As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up
Chapter 597 - 365

Chapter 597: 365

This time, we used squid meat for fishing Emperor Crabs, which are plentiful in Argentina. We specifically chose the smaller ones, which are very cheap, comparable to sardines back home.

We cut the squid into large chunks, hooked them, wrapped them with fishing nets and lead weights, and sunk them to the ocean floor to wait for the Emperor Crabs to bite.

The water here is very deep, almost three hundred meters.

Emperor Crabs generally only live in the deep sea, and three hundred meters isn’t considered very deep. The Emperor Crabs in the Bering Sea can even survive in waters seven or eight hundred meters deep.

"Ah Cheng, are Emperor Crabs easier to fish than fish?"

"Definitely, they hardly struggle after biting the hook. However, crabs make subtle movements when eating the bait, usually nibbling away at it."

"The bait pretty much stays in the same spot without moving. It’s just that when a crab clamps down on it, there will be a slight tremble, and the signal transmitted to us will be very weak, so we wait a few seconds if there’s a bit of movement on the rod before we lift it slightly to feel the weight."

Jiang Luoluo nodded in understanding, then eyed the fishing rod, which seemed to have moved but also not, and decided to give it a try.

"Huh, it’s kind of heavy, could it be that I’ve got a bite?"

As soon as she handled it, she detected something was up; either the hook had caught on the bottom, or there was already an Emperor Crab on the line.

"That quick?" Chu Mingcheng was a bit astonished. He hadn’t started chumming yet, had he?

But the moment he looked at the hole, he suddenly realized.

Since people often fished for Emperor Crabs around these holes, the crabs knew there was food here and gathered just as if someone had chummed the waters.

He then lifted his own rod and found it to be somewhat heavy as well.

Without hesitation, both he and Jiang Luoluo started reeling in together.

Luck was on their side; they hadn’t snagged the bottom and the lines were reeled back smoothly.

After a short while, one large and one small spiny Emperor Crab were pulled up.

"Haha, mine’s so big and yours is so small!"

When both Emperor Crabs were lifted out of the water, Jiang Luoluo burst into happy laughter, seemingly very pleased to have bested Chu Mingcheng.

Chu Mingcheng himself was in a state of disbelief, suspecting that somehow the cheat codes had deserted him at that moment.

Despite the bonuses the cheat gave, his catch seemed to weigh just about a pound, while Jiang Luoluo’s was at least three or four pounds.

A one-pound crab isn’t small, but in the world of Emperor Crabs, it’s just an immature baby crab.

"Well done, Luoluo. I haven’t even started fishing over here, and you’ve already caught one. It’s not small; looks like we’ll have a treat for lunch!" Zhang Wei was still fixing his rod, so Bai Jing, who had nothing else to do, came over and generously lavished her praise.

Anything caught for leisure fishing here had to be either released or consumed on the spot; taking it away or selling it was not allowed.

They had come here just to have the experience and to keep a portion for their own consumption.

"Hehe, of course, leave it to me today!" Jiang Luoluo said excitedly, placing the Emperor Crab into a nearby fish box before continuing to fish.

Emperor Crabs don’t eat quickly, so by the time she had pulled up the catch, the bait was mostly intact, with just a few pinches, ready to be used again.

A large chunk of squid could weigh over half a pound, possibly enough to last a whole day.

Even if it wasn’t fresh, it might actually be more attractive to Emperor Crabs over time.

Of course, given the low temperatures here, it would be quite challenging for things to spoil.

Chu Mingcheng threw his small crab back into the water. As to whether it would bite again, he thought not.

It was hardly going to turn around and come back after such a close escape!

They continued fishing, gently lifting the rod every time they felt there was a little activity.

Fishing for crabs is different from fishing for fish; crabs use their pincers to eat the bait, unlike fish that swallow in one gulp, so the hook isn’t enough for them.

Sometimes if the fishing net doesn’t entangle the crab, they’ll fall off the hook when lifted, meaning that even if they’re hooked, they might not be pulled above the water.

Fortunately, there’s a decent number of Emperor Crabs, which bite fairly often, so the activity remains enjoyable.

Continuing to reel, Chu Mingcheng finally caught a large, fierce-looking Emperor Crab.

