After hauling in the net, it took about two hours. Uncle Yu put his hand to his forehead, looked at the sun, and gazed into the distance, unsure of where to go next. The sea these days is not like it used to be. If you found the right spot, you could catch at least several thousand catties of fish in one net, and over ten thousand catties in four or five nets. The most he ever caught was over twenty thousand catties of fish in five nets. The cheapest wholesale price for sea fish is eight yuan per catty, so over twenty thousand catties is more than two hundred thousand yuan.
Like now, a single net can yield two or three hundred kilograms, and several nets can only yield a maximum of a thousand kilograms. After deducting the cost of fuel and labor, there is simply no profit to be made.
Zhou Xuan thought to himself, "What if I've only just arrived on this ship and I'm already unemployed again? Can fishing like this really support a person?"
Fu Bao, Fu Shan, and Fu Gui all looked disappointed. Their income was tied to the fish they caught; the more fish they caught, the more valuable they were, and the higher their wages would be. Bonuses were based on the total price of the fish. If they went back like this, they would be lucky to earn five hundred yuan from a single trip to sea.
Uncle Yu frowned and looked around for a while, checking the wind direction.
Zhou Xuan suddenly said, "Second Uncle Yu, why don't we go a bit further north and take a look? You see, although the sea breeze is blowing from the southeast, there's an undercurrent flowing from south to north. And it's a warm current; the weather's going to get warmer, so maybe there will be fish."
Uncle Yu was stunned for a moment, then said angrily, "What do you know? You don't have X-ray vision, how could you possibly know which direction the current is coming from? It's almost four o'clock now, and it's getting dark. We can only cast two more nets at most, drift through the night, and after dawn we'll cast two or three more nets before we have to turn back. If we cast no nets again, this trip will have been a waste."
Zhou Xuan gave an awkward smile. He really had no way to prove it, nor could he explain it, so he could only lower his head and turn to the side.
However, just as Zhou Xuan slipped to the back, Uncle Yu suddenly called him back and asked, "Hu Yun, come here. I want to ask you, have you ever gone out to sea to fish before?"
Zhou Xuan shook his head and said, "I once went to Somalia with a friend and lived at sea for a month, but I never actually fished."
Uncle Yu fell into deep thought again. Zhou Xuan had stayed in the waters off Somalia, something he had never expected. That area was a place where strangers should not go. The rampant Somali pirates were not something to be afraid of.
Judging from Zhou Xuan's words, he seemed to have some experience. Being able to estimate the undercurrents from the surface of the sea required extremely strong experience and eyesight. Uncle Yu Er knew he couldn't reach that level. However, there was no good place to go now. In any case, he could only cast one net before dark. So he followed Zhou Xuan's suggestion and went north for a while to see. If it didn't work, he would wait until tomorrow to cast two more nets. This trip was probably not going to be a good harvest.
Uncle Yu immediately ordered Guan Lin to turn the boat around and head north.
Zhou Xuan rushed to the control room. Yu Qiang was still inside the cabin with his head covered, probably trying to slack off.
Guan Lin steered the boat to a speed of about 30 knots. Uncle Yu also went to the cockpit. There were several instruments in the cockpit, including a underwater light detector and an underwater camera connected to a monitor. It could roughly see a range of 20 to 30 meters below the boat, and of course, it could see a little further during the day.
However, observing the area 20 to 30 meters underwater from the surface is not very useful, so fishing still mainly relies on their experience.
Zhou Xuan's superpowers were beyond the comprehension of Uncle Yu and the others. His superpowers detected a warm current flowing from south to north at a depth of 130 meters below the surface of the sea. Some sea fish were coming from the warm current, but not in large numbers. Of course, this was only within the range that Zhou Xuan could detect; beyond 200 meters, he could no longer detect them.
Does anyone know if there are more fish 200 meters away?
However, after driving north for only a minute or two and not far, Zhou Xuan suddenly detected an enormous school of sea fish darting towards him from the warm current, like a long ribbon, but this ribbon was made up of numerous fish.
These sea fish are almost all the same size, about two feet long and weighing two or three pounds.
Zhou Xuan was overjoyed, but the fish came too suddenly and too fast, as if it were fleeing for its life. Before he could ask Uncle Yu for permission to cast the net, Zhou Xuan hurriedly turned on the electric switch to cast the net.
Upon seeing the net being cast from the cockpit, Uncle Yu Er angrily shouted into the walkie-talkie, "Who cast the net? Who the hell cast the net?" Casting the net without his orders was unforgivable. They had just cast nets in this area with almost no success; this latest attempt meant today's entire operation was ruined.
Zhou Xuan naturally had no reason to say anything. After casting the net, he detected more than ten tiger sharks, each about two meters long, entering his detection range.
It turned out that these fierce hunters were chasing those sea fish.
Volume 1, Chapter 444: A Million-Dollar Gain Through a Single Net
Chapter 444 A Million Yuan Gain from One Net
Because the net has been cast, according to the operating procedure, the boat must slow down until it stops, and once the net is cast, the day's journey is over.
