I Can Fish Up Everything!

"This is the ’good spot’ you were talking about?" Gu Nan stared, dumbfounded, at the fish pond and the long line of anglers.

Wang Junhe nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Fishing in the wild is tough, man. I’ve been skunked for three days straight. This pond is full of fish. It’s super easy to catch something here!"

Gu Nan looked utterly defeated. "Then why not just go to a fish farm? You’re guaranteed a fish on every cast. There are more people here than fish."

He had originally planned to fish with Wang Junhe for a couple of hours, then make an excuse to leave and find a spot to catch fish from the Fengqi Coast.

But he never expected to be brought here. The pond was just filled with farmed fish from commercial operations—what was the point of fishing for them? And there were so many people.

’He complains that the fifty-yuan toll to the bridge pier is too expensive, but eighty yuan an hour for this fish pond isn’t?’

Seeing the gloomy look on his face, Wang Junhe burst out laughing. "Just messing with you. I don’t usually fish at ponds either. Go past here on the right and keep driving toward the sea for about ten minutes. That’ll get you to the good spot I was talking about."

"Oh, I see!" Gu Nan breathed a sigh of relief. Otherwise, he would have had to make an excuse to leave.

With Wang Junhe giving directions, he quickly reached their destination.

The sound of RUSHING water and the sight of the large sluice gate made him realize what the so-called "good spot" was. ’Ah, so it’s the sea gate!’

When the gate was closed and not discharging water, this was indeed an excellent fishing spot.

As the two of them got closer, they saw a few electric scooters already parked on the small path.

He pulled over and parked, then put the foam box, aerator, and fish basket into his water tank. "What kind of fish can you catch here?"

"If you’re lucky, you can catch Sea Bass and Ugly Country fish. But there’s another kind of fish that’s pretty common here," Wang Junhe said, grabbing his own gear.

His gear was simpler, consisting of just a tackle box, a fishing rod, and a fish basket.

"What fish?"

"You’ll know when you catch one."

Seeing that Wang Junhe was being cryptic, Gu Nan didn’t press the matter.

He followed him toward the gate. Both sides of the gate’s entrance were good for fishing, but the best spots were already taken, so they had to find a less central location.

"Follow me, I have a secret spot." Wang Junhe beckoned to him and headed for an even more remote area.

This was the advantage of knowing a fishing fanatic—you get to learn about all the secret spots.

Even if the spots by the gate had been empty, Gu Nan wouldn’t have fished there. There might be Sea Bass, but there were far more crucian carp and common carp, especially small crucian carp. Their numbers were probably reaching infestation levels.

’I sell seafood. Is it really appropriate for me to be fishing for freshwater fish?’

Carrying the water tank and shouldering his rod, Gu Nan followed Wang Junhe along the path for a few minutes until they finally arrived.

It was a relatively flat patch of hard-packed dirt, only about half a meter above the sea’s surface.

"The spot is great, but aren’t there way too many mosquitoes here?" Gu Nan said, setting down the water tank and waving away the mosquitoes buzzing around him.

"No problem, I’ve got just the thing." Wang Junhe switched on his headlamp, opened his tackle box, and took out a bottle of mosquito repellent. He sprayed some on Gu Nan, and the mosquitoes immediately flew away. Then he took out a mosquito coil, lit it, and placed it nearby.

’He’s certainly well-prepared,’ Gu Nan thought, but then a more important point occurred to him. "Do you ever run into snakes fishing here?"

Hearing this, Wang Junhe just laughed. "Snakes? You’re kidding. I’ve fished here countless times and never seen one. This isn’t a grassy field. It’s so open, a snake wouldn’t come here even if there was one around."

Gu Nan figured that made sense. This little path was probably used often, and there weren’t even any weeds on either side. It really wasn’t the kind of place snakes would like.

The two of them secured their fish baskets, lowered them into the water, and then took out their fishing rods.

Since they both had their headlamps on, Wang Junhe glanced at Gu Nan’s rod and was immediately struck by its appearance. "Bro, what brand is that rod? It’s really slick-looking."

"It’s a small foreign brand. Discontinued now," Gu Nan said, making up a casual excuse mainly to discourage any follow-up questions.

Sure enough, hearing that, Wang Junhe shook his head in disappointment. He had been thinking of asking where to buy one so he could get one for himself!

This spot was also within the Fengqi Coast area, so Gu Nan turned off the map first, lest the fish he caught made someone’s jaw drop.

He first took out the Antarctic shrimp and threw in a few scoops to chum the water, then began to rig his bait.

The Fengqi gear only came with one type of fishing line, so he usually just left it tied to the rod.

Clipping on a small soft lure, Gu Nan decided to make a few test casts before the chum started to work its magic.

Seeing him start to dredge the bottom instead of waiting for the chum to kick in, Wang Junhe, who was next to him, laughed. "Don’t waste your energy. It’d be a miracle if you caught anything like that."

The words had barely left his mouth when the tip of Gu Nan’s rod started to twitch. Not two seconds later, it bent sharply. Fish on!

"Holy crap!" Wang Junhe was stunned. "You can actually catch a fish like that?"

"And it’s a big one, too. Grab the landing net for me," Gu Nan said. As he lifted his rod to set the hook, he could tell the fish wasn’t small.

To be honest, he was surprised himself. He even specifically went back into the game to check that the map was indeed turned off before breathing a sigh of relief.

"Alright!" Wang Junhe immediately grabbed the landing net and stood by, waiting. The excitement in his eyes made it seem like he was even happier than if he’d caught the fish himself. "That’s a big one, alright! Look at how bent your rod is."

"It’s not small. Feels like a good five or six pounds." Because of the quality of his rod and line, Gu Nan just used brute force, cranking the reel and lifting the rod hard, trying to land the fish as quickly as possible.

"Whoa, man, take it easy! Let it run a bit. You’re gonna snap the line like that."

"It’s fine. I always do it this way."

After about five or six minutes, Gu Nan had dragged the fish close.

"It’s an Ugly Country fish! Nice, this one’s huge." Wang Junhe might have seemed like an unreliable fisherman, but he was steady with the landing net.

He scooped the fish’s head in one go and lifted it out of the water.

The "Ugly Country fish" was the Red Drum, an invasive species introduced to the country. Even though this one looked to be five or six pounds, it was worth seventy or eighty yuan at most—and that was the retail price in his shop.

Gu Nan grabbed the fish, unhooked it, and put it in his fish basket.

Wang Junhe, who had been watching eagerly, couldn’t wait any longer. He immediately grabbed his own rock-fishing rod and, copying Gu Nan, started using it like a lure rod, casting out his artificial bait to dredge the bottom.

But cast after cast, all he did was scratch the ocean’s back. He got nothing.

It was pretty much the same for Gu Nan. Catching that one fish earlier had really just been a stroke of luck.

"Sigh, let’s just take a break. We’ll fish again after the chum starts working." After twenty-some casts, Wang Junhe gave up and sat down on his tackle box.

The second his butt touched the tackle box, he saw Gu Nan’s rod bend sharply again.

"..." Wang Junhe slammed his rod onto the ground with a CLATTER. He pointed at it and yelled, "What the hell good are you to me?!"

Gu Nan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "Bro, why don’t you try a few more casts? I think the chum is starting to have an effect. You’ll have a chance of hooking something if you keep casting."

Wang Junhe was silent for a moment, then picked up his rod and nodded. "Yeah, you’re right. That makes sense."