As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up
Chapter 603 - 368: The Biting Auger_2

Chapter 603: Chapter 368: The Biting Auger_2

However, two minutes after the first cast, a parrotfish took the bait and was snatched away by another fish.

Chu Mingcheng replaced it with a live shrimp and changed his spot.

This time his luck was much better, barely half a minute after casting the bait, he saw the rod tip twitch slightly, followed by the familiar sound of strain.

Another fish was hooked.

The rod bent into a crescent shape, and the slack fishing line instantly became taut.

But stone fish are usually not too big, and since they don’t move much, the pull is not very strong.

You lift the rod to set the hook and then quickly wind the reel, pulling it up all at once—there’s no need to play the fish.

This fish couldn’t be played even if you wanted to—it doesn’t swim!

Hu Xiangdong, who was after a big catch, used large-sized rods, lines, and hooks, so he was still waiting for a bite.

Seeing that there was some activity on Chu Mingcheng’s side, he came over, curious.

After all, his rod was installed on the railing of the boat, there was no need to watch it all the time; he could come over when there was some action.

Slightly later, a panicked stone fish emerged from the water, thrashing about, making it look particularly lively.

"So it’s a stone fish!" Hu Xiangdong realized suddenly, he hadn’t expected Chu Mingcheng would be fishing for these.

The Fishing Man was interested in all kinds of fish, so it was no surprise to him.

But after looking at his own rod, he pondered for a while and decided to fish for something big today, and save the smaller fish for when he was tired.

The stone fish Chu Mingcheng caught wasn’t big, around one jin or so.

Wearing gloves, he carefully grasped the fish, removed the hook, and then tossed it into the cooler—all the while avoiding the area of the dorsal fin.

When he touched the stone fish, it exploded with spikes all over, with the dorsal fin spines being the most noticeable.

The stone fish’s venom is in the spines on the dorsal fin, if anything brushes against it, the spines immediately eject a stream of potent venom, causing paralysis or even total immobility in the affected creature.

This was the first time Chu Mingcheng had caught this type of stone fish, but he had caught plenty of similar tiger fish before, so he was quite experienced.

He continued to fish, but the process was not very smooth; he could only catch one fish in each spot. After going around the whole boat, he had only managed to catch three.

The biggest one was only one and a half jin. These fish could actually grow to more than three jin, and the small ones did not meet Chu Mingcheng’s standards at all.

Larger ones have more meat and taste even better.

But what to do if they couldn’t be caught? In the end, Chu Mingcheng decided to dive into the water himself to catch them.

"Do you have to be so cheeky—if you can’t fish them out, you’ll go diving for them?" Hu Xiangdong said, somewhat speechlessly, as he watched Chu Mingcheng stripping his clothes.

Since he hadn’t planned on diving, there were no wetsuits prepared on the boat, but thankfully there was no shortage of new swimming trunks.

"My wife’s pregnant, I need to get some nutritious stuff." Chu Mingcheng changed into his swimming trunks, then took a diving flashlight out of his tackle box.

Luckily, he had plenty of this type of equipment; he would always keep one in his tackle box, and today it came in handy.

Although he had night vision, there were other people on board, so he had to put on an act.

He stepped out of the cabin onto the deck, and a group of girls’ eyes lit up at the sight of his physique.

"Wow, that figure is amazing—you can’t tell at all when he’s clothed!"

"No matter how good his body is, it’s got nothing to do with you—the man’s married and very family-oriented."

It’s not that there weren’t any girls who had approached Chu Mingcheng today, but he deliberately maintained his distance, making it clear to the girls, so they didn’t bother him further.

But now, seeing Chu Mingcheng’s nearly perfect physique, these girls were feeling a bit weak at the knees.

"So what if he’s married? A body like that is worth one night’s sleep—even just the thought that this man could be very strong!"

"Why don’t you try seducing him tonight?"

"I might just try!"

Chu Mingcheng had no idea about the girls’ whispers, and even if he knew, he wouldn’t care.

He put on his mask, took the diving flashlight, and jumped into the water.

He didn’t bring the net or rope; catching stone fish required caution as carrying net or rope could cause the fish to brush against his body, and a sting could lead to serious trouble.

He turned on the flashlight, but actually, Chu Mingcheng could perfectly see everything in the water thanks to his night vision.

The water here wasn’t very deep, just about forty to fifty meters.