The one before him seemed to weigh about six or seven pounds, a normal size even for Alaska.

However, the two types of Emperor Crab are different species; this one is the Chilean Emperor Crab, covered in small spines and completely red.

The average size is much smaller than the Emperor Crabs from the Bering Sea, probably about the same size as the Golden King Crabs.

Because of the distance, these Emperor Crabs are almost always sold cooked and frozen even when they appear domestically.

Suitable for heavy flavors like curry and spicy stir-fry, but don’t even think about steaming them.

But the ones they caught themselves were different, they could eat them however they wanted.

After Chu Mingcheng and the others caught some decent-sized Emperor Crabs, Zhang Wei and Chen Yang’s sides started to get lucky as well.

For a moment, everyone was a little excited, it was the joy of a good catch.

A short while later, Jiang Luoluo suddenly let out a light exclamation, her fishing rod tip was moving non-stop.

"Ah Cheng, what’s going on with my fishing rod? It seems like I’ve caught something else?"

Chu Mingcheng glanced over, "Wow, that looks like a lobster!"

He was puzzled about how Jiang Luoluo was so much luckier than him today, possibly even catching a lobster.

Usually, no matter who fished with him, he was the first to get a catch and also the one with the most catches.

Then he glanced at his wife’s belly, hidden beneath a thick down jacket, and it suddenly dawned on him.

She had the new baby BUFF on her, which was normal if it seemed stronger than his own plug-in.

Such special occurrences weren’t common, so it was not strange for it to happen occasionally.

As Jiang Luoluo reeled in her line, soon a red lobster about fifty centimeters long appeared before them.

The lobster had not been hooked, it was simply tangled in the fishing net, maybe it was just passing by?

Her luck today truly could not be stopped.

"This looks so much like an Australian lobster," she lifted the lobster out of the water onto the ice without rashly grabbing it.

A fifty-centimeter lobster is not small, and its tail was very powerful when it flapped.

Being pregnant, Jiang Luoluo paid extra attention to her own safety.

"This should be a Chilean lobster!" Chu Mingcheng stepped forward, untangled the lobster from the net, and placed it in the cooler.

"Argentina and Chile are neighbors, and Tierra del Fuego is very close south of Chile. It’s quite normal for the two to share marine life."

"This lobster is impressive, able to survive in such deep water." Jiang Luoluo didn’t expect to catch a lobster, as in her memory, lobsters only lived in shallow water among rocks or coral reefs.

Chu Mingcheng explained, "Cold water lobsters are different; these lobsters move to the deep sea from August to November for spawning. But Chilean lobsters are usually found in the middle part of Chile, it’s surprising to find one here."

"Oh well, no matter why it showed up here, we’re lucky today anyway." Jiang Luoluo didn’t care about the reasons; she was happy about her catch for the day!

Next, not only lobsters but also salmon and flatfish appeared, competing with the Emperor Crabs for food, which surprised the group.

They all thought this place only had Emperor Crabs and didn’t expect such a variety of species.

This also led to an excellent lunch for them, with not just lobster and crabs, but also salmon and flatfish.

Chef Chu was on duty again today, a master of steaming, grilling, pan-frying, and deep-frying.

Yet when preparing the ingredients, Zhang Wei and Chen Yang were scared by the Emperor Crabs.

While opening the belly of the Emperor Crab, they saw lots of parasites and nearly thought the crabs were not edible.

In the end, it was Chu Mingcheng who explained multiple times that it was normal for Emperor Crabs to have many parasites, and after a little bit of science, they understood.

Then, despite their disgust when splitting the crabs, they ate without restraint at mealtime.

Fortunately, there was plenty of food, so even though they ate greedily, there was enough for everyone.

After enjoying a delicious lunch and a bit of alcohol, they each cuddled with their wives for an afternoon nap.

The pregnant women naturally didn’t drink alcohol and had juice instead.

So the cabin on the left was very quiet in the afternoon, while the right side was rather lively; men can be pretty fierce when they’re slightly tipsy.

The rest of the day, they didn’t fish for crabs anymore, but took a tour around Tierra del Fuego instead.

Then they returned the boat and decided to continue their adventure elsewhere.