The Top Fishing
Chapter 637 - 275: Pink Salmon

Chapter 637: Chapter 275: Pink Salmon

While he was talking, Lin Yang had already wound about fifty meters of PE line onto the reel, and after a quick fine-tuning, he tied a lure to the front end. The fishing gear was now assembled.

"I’m not sure about the underwater situation, so I need to be a bit conservative. I’ll first remove the treble hooks from the lure, and then cast a few times with an empty rod to find the bottom before making a decision," he said.

After he finished speaking, he removed the treble hooks, adopted the standard casting stance, and swung the fishing rod, shouting, "Off you go!"

The lure, trailing the fishing line, drew a silver arc through the air and landed effortlessly about thirty meters out on the water.

Lin Yang tried to tighten the line, his right hand resting on the rod, carefully sensing the subtle touches as the lure sank to the bottom.

Unexpectedly, the spot thirty meters away wasn’t as deep as he had imagined. Based on the sinking time, it was about four meters deep, with no major terrain variations. Relatively speaking, the lakebed was clean.

"Alright, after a few exploratory drags, I’ve found that the lakebed is fairly clean and flat, probably without much debris. Now I’ll reattach the treble hooks and start fishing properly to see if there are any fish attacking the bait," he added.

As Lin Yang spoke, he was already reeling the lure back in.

Suddenly, he felt a twitch at the rod tip—something predatory had noticed the lure and attacked it, but since there was no hook, it escaped.

"Damn, some fish attacked my hookless lure," Lin Yang muttered, speeding up his reeling.

After adjusting the treble hooks on the lure, he cast it out again towards the spot where he thought the fish had bitten.

He allowed for some lead time before the lure hit bottom, cautiously coaxing the rod tip to get the lure moving ahead of schedule.

Since he had to stay in the area for two months and couldn’t supplement his artificial baits, he had to adjust his fishing techniques to minimize the chances of snagging the bait.

Keeping the bait off the bottom dramatically reduced the chances of getting snagged.

It turned out he was lucky, because after the adjustment, it only took about three meters of drawing in before he felt a heavy pull on the rod tip; a big fish had attacked the lure again.

Feeling the strength of the attack, Lin Yang didn’t rush to set the hook. Instead, he deliberately paused a moment to let the fish secure the bait before setting the hook, bending the rod.

"I’ve got a bite. The pull is strong. These fish are aggressive; it only took a few meters of drawing in to get a bite!"

While explaining, Lin Yang began to struggle with the fish on the line.

Objectively speaking, the fish underwater were strong, and compared to the usual fish he caught, these had a remarkably prolonged endurance, making several powerful surges without showing any signs of exhaustion.

He wasn’t in a rush to land the fish, patiently controlling it as it pulled out the line. After about five minutes, he exhausted the fish and pulled it out of the water.

Once the big fish surfaced, the drone camera immediately gave a close-up.

Wow, the fish displayed a gentle pink hue, its shape somewhat resembling the Silver Trout he had caught in Russia.

"What kind of fish is this? Does anyone recognize it? It’s pretty, too," he said.

Lin Yang brought the fish to the edge of the water, quickly grabbed its mouth with his thumb and index finger threading through the fish’s mouth and gills, securing it tightly.

"Pinks? Judging by its shape, it must be some kind of salmon. It’s so plump; its belly is all round," he observed.

"It looks like Pinks! This kind of fish has become rare in many countries," he noted.

"It’s not small either. I estimate this fish weighs about four to five pounds," he added.

After unhooking the fish, Lin Yang picked it up and estimated, "I reckon it weighs about six or seven pounds—very plump and round, slightly heavier than it looks. Okay, with this fish, I’ve got my meal sorted for today. I’ll just quickly clean the fish and then start looking for a spot to build a shelter."

As he spoke, he took out a multifunction Swiss army knife from his waistbelt.

This knife wasn’t one of those inferior knock-offs sold on counterfeit websites, but rather a quality item he had purchased at a premium from a professional outdoor survival forum’s shop. Besides its main cutting blade, it included about a dozen different functional components.

Lin Yang skillfully killed the fish, then split its belly open to clean out the innards. After a quick clean-up, he casually picked a thin branch, threaded it through the position of the fish gills, and easily lifted the fish, striding in the direction he had chosen.

"Choosing a shelter requires considering many factors, several of which are relatively important to prioritize."

For example, the first consideration is the location; it should be as sun-facing and wind-shielding as possible. If exposed to the wind, even the most meticulously built shelter would be extra cold, which is not conducive to overwintering.

As I walked here earlier, I already had a look around, and the region I am standing in is relatively concave, with hardly any exposure to direct winds.

The second point is to be as close as possible to areas where food and water sources are easily accessible; this spot also passes that criterion.

The third point is that the area around the shelter should have materials suitable for construction, such as certain-sized trees, stones, or moss. I vaguely spotted an area with broken stones earlier when I was reconnoitering the terrain with the drone. I’ll take a closer look."

As he was speaking, the drone took off again, quickly beginning to search the surroundings.