"You're going fishing even when it's raining?" Jiang Luoluo, her hair slightly messy, was clearly still enjoying a lazy morning in bed. After all, sleeping in on a rainy day was one of life's great pleasures.

She opened the door to find Chu Mingcheng asking to borrow her car for a fishing trip, and she was, to put it mildly, a little speechless.

Seeing her expression, Chu Mingcheng explained sheepishly, "It's this old man I met. He took me to catch mandarin fish before, and he bought one of my fish for a high price. He also gave me the address where I caught that earth dragon yesterday. He just called and said there's a school of red seabream and even some sea red groupers, and he wants to borrow my boat."

"Oh, I see. Well, take the keys then! By the way, I'll handle my own lunch, so don't worry about me. Just focus on your fishing."

"Okay, I'll make you something delicious when I get back tonight!"

"Mm-hmm!" Jiang Luoluo handed him the car keys and was about to say goodbye when a thought struck her. "Hey, did you bring your camera? Aren't you going to record it?"

"Oh, right! I almost forgot. Good thing you reminded me!" Chu Mingcheng slapped his forehead, took the keys, and hurried back to his apartment to grab the camera.

He double-checked everything to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything else, then said goodbye to Jiang Luoluo and set off.

First, he went to buy two 120-liter fish coolers, both equipped with oxygen pumps.

Then he bought some sandworm bait and shrimp bricks for chum. Considering the fish might not survive the trip and would need to be iced, he asked the shop owner for the address of an ice store and bought some crushed ice.

He wasn't sure if the live well on his boat could keep red seabream alive—he'd never caught them before—so it was better to be prepared.

When he arrived at the marina, Old Man Wei was already there, but the fuel truck hadn't arrived yet.

Chu Mingcheng helped him move all the gear onto the boat, then went to fill the water tank.

He got a water card and paid from that. The tank was only 150 liters, so it didn't cost much.

However, he still bought a case of large bottled mineral water just in case, along with some noodles, vegetables, eggs, cooking oil, and various seasonings. They would have lunch on the boat.

By the time everything was ready, the fuel truck finally arrived.

The shipyard had only put a little fuel in the boat, just enough to get it to the marina. The calculation had been precise, so he had to fill the 800-liter diesel tank almost completely.

The price of diesel today was eight yuan per liter, so a full tank cost him nearly six thousand four hundred yuan.

With the fuel tank full, they set off immediately.

The two of them entered the cockpit, placing their umbrellas in a bucket by the door.

Knowing Chu Mingcheng was still studying for his license, Wei Jianguo took the driver's seat. He then called Chu Mingcheng over, explained the boat's various controls, and showed him how to operate them.

Chu Mingcheng hadn't expected to get a chance to practice driving so soon and listened attentively.

Once the boat left the marina and reached open water, Wei Jianguo even got up and let him take the helm.

Chu Mingcheng was a little nervous at first, but after a short while, he found that driving a boat was surprisingly simple—no difficulty at all.

The only issue was that the rain and wind today were making the waves a bit rough.

Seeing this, Wei Jianguo gave him some pointers on how to navigate in big waves—all valuable experience from an old captain that you couldn't necessarily learn in a classroom.

In a short time, under Chu Mingcheng's control, the fishing boat stabilized considerably and was no longer plowing straight into the waves as it had been initially.

The fishing spot wasn't very far. After an hour and forty minutes, they arrived.

From a distance, Chu Mingcheng could see several boats already at the spot, though not as many as when he had fished for hairtail and yellow croaker.

He arrived at the destination. Not far away was a small, uninhabited island, which clearly indicated a coral or reef system below.

After dropping anchor, the two of them prepared their rigs in the cockpit.

Red seabream generally preferred to live in water depths of 20 to 100 meters. The spot they were at now was over twenty meters deep.

Plus, with the wind and the fast-moving tide today, a stiff fishing rod was needed.

