The Top Fishing
Chapter 61 - 060: Making an Aquarium

Chapter 61: Chapter 060: Making an Aquarium

"Alright, that’s enough from you, what do you mean ’at your age’? My son is just 25, it’s very normal for a man to be single at 25 in today’s society."

Old Lin rarely snapped back at his wife before turning to Lin Yang, "Your fish tank, we didn’t throw it away, it’s in the room next to where we sleep."

"Oh, I’ll go look for it."

Lin Yang went to the room next to his parents’ bedroom and soon found his meter-and-a-half long fish tank.

The fish tank was empty, with a cabinet beneath it, and it looked quite exquisite.

"It looks like it’s still usable, placing this thing in the living room would look pretty good..."

At first, Lin Yang was just reminded that he had a fish tank, but now he thought that if he placed this fish tank in the living room and raised some colorful little fish, it would indeed look nice.

After having the idea, he planned to go fishing for some small fish to raise in the afternoon.

Lin Yang was not a fan of those artificially bred ornamental fish species; though beautiful, they lacked natural beauty, and some natural ornamental fish were not any less attractive than the artificially bred ones.

....

After lunch, around two in the afternoon, Yue’er came over again.

Her task for today was to edit the scatter-gun fishing technique Lin Yang explained during his morning live stream, and to print and ship orders for the rice wine sold before noon.

Since Lin Yang was at home today, he took care of printing orders and handling the deliveries.

Once the video editing was finished and the parcels had all been dispatched, Lin Yang planned to ask Yue’er to go fishing with him.

He didn’t plan to live stream that afternoon, and fishing alone was a bit boring, so he decided to invite her along.

Before, when he rode an electric scooter and had to carry fishing gear, it wasn’t convenient to take her out for fishing fun.

But now that he had a car, he felt it was time to take her out for a spin; perhaps this was that sense of vanity that comes when a man gets a car.

If you have a car, you have to take a girl out for a drive.

When Yue’er heard Lin Yang asking her to go fishing together, she was clearly delighted, "Sure, I haven’t caught fish in a long time."

When they were young, they used to go down to the stream to catch fish together, but every time they caught them they couldn’t keep them alive for more than a few days before all the fish died.

Since Lin Yang intended to catch small fish to keep, they had to be pretty, so common ones like small white fish and Mai Sui wouldn’t do.

"For pretty wild fish, the streams have the most, so let’s just go stream fishing."

Lin Yang made up his mind, knowing that there was a small river called Qingxi Bay, an upstream tributary of Qingshui River, which should have plenty of wild small fish.

The two discussed it and then, equipped with their gear, headed straight for Qingxi Bay.

After getting in the car, since Yue’er already knew about Lin Yang’s live streaming to sell rice wine, she wasn’t surprised about him buying a car.

After all, she knew that Lin Yang could make at least ten thousand yuan a day, so buying a car was just a matter of time.

The Qingxi Bay that Lin Yang was aiming for was not far from the upper reaches of Qingshui River, less than half an hour’s drive away.

But because the water is shallow there and there are no big fish, hardly anyone goes there to fish, and the further you drive upstream, the fewer fishermen you see on the riverbank.

The fewer people there were, the more beautiful and tranquil the environment became.

Streams converged into bays here, clear to the bottom.

All along the way, Yue’er was in high spirits, pointing at the scenery outside the window and asking all sorts of questions.

Having always lived in the big city, she was thrilled to suddenly see sceneries from her childhood.

After another ten minutes’ drive, Lin Yang arrived at his destination.

He parked the car, grabbed the fishing gear, and the two found a suitable fishing spot.

Then, Lin Yang took a 2.7-meter short rod, with the shortest pole, the thinnest line, and the smallest hook, and started fishing.

Today his goal was clear, it was to catch small fish and to take them home to raise, so the smaller the hook, the better.

Once the fishing rod line group was set.

Lin Yang arbitrarily prepared a bait with a fishy smell and added some rice wine.

Normally, he would never prepare bait like this, because it would attract a swarm of small mixed fish.

But today, his goal was exactly those small mixed fish!

He cast his rod, starting to fish.

As soon as the rod was thrown, the float immediately showed movement, and before it could fully stand up, it began to tremble violently.

This wasn’t because Lin Yang had too much rice wine attracting all the fish; it was simply that in this entire stretch of Qingxi Bay, the fishing situation was like this, small fish everywhere!

Watching as the short-tail float was pulled under, Lin Yang gently lifted the rod.

Though the rod was short, he could still feel a certain heft to it as a silver-white small fish was pulled ashore.

It was a Makou fish, around 20 grams.

Lin Yang took the opportunity to glance at the fish guide, but to his disappointment, the reward was very ordinary, a total of three hundred yuan in monetary reward, then experience and points +1.

Having been bound to the fish guide for so long, he had come to understand some of its patterns.

The larger and rarer the fish species, the higher the rewards upon unlocking, and conversely, the smaller and more common the fish, the smaller the rewards after unlocking.

Lin Yang placed the small Makou fish in a fish container filled with water and continued to fish.

Casting and lifting the rod continuously.

With his ability to catch fish at just the right moment, he nearly always hooked a fish with every lift of the rod.

In no time, he had caught seven or eight small Makou fish.

