The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 245: Premium Seafood from the Southern Hemisphere

The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 245: Premium Seafood from the Southern Hemisphere

The red seabream in this school were all quite large. Worried that Jiang Luoluo might struggle with her catch, Chu Mingcheng immediately unleashed the hand speed he'd honed in his youth.
He cranked the handle into a blur, coordinating with constant lifts of the rod in his left hand. In almost no time at all, a sixty-centimeter red seabream broke the surface.
Because he'd muscled the fish up with brute force, its energy wasn't completely spent. He kept the rod steady with his left hand and used his right to scoop it up with the landing net. Trying to lift it directly would risk the fish thrashing free.
He removed the hook, along with the piece of squid meat still attached to it.
Poor red seabream. Not only did it miss out on its last meal, but it also had to surrender its own plump body.
After tossing the fish into the live well, Chu Mingcheng immediately grabbed the landing net and moved to Jiang Luoluo's side.
Her fish was approaching the surface. Sensing danger, it began to struggle desperately, pulling line as it tried to dive under the boat.
Jiang Luoluo felt the shift in movement immediately. Although she hadn't fished many times, she had experience dealing with this situation.
She'd had two previous instances where a fish dove under the boat and snapped the line. After some guidance from Chu Mingcheng, she now knew exactly how to handle it.
Jiang Luoluo adjusted her stance, extending the rod out over the side of the boat and pulling upward with all her strength to prevent the fish from running underneath and to drag it to the surface quickly.
This fish was stubborn, pushing through the pain to dive under the boat.
But it wasn't as strong as she was. Even with all its effort, it couldn't make it under.
Finally spent, it veered diagonally to the right, the fishing line slanting as Jiang Luoluo adjusted her stance again.
This was the fish's last struggle. It couldn't hold on much longer.
Two minutes later, the red seabream was dragged alongside the boat, and Chu Mingcheng scooped it up with the landing net.
It was even bigger than his—a full eighty centimeters, like a small door panel. It probably weighed over twenty-five jin.
Jiang Luoluo caught her breath and looked at the massive red seabream in the net. "If we had resources like this back home, we wouldn't need to buy a big boat!"
Chu Mingcheng tossed the red seabream into the live well and laughed. "Even if the resources were this good back home, we'd still have to buy a big boat. I really want to challenge the true giants of the deep sea. What's the point of catching these little meter-long fish?"
"If anglers who've never caught a fish over five jin heard you call a meter-long fish 'little,' they'd probably get angry enough to snap their rods on the spot!"
"That's different. They can't afford an offshore fishing boat!"
"..."
Jiang Luoluo was speechless. That comment was really rubbing salt in the wound, but thankfully, she wasn't an angler, and she could afford the boat.
After bantering for a bit, they returned to fishing. With so many fish around, Chu Mingcheng figured he could get non-stop action even without activating the Fish Gathering function.
However, to hook even fatter red seabream, he kept the function running, letting the system filter out the leaner ones with lower fat content.
This was where the "Deliciousness" attribute proved its worth. As a result, most of the red seabream he caught had thick backs and round, bulging bellies.
Jiang Luoluo benefited as well—the red seabream she caught were all exceptionally fat.
After about two hours and landing fifteen red seabream one after another, her stamina began to give out.
Mainly because these red seabream were all quite large, and it took considerable effort to land each one.
"Luoluo, why don't you reel in and go rest? I'll fish for a little while longer and then head back." Chu Mingcheng couldn't bear seeing her so tired and urged her to call it a night.
Jiang Luoluo didn't argue. She nodded, reeled in her rod, and went back inside to take a shower.
"Don't stay out too late."
"I won't."
It was still over forty minutes until midnight. Chu Mingcheng decided to fish until twelve and then call it a night.
But he didn't know that, except for the few red seabream attracted by his Fish Gathering function, the rest had already sensed the danger and completely evacuated this deep trench.
Therefore, after he caught one more red seabream—because his hook was now on the boat—the remaining red seabream at the bottom scattered completely.
Chu Mingcheng had no idea what was happening. He baited his hook and cast it into the water, expecting the non-stop action to continue, but after waiting over ten minutes, he didn't get another bite.
This puzzled him. Had all the fish run off?
After thinking for a moment, he reeled in his hook and went to the cockpit to check the fish finder.
Just as he stepped into the cockpit, a small school of Australian mackerel shot into the deep trench at high speed, seeking what they felt was safer water.
From their frantic swimming and chaotic direction, they were clearly in a panic.
The next moment, a group of massive fish appeared in pursuit.
They opened their huge mouths, swallowing two or three of the small Australian mackerel at once.
Chu Mingcheng came out of the cockpit with a bewildered look on his face and returned to the deck.
He'd seen on the fish finder that the fish resources in this deep trench were still excellent, with a great number of thick red lines.
This meant the fish population was still as explosive as he'd seen before. Logically, with the help of the Fish Gathering function, the non-stop action should have continued.
Chu Mingcheng couldn't figure out what was going on and decided to try fishing for a while longer.
If he really couldn't catch anything, he'd go back, take a shower, and then sleep while hugging his fragrant, soft girlfriend.