Chu Mingcheng had brought his boat rods. Both the #30 and #80 would work, but the #30 had a much better feel, so he chose that one.

He used a size 5 main line and a size 4 carbon leader. This setup could easily handle red seabream up to ten jin. If he encountered a larger one, he would have to use a thicker leader. He used a size 13 Da-bo-lang hook for bottom fishing.

Putting on their rain gear, the two of them went out onto the deck.

Chu Mingcheng stood on the left, with his camera set up at the cockpit door, facing him.

Wei Jianguo stood on the right. They were well separated.

You could use chum when boat fishing for red seabream, but with the fast current, just throwing it in wouldn't work. Since they were bottom fishing, they had to use a chum cage.

Antarctic shrimp bricks were a must. They were cheap and effective—universal chum.

The first cast usually took some time. Chu Mingcheng placed his boat rod in the rod holder, so he didn't have to hold it constantly.

The rain pattered down, creating a strangely pleasant and relaxing atmosphere.

Perhaps it was because Chu Mingcheng had a natural affinity for rain.

After a short wait, the rod began to bob up and down. A fish was nibbling at the bait, and his attention immediately focused.

Chu Mingcheng reached out and grabbed the rod but didn't take it out of the holder. He let out some line and continued to wait patiently.

After another short while, the tip of the rod slowly bent down, and the line gradually tightened.

The fish was running with the bait.

But Chu Mingcheng didn't lift the rod to set the hook. Instead, he began to reel in at a steady pace.

As the line was reeled in, the rod bent more and more. Only then did he lift the rod. Once the hook was set, he didn't have to worry about the fish getting away.

He held the rod with his left hand, lifting it upward, while his right hand sped up the reeling process.

Sure enough, a pink red seabream was pulled to the surface. It looked to be about a jin. He didn't just grab the line to pull it up, but used a landing net instead.

One red seabream caught—a good start.

Although Chu Mingcheng had never fished for red seabream before, Wei Jianguo had shared his experience before they started.

When he learned that another name for red seabream was "Zhen Diao" (Truly Cunning), and understood its feeding habits, he knew how to fish for it.

This fish was just like a yellowfin seabream, exceptionally cautious with its bites.

They would repeatedly mouth the bait without biting, sometimes even running with it. The moment they sensed something was wrong, they would spit it out.

The only difference was that a yellowfin seabream liked to run outward with the bait, while a red seabream preferred to run for deeper water.

Seeing that he had successfully caught a red seabream, Wei Jianguo also began to focus on his fishing.

The sandworm could still be used. Chu Mingcheng cast the baited hook back into the water.

This time, he was lucky. The hook had just hit the bottom when he got a bite.

But the situation was different from before. The fish bit aggressively and immediately ran with the line, making the rod creak.

Chu Mingcheng knew at once that this wasn't a red seabream. He quickly took the rod from the holder, gave it a strong lift to set the hook, and immediately started pulling the line back.

But this fish was fierce. It didn't feel very big, but it was pulling and tugging relentlessly.

The feeling was familiar. He had encountered the same thing when he was fishing for stone bream under the bridge pier on Yanmen Island.

He hadn't expected to find stone bream here. This fish also sold for a good price, which Chu Mingcheng appreciated.

He pulled the fish to the surface. It was a size larger than the red seabream from before, probably two jin. He still used the landing net.

Just as the fish entered the net, the line suddenly snapped.

Chu Mingcheng broke out in a cold sweat. The fish had almost gotten away.

He lifted the fish up and then examined the reason for the broken line.

It turned out that the stone bream's mouth was too sharp, and its bite force was too strong. The size 4 carbon line had been bitten right through.

This wasn't surprising. When fishing for stone bream, the leader line should be at least size 8.

Since he knew there were stone bream below, Chu Mingcheng definitely had to change his leader. He switched to a size 12 carbon line. The main line was fine.

After a stone bream bites, it will drag the line toward the reef. As long as you don't let out the line and pull it back, the main line generally won't break.

