Chapter 204 - 137: Consecutive New Index Unlocks 2
Sure enough, after five or six minutes, a large Pool Fish King, over seventy centimeters long, was pulled to the side of the boat.
For convenience, Gu Nan used a gaff to lift it directly onto the boat. He then removed the hook and placed the fish in the refrigerated hold.
After glancing at the fish being bled in the refrigerated hold, he raised his rod and continued.
When using a guaranteed catch, the bite was always right on time. The pull on the second cast was almost identical to the first.
Gu Nan quickly turned the handle, tiring the fish out with a few tugs before reeling it in. It was another Pool Fish King, also over seventy centimeters long.
This gave him a theory. He figured this method of casting was most likely to catch Pool Fish Kings.
Currently, most of the seafood from Seven-Star Rock came from the deep sea; only Pool Fish Kings would venture to the surface.
To confirm his suspicion, Gu Nan cast three more times. He caught nothing but Pool Fish Kings.
His shop really needed this fish; Zhao Jie had already asked him for it several times.
But Gu Nan hadn’t caught many before, so he’d been putting him off, saying the stock was still being prepared.
’Now that I’ve found a way, I should catch a bunch.’
’But each guaranteed catch is precious, so I shouldn’t waste them on these.’
This time, he let the Big Fatty sink to mid-water before using a guaranteed catch.
After a short while, the rod bent. Fish on.
WHIZ—
Gu Nan raised the rod to set the hook. Feeling the pull, he was very satisfied. ’This isn’t a Pool Fish King. It’s something different.’
He then reeled in a banded trevally, nearly forty centimeters long. Seeing this fish, he felt a little disappointed, as it didn’t unlock a new entry in his atlas.
He made four more casts to confirm his findings, but in the end, he only caught ugly blotched snappers and more banded trevallies.
’Looks like the mid-water level most likely only has these two types of fish. Though, there should also be hake; I’ve caught them by casting before.’
But because of the attribute bonus from his purple fishing rod, it was hard to hook one-star fish when using a guaranteed catch.
With twenty-five guaranteed catches left, Gu Nan switched the Big Fatty lure for a metal jig and started bottom fishing.
’Bottom fishing seems to be the most reliable way to unlock new atlas entries right now.’
After waiting a dozen or so seconds—WHIZ—a fish took the hook.
The rod only bent slightly. From the movement, it was a fish, but not a big one—he estimated it was only three or four pounds.
Gu Nan decided to just brute force it. In just a moment, he had pulled the fish up from a depth of about forty meters to the surface.
He raised an eyebrow when he saw the fish. ’A new species, for real. And it’s so plump, it looks delicious.’
He scooped the fish up with a landing net, removed the hook, and put it in... the refrigerated hold.
’It can’t be kept alive. Looks like it’s a deep-sea fish.’
He opened the game’s atlas and saw it was a four-star fish. After collecting five hundred Gold Coins, he began to read the description.
Randall’s snapper, a species of the genus *Randallichthys* in the snapper family. ’Looks like there should be quite a few subspecies.’
It was mainly distributed in the Western Pacific Ocean, as far south as the northeastern coast of Australia.
It could also be found in domestic waters, but in very small numbers. It could only be caught in offshore waters near the continental shelf.
𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
Furthermore, this fish preferred to live at depths of two hundred to three hundred twenty meters. At this depth, it was not easily caught with ordinary fishing nets. Due to its environment, it was possible that more were caught by angling than by netting.
Flavor Rating: Six and a half stars. An extremely delicious deep-sea fish, suitable for all kinds of cooking methods.
Maximum length: only half a meter. Suggested selling price: two hundred yuan.
’This fish is great. It won’t be hard to sell at the shop. I just don’t know if the catch rate will be high enough.’
He tossed the metal jig into the water, and the line spooled out quickly. Once the lure hit the bottom, Gu Nan flipped the bail arm, used a guaranteed catch, and turned the handle to retrieve some of the line.
The next moment, a faint tug came through the line. His face fell; he had a bad feeling about this.
’The last time I had this feeling, I ended up catching over a hundred Giant Spider Crabs.’
’But there’s nothing I can do. I’ve already hooked it. Am I supposed to just let it go?!’
He quickly reeled in the line. It was indeed a crab. This one, however, had a snow-white body and was about the same size as the spider crabs he’d caught before, feeling like it weighed about three or four pounds.
There were some black marks on its carapace, which he thought was just dirt.
Gu Nan quickly scooped the crab up and put it into the aquarium.
He recognized this crab. It was an Australian Crystal Crab, a variety with an exquisite flavor that surpassed 99% of all other crabs in the world, earning it the title "Queen of Crabs."
That was all Gu Nan knew about it. He opened his atlas to learn more.
He wasn’t surprised to see it was five-star. ’It’d be an injustice if this crab wasn’t five-star.’
But after receiving one thousand Gold Coins, he was surprised to see a question mark appear in the Australian Crystal Crab’s atlas entry.
’What’s going on? The Australian Crystal Crab has another subspecies?’
’I’ve never heard of that!’
’I’ll have to look it up when I have time. Maybe I’ll catch one later.’ Gu Nan then started reading the Australian Crystal Crab’s information.
This crab was only found from the east coast of Australia to the northern region of New Zealand, living exclusively in pristine waters at depths of up to one thousand meters.
The fishing method was no different from that for the Emperor Crab, but the yield was extremely low.
Australian Crystal Crabs were typically only three to four pounds in size. The maximum size would depend on Gu Nan’s equipment bonuses.
Flavor Rating: Seven stars. Suggested selling price: three hundred fifty yuan.
This price was not the least bit cheaper than an Emperor Crab’s—and that was comparing it to the larger, seven-to-eight-pound ones.
The description said its meat tasted even better. Gu Nan licked his lips. He just couldn’t resist when it came to crabs.