Chapter 539 - 373: What an Eye-Opener

The captain had just finished his proud boast when one of the fishing rods on the side of the boat suddenly began to shake violently. In the blink of an eye, it was bent into a crescent moon.

"Fish on!!"

Erica shouted excitedly, the first to rush over and grab the rod. She held it tight and gave it a gentle lift to feel the fish's strength, while her left hand slowly started to reel in the line.

Although she didn't have much fishing experience, she had often watched her dad fish, so she knew the general procedure.

Lin Chen walked over, also grabbed the rod, and gave it a shake. He felt at least thirty or forty kilograms of pull from under the water. 'This fish is definitely not small!'

Erica might have a relatively slender build for a Western woman, but her strength was surprisingly great. She didn't need his help at all and was able to control the rod steadily all by herself.

She didn't rush to reel it in. Instead, she'd reel in a few turns and then let the line out a bit, lifting the rod from time to time to give the creature below plenty of time to tire itself out.

Jin Meiyan stood beside them, so nervous she didn't dare to breathe, afraid of disturbing Erica's rhythm and causing the big fish on the line to get away.

Just then, the fishing rod right next to her suddenly bent as well.

The sudden movement startled her, but she immediately reacted, mimicking the series of actions Erica had just performed.

"Holy crap?"

Lin Chen's mouth fell open, his face a mask of envy.

'How did they get a bite right after casting? And two of them, back-to-back? Is beginner's luck really a thing?'

'No, there must be a school of fish down there. Otherwise, the hook rate couldn't be this high.'

Thinking of this, he immediately focused on his own rod, afraid of missing even the slightest movement.

"Oh? I've got one too."

The captain grabbed a rod on the other railing, gave it a tug, and cheerfully began to turn the reel.

Lin Chen, who hadn't gotten a bite yet, silently picked up the landing net from the corner, ready to provide help at a moment's notice.

With the two women's strength and physiques, just tiring the fish out and pulling it to the surface was already impressive. It was impossible they'd have the extra energy to haul it directly onto the boat.

Even without the resistance of the seawater and the fish's own struggle, the fish itself would still weigh at least ten or twenty pounds. With their strength, it would be difficult to lift it straight up with just a thin rod and line.

His judgment was correct. After the tug-of-war had gone on for ten minutes, Erica was clearly showing signs of exhaustion. Her left hand, gripping the rod tightly, began to tremble uncontrollably—a sign she was about to lose her strength.

Luckily, the big fellow below had also used up about half its energy. The pull was clearly not as strong as it was at the beginning. Gritting her teeth, she dragged it upward bit by bit, and a faint dark shape could already be seen through the surface of the sea.

Jin Meiyan's situation was much better. The fish she'd hooked wasn't as big as Erica's. It was now completely exhausted, floating on its side and gasping for air at the surface.

She didn't dare try to lift the rod rashly, afraid she'd use the wrong technique or do something to break it. She didn't really know, but she'd seen similar things happen in lots of videos online.

Seeing this, the ever-observant Lin Chen jogged over, dipped the landing net into the sea, and easily scooped up the fish, flipping it onto the deck.

"THUD!"

The dark shape slammed onto the deck with a heavy thud.

Moving the net aside, what came into view was a rainbow trout nearly a meter long.

"See this red line on its body? That's the mark of a rainbow trout. Salmon have a black line. It's the most obvious distinguishing feature."

Most rainbow trout are freshwater farm-raised fish, but a small number live in the sea, like this one.

The common belief online that you can't eat rainbow trout raw stems from this. The main reason you generally can't eat freshwater fish raw is the unavoidable possibility of parasites.

The reason deep-sea fish can be eaten raw is due to the pressure change. When they're brought up, the change in atmospheric pressure is so great that the fish themselves can't survive for long and die naturally, let alone any potential parasites on them.

Furthermore, professional fishing boats will flash-freeze the fish as soon as they're caught. This preserves them and also acts as a secondary sterilization process, making it impossible for any parasites to survive.

As for whether they can be re-infected with parasites or bacteria after being brought ashore, that depends on how well hygiene is managed during transportation.

"Oh my god, what a huge fish!"

Jin Meiyan never expected the first fish she ever caught would be this big. It was almost as long as her leg. Its gills were still opening and closing, and it would occasionally flop around on the deck, splashing water everywhere.

Lin Chen dispatched it with a single blow to the head with a club. Its large body twitched twice before it finally went still.

He had Jin Meiyan hold it for a few close-up shots. They now had a highlight for their footage.

During this time, the captain also successfully caught a grouper. It was on the small side of average, so he casually tossed it into the livewell to keep it.

"OMG! Oh my god!!"

Erica, who had been in a prolonged tug-of-war, suddenly cried out in shock, causing the other three to rush to the railing to look.

One look, and all three of them froze.

