I Can Fish Up Everything!

The Emperor Crab was steaming slowly, so Gu Nan kept fishing on the side. It really did seem like a whole wave of them had shown up.

It wasn’t as crazy as the Giant Spider Crab situation, but the catch rate was around 70%.

He fished for a few dozen minutes until he felt the crab was done steaming. Gu Nan took it out, set it aside to cool for a moment, and then dug in.

The Emperor Crab’s shell was very hard; he even had to use a hammer on the large claws.

One bite sent a wave of deep satisfaction through him. No wonder they were more popular than King Crabs—the meat was succulent and juicy, with a distinct sweetness.

In terms of flavor alone, Gu Nan felt it was second only to crystal crabs.

Of course, any crab had to be exceptionally plump to be delicious. Skinny ones had mushy meat after steaming and a briny, seawater taste so salty it could make you gag.

After happily devouring the entire Emperor Crab, Gu Nan picked up the remains and tossed them into the water.

But as soon as the shell fragments hit the surface, the water suddenly went SPLASH!

’Holy shit, a big fish!’

Gu Nan quickly washed his hands, grabbed his rod, and cast the lure out. He let the jig sink a little, then began to slowly turn the reel handle, twitching the rod tip to mimic a small fish and attract the big one that had just surfaced.

’From that splash, the fish definitely isn’t small!’

Sure enough, he had only cranked the reel three times when he felt a sudden, powerful tug.

Gu Nan quickly set the hook. The fish was in the upper water column, and the jolt sent it leaping straight out of the water. It was a huge fish, over a meter long. It looked a bit like a mackerel, but not any species he recognized.

’Could it be from Australia too?’

Though he was curious, he didn’t let it distract him and focused on fighting the big fish.

It was a mackerel, all right. With the drag set fairly loose, it ran like hell, and the pull was fantastic.

But once Gu Nan tightened the drag a bit, the mackerel couldn’t run as freely.

If tuna and marlin were heavyweight fighters, then mackerel were lightweights.

Even though they could grow to one-and-a-half or two meters, their weight was in a completely different class.

With the drag locked down, the mackerel struggled to swim. After just a short while, it was already tiring. It changed direction and swam to the right, pulled by the line into tracing circles on the surface like a drafting compass.

Gu Nan didn’t try to reel it in yet. He let it run a bit more, figuring it would give up completely in a little while.

A few minutes later, just as he’d predicted, the mackerel had completely exhausted itself. He easily reeled it back to the side of the boat.

He estimated the fish’s size. Mackerel rarely survive being brought to shore anyway, so he used a gaff to haul it aboard.

He examined it closely. It definitely wasn’t any of the mackerel species he knew. Gu Nan opened his game’s atlas to see what it was, but was stunned to find no new entries unlocked. ’Doesn’t that mean this mackerel is a native species from the local waters?’

He took another look at the fish. It greatly resembled a Blue Spot Mackerel, but it clearly wasn’t one.

He had just caught some Blue Spot Mackerel a while back—and some big ones at that—so he could tell the difference.

This mackerel had a much larger belly and a wider body. Since he couldn’t identify it, Gu Nan had no choice but to put it in a foam cooler to keep it fresh for now. Once he got a signal, he could snap a picture with his phone and do a search. That would most likely tell him what kind of fish it was.

Gu Nan didn’t know if the fish was a lone straggler or part of a school, so after stowing it away, he picked up his rod and went back to fishing.

The moment his bait hit the water, he got another bite. This told him he had definitely run into a school, because the action on the rod was identical to the last one, just with much less force.

A short while later, another Meter Level mackerel was hauled aboard.

Gu Nan felt a bit sorry for Wang Junhe and the others. His boat wasn’t the best; with no internet, he had no way to contact them. ’Looks like I get to enjoy this school of fish all by myself!’

Catching that school of Blue Spot Mackerel last time was a blast, but the water had been crowded with boats. Today, he had a whole school to himself. Awesome!

Gu Nan quickly scooped up several large ladlefuls of the Antarctic shrimp he’d bought earlier that evening and tossed them onto the water’s surface. This was to entice the school to stick around.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t bought much Antarctic shrimp, and it was all gone after two hours of fishing.

Gu Nan even took out some of the Golden Needlefish he still had in his aquarium, chopped them into small pieces, and scattered them in the water.

Seeing the surface stir again, he smiled. ’Good, the school hasn’t left.’

