Chu Mingcheng charged him 2,150 yuan.

That a two-meter large Emperor Fish could break even was disappointing!