Chapter 226 - 144: Fishing for King Salmon with Fish Steak 3

Chapter 226: Chapter 144: Fishing for King Salmon with Fish Steak 3

Afterward, Gu Nan called Sea King to tell him the 1.9-meter giant grouper had arrived.

The guy was fast. Less than ten minutes after Gu Nan hung up, he had already arrived.

The 1.9-meter grouper once again attracted a crowd of nearby shop owners and customers. However, having already seen a 1.8-meter live one, some of the shop owners just took a quick look at the commotion before returning to their businesses.

There’s a huge price difference between chilled and live fish. This one weighed 282 jin and was bought by Sea King for eighty thousand yuan. The unit price was nearly three hundred yuan per jin, which was quite good.

...

The days flew by for the two of them, and soon it was August 1st.

The Yangjiang Port Sea Fishing Tournament officially began. Today, Gu Nan was wearing a fishing uniform with the four large characters for "Fishing is Life" on it—the name of Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao’s fishing club.

There was also a patch on the back of the uniform with the number twenty-three.

When he first got the number, Gu Nan had a strange look on his face. ’The Michael Jordan of the fishing world, huh?’

Standing beside him were two other contestants from his club, both older than him and over thirty.

This sea fishing tournament was jointly organized by twenty clubs. As such, the first-place champion would win a prize of 500,000 yuan, second place would get 300,000, and third place 100,000.

Fourth and fifth place would receive 50,000 yuan, and sixth through tenth would get 10,000 yuan.

Subsequently, those ranked from eleventh to thirtieth would still receive a consolation prize of 2,000 yuan.

The competition would last for three days, split into two sessions each day.

From 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM, and from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM, for a total of seven hours.

The weather was too hot, and the organizers were worried that some contestants might get overly eager for a good score, fish in the afternoon, and suffer from heatstroke. The organizers would be held responsible for that.

Contestants had to provide their own fishing tackle, but it was limited to a single rod and single hook. Electric reels were forbidden, and only artificial lures were allowed. Chumming with groundbait was permitted.

Each boat had two supervisors on board to prevent cheating. The supervisors were all from other clubs, which meant that unless you were silver-tongued enough to bribe them, you could forget about cheating.

Furthermore, the entire trip out at sea was filmed to prevent this very issue.

The competition wasn’t about the total catch but the single heaviest fish. Therefore, contestants just had to aim for those exceptionally large fish. Even an oilfish, which wouldn’t fetch much money, would count, though it was unlikely to be encountered in inshore waters.

Gu Nan’s "cheat" wasn’t actually very useful for this competition, except that his fishing rod was a bit better.

The club provided a number of fishing spots and also mentioned where larger fish might be more abundant.

But if his club could provide this information, so could the others. All in all, everyone was on a level playing field.

However, today was just the opening ceremony; the actual competition wouldn’t start until tomorrow.

After attending the lively opening ceremony, Gu Nan took Yi Chen to the Fishing is Life club to give her a tour.

Closing the seafood shop for a day wasn’t a big deal, and it also gave Yi Chen a day to relax.

The next day arrived quickly. All contestants came to the port ahead of time, boarded their fishing boats, and checked their equipment.

The fish could either be released or brought back, so ice had to be prepared as well.

The gas tanks also had to be full to avoid running out of fuel while searching for a spot.

Fortunately, the organizers covered all fuel costs, so the contestants could zip around the sea to their hearts’ content.

However, contestants were not allowed to get into conflicts over fishing spots. Each fishing boat had to maintain a distance of at least two hundred meters from the others, unless the contestants themselves agreed otherwise.

If a conflict did occur, a judgment would be made based on the situation, and serious offenses could lead to disqualification.

With such a vast expanse of sea, it was highly unlikely that people would fight over spots, especially since there were so many to choose from.

At 8:00 AM, all the fishing boats were ready. As a whistle blew, the boats left the port in an orderly fashion, heading for their fishing spots.

Gu Nan was number twenty-three, so he was the twenty-third to leave the port.

He didn’t know where the big fish were at the moment, but after some thought, he decided to check a nearby spot first.

The morning session was only three hours long. Going too far out would eat up a lot of travel time.

Following the spots provided by the club, Gu Nan first headed to a location about five nautical miles from the shore. It was marked as a place where large Sea Bass or giant croakers might appear.

This data was collected from multiple sources, primarily local fishermen and fishing enthusiasts.

When he arrived at his destination, there were no other contestants’ boats around. Gu Nan glanced at the fish finder.

Seeing a good number of fish, he stopped the boat, took out the golden Fengqi boat rod, and attached a Big Fatty lure.

The two supervisors on board came out as well. One held a camera to film, while the other stood aside with his arms crossed.

His job wasn’t just to prevent cheating but also to handle the landing net when a contestant caught a fish.

If he intentionally lost the fish, not only would he forfeit his high pay for these three days, but he would also face penalties. It was all in the contract.

Gu Nan paid them no mind, as they were strangers. He took out the Antarctic krill provided by the organizers and began scooping it into the water, tossing it about like it was free.

One box contained about twenty jin, and they provided two boxes per day. It really was free.

With a flick of his rod, the Big Fatty lure flew high into the air and splashed into the water.

After the Big Fatty sank about ten meters, he began to slowly turn the reel handle.

Nothing on the first cast, but that was normal. The groundbait had just hit the water, and the fish hadn’t gathered yet.

With the Fengqi Coast map turned off, the bite rate for normal fishing was indeed very slow.

After a dozen or so casts, he finally felt a tap on the rod, followed by a strong pull.

ZING~

A fish was finally on the hook. Gu Nan immediately lifted his rod to set the hook, sealing the fish’s fate.

The two boatmen, who had been looking a bit bored, suddenly perked up. A fish at last.

Gu Nan himself was slightly surprised. The pull was quite strong—a good start, he hadn’t expected it. The crewman filming him quickly pointed the camera at him and the trembling rod.

Feeling the drag, Gu Nan tucked the rod under his arm and began steadily lifting the rod and reeling in the line.

As long as it wasn’t a particularly massive fish, this fishing method was easier and faster for him.

The fishing line was reeled in steadily. In just two or three minutes, a Sea Bass estimated to be half a meter long appeared on the surface.

The idle boatman immediately grabbed the landing net, and as soon as the fish was alongside the boat, he expertly scooped it up.