Gu Nan had originally planned on heading back, but the school of fish kept him out until 1:30 in the morning. Only when the bites stopped completely did he pack up his two rods.

That’s right, two rods. He had already set up his electric reel rod in its holder. An opportunity this good, it would have been a crime not to use it.

Unfortunately, the efficiency wasn’t as good as when he was fishing for Blue Spot Mackerel, nor was it like the time with the yellowtail amberjack.

This school of mackerel wasn’t very large; it wasn’t dense at all.

Sometimes, it would take several minutes to get a single bite. The efficiency was extremely low.

Gu Nan did a quick count. Only seventy-three fish. Luckily, even the smallest was over four pounds. The biggest tipped the scales at twenty-six pounds, and there were two of them.

A few more, six in total, were in the teens. The rest were all between four and eleven pounds.

He didn’t plan on going back just yet. He tried fishing for Emperor Crabs again, but after half an hour, he had nothing.

Gu Nan wasn’t too disappointed, though. He had expected as much.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Since that was the case, he packed up his rod, washed up, and went to sleep. He’d get up in the morning, use up his daily attempts at Seven-Star Rock, and then head back.

Originally, everything was going according to Gu Nan’s plan.

The next morning, after using up his daily attempts, he started the fishing boat and headed for home.

Once he had a signal, he looked up the mackerel he’d caught.

It turned out to be the Hermès of mackerels, a species called the Korean Seerfish.

Despite its name, the fish was actually found in domestic waters from north to south. It was just less famous because other mackerel species were better known and more plentiful.

Generally, the bigger the mackerel, the higher the price. His smallest, around four pounds each, would probably fetch fifty or sixty a pound. But those over ten pounds were prime specimens, and quite rare. Their price shot up to over a hundred, and a twenty-pounder could sell for more than two hundred per pound.

Gu Nan blinked. He hadn’t expected it to be such a high-end catch. He quickly snapped a photo and sent it to Wang Junhe.

A moment later, his phone rang. It was him. There was no preamble.

"Where are you? I’m coming right now!"

Gu Nan chuckled, stepped into the cabin, and gave him the coordinates.

"..." Wang Junhe hadn’t expected him to still be out on the water. But then he thought about the impression he wanted to make, and how for things like this, the fewer people who knew, the better. Now, picking up the goods at sea actually seemed like a better idea.

He immediately bolted from his office and drove to the marina to head out.

’Two of them! I’ve hit the jackpot!’

But Wang Junhe had no idea that as he drove off, he was spotted by someone.

Guo Xiao watched his old friend hurry off, puzzled. That wasn’t the way home, or to the office.

"Holy shit, he’s heading to the marina!"

...

"Holy shit, how did Old Guo get here? Did you tell him to come?" Wang Junhe had just boarded Gu Nan’s boat and had only been admiring the two huge fish for three minutes when he spotted a familiar luxury fishing yacht on the horizon.

Gu Nan put on an innocent look. "Brother Guo saw you heading out to sea," he explained. "He sent me a video call to ask about it. I couldn’t exactly lie to him, could I?"

"Brother Guo knows about this whole thing now. He said to let you have your say first, then he’d come over. I thought that sounded fine, so I gave him the coordinates. Besides, there are two fish here. Brother Wang, you only asked me for one yesterday!"

Wang Junhe was speechless. "..."

’A miscalculation.’ He’d been seen by Guo Xiao, just his luck. He was hoping to get his hands on the other big one, too.

"Old Wang, you’re shameless! Trying to take both fish for yourself!" Guo Xiao accused him the moment he stepped on board.

Wang Junhe sighed in resignation. "If we each take one and bring it home claiming we caught it ourselves, do you really think our wives, who are sharp as tacks, are going to believe us?"

"How about this: you let me have it this time, and the next time Gu Nan has a big fish, I’ll let you have it. Deal?"

"In your dreams!" Guo Xiao shot him a sidelong glance. "How about you give it to me this time, and I’ll give it to you next time?"

Wang Junhe’s eyes went wide. "Ah Nan asked me for help first this time! The fish should go to me!"

Guo Xiao scoffed. "It was just your turn to be in the office yesterday. It’s not like Ah Nan sought you out specifically!"

Watching the two older men bicker, Gu Nan covered his face. ’With their kind of money, are they really fighting over two fish? Is it worth it?’