The other net was also hauled in. The catch was similar in quantity but far more valuable than the first. Besides small squids weighing around five to six catties, there were three black seabream weighing over two catties each.
After setting the net eight times that night, they stopped, as the catch had dwindled to almost nothing. Any further effort would be futile.
The haul from the nets that night was quite pleasing, with forty to fifty catties of small squids, and a good number of black seabream, yellow seabream, and sea bass.
Li Haochen happily packed away his tools. After cleaning up, he locked the door and went inside to shower and sleep.
The next day, Li Haochen woke up leisurely when the sun was already high. After washing up, he walked out of the cabin. The weather was sunny, the sea was calm, and the water was exceptionally clear.
With such fine weather, his mood brightened considerably.
As the saying goes, the plan for the year is made in spring, and the plan for the day is made in the morning. This morning must be treated with seriousness, and then the entire day will be full of vitality and strength.
After a few minutes of warm-up exercises, Li Haochen turned on the recorded "Hong Ge Happy Exercises" he had saved. The dynamic music, simple movements, and his perfectly timed passionate shouts made one feel energized in the morning. Although each segment was only two to three minutes long, after a few moves, he was already drenched in sweat. Among all the movements, Li Haochen liked the shuttlecock exercise the most; it wasn't as awkward. For a grown man, performing dances like the seagrass dance or snake dance required a certain amount of courage, even if he was the only one watching.
After half an hour, the exercise volume was substantial. His entire body was soaked, but he didn't feel tired. Instead, his whole body felt comfortable, and his stomach was completely activated, growling loudly.
This "morning" aspect, besides exercise, breakfast is indispensable, and it must be very rich and nutritious. Isn't there a saying: eat a good breakfast, a full lunch, and not too much dinner.
After a strenuous workout, the body's consumption is enormous and must be replenished. Therefore, today's breakfast was very nutritious and rich: Telunsu milk with eggs, and a bowl of tomato beef noodles.
After breakfast, he couldn't start working immediately. He sat in the captain's seat and looked at the fish finder display. There wasn't much below, so he decided to retrieve the fish traps and then move to a new location.
After resting for half an hour, Li Haochen walked out of the cabin, put on his gloves, and began to retrieve the fish traps. Without the wind and waves, the hauling speed was noticeably faster than yesterday and not as strenuous.
In less than two minutes, the first fish trap surfaced. There were no large fish, but unexpectedly, there were over a dozen coral fish, such as damselfish, bullhead fish, and angelfish, all very beautiful and colorful.
"They're quite pretty. I'll put them in the spatial sea later to add some color, hehe."
Li Haochen put them in a plastic bucket. If the water here wasn't too deep, he would have put on diving gear to collect seagrass and coral.
Since there were coral fish here, it must be a coral area below. As for how large or small the coral reef in this area was, he didn't know. However, judging by the catch from yesterday's fish traps, it should be quite significant.
The next two fish traps were remarkable: two large groupers, seven to eight catties each, one tiger grouper and one giant grouper. Both were prime catches, and these two alone were worth over four thousand. The crab traps also performed well, yielding three lobsters, though they weren't very large, weighing about a catty each. The eel traps didn't have much good stuff, only two small eels.
The live bait well was already full, so he had to use fish guards to keep the groupers in the spatial sea. The rest were released into the large sea to reproduce freely.
"Fortunately, I bought a few more fish guards this time, otherwise, I would have lost a lot."
He pulled up the anchor chain, and the Starry Sky slowly moved forward, not fast, only ten knots. Li Haochen steered while checking the fish finder. There were red dots, but not many, and some were very large. He didn't know what species they were, as they were incredibly fast and flashed by.
After cruising for nearly an hour, the fish finder indicated the location was still promising. Li Haochen then reduced speed, sailing slowly at one knot.
He quickly went out, smashed the mussels, put them in the bait boxes, and deployed the fish traps one by one. He didn't set the longlines because he had forgotten to prepare mussel meat, and many hooks were damaged and hadn't been replaced.
After deploying the fish traps, Li Haochen returned to the helm, shut off the engine, and after gliding to a stop, dropped the anchor chain.
He picked up his fishing rod and was about to go out when the radio crackled to life, "Captain Li, Captain Li, come in please."
"Who could that be?" Li Haochen wondered, as he didn't see any boats around. He picked up the radio and replied, "Received, received, may I ask who you are?"
"Captain Li, you have a forgetful nature. This is Liu Yufeng from the Mountain Wind."
"Oh, Captain Liu, hello. Are you nearby? How come we can't see you?" Li Haochen asked, looking through his binoculars.
"Heh, we're to your rear. Captain Li rarely ventures out to sea, why have you come here this time?"
"Uh... just to gain some experience. Sticking to the inner sea all the time yields very little."
"Isn't that the truth? Li Haochen is known as the Fishing King, how can he be content mixing it up in shallow waters? Coming out to see the world is good. Watching us battle those giants can teach you a lot."
Li Haochen's face twitched involuntarily. He was unhappy and immediately retorted, "Yes, yes, I must admire the third-place winner of the sea fishing competition later."
Li Haochen deliberately emphasized the words "third-place winner," which enraged Liu Yufeng, causing him to clench his fists until they creaked.
"Qitou, learn to pull like a beast," Liu Yufeng said harshly before cutting off the radio.
Although Li Haochen didn't quite understand the meaning of these words, he knew they weren't good. After cursing him mentally, he put on mussels and went out with his fishing rod.
Liu Yufeng looked over with his binoculars. Seeing Li Haochen opening mussels, he became somewhat curious. "Why is this kid opening mussels? Is he using them as bait?"
While he was still in a daze, Li Haochen had already lowered his fishing line. Seeing this, Liu Yufeng immediately burst into laughter. "Pfft, hahaha, this is hilarious. I didn't expect him to use mussel meat for deep-sea fishing. It's more suitable for feeding small fish."
Li Haochen looked towards the Mountain Wind, which wasn't far, about four to five hundred meters away. He also picked up his binoculars and looked over. They had just landed a yellowfin tuna and were bleeding it. It looked to be around a hundred catties.
Liu Yufeng knew Li Haochen was watching with his binoculars. He even waved towards the Starry Sky and grinned triumphantly.
"This scoundrel really knows how to make his presence felt."
As soon as he put down the binoculars, the rod tip immediately bent sharply. The fishing line yanked hard, causing the Starry Sky to sway a few times. The force was extremely strong, and Li Haochen even stumbled and fell against the ship's railing.
The drag on the reel was too tight. Li Haochen, worried it would break, quickly loosened it a bit.
Feeling the loosening, the fish resisted even more fiercely, continuously pulling the line into the deeper waters. Li Haochen judged that this fish should weigh over 50 catties. He dared not use the electric reel and quickly switched to using his belly to support the rod. He gripped the rod handle firmly, waiting for the moment the fish swam back. He quickly released the drag and used both hands to lift the rod, bracing it against his belly.
"Come on, let's have a good fight, hahaha!"