I Can Fish Up Everything!

’This is a nice fish. Too bad I can’t show it off!’ Gu Nan sighed, continuously jigging his rod to tap the bottom.

He Qiang had already sent him a picture of his fish. As a new fishing buddy, Gu Nan felt he should return the gesture.

However, the fish weren’t very active in the afternoon. Gu Nan tapped the bottom for quite a while without a single bite. He only felt the occasional nudge on his bait, which sent a slight tremor up the line.

Even with the advantage of his Fengqi Coast map, he was still at the mercy of the fishes’ natural activity cycles.

Patience is one thing anglers have in spades, but sometimes, you can’t just be stubborn.

’For instance, I’ve had no bites for this long, but I’m still getting some nibbles. Could the lure be too big?’

Deciding not to be stubborn, Gu Nan reeled in his line and opened his tackle box.

His blue tackle box was bigger now, about the size of three regular pencil cases, and it was stocked with all sorts of lures, from small to medium-large.

If Gu Nan were to lend his tackle box to another lure angler, they’d undoubtedly start calling him ’Godfather’.

Having so many lures also made it difficult to choose. He looked them over and over, but in the end, he was drawn to the cute look of a fat little crankbait.

The ’Little Fatty’ was a lure Gu Nan was fond of using on his occasional lure fishing trips. It was short and stout, with a round, adorkable look.

That’s why fellow anglers nicknamed it the ’Little Fatty’ or the ’Rockin’ Fatty’.

The Little Fatty was used much like a minnow lure. Gu Nan selected a small one, tied it on, and cast it into the water.

The Little Fatty had a large, long bill. When retrieved with a technique similar to that for a minnow lure, it produced a wider wobble and more vibration.

Gu Nan let the Little Fatty sink to the middle of the water column, then began a slow retrieve while lightly twitching his rod tip.

The Little Fatty immediately began an exaggerated wobble in the water, its saucy little rear swaying far more seductively than a minnow lure’s.

A RAT-TAT-TAT sound also traveled far through the water—the noise of the small steel balls rattling inside the Little Fatty’s body.

This sound didn’t just attract fish; it also had the potential to provoke any predators that came to investigate.

And sure enough, a few fish active in the mid-water were immediately drawn in by the sound.

Upon seeing the Little Fatty’s defiant swagger, one hot-tempered fish couldn’t resist. It shot forward and swallowed the damn thing whole.

On the bridge pier, Gu Nan saw his rod tip dip slightly and start to twitch. He knew he had a fish on.

He immediately lifted his rod to set the hook, then began cranking the reel handle to bring in the line.

This fish was a far cry from the big black porgy from before. Gu Nan cranked the reel, quickly pulling the fish to the surface.

A Striped Beakfish. It looked to be around a pound and a half, which was a nice catch for a wild fish. It was worth much more than a Sea Bass.

He grabbed the landing net and expertly scooped up the fish.

After using a hook remover to free the lure, Gu Nan inspected his leader line.

Striped Beakfish have a strong bite and can easily snap a leader line, but the quality of the free line that came with his blue gear set seemed to be much better.

The line from his old green gear set would get obvious nicks from sharp-toothed fish. This new line, however, didn’t have a single mark on it; it was comparable to the steel wire leaders sold in stores.

’Makes sense when you think about it. If companies made products that were too durable, they’d go out of business.’

’As long as the quality isn’t worse than the competition’s, it’s good enough. They make more money when anglers have to replace their gear more often.’

Gu Nan didn’t bother taking a picture of the Striped Beakfish, simply placing it in his livewell.

There was no rush to get a photo to send back to He Qiang. If he didn’t land a big one before it was time to go, he’d just win with quantity over quality.

He Qiang was a veteran angler himself, so he didn’t have any ’beginner’s luck’ buff.

The bite was slow that afternoon. He only landed a fish every now and then, some local and some from the Fengqi Coast, but he hadn’t unlocked any new species in his collection yet.

The time reached a little past 4:20. Remembering that the boat captain would be heading back for dinner at five, Gu Nan sent a message to He Qiang: "Hey man, you fishing through the night or heading back soon?"

"Head back? You’ve got to be kidding!" He Qiang’s reply was swift, and it came with a photo.

The picture showed him holding up a keepnet with six fish inside.

There was the initial Sea Bass, a small mullet, a small black porgy, and three scorpionfish.

For him, that was a pretty impressive haul.

The bite would be even better at night; how could he possibly be willing to leave?

"Alright, I’ll order some takeout for us then. I’ll have the boat captain bring it over when he heads back."

"Whoa, no, no, let me get it! I’m ordering. If it wasn’t for you, I never would’ve known about this awesome spot. Don’t you dare argue with me on this one!"

He Qiang might have seemed cold and impatient with his wife, but he was incredibly warm toward his fellow anglers.

Gu Nan was about to make a polite refusal, but the other man had already ordered the food and sent him a screenshot. His speed was really something else.

The screenshot was from a fried rice place. He’d ordered from there before; the food was so-so, but its main selling point was that it was close and the food came out fast.

The boat captain wouldn’t be back with the food until at least five o’clock. With some luck, he could catch another two fish in that time, so Gu Nan didn’t waste a moment.

He stuck with the Little Fatty lure. Tapping the bottom hadn’t been effective this afternoon, but the Little Fatty was getting decent results.

The Little Fatty wasn’t just for fishing the upper and middle water columns; it could occasionally dive deep, too.

This time, Gu Nan let out more line, allowing the Little Fatty to sink almost to the very bottom.

Partway down, he put a finger on the line and lifted his rod to give the Little Fatty some action. ’Who knows,’ he thought, ’maybe I’ll get lucky and a fish will hit it on the drop?’

Of course, no fish bit this time.

Once the Little Fatty reached the bottom, Gu Nan tugged the line back and forth, twitching the rod tip from time to time.

After about half a minute without even a tentative nibble, he turned the reel handle and took in a little line.

He had barely turned the handle three times when a massive force suddenly hit.

Gu Nan’s eyes lit up. ’Now that’s some power!’

He’d been fishing all afternoon, and aside from the nice surprise from the big black porgy, the rest of the fish had been tiny—a few ounces here and there, with the larger ones not even reaching two pounds.

He’d caught more fish than He Qiang, but that was about all he had to show for it.

This one felt like it was at least five pounds, which was pretty damn good.

He jerked the rod upward to set the hook, reeled in two turns, then pulled up hard again.

But he could only haul it up a little bit at a time. After all, a fish over five pounds isn’t made of mud.

It was putting up a strong fight. Gu Nan struggled to lift it a few times, and his breathing grew heavy.

He was in pretty good shape, though. A scrawnier angler would be panting like they were in the middle of... well, ’you know what,’ just from reeling in a five or six-pound fish.

It took him quite some time to drag the fish from the bottom to the surface, inch by inch.

But its large mouth, brown skin, and small, dark-brown spots told him everything: this was a big areolate grouper, the kind of catch that gets an angler’s blood pumping.

This was the classic first grouper that the protagonists of most fishing novels manage to catch. It had an incredibly high appearance rate in those stories.

Gu Nan quickly scooped the fish into his net. Then, he used a fish gripper to lift it and check the weight.

Six pounds, four ounces. Not quite six and a half pounds, but it pulled surprisingly hard. It gave him a better fight than some seven or eight-pounders he’d caught before.

’Now I have something to send back.’ Gu Nan held the fish steady with the gripper and took a cool selfie.

He posted it in the group chat first, with a caption: "Gentlemen, allow me to show you my nearest and dearest."