The Top Fishing
Chapter 215 - 149: Setting Up the Device

Chapter 215: Chapter 149: Setting Up the Device

In the optimized lens, although it’s still not as clear as high-definition, one could basically make out the colors and contours—it was indeed a large fish tail!

Xiao Li, who was steering the boat, came over to look at the image captured by the lens and swallowed nervously, "Lin Yang, should we head back for now?

This could be a big discovery, report it back to the professor, arrange for more people to come over. With such a big tail fin, based on proportion, this fish must be at least several meters long; our small boat feels a bit unsafe."

Hearing this, Lin Yang shook his head, "What’s there to worry about? It’s just a big fish. Dongting Lake is so vast; isn’t it normal to have some large fish? The giant catfish I caught before isn’t necessarily smaller than this one.

Are you afraid it might attack our fishing boat? Rest assured, the bigger the fish, the more timid they are. They won’t dare to come near our boat. Even hearing a noise, they will stay far away."

"What if it’s a predatory fish? It’s not impossible," Xiao Li still felt uneasy.

Lin Yang continued to shake his head, "Do you think predatory fish aren’t afraid of humans? Even fierce ocean predators don’t attack fishing boats aimlessly; their intelligence is far beyond common understanding. They won’t engage in something where the risks clearly outweigh the benefits."

"I still think it would be best to report back to the camp. Before, we hadn’t captured a clear image, and the footage you just shot is a huge breakthrough," Xiao Li insisted.

"Alright then, let’s head back and see what Professor Chen says." Lin Yang felt it unnecessary but agreed to his request.

The bow gradually altered course, then headed back along the shore.

About twenty minutes later, the fishing boat returned to the makeshift dock.

Upon hearing the sound of the motor, Han Li came out to meet them.

"Lin Yang, did you find anything?" she asked eagerly.

Lin Yang nodded, "This time, we caught dogfish, zong fish, and sea bass—three new species of fish, and we brought back live specimens. Moreover, we captured footage of likely big fish surfacing with a drone. My colleague insisted on coming back to report, so we returned midway."

"Oh? You got footage of a big fish? Where is it? How big was the fish?" Han Li asked hurriedly.

"It’s stored in the equipment, get a laptop, and I’ll transfer the video to you soon."

Suddenly, the data Lin Yang brought back was transferred onto Han Li’s laptop, and the camp’s researchers gathered around to review it repeatedly.

Professor Chen Lin initially had minimal expectations for their outing but was surprised. On their very first formal voyage, they made a groundbreaking advancement.

Not only did they catch dogfish, zong fish, and sea bass but also captured precious footage of a big fish surfacing—something they hadn’t seen despite their long vigilance here, let alone such clear video footage.

After viewing the footage, Chen Lin stayed silent for a long time, replaying it several times before he pushed up his glasses and spoke, "Water has a relatively stable density, so over long evolutionary periods, the ratio of the width of a freshwater fish’s tail fin to its overall length is constant. Based on the estimated width in the footage, this fish is approximately two and a half to three meters in length, weighing over 200 pounds."

"Wow, that big?" Yue’er couldn’t hold back her exclamation after hearing Professor Chen’s estimation.

"Yes, this is an estimate based on accepted freshwater fish size standards and weight correlations. If it’s a predatory species, it will be slightly slimmer and a bit lighter in weight, but even if halved, this fish remains a truly big specimen."

Lin Yang nodded after listening, "The disturbance it made flipping the water was quite significant. It really gave a sense of a large fish stirring the surface. I wonder if Professor Chen could determine the fish’s species from its tail fin? Is it an existing species, or possibly an unknown species?"

Chen Lin shook his head, "The tail fin’s profile is very typical, with no distinctive features, so it’s impossible to tell accurately. This is also an area where we’ve observed large fish activity before, including past records collected from the Observatory Pavilion.

My personal suggestion is, since we’ve discovered the activity pattern of a big fish, why not install the professional equipment you brought, deploy it early, and perhaps see some results sooner."

In Lin Yang’s personal interest, he wanted to use this opportunity to spend a few more days at Dongting Lake, knowing deep down that fishing in the inner parts of Dongting Lake might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, with future chances potentially slim. Having been invited here, naturally, he wanted to fish as much and as diversely as possible.

But Professor Chen’s request was also reasonable; now that they had confirmed the location and aquatic area, delaying further might be difficult to justify.

"Okay, after lunch, we’ll take the boat around to select a spot and find a position to deploy the equipment for catching the big fish. Also, I’m planning to live stream the content; traveling all this way, we definitely need to take advantage of our research team’s opportunity to showcase distinctive fish species live. I hope you don’t mind, Old Chen."

Lin Yang decided to be upfront about it, to prevent further questions about his fishing.

"You’re overthinking it. While investigating the big fish is important, clarifying the fish species distribution in Dongting Lake is also a goal of this aquaculture research team. Our team members are not very proficient with professional fishing techniques, so your expertise will certainly be useful."