I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Purchasing the White Fengqi Fishing Rod

The bait on the hook was still perfectly intact, so there was no need to change it. The advantage of sea centipede bait was clear—it could be reused several times.

So, Gu Nan didn’t have to re-bait the hook; he just needed to gently cast the line back out.

After about half a minute, the float suddenly plunged deep, vanishing completely from sight. At the same time, a massive force yanked on the fishing rod.

Gu Nan froze for a moment. ’There are big fish this close to the shore?’

But his reaction wasn’t slow in the slightest. He immediately jerked the rod back with force, sinking the hook deep into the fish’s mouth.

The fish underwater seemed incredibly fast, though; in just a few moments, it had already run out over ten meters of line.

His size-2 iso rod was relatively soft and was now bent to an extreme degree. Gu Nan didn’t dare use brute force to pull, as the rod tip could snap at any moment.

He hadn’t set the reel’s drag to its maximum, leaving some leeway for a buffer.

Gu Nan pressed his finger against the line, using this method to slow its release from the spool.

His countermeasures were effective. The rod remained constantly near its breaking point, yet the fish hadn’t managed to get too far away.

After about a minute, Gu Nan noticed the bend in the rod tip was no longer as extreme, and the fish’s pull began to weaken. The spool still had half its line.

He grabbed the handle and began to tentatively reel in the line.

As he turned the handle, the tension from both sides caused the rod tip to bend sharply once more.

But Gu Nan now knew this degree of bend was still safe, so he reeled in more boldly and confidently.

The line came in slowly, as the fish still had the strength to struggle.

Gu Nan wasn’t in a hurry. He just kept reeling in slowly. When the fish put up a fight, he would loosen his grip slightly, playing it, or even letting it run a little.

After five or six minutes of this, another fish he’d never seen before appeared on the water’s surface.

It was a fish similar to an amberjack or yellowtail, but its coloring was different. Its body looked a bit dirty and was covered in light brown spots.

The fish’s length was unremarkable, around forty centimeters, but its weight was considerable.

Scooping it up with his landing net, Gu Nan estimated it to be about five or six jin.

The fish was a bit large and didn’t seem suitable for the keepnet, so he placed it in a small tide pool nearby.

High tide wasn’t until one in the morning. Only when the tide was at its peak would the waves reach this little pool.

But that just meant waves would splash water into it, not that the entire area would be submerged by the rising water level. Therefore, a larger fish of this size wouldn’t be able to escape.

Fish like amberjack usually fetched a decent price, possibly selling for over fifty yuan per jin.

This one weighed five jin. Wouldn’t that be worth over two hundred yuan, maybe even close to three hundred?

’Maybe this will complete today’s last daily quest?’

However, when he focused his consciousness on the game and saw the daily quest was still active, Gu Nan felt a pang of disappointment. ’A fish this impressive isn’t even a three-star?’

He then opened the Index to learn about this unfamiliar fish.

Black-striped Small Stripes Buri, also known as Black Amberjack.

Length: a little over forty-three centimeters. Size: Large.

Its primary distribution was identical to the previous few fish he’d caught, located in the Indo-Pacific, including areas like East Africa, South Africa, and the Red Sea.

It was a two-star fish. Gu Nan received one hundred Gold Coins, bringing his total to five hundred fifty.

He could now afford to buy a white Fengqi Fishing Rod. But he wasn’t in a rush; he continued reading the description for the Black-striped Small Stripes Buri.

This fish can grow up to 60 centimeters in length and weigh 10.4 jin.

Flavor Rating: Four Stars. The meat is rich in oil. It is delicious sliced for sashimi or seasoned with salt and pepper, coated in batter, and deep-fried. Suggested price: fifty yuan.

Note: The Black-striped Small Stripes Buri must be bled and packed in ice immediately. Otherwise, it will die from hypoxia, causing the blood to taint the quality of the meat.

"Holy shit!"

Seeing the final note, Gu Nan was jolted into action.