"It’s a pity that most of these Makou fish are too small, they haven’t reached the coloring stage yet," Lin Yang said with a tinge of regret.

Makou fish were actually one of his target fish for the day.

Because adult male Makou Fish, at a certain time, will color up and turn into a myriad of vibrant colors, very beautiful!

Even some artificially bred ornamental fish can’t compare to them.

The only drawback of the Makou Fish is its high requirement for water quality and temperature, especially its need for high dissolved oxygen levels. Once removed from their native waters, they tend to die easily.

So for most fish-keepers, unless they specialize in this area, it is quite difficult to keep them alive.

Just as Lin Yang was feeling regretful, the float sank once again.

He quickly lifted the rod, and the weight was much heavier than before.

When he pulled the fish out of the water, he couldn’t help but rejoice.

It was actually a mature, colorful Makou Fish!

Dazzlingly colorful, it glittered under the sunlight, extremely beautiful.

"Wow, this fish is so beautiful!"

Yue’er said, looking at the colorful Makou Fish Lin Yang had caught, her eyes filled with surprise and delight.

"Beautiful, isn’t it? This is an adult male Makou Fish," Lin Yang said with a smile.

The adult Makou Fish exhibit sexual dimorphism, but at the juvenile stage, it is not easy to distinguish between males and females.

During the breeding season, sexually mature male Makou Fish will display very obvious secondary characteristics, the body covered with bright ’nuptial colors’, and the upper and lower jaws, cheeks, pectoral fins, and anal fins are dotted with granular star chaser patterns, which are very attractive.

It is worth mentioning that, because the Makou Fish mainly prey on economically valuable fish in the water, they have traditionally been regarded as significant pest species, causing great harm to fisheries and becoming targets for eradication.

The species also once showed a declining trend, even being listed on the World Conservation Union Red List of Endangered Species.

Since 2010, the Makou Fish has become a key species for development in some regions’ specialty and high-quality aquatic products, and its species conservation has received attention in various places.

He tossed the big Makou Fish into the keepnet.

In the following casts, Lin Yang started to catch them in succession, all mature, colorful Makou Fish.

Seeing this, he simply released all the smaller Makou Fish he had caught earlier from the keepnet, keeping only these larger ones.

His goal was to keep fish, and naturally, the less attractive ones were not worth keeping.

Seeing how easily Lin Yang kept catching the big Makou Fish one after another, Yue’er also expressed her desire to try.

Lin Yang handed her the small fishing rod he was holding and then briefly taught her the technique of lifting the rod.

Since the Makou in the water appeared in groups, and all were small, and with Lin Yang’s guidance, Yue’er also easily caught several big Makou Fish.

After catching some colorful Makou Fish, Lin Yang felt the variety of species was a bit monotonous.

If creating a stream tank, the variety of fish species should not be too singular, as that would seem a bit dull.

He scanned the riverbank.

"Let’s go over there and try to catch some other fish," he suggested.

"Okay, let’s go," Yue’er agreed.

The two of them picked up their gear and moved to a new fishing spot.

He cast his line again.

Soon, the float showed movement.

He set the hook, and it was a hit!

A fish emerged from the water, another small, colorful fish.

However, unlike the Makou Fish, this fish had a slimmer body, flatter, wider, and the pair of fins on the side towards the rear were particularly wide and also very attractive.

"Wow, this fish is so beautiful, not only the colors but its tail and fins are so special too!"

"Brother Yang, what kind of fish is this?"

"This is called Brook fish, scientifically known as wide fin," Lin Yang explained while fishing, satisfying Yue’er’s curiosity.

In their area, everyone calls this fish Brook fish because it usually lives in streams.

The scientific name wide fin is due to the pair of wide and beautiful fins beneath and towards the rear of its body.

There is a close relative to the wide fin named Long-finned Scale; the two kinds of fish look very similar, but the Long-finned Scale’s rear fins are slender and wiggle behind as they swim, which is also very beautiful.

But in the local waters, you generally don’t see the Long-finned Scale, only the wide fin.

Compared to the colorful Makou, the colorful Brook fish were actually Lin Yang’s preferred target because they were prettier!

After unlocking the Brook fish, the rewards for the aquatic species encyclopedia were still miserably stingy, with only two hundred yuan more than the Makou, with no other difference.

After consecutively unlocking Makou and Brook fish, Lin Yang chose to continue fishing.

Soon, he unlocked quite a few new species.

There was the Pangpi, which together with Little White and Mai Sui, is known as one of the three major nightmares of a fisherman’s life.

And there were two types of Pangpi: one commonly called Fire Scale, which is the High Body Pangpang, a fish most common in the South, but in recent years, it has already spread to the major water systems of the North.

Another kind is called the Red-eyed Pangpang, distinguished from the High Body Pangpang by its red eyes.

Although Pangpi is a fisherman’s nightmare, for Lin Yang that day, it was one of his target species.

Because mature Pangpis also color up, their bodies dotted with red and blue-green patterns, and keeping a group would also be very attractive.

"Makou, Brook fish, and Pangpi, these three types of fish will serve as the mid to upper layer species in my tank," he mused.

"As for the bottom dwellers, I might as well catch some Shrimp Goby Fish and loach!"

After catching a sufficient number of Makou, Brook fish, and Pangpi, Lin Yang once again changed his fishing strategy.