Captain Yu Ershu immediately handed over the work in the cockpit to Guan Lin, and then stormed off to the control room. Yu Qiang followed him in. As soon as they entered, before Yu Ershu could even get angry, Yu Qiang pointed at Zhou Xuan's nose and yelled, "What the hell are you up to? I was just going to leave for a bit to bandage my wound, and you've already caused me such a huge mess?"
Yu Qiang's words implied that he was shifting all the blame onto Zhou Xuan.
Uncle Yu was so angry that his neck swelled up. He pointed at Zhou Xuan and snarled, "You...you..." He was so angry that he couldn't even speak. It was almost five o'clock. After pulling up the net and maintaining it, and then pulling it back up, it would be completely dark in two hours. He could understand that after two nets were cast today, there would be almost no harvest. He could cast two or three more nets tomorrow, but at most four nets before he had to return home, otherwise he wouldn't have enough fuel.
Uncle Yu was waiting for Zhou Xuan to explain. If it was because he was a novice and made a mistake due to lack of practice, then since the deed was already done, it should be let go and a small deduction from his salary would be enough as a lesson.
However, after a short while, Zhou Xuan replied, "Uncle Yu, the current of the seawater looks very abnormal. It looks like a large number of sea fish are passing by. I've seen this before in the waters off Somalia, so I'm sure it's true. It's probably some ferocious sea fish hunting other sea fish. These opportunities are fleeting, so I didn't have time to report to you..."
Yu Qiang retorted angrily, "What do you know? Just do what I tell you to do. Who told you to operate on your own? Are you going to take responsibility if there's no profit? What good is it if your meager salary is deducted?"
Zhou Xuan spread his hands, indicating that the matter was already done and what else could be done?
Uncle Yu was also annoyed. He thought to himself that he would fire Hu Yun after this trip. Hu Yun seemed honest and steady, but he was a self-righteous person. Keeping him on the ship would do no good. He had thought Hu Yun would try to shift the blame and make an explanation.
Uncle Yu remained silent for a while, then said to Yu Qiang with a dark face, "You stay here and guard this place properly, what are you doing?" After saying that, he stormed out.
After Yu Qiang and his second uncle left, Yu Qiang's face immediately darkened, and he said to Zhou Xuan, "What are you still standing here for? Get out!"
Zhou Xuan chuckled coldly, "Heh heh, what are you so arrogant about? You're just a bunch of shady characters who can't even get a basic understanding of the game. Besides playing some tricks with secret cards, what other skills do you have?"
After Zhou Xuan finished speaking, he walked out of the control room, leaving Yu Qiang speechless and stunned. How could this new kid be so imposing? Wasn't he afraid of getting fired?
Uncle Yu walked out ahead of Zhou Xuan. As soon as he reached the deck, he heard Guan Lin's voice coming through the intercom: "Uncle... Uncle... so many... so many fish..."
Uncle Yu was taken aback, not knowing what Guan Lin meant. He quickly turned and ran back to the cockpit, taking three steps at a time. Before he could ask anything, he saw Guan Lin staring blankly at the camera on the monitor screen.
Uncle Yu followed his gaze and looked over. When he saw the screen, he was also surprised. After looking at it more closely, he saw that the monitor was showing the situation of the fishing net in the water at the stern of the boat. Although it could not show everything clearly, it could monitor a part of the situation.
The black and white monitor screen was silent, but the only thing on the screen besides the fishing net was the fish jumping and splashing around, seemingly in an overwhelming manner. Even during the most successful times, I had never seen such a scene.
However, since it was already late and the seawater had darkened, not much could be seen. The monitor was originally black and white, and after a while, it would be completely black, and nothing could be seen.
Uncle Yu paused for a moment, then said to Guan Lin, "Guan Lin, you stay in the wheelhouse, stop the ship and keep watch. I'll go up to the deck to help with hauling in the nets and see what's going on."
As Uncle Yu walked and talked, he picked up the walkie-talkie and told Yu Qiang to quickly pull in the net. After walking onto the deck, he ordered Fu Bao to turn on the deck lights. In addition to two high-powered lights, he also moved two searchlights and, together with Fu Shan, Fu Gui, Lao Jiang and the others, shone them on the stern of the boat.
The net was hauled in after about fifteen minutes. Watching the net being caught by the steel disc, everyone on the boat was stunned when most of the net was pulled in.
The net was full of white, wriggling sea fish. Because it was getting late, there seemed to be some larger fish in the net, but they were mixed in with the densely packed sea fish and were impossible to spot.
A few minutes later, the large fishing net was almost completely hauled in. The steel winch was clanging loudly, indicating that the net was extremely heavy. Looking at the net being dragged onto the deck, the fish inside were piled up like a small mountain, leaving everyone speechless with astonishment.
Uncle Yu and Lao Jiang are seasoned veterans; they've lived at sea since childhood, fishing their whole lives. Even in their most bountiful seasons, they've never seen so many fish.