The Top Fishing
Chapter 83 - 083: Fishing for Crawfish

Chapter 83: Chapter 083: Fishing for Crawfish

After dividing the fish,

just as the village head was about to leave, Lin Yang suddenly asked him, "Village head, wasn’t there a reservoir up on the hill in our village before? Are there still fish in it?"

The village head paused, then shook his head and said, "That reservoir, there are hardly any fish left in it now."

"Huh? I remember the reservoir was contracted out to the neighboring village, wasn’t it? There should be quite a lot of fish, right?"

Lin Yang and the others used to run to the reservoir up in the mountains often as kids, especially when the sluice gate was opened.

When the sluice opened, fish would always leap from the discharge outlet and all they had to do was pick up the fish and take them home.

The village head said, "That was in the past. Starting from the year before last, there have been no fish in the reservoir, and nobody has taken a contract for it. People from Zhu Family Village like to fish with electricity, and they do it every few days. Who the hell can stand that?"

Lin Yang frowned and said, "Fishing with electricity is illegal."

The village head laughed and said, "You kid, have you gotten daft from fishing? What kind of place do you think this is? Do you think the people from Zhu Family Village do less illegal stuff?"

"Electrofishing, net fishing, stealing fruit, using nets to catch birds—what haven’t they done?"

"That reservoir up in the mountains, we used to count on it to raise fish and make some money each year, but because of that bunch of turtle bastards, we can’t even make that bit of money anymore."

"You talk about illegal – does it make a difference? By the time you call the police and they show up, the people are long gone without a trace." The village head said, shaking his head the entire time.

After hearing the village head’s words, Lin Yang knitted his eyebrows; he hadn’t expected that the reservoir up in the village’s mountains was now devoid of fish.

The reservoir up in the mountains was pretty large, and he found it hard to imagine just how excessive the people from Zhu Family Village had to be to fish all the fish out of a reservoir?

But he certainly knew about the notorious reputation of Zhu Family Village; not all farmers were simple and honest, nor were all mountain villages as harmonious as their Yangkeng Village.

And even in Yangkeng Village, they couldn’t avoid having some bad elements.

But that was normal.

What was happening in Zhu Family Village, on the other hand, was not normal.

In the past when he watched the news about the "Big Coat Brother" getting his door kicked in by villagers, he actually felt no ripples in his heart.

Because Zhu Family Village was practically the same.

When he was a child, he had heard plenty of "glorious deeds" from Zhu Family Village.

In one case, a family’s sheep fought with another household’s sheep, so one person took a shovel and smashed the other family’s sheep to death. The other family came over, and they got into a fight.

These kinds of disputes, over trivial things, happened far too often and escalated wildly.

At the moment, Lin Yang even suspected that the old man he met while fishing for small fish in Qingxi Bay, who was using a sticky net, could very well be from Zhu Family Village.

Of course, it was just a guess.

As the village head was leaving, he glanced at Lin Yang, then pointed at the pile of catfish innards on the ground and said, "Xiao Yang, do you still want this stuff? I was thinking of taking some to feed my crayfish."

"Crayfish?"

"Yeah, isn’t the crayfish season coming up in April and May? I’ve been raising a couple of acres of crayfish to make some money."

"Oh, sure, take the innards and stuff. Just leave me some liver, that will be fine."

Because the Big Catfish was really huge, even its guts and innards weighed about three or four jin.

The village head took most of the guts and stuff, leaving Lin Yang with a bit of the catfish innards.

Catfish, known for their strong earthy smell, has innards that are even smellier, to the point where even dogs usually won’t eat them.

But these strongly odorous items are a delicacy for crayfish.

Crayfish is also an invasive species, only, because of the craze among domestic foodies, crayfish farming has become necessary.

Inspired by the village head’s actions just now, Lin Yang thought, since there weren’t many good places left to fish, why not try fishing for crayfish?

By all accounts, crayfish should also count as aquatic life, and there might be rewards for catching them. After all, he did receive a reward the last time he caught a turtle.

And he just happened to have the bait that crayfish love.

Having made up his mind, Lin Yang decided to ask where he could find crayfish in the group chat he had just joined yesterday.

"Brothers, does anyone know where I can go shrimp fishing?" he posted in the group.

Soon, someone in the group replied.

Wang Feng: Fishing for shrimp? What kind of shrimp?

Wang Bo: "What else but crayfish? But that stuff is too dirty to fish for; it’s much easier to just buy it ready-made."

Tai: "It’s not just crayfish, if I remember correctly. Didn’t we have a shrimp fishing restaurant around here that also offers the Roesiana shrimp? That one is delicious, too!"

Li Xiaopeng: "Knowing cousin as I do, it’s very likely he wants to catch wild ones, but it seems only wild crayfish are available for catching."

Yang Xincheng: "I know a place to catch wild crayfish. It’s in a small river in our village, full of them. I’ll send you the location; it’s not far at all."

