Chapter 674: Cooperating To Catch a Big Fish
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Catching red salmon was no easy task. Since they no longer ate after migrating to freshwaters from the ocean, they rarely took the bait. At this point, catching red salmon was mainly dependent on luck and was harder than fis.h.i.+ng in the ocean.
Of course, there were red salmon in the river. As the Colorado River was the route red salmon took for their migration, there were a lot of them in it.
The water in some parts of the river was clear. When the red salmon swam to the water surface, they could be seen from the boat.
As the red salmon were brightly colored, they were very easy to identify.
Brother Wolf did not partic.i.p.ate in the fis.h.i.+ng and was looking after the two little girls at the side. Noticing that Hans and the others had not caught any fish after a long time, he said softly, "Use a harpoon."
Fis.h.i.+ng with harpoons was a common method of catching red salmon. However, it was mostly used in shallow waters such as small rivers and streams and was not apt for use in deep waters like the one they were in.
When fis.h.i.+ng with harpoons in small rivers and streams, even if the harpoon missed, the red salmon would at most escape to their front, back, left, or right, which allowed for further attempts at catching them.
However, there was only one attempt to catch a fish when using harpoons in such a large river. Once the harpoon missed, red salmon would normally dive deep into the water, hence rendering the harpoon useless.
Hans shook his head. "This place is not suited for using a harpoon, man. There are still chances to catch a fish when using a fis.h.i.+ng hook. Using a harpoon will only scare them away."
"But we have yet to catch a fish with the fis.h.i.+ng hooks," Big Quinn said dejectedly.
Hans responded, "We haven"t encountered a shoal of fish. As long as we encounter a shoal of fish, we can definitely catch some. I am confident."
Red salmon always migrated in shoals to lay their eggs and also formed shoals when they entered a meander to rest. Hans was right: as long as they found a shoal of fish, they would definitely be able to catch some.
This was a job for Li Du. He called out the little bug and sent it into the water. The little bug began searching.
The water of the Colorado River was relatively clear. In order to rectify the water pollution problem, the American government had already closed down all the companies that polluted heavily on the coast and used an agricultural airplane to sow the seeds of water gra.s.s and gra.s.s into the river annually.
The vision of the little bug was un.o.bstructed in the water. The depth of the water they were in was around 35 feet. After diving into the water, the little bug was able to see all the way to the riverbed.
There was lush water gra.s.s, which had small black and white fish swimming among it, growing at the bottom of the meander. There were also mussels releasing bubbles while hiding in the mud.
Among them, the most beautiful living thing at the bottom of the river was the red salmon. With just one glance, the little bug spotted five large, brightly colored fish.
Most adult red salmon weighed more than four pounds. At this point in time, as they had just migrated from the Gulf of California, they had not expended much of the fat content in their bodies and looked rather plump.
Although there were red salmon here, this was not a shoal. As the population density was too small with only five fish, the fish hooks might not be able to catch one.
As such, Li Du commanded the little bug to continue searching.
Even though the little bug had not found a shoal of red salmon, it found a few interesting items while searching the meander.
After looking over them roughly, Li Du took out his phone and searched the Internet.
Seeing him on his phone, Hans warned, "In waters that Asian carps inhabit, you shouldn"t take valuable items out. They could slap them into the water."
As Li Du had already searched for the information that he needed, he put his phone with a smile. "Alright, let"s continue fis.h.i.+ng."
After the little bug searched the river for a while, it finally found a group of bright red swimming fish.
This was a shoal of red salmon!
A few hundred—or even thousand—plump red salmon swam slowly through the water. Lush water gra.s.s grew in the place they rested. Some salmon were hidden by the gra.s.s.
The water here was not considered deep. It was a little less than thirty feet.
Li Du grabbed a handful of fish bait and scattered it into the water. As the bait gradually sank through the water, the quiet shoal of fish began moving about and a few red salmon started swimming around the bait.
All the animals in nature had the instinct to eat, and the red salmon was no exception.
Although it was in their nature to not eat after entering freshwater, they didn"t go completely without eating. Even if they didn"t eat, they would still be tempted when they encountered food.
Through the little bug"s vision, Li Du saw that there were fish swimming toward the water surface and patted Crispy Noodles on his backside. Crispy Noodles immediately moved his backside away and placed his furry coa.r.s.e tail into the water before shaking it.
Seeing this, Ah Meow ran to the side and focused his attention on staring at the water with his claws unsheathed.
This was the teamwork between the two of them that they were accustomed to. Crispy Noodles would use his tail to tempt the fish while Ah Meow would take the opportunity to grab hold of them. This had been proven to be effective every time.
Having noticed them cooperating, Hans smiled. "No use, Ah Meow. Don"t stay there, that side has no fish. No fish will be tempted to swim out."
Not long after the sound of his words had faded, the shadows of two red salmon appeared in the water.
Victoria noticed them and shouted in amazement, "The fish have appeared!"
Ivana hurriedly pulled her closer and whispered, "Quiet, Victoria. You will scare off the fish like that."
Crispy Noodles gently moved his tail in the water. As there was a lot of coa.r.s.e hair on a racc.o.o.n"s tail, the tail looked like a small furry worm as well as a strand of seaweed swaying in the water.
One red salmon was enticed by it and foolishly swam closer. Before the red salmon was able to bite onto Crispy Noodles"s tail after opening its mouth, Ah Meow suddenly stretched forward and viciously swiped his claws!
After a wish sound resonated across the air, the clear and crisp sound of water could be heard: Splas.h.!.+
The sharp claws of the ocelot, which were like small daggers, dug into the back of the red salmon before dragging it out of the water and carrying it directly onto the boat.
Seeing this, Ah Ow stretched her neck and howled in excitement, "Ah woo woo!"
Victoria and Ivana clapped their hands excitedly. "Woah, Ah Meow is so amazing!"
The red salmon that was caught by him was around one foot long and didn"t weigh less than six pounds. It looked great with its plump body, round head, and glossy exterior.
Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles salivated profusely while staring at the fish. Li Du handed the fish over to Brother Wolf and said, "Deal with this first. Come, both of you continue catching fish."
Although there were not a lot of people on the boat, one fish was not enough to feed all of them as everyone had a huge appet.i.te.
Crispy Noodles and Ah Meow looked helplessly at the large fish as it was being taken away by Brother Wolf. They were unconcerned with Li Du"s words and stretched their necks to look at Brother Wolf"s movements as they were afraid that he was going to throw the fish away like how he had the Asian carp earlier.
Brother Wolf skillfully chopped away the head and tail and removed the intestines before skinning the fish and was.h.i.+ng the meat.
As the fish was their food, Crispy Noodles and Ah Meow heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that Brother Wolf didn"t throw the fish away.
Li Du dragged the both of them to the side of the boat and said, "Come, continue catching fish. You guys can eat later."
Once again, Crispy Noodles threw his tail into the water while Ah Meow squatted at the side and waited for a fish to take the bait. Ah Meow didn"t blink at all and was completely focused on catching a fish.