As he cast his bait into the water and let it slowly sink into the deep trench, the large fish that had been hunting the Australian mackerel—now full and preparing to rest in this safe trench—immediately turned and swam toward the bait.
More than one large fish swam toward the bait, but one, which was the largest and closest, got to it first.
Normally, the price for getting the bait would be its own plump body.
But this fish was 1.3 meters long and weighed over a hundred jin. The line setup Chu Mingcheng was using for red seabream was relatively thin.
When he lifted the rod to set the hook, the tip shot back with a "swoosh," and the fishing line snapped.
Chu Mingcheng was caught off guard. He hadn't expected the fish at the bottom to be so big. He'd felt the weight when he set the hook, but he'd used too much force, and the line had snapped before he could react.
But it wasn't too late to adapt. He quickly grabbed his bait bucket and threw some into the water to chum it, hoping to keep this school of fish here.
Then he immediately ran into the tool room and brought out the heavy boat rod.
From the pulling force just now, only a heavy boat rod meant for tuna could handle it.
He quickly tied on a braided line, installed the conventional reel, then baited the hook with squid. Chu Mingcheng immediately cast the baited hook into the water.
From the way the hook was taken just now, the new large fish should be affected by the Fish Gathering function, meaning they were premium fish.
As expected, after the baited hook fell into the water and reached the deep trench, another large fish, taking advantage of its proximity, swallowed it first.
This fish was even bigger—nearly 1.5 meters long.
The boat rod was immediately pulled into a sharp bend. The drag on the drum reel was locked, but the line was still being slowly pulled out.
"Creak, creak!"
The rod looked like it was about to break, but it was actually very sturdy.
The pressure on the fishing line was even greater, constantly buzzing and vibrating.
The water droplets on it were all shaken off, turning into a fine mist.
But Chu Mingcheng was thrilled. He lifted the rod forcefully, setting the hook even deeper.
Ever since his body had been enhanced to the peak of human potential, he hadn't truly battled a big one!
Now he was curious—just how heavy a fish could he fight at full strength?
However, this fish's speed wasn't as fast as a tuna's or a marlin's, because the speed of the drum reel's rotation was noticeably slower.
It had only run out a few dozen meters so far, but its core strength must have been substantial.
Chu Mingcheng reached for the handle. With a creak, the fish's charge paused, and the rod was pulled down into an even deeper bend.
He braced the butt of the rod against his stomach, his right hand on the handle, just holding on without exerting force yet.
At that moment, man and fish began a contest of core strength.
However, the hook in the fish's mouth dug deeper and deeper, and the stabbing pain was unbearable. The fish was clearly at a disadvantage.
The large fish constantly shook its head and wagged its tail, trying to escape into the distance.
The fishing line kept trembling, swaying slightly from side to side.
But Chu Mingcheng's strength was superior. He steadily suppressed the fish, keeping it in place.
It wasn't easy for him either. After all, due to a fish's body structure, it could exert even stronger force in the water.
After getting a feel for the fish's strength and holding on for a while, Chu Mingcheng grabbed the rod with both hands and gave it a forceful pull, retrieving half a meter of line.
The large fish in the water couldn't resist this force. Its head suddenly lifted, and the whole fish shot up half a meter.
Chu Mingcheng took the opportunity to reel in line, then repeated the same motion.
The fish's strength couldn't match his, and its stamina was even less of a contest.
The enhancement from Life Conversion was comprehensive, improving speed, strength, agility, stamina, and so on, including the recovery rate of physical energy.
Therefore, under Chu Mingcheng's unreasonable brute force, the large fish was pulled to the surface bit by bit. It even nearly exhausted its own stamina from constantly struggling and resisting.
In just fifteen minutes, a large fish nearly 1.5 meters long and weighing over one hundred and fifty jin was pulled alongside the boat.
By the light of the lamp, Chu Mingcheng saw it was a dark brown fish that looked somewhat like a member of the sea bass family.
Because it was in the water, he couldn't see it very clearly. After confirming the fish was no longer struggling, he let go of the handle and picked up the gaff.
Holding the rod with his left hand to keep the fish in place, he extended the gaff with his right hand. Seeing his chance, he struck, piercing the fish's head.
Dealt a fatal blow, the large fish began to struggle violently again, its tail slapping the water with a loud splash.
Chu Mingcheng let go of the rod, grabbed the long handle of the gaff with both hands, and then dragged the fish toward the small gate on the aft deck.
A large amount of blood spread across the sea surface, and the large fish's struggles grew weaker and weaker.
In just a short while, the large fish stopped moving.
Chu Mingcheng opened the small gate, brought the gaff in from the outside, let go, and re-gripped the long handle in a different position to avoid getting it caught on the side of the boat. Finally, with a burst of strength, he hauled the large fish directly up.
After closing the small gate, he finally had time to examine the large fish carefully.
By confirming its head, fins, and other features, he recognized this large fish. It was a high-value Polyprion that was only found in Australia and nearby countries.
Its scientific name was Polyprion oxygeneios, and its common name was Blue Cod.
[TN:
Polyprion oxygeneios
, also known as Hapuku or Bass Groper.]
However, it was not the same species as the New Zealand Blue Cod, which didn't grow nearly as large.

Chapter 245: Premium Seafood from the Southern Hemisphere