He’d never caught fish like amberjack, yellowtail, or bonito before, so he hadn’t immediately recalled this particular characteristic they shared.

He used his landing net to scoop the Black-striped Small Stripes Buri out of the tide pool. Sure enough, its vitality had already diminished significantly. A little longer and it would likely die from lack of oxygen.

The tide pool was small, so the fish couldn’t swim around freely within it.

But Gu Nan hadn’t brought a bleeding knife, nor did he have any ice to chill it.

His only option was to quickly pack up his things and take the fish back to the seafood shop to deal with it.

Fortunately, the shop was nearby. By the time he arrived, the Black-striped Small Stripes Buri had only just died. It wasn’t a major issue.

Gu Nan quickly grabbed a knife and bled the fish by the faucet at the entrance.

Once the blood had drained completely, he grabbed a small, fifty-centimeter-long foam box and took some crushed ice from the freezer.

He laid a layer of ice in the bottom of the foam box, placed the fish inside, covered it with another layer of ice, and finally, put the lid on and placed the box inside the large freezer to keep it chilled.

This wasn’t flash-freezing, so it wouldn’t have much of an impact on the texture of the meat.

If a fish was flash-frozen, its price would be significantly lower. For a fish like yellowtail, the price for a flash-frozen one could drop to around twenty-five yuan per jin.

This time, anticipating he might catch more fish like the Black-striped Small Stripes Buri, Gu Nan made a point to grab a larger foam box, fill it with some crushed ice, and bring a bleeding knife with him back to the fishing spot on the reef.

The round trip delayed him by about half an hour. The first thing he did upon returning was to toss two scoops of Antarctic shrimp into his fishing spot, hoping to lure back any fish that might have dispersed.

He’d never had such a thrilling day of fishing since he first learned how. For a feeling like this, he was willing to invest any amount of capital!

He pulled up the keepnet to check; the clownfish were still alive and kicking, so there was no need to worry.

Then, Gu Nan opened the game’s shop, found the fishing rod page, and immediately spent five hundred Gold Coins to purchase the common-grade white Fengqi Fishing Rod.

He glanced around. No one was there.

He crouched down behind a reef, and with a mere thought, an exquisite, predominantly white iso rod appeared in his hands.

"Whoa, it’s an iso rod?" Gu Nan was a bit surprised. He couldn’t make out the full details of the rod from the picture in the game and had assumed it was a lure rod, just like the starter equipment.

This iso rod looked like it was made of carbon fiber. The feel of it in his hands was much better than the iso rod he’d just been using, and he could barely feel its weight.

He gave it a few test swings. The rod tip made a SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH sound as it cut through the air. Its flexibility was excellent; it was probably a size-2 iso rod.

After purchasing the rod, a new description for it appeared. Instead of immediately testing out its feel, he read the description first.

Large Fish Bonus: 5%. Rare Fish Bonus: 3%. Daily Guaranteed Catches on the Fengqi Coast: +1.

He already knew these attributes, so Gu Nan read on.

The white Fengqi Fishing Rod is a size-2 iso rod, capable of handling fish up to 10 jin.

Note: Fish over five jin require the host to have a certain level of fishing skill. Improper handling carries the same risk of breaking the rod. (Damaged rods must be repurchased. Please be gentle, host.)

Reading the last sentence, the corner of Gu Nan’s mouth twitched. "Don’t worry. For a rod that costs five hundred Gold Coins, it’d be hard for me *not* to be gentle."

He said that, but he was still inexplicably excited to get his hands on new equipment. He quickly detached the reel from his original iso rod and mounted it onto the new Fengqi Fishing Rod.

After baiting the hook with a sea centipede, Gu Nan walked to the water’s edge and cast his line. The baited hook landed in the water right in front of him.

Since he had activated the guaranteed catch, he wasn’t too concerned about where the baited hook landed.

The new rod also had attribute bonuses. He hoped this time he’d get a three-star fish, allowing him to finally complete the last daily quest.