The Top Fishing
Chapter 374 - 189: Fishing for Yellow Croaker_2

Chapter 374: Chapter 189: Fishing for Yellow Croaker_2

Statistics from domestic institutions show that for over 20 years, people in our country hardly consumed any shark meat. However, instead of increasing, the population of sharks has decreased even more tragically than it was over 20 years ago. It was only then that everyone realized they had been misled.

Therefore, last year, our country formally legislated to protect several types of ecologically beneficial large sharks, such as megalodon, great white sharks, and whale sharks, and included them in the protected species list. Other sharks that did not make the list were still eligible for consumption.

....

After lunch and a one-hour rest, everyone set off on the journey as the yacht headed out to the open sea.

Although today’s waves were a bit strong, the rain had fallen a few days ago, and the meteorological department reported that there would be no typhoons in the coming days.

About three or four hours later, they reached their first waypoint, a place they had visited before, where Captain Ah Jie had taken them to fish for yellow croakers. Lin Yang had secretly noted the coordinates of this waypoint last time.

Yellow croaker is considered gold of the water. Among the forty or fifty waypoints that Master Chai sold to him, there are a few where yellow croakers appeared, but the chances of catching yellow croakers at those points were very low.

This waypoint was different; last time, if it hadn’t been for a school of Spring Fish, perhaps each of them might have caught several yellow croakers.

Upon reaching this waypoint, Li Xiaopeng stopped the boat, and Lin Yang threw the anchor down.

Wang Feng then came over and said, "Lin Yang, do you really think there are yellow croakers here?"

"Of course, why would I lie to you? If you don’t believe me, you can ask Li Xiaopeng. Even Yue’er caught a yellow croaker here last time."

"Alright, then let’s get to it!"

Upon hearing that there really were yellow croakers here, Wang Feng was instantly exhilarated.

Wild yellow croakers, huh? Thousands of dollars per kilogram, catching a bigger one could easily be worth tens of thousands.

This time, everyone was fishing together using the same type of fishing rods, though they switched to a thicker fishing line.

Since there were large groupers below, Lin Yang had to teach Wang Feng and Xiao Zhang how to fish again—how to spear the fish when it bites and how to follow the force of the fish to turn the reel and the like.

After teaching the two, Lin Yang then started fishing himself; he was quite quick at setting up his tackle.

Shortly after getting everything ready, he hung the hook above the shrimp chamber and then tossed the shrimp into the water, with various buffs added, he wasn’t worried about not catching any fish.

Of course, what type of fish would bite was still a matter of technique.

For instance, Lin Yang now, as soon as his hook landed in the water, it was not even a minute before there was a stir, and he seized the opportunity to pull sharply.

When he speared the fish, he knew something was wrong because the fish was likely not a yellow croaker.

Indeed, when Lin Yang pulled the fish up, he pursed his lips; although this was also a fish he had never caught before, it was not his target fish.

Seeing him catch a fish so quickly, Wang Feng immediately got excited and yelled,

"Hey, hey, hey? Did you catch it? So quickly, a yellow croaker!"

"This isn’t one. Don’t just see that it’s golden and call it a yellow croaker; this is not a yellow croaker, this is a Meitong Fish!" With a casual lift, Lin Yang hoisted the fish.

Meitong Fish, scientifically known as black gills Meitong fish, resembles the yellow croaker and is also a small to medium-sized fish of the Sciaenidae family, reaching only about ten to twenty centimeters in length when fully grown.

In coastal areas, many dishonest traders sell them as yellow croakers.

Many tourists from inland regions indeed cannot clearly distinguish it from the yellow croaker, but Lin Yang could never be fooled, even by the Spring Fish, which resembles the yellow croaker even more; he could tell at a glance, let alone this fish.

However, the taste of Meitong Fish is also quite decent; when prepared well, it is almost as good as yellow croaker.

After tossing the fish into the live well, Lin Yang also secretly checked the rewards on the guide, which showed a reward of 500 yuan, 5 points of experience and points.

After seeing this unappealing reward, he again hooked the shrimp bait and threw it back into the sea.

This time he activated the buff for catching big fish. There clearly were big fish below, just not many, so patience was needed.

After about 10 minutes, suddenly Lin Yang’s fishing rod began to nod. There was a signal, and at that moment, he also started to pick up the fishing rod, ready to strike at any moment.

Finally, the fish underwater couldn’t resist anymore and made a very obvious bite.

Seeing this, Lin Yang gently tugged, and the fish was on the hook.

"Another catch? This one looks not small." As he reeled in the fish, which then began pulling his fishing rod towards deeper water, Wang Feng couldn’t help but comment.

But for Lin Yang, these were minor issues.

"Probably around four to five kilograms, no big deal."

Sensing the weight, Lin Yang casually mentioned, and then he began to frantically reel in the line.

If it were anyone else, the fishing line surely wouldn’t have survived, but Lin Yang had the line protection buff, allowing him some leeway.

Today he was using a number 5 line, directly threading the hook and sinker, and using a number 8 hook. For most people, this thick line would only handle fish up to 20 kilograms, but Lin Yang could catch fish even up to 30 kilograms, and even 40 kilograms was not a problem with this setup.

After playing with the fish slightly for a while, the big fish underwater finally started losing strength, and Lin Yang easily pulled it up.

As the fish reached the surface, Wang Feng stopped shouting, because the fish was white, and he thought it was not a yellow croaker but some other fish.

But Lin Yang knew very well that it was a yellow croaker.

"Wow, the second one and it’s a yellow croaker!" Seeing the fish, he couldn’t help but exclaim loudly.

Hearing the noise, Li Xiaopeng and others also gathered around.

After Wang Feng helped retrieve the fish, he couldn’t help but ask, "This fish does look a bit like a yellow croaker, but it’s clearly silver-white. How can it be a yellow croaker?"

"Heh, you probably don’t know this, the real yellow croaker is silver-white during the day and turns golden yellow at night. That’s why the farmed yellow croakers you eat are caught at night, and the wild golden ones are also fished at night. But actually, other than the color, there’s no other difference," Lin Yang explained, as he removed the fish from the hook.

Although yellow croakers are very rare nowadays, there used to be a large catch of them historically.

In history, yellow croakers were once on par with little yellow croakers, hairtails, and squid, known collectively as the four great marine fisheries. But with the recent years of fishing, the production is rapidly declining.

Although they are not considered protected animals domestically, they are listed as critically endangered on the World Conservation Union Red List of Endangered Species.

The World Conservation Union Red List of Endangered Species includes nine categories of criteria.

The highest category is extinct, followed by extinct in the wild, meaning only those in zoos or raised artificially exist, then critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, least concern, data deficient, and not evaluated, these nine categories.

Keep in mind, Bluefin Tuna is only classified as endangered, and those sharks everyone keeps saying need protection, many are just near threatened.

Of course, the reason our country has still not protected yellow croakers up to now is actually because yellow croaker breeding is too prevalent domestically. If there’s truly a will, they could be reintroduced into the wild anytime.

Fish are different from mammals; they don’t need overly complicated acclimatization training, perhaps that’s also why there’s no rush at the domestic level.

Handling yellow croakers also has its own set of rituals, Lin Yang removed the hook and then wrapped it in a red plastic bag before placing it in the ship’s freezer.

Even frozen wild yellow croakers sell for two to three thousand yuan per kilogram, and larger ones can even reach three to four thousand yuan per kilogram.

Though there are many farmed yellow croakers along the coast now, they still can’t compare to the wild ones. Farmed ones might only sell for thirty to fifty yuan per kilogram, the price difference is simply heaven and earth.