I Can Fish Up Everything!

The two men drove their separate cars to the bridge. He Qiang took a small road down and, with Gu Nan’s guidance, parked on the hard mudflats beside the bridge.

Gu Nan had been here twice and knew it was a place to park. Otherwise, he would have just had He Qiang ride over with him on his three-wheeler.

He Qiang curiously surveyed the area under the bridge and noticed people on several of the piers.

There were even more people on the mudflats under the bridge, lined up in rows with barely an empty spot in sight. It’s true what they say: the best free spots have more people than fish.

He’d always stuck to freshwater fishing and had never paid this area much mind. Looking at it now, it seemed pretty nice.

"Do you want to go out to the piers, or just fish from here?" Seeing that the boatman running the ferry today was a stranger, Gu Nan went up to He Qiang first.

"Let’s go out to the piers. There are bound to be more fish there." What fisherman wants to get skunked? Since he was sea fishing again, He Qiang hoped for a good haul. Fifty yuan was nothing to worry about.

Going to the piers was a good idea; the chances of getting skunked were low.

Gu Nan nodded and led him over to the boat owner.

"Which pier do you two want?" the boat owner asked after they had loaded their gear and he had started the small fishing boat, pushing off from the bank.

He Qiang had no idea where the fish were, so he just picked a spot at random.

Just like last time, Gu Nan chose a pier on the opposite side—his usual spot, where there were fewer people.

After getting onto the pier, he looked at the boat owner’s small wooden boat. ’I should get a boat myself,’ he thought. ’Coming to piers or breakwaters near the reefs is getting inconvenient.’ He called out to the man, "Boss, how far can a little boat like yours go? And how much do they cost?"

The boat owner shot him a sideways glance. "What, you thinking of buying a boat?"

Gu Nan caught the impatience in the man’s tone and attitude and immediately put on an expression that said, ’Me? No way.’

"Buy a boat? What for? I don’t have that much time to fish. You think I’d just let it sit at the dock as a decoration? I was just curious. Seems like a good business you’ve got. I bet it paid for itself in no time, right?"

"Not really. It just makes for some extra spending money. These boats are cheap—a new one is only about thirty thousand, and a used one is even less. But you can’t take them far. The most you can do is motor around the island."

Gu Nan nodded. The small wooden boat looked to be about six meters long; it definitely couldn’t go far.

However, boats over six meters required a license to operate. He figured that if he was going to keep unlocking the Elite Catalog, he’d have to get a boating license first.

’Good thing I remembered that,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, I might have bought a boat I couldn’t even use. I’d probably feel like smashing it.’

Looks like buying a boat would have to wait. Most small boat builders have hulls in stock; you basically just have to get a motor installed, which doesn’t take long.

Besides, before the game was even bound to him, he had already taken a rough look at the subsequent maps. It seemed like he’d need a boat to get to the right spots in the future.

He only knew that the second map was a reef island, which meant he most likely wouldn’t be able to activate it from Lingdou Island.

That meant he’d need a boat over six meters long—at least eight meters. And for that, a license was mandatory.

He filled his livewell with seawater, about a third of the way up.

For now, he was just catching local fish, so there wouldn’t be many. This much water was enough.

If he wasn’t worried about the off chance of hooking a bonito or something similar, Gu Nan wouldn’t have even bothered bringing his foam cooler.

First, he chummed the water. Then, he swapped his float for a lead sinker, a metal jig, and a small bell.

He’d picked up the little bell at the tackle shop earlier. Clipped to the tip of his rod, it would alert him to a bite, so he didn’t have to worry about his attention drifting.

He was going to use his daily attempts to bottom fish, which was why he’d already rigged up the sinker and jig.

He cast his line out, waited for the lure to sink a little, and then flipped the bail on his reel.

For now, he didn’t dare try float fishing or standard lure fishing. The last time he’d switched up his technique, he had immediately hooked a BOSS, whereas he had bottom-fished for half the day without a bite from one. Clearly, there was a specific method to catching them.

He’d gotten lucky catching a medium-sized marlin before, but if he hooked an even bigger one today, Gu Nan had no confidence he could land it.

So, as long as he wasn’t in a secure enough position, he wouldn’t dare challenge a BOSS.

JINGLE JINGLE JINGLE...

A dozen seconds later, the bell he’d just clipped on began to ring. A decent pull came through the line; the fish wasn’t particularly large.

Gu Nan decided to just brute-force it, powerfully hauling the fish toward the surface.

A Large-spot Grouper, looking to be over three pounds.

The fish had a decent amount of fight in it. The moment it broke the surface, it thrashed and dove back down.

Caught off guard, Gu Nan let it take a little line. But as he applied pressure again, the Large-spot Grouper resurfaced and was pulled toward the pier.

He locked the drag, lifted his rod, and scooped the fish up with the landing net in his other hand. After unhooking the lure, he made a show of putting the fish into the livewell, but in reality, the moment it hit the water, he transferred it to his aquarium.

He continued using his daily attempts, pulling up one three- and four-star fish after another. He even caught a five-star Blue Star Nine-spine Sea Perch that weighed 3.9 jin.

Looking at the weight on his fish gripper, Gu Nan felt a pang of regret. ’If it had been just a couple of ounces heavier, it probably would have qualified as ’Giant’!’

’Looks like I’ll need a purple-rarity rod if I want to collect all sixteen types of giant fish.’

He had already used eight of his daily attempts and had eleven left. However, he planned on saving one for tomorrow to see if they would accumulate, a little experiment of his own.

If they did accumulate, he wouldn’t be forced to fish every single day. He could occasionally take care of other things without feeling so rushed.

For instance, he could open his shop in the morning on the Dragon Boat Festival and go home in the afternoon, or go to a dinner party at the end of the month.

He cast his line and continued fishing.

Thankfully, there were no other fishermen on the piers next to him. If they saw him getting a bite with every cast, they’d be green with envy, and this spot would surely be taken next time.

A dozen seconds later, the bell rang again. A tremendous Power erupted from the fishing rod.

There was none of the jarring impact of a running fish, just an exceptionally dead weight, as if he’d hooked a block of iron.

’Did I hook some piece of ocean junk?’

’But I’m using one of my guaranteed-catch attempts. This shouldn’t be happening.’

Confused, Gu Nan could only try to haul the thing up by force, but the drag on his reel actually started to scream!

"..."

’What the hell is this thing? It’s harder to reel in than a fish.’ Gu Nan was flabbergasted. As he pulled, the thing somehow got even heavier.

The way his rod was bent, it looked even more extreme than when he’d hooked the BOSS. It felt like it was about to snap, so he instantly stopped trying to yank it.

The moment he eased up a little, something strange happened: the Power coming from whatever he’d hooked also weakened.

’What the hell is this thing?’

His curiosity piqued, Gu Nan patiently began to reel in his line, bit by bit. If there’s one thing a true angler doesn’t lack, it’s patience.

This slow and steady retrieve, while tedious, was proving to be very effective.

Luckily, the lure hadn’t sunk very deep. It was slow going, but it only took a few minutes for Gu Nan to bring the object to the surface.