He continued fishing. Wild red seabream were becoming rarer and rarer, and it wasn't easy to encounter them.

Soon, Chu Mingcheng's line showed activity again. Seeing it only move a few times, he knew it was another red seabream and quickly let out some line.

Watching the slack line gradually tighten, he lifted the rod!

Having fished for yellowfin seabream a few days ago had made him very proficient at fishing for red seabream now.

Once the hook was set, the red seabream struggled more intensely. This time, the rod bent quite a bit, which made Chu Mingcheng's eyes light up. It was a big one.

Just reeling in the line was a bit slow. He had to lift the rod and pull to speed up the process.

Five or six minutes later, a large red seabream of at least forty centimeters was pulled to the surface. Chu Mingcheng quickly moved to net it.

But this red seabream was uncooperative. When he was about to net it, it would flick its tail and dart to another spot.

After it dodged him twice, Chu Mingcheng tapped it on the head with the metal ring of the landing net.

He didn't hit it too hard, but the red seabream suddenly stopped moving, as if it were a bit dazed.

Seeing this, he quickly grabbed the line with his left hand and netted it with his right. He finally got it.

If a red seabream this big had gotten away, he would probably still be dreaming about it on his wedding night.

He lifted it with the fish gripper and checked the weight: six jin and one liang.

Good grief, wild red seabream were expensive now. This one could probably sell for nearly a thousand yuan.

But it had to be alive. The price for a dead one would be cut in half.

Chu Mingcheng hadn't expected to hit the jackpot on his second fish, catching such a beauty.

He didn't put the fish in the live well right away. Instead, with a hint of showing off, he said to Wei Jianguo, "Agong, look at this one. What do you think?"

Wei Jianguo turned to look, his face expressionless. "It's alright. I'm already tired of catching ones like this."

"…" Chu Mingcheng felt his throat tighten and didn't know how to respond.

If you were tired of catching them, why did you come running over when you heard there were red seabream here? Was your bed not warm enough?

Having been deflated, he had no choice but to put the red seabream in the live well and continue fishing.

He didn't know that the moment he turned around, a hint of envy flickered in the old man's eyes. Big red seabream were really not easy to come by these days.

Wei Jianguo turned back, reeled in his line, and secretly changed his leader and hook. It was clear he was also preparing to go for the big ones.

Half an hour later, Chu Mingcheng had caught another three one- to two-jin red seabream, as well as a one-jin-plus sea red grouper and a stone bream.

It was indeed a high-quality fishing spot that people would make a special trip for. The harvest was gratifying, mainly because these fish were all quite expensive.

But just then, he heard Wei Jianguo's voice from behind him.

"Ah Cheng, come help me net a fish."

Net a fish?

A big one?

Chu Mingcheng didn't care about his own side. He quickly grabbed the landing net and went over, only to see a large red seabream lying flat on the surface of the sea, visibly larger than his own.

Never count out a veteran. Just after he had shown off, the old man turned around and landed an even bigger one.

With one person controlling the fish and one netting it, this red seabream had no chance to struggle and was brought up.

Wei Jianguo removed the hook, then lifted the fish with the fish gripper.

It was worth noting that the weight display on the fish gripper was facing Chu Mingcheng.

When he looked to the left, Wei Jianguo, holding the fish, would shift to the left. When he looked to the right, the weight display would also appear on the right.

"…" Chu Mingcheng was silent for three seconds, then exclaimed in an exaggerated tone, "Agong, you're amazing! You actually caught such a big red seabream! This one is eight jin and three liang! You're truly a master of fishing!"

"It's alright. I'm already tired of catching them!" Wei Jianguo said the same thing as before, but his slightly trembling hand finally steadied, and he put the red seabream in his own fish box.

He had done well today too. Including this one, he already had four red seabream in his box.

Chu Mingcheng watched him turn back to continue fishing, shook his head with a smile—what an old child—and then returned to his own spot.