A completely black Devil Fish was being held by the line, floating quietly on the surface of the sea.

"It's a manta ray!"

The captain sighed and shook his head. "It really is beginner's luck. Catching a manta ray on your first try... well, that's a first for me."

Although Lin Chen didn't know much about fishing, based on his biological knowledge, this was clearly a little one that had just been born.

Adult manta rays can weigh up to 500 kilograms on average, making them one of the true titans of the sea. He estimated the little one before them was probably less than half a month old.

"What a shame. Manta rays are a protected species. We have to release it."

Erica sighed with regret, but still shot a smug glance at Lin Chen.

"How come our two-time champion hasn't gotten a bite yet?"

"...What's the rush?"

Lin Chen's mouth twitched. He used the landing net to bring the small manta ray aboard, removed the hook, had Erica hold it by its wings for a commemorative photo with the camera, and then tossed it back into the sea.

After all that, he finally picked up his own rod and reeled it in to check. The bait was still hanging there, completely untouched.

"The presence of a small manta ray means there's a school of them in this area. Most other fish have gone into hiding, so it's normal not to get a bite. My hook was probably pushed toward the surface by the currents they kicked up, so the schools below didn't see it."

As he spoke, he cast his hook out again.

Fired up by their good start, Erica and Jin Meiyan's enthusiasm was at an all-time high. They both opened the bait box, dug out a bit, rolled it into a ball, set the hook, and cast their lines out again.

They waited quietly for a few minutes.

Suddenly.

Lin Chen's rod bent violently, looking as if it was about to snap in half.

"Oh my god, is the fish that big?"

Erica and Jin Meiyan exclaimed in unison.

'Judging by the looks of it, it must be at least twice as big as the manta ray she just caught, right?'

Lin Chen, however, looked extremely grim when he saw this. Instead of tightening the line, he loosened it a few turns.

He jerked the rod up and down a few times, and the immense tension suddenly vanished.

"It's not a fish. He's snagged."

The captain laughed and explained to the two women, "'Snagged' means the hook is caught on the bottom of the boat or a rock on the seabed. The weight exceeds what the rod and line can handle. If you don't loosen it quickly, the line will snap, and even the rod might break."

This was a deep-sea area, so he must have snagged the bottom of the boat.

The two women, relieved it was a false alarm, covered their mouths to stifle their laughter. Their teasing gazes made Lin Chen wish he could find a hole to crawl into.

'What kind of luck is this?'

But he steeled himself and cast his bait out again, saying nonchalantly, "What are you laughing at? The chances of getting snagged are lower than catching a big fish, you know. The fact that I could snag something even after casting so far just proves my luck is amazing!"

"I don't know about good luck, but I do know the current is flowing from here to there, right under this boat."

"To avoid getting snagged, I should let out more line so it can sink deeper to attract the little fish down there."

"I'll let out a few more turns too, then."

"Tch... Would you have even thought of that if it weren't for me?"

"Well, thank you so very much~"

While waiting for a bite, they didn't forget to occasionally scan the distant sea, hoping to catch a glimpse of a whale.

「This wait lasted a full two hours.」

During that time, Erica caught three groupers, two hairtails, two rainbow trout, and a sea turtle that was released.

Jin Meiyan's record wasn't bad either: five salmon, three rainbow trout, and two sole. She crowned herself the Salmon Goddess.

And don't even get started on the captain. With three rods going at once, he barely had a moment's rest, though he only caught small fish, the biggest being rainbow trout.

After waiting painstakingly for two hours, Lin Chen finally hooked his first prey.

"A bite!!!!"

On the verge of dozing off, he was startled by the sound of the reel spinning rapidly. He instinctively grabbed the rod and started reeling in the line.

The pull was much lighter than he'd imagined, but it was at least a dozen pounds or so. Better than nothing.

As he reeled it in, he could clearly feel the rod being pulled in different directions—the best proof that something was on the hook!

Seeing that he'd finally caught a fish, Erica and Jin Meiyan both breathed a sigh of relief.

They hadn't expected the two-time survival champion to have such bad luck with fishing. If he had gone home empty-handed, he would have inevitably felt down, and they'd have had to console him.

In truth, words of comfort would have been useless; nothing could beat the satisfaction of actually catching a fish.

Lin Chen's movements were exceptionally skilled. He pulled and released the rod gently, sometimes loose and sometimes tight, and every so often he would shift the angle left and right. Even to them, two complete amateurs, his technique looked incredibly professional.

In just three or four minutes, Lin Chen had exhausted the fish and quickly pulled it from the water.

Curious, the women immediately leaned over the side of the boat to look down.

They saw a strange, oval-shaped fish gradually being pulled up. The moment it broke the surface, they saw its true form.

It was a cuttlefish, about the size of a brick, its body covered in gray patterns!