Chu Mingcheng dove directly to the bottom of the sea, and then searched for stonefish on the seabed and reef.

With such a targeted search, he naturally went straight for the larger ones to catch.

Soon, he found a decent-sized stonefish, estimating it to weigh around three to four pounds, which was probably the maximum size for this type of stonefish.

One has to say, these stonefish really were calm.

As Chu Mingcheng grabbed the big one, there were actually other stonefish nearby.

But they showed no awareness of danger, not even moving an inch.

Chu Mingcheng returned to the surface and threw the stonefish onto the deck.

Since Hu Xiangdong’s big fish was still nowhere to be seen, he specifically came over to help with the fish and said, "I didn’t expect you to be not only good at fishing but also so skilled at diving."

"I wouldn’t have been able to save you back then if I weren’t skilled," Chu Mingcheng wiped the seawater from his face, teasing.

Hu Xiangdong’s face darkened, and he felt somewhat frustrated, "I guess I’ll never live this down, huh!"

"Haha!" Chu Mingcheng didn’t continue to tease him and turned back, diving into the water to continue catching.

More of a good thing is never a problem—there are quite a few relatives and friends close by, and only by catching more can there be enough to share.

For a while, the number of larger stonefish at the bottom of the sea rapidly decreased, but they carried on sleeping if it was time to sleep, and foraging if it was time to forage.

However, just as Chu Mingcheng spotted another stonefish on a large reef and moved closer to grab it, a thick shadow suddenly darted out and aimed a bite directly at his arm.

But was he someone who could be ambushed with such a swift reaction?

He instinctively met it with the flashlight in his hand.

"Bang~"

The flashlight in his hand vibrated, and then the light flickered a few times, fortunately without breaking.

The thing he hit was fiercer than he expected; instead of fleeing, it attacked him again.

This time, Chu Mingcheng got a clear view—it was a ferocious sea eel.

Chu Mingcheng didn’t feel sorry for the flashlight and struck the sea eel’s head even harder and faster than he did during the first rushed defense, knocking the sea eel silly.

The sea eel opened its mouth, its body floating uncontrollably in the water, clearly knocked out.

Could it be anything but knocked out, when even the flashlight was damaged at one corner?

Fortunately, Chu Mingcheng didn’t mind spending money back then and bought a good quality one which was very sturdy and had no problems at all.

With the flashlight in his mouth, stonefish in his left hand, and the passed-out sea eel in his right hand, he rapidly swam to the surface with his legs paddling.

After throwing the catches onto the deck, Chu Mingcheng decided not to continue and climbed up from the stairs at the stern of the boat.

"This big needlefish is nice, very nourishing!" Hu Xiangdong, looking at the sea eel with a mischievous smile, said, "Ah Cheng, your wife is pregnant, and you’re not planning to sneak a snack, so eating this needlefish won’t do you any good. Why not let me have it?"

"Feeling weak?" Chu Mingcheng glanced sideways at him.

Hu Xiangdong immediately bristled, as this was a matter of a man’s dignity, "How could I possibly be weak? Believe it or not, I can do three tonight!"

"Only those who feel weak would think about nourishment. Look at me, what even is ’nourishment’? That word has never even appeared in my dictionary!"

"..."

Looking at Chu Mingcheng’s revealed physique and the bulge beneath his swimming trunks, Hu Xiangdong was rendered speechless.

Although he was born in Rome, some people naturally come with top-tier equipment—enviable, yet unattainable!

It’s not like he could pay to learn from a chimpanzee, right?

Chu Mingcheng picked up the stonefish and needlefish from the ground and placed the needlefish in a separate fish box.

This thing was fierce, biting anyone it saw; it even dared to bite him under the water, and as a result, it gratuitously offered up its flesh.

After Chu Mingcheng showered and saw that Hu Xiangdong still hadn’t caught a big fish, he kindly started the boat and moved to another spot.

While diving, he had already found where the fish were plentiful, which was much more intuitive than a fish finder.

So, that night, Hu Xiangdong experienced the thrill of catching big fish, successfully landing a Big Blue Spot weighing over forty pounds.

There were women on the boat, so they didn’t fish too late into the night.

Chu Mingcheng found a relatively secluded room by himself, locked the door to prevent a night raid, and put on earplugs, successfully blocking the two women who sneaked to his door in the middle of the night.

As for the other four, they were too busy with work to come.