After Lin Yang sent the message, pretty much everyone in the group erupted into activity.

Seeing that Uncle mentioned there were crayfish in the river of their village, he directly tagged and said, "@Yang Xincheng, Uncle, send me the exact location, I’ll give it a try!"

Not long after, a private message came through, along with a location.

This location wasn’t too far, about a half-hour drive from his house, and Yang Xincheng had specifically told Lin Yang what he needed to prepare.

To fish for crayfish, one didn’t need a real fishing rod; any hard stick would do, but the fishing line had to be a proper one. No hook was needed, just tying some stinky bait at the end of the line.

Earthworms, pig liver, chicken liver, pig lung, chicken intestines—all of these could work.

Of course, now that Lin Yang had the liver of a catfish, its effect was better than all of the above.

Having confirmed the location and the fishing method, Lin Yang was ready to give it a try.

He returned home, and Yue’er was still editing his live stream video from yesterday afternoon. He sat next to her and watched for a while.

Yes, she worked very diligently, deserving a raise next month.

Since she had other things to do later, Lin Yang decided not to take her with him this time to fish for crayfish.

He’d find another opportunity to take her fishing.

Staying alone in the village every day, not just a young person, even an old lady would go stir-crazy...

Afterward, Lin Yang told his parents where he was going and then got in the car and left.

He was just heading to Uncle’s place to fish for crayfish, and he brought several pounds of the freshly divided big catfish to let them taste some fresh fish.

In most people’s minds, few seem to enjoy eating catfish.

Because it has no scales and a smooth surface, with a flat head that looks quite wide and ugly, and a bit intimidating, many people are put off by its appearance.

Moreover, many people believe catfish are dirty and unclean, potentially causing problems if eaten.

But in fact, catfish are a precious and nutritious delicacy. Historical records show that catfish are considered treasures among fish, comparable to shark fins and wild turtles.

Twenty or so minutes later.

Lin Yang first drove to Uncle’s house, and after placing the catfish inside, he followed the map for a while and arrived at the side of a small river.

The river wasn’t large, maybe three meters wide, with a moderate flow.

However, it seemed well-maintained; at least the water was quite clear, and there was no foul smell.

After finding a spacious place to park his car, Lin Yang looked for a stick about one and a half meters long and then tied a fish liver cut into small pieces onto a two-meter-long fishing line.

Fishing for crayfish was actually quite simple, much like catching frogs when he was a child.

Lin Yang remembered that as children, they used a stick and a thin rope, then caught a frog to tie its legs to the line, enticing the frogs to bite.

Of course, back then, they weren’t very conscious of environmental protection.

Now it’s different, with a strong awareness of environmental protection, frogs as beneficial insects are best left uncaught.

However, crayfish are different; as invasive species, catching some is fine.

Lin Yang threw the tied bait into the water, and soon he spotted a group of small fish gathering around, known as Mai Sui.

Some people might not easily distinguish between Mai Sui and mosquito fish.

Indeed, these two species look alike, and Mai Sui also feed on mosquito larvae, although perhaps not as aggressively as mosquito fish.

These are two different fish species, although they look similar.

Mosquito fish belong to the Hard Bone Fish class—ray-finned subclass—Cyprinodontiformes order—Poeciliidae family—Gambusia genus, aggressive and purely imported foreign fish.

On the other hand, Mai Sui belongs to the Hard Bone Fish class—ray-finned subclass—Cypriniformes order—Cyprinidae family—Leuciscinae subfamily—Pseudorasbora genus, completely a domestic species, entirely different matters.

Nevertheless, distinguishing them is indeed not easy...

Lin Yang knew it was Mai Sui and not mosquito fish because he had caught one.

One of them clung to the bait and refused to let go, and Lin Yang quickly pulled it out, earning him two hundred yuan along with some points and experience. However, he threw the little mosquito fish back into the river with a casual flick.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting, Lin Yang finally saw a crayfish.

The crayfish, hiding in a burrow, was lured out by the smell of Lin Yang’s bait.

As it clamped onto the liver and started moving it towards its mouth, Lin Yang took that moment to lift it out.

With a splash, a black and red crayfish was pulled to shore. Once it landed, it abandoned its meal and immediately started brandishing its claws at Lin Yang.

Obviously, its threats were of no use to Lin Yang.

Seeing it trying to escape, Lin Yang simply pressed down its head and tossed it into the bucket.

He opened his aquatic encyclopedia, which now showed he had unlocked a reward for crayfish: one hundred yuan, 1 experience point, and 1 point, along with a special item, a fish guard.

Lin Yang, of course, already had fish guards, but his were just ordinary products that could hold at most two to three hundred pounds and were easily torn.

This reward featured a special fish guard, with high strength and durability, explaining that it could bear a maximum weight of 1,000 pounds—a great item for Lin Yang.

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