I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 175: Chapter 128: Special Items, Various Giant Groupers

A fish like this would go for at least fifteen thousand, and probably more than twenty thousand. Wasn’t that more profitable than catching marlin?

He went into the cabin for a drink of water. Grabbing a towel, he wet it with fresh water and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Fishing really was no easy task, especially for someone like him who frequently caught large fish.

After a short break, Gu Nan put another sticker on his fishing rod and got back to it. He was clearly determined to use up all twenty of the stickers he had just received tonight.

The second fish was a black-backed feather-gill snapper, eighty-one centimeters long. This type of fish was also quite popular with the seafood vloggers who visited his shop.

Some wealthy customers who knew he sold high-end, rare seafood had also started to frequent the shop.

In a way, the black-backed feather-gill snapper was even more popular than a typical grouper. Customers generally found its flavor fresher and superior to most groupers, with the exception of the Tai Star Garoupa.

On the third catch, Gu Nan’s face fell the moment he set the hook.

’Crap, it’s an ornamental fish. High-star Stab-tailed Fish are expensive, but that’s just the price per fish. A grouper weighing dozens of pounds is actually more profitable.’

’Stab-tailed Fish are small—even Legendary ones.’

Gu Nan cranked the reel handle rapidly, sending the fish flying right out of the water.

However, this wasn’t the purple tang he had caught before. It was a dark brown, almost black Stab-tailed Fish with a crescent-shaped tail fin and an orange-red, heart-shaped patch at the base of its tail.

Its name was Heart-spot Stab-tailed Fish, also known as a Chicken-heart Tang.

It was edible, but almost always kept as an ornamental fish.

And the one Gu Nan caught was especially large, measuring twenty-seven centimeters.

A fifteen-centimeter specimen could sell for 4,500. An enthusiast might even pay 10,000 for his oversized catch.

Unfortunately, few of Gu Nan’s customers kept fish as pets, so the ornamental fish in his shop sold rather poorly.

Fortunately, he could probably sell this Chicken-heart Tang. After all, Kang Ye had expressed interest before and had even asked about it occasionally on subsequent visits.

There was still one last question mark in his Stab-tailed Fish gallery, and he had no idea what species it could be.

Shaking his head, Gu Nan wasted no time. He applied another sticker and continued fishing.

Surprisingly, the next three consecutive catches were all large mud crabs. Their carapaces were over thirty centimeters wide, and they weighed at least seven or eight pounds.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Tiger Stripes or the Elite BOSS that Gu Nan was hoping for.

He had barely finished the thought when, in the next instant, a pull far stronger than the earlier Tai Star Garoupa struck the line. At the same time, the symbol for an Elite BOSS appeared on the water’s surface.

As Gu Nan raised his rod, it immediately bent into a deep arc.

’With this much power, this fish must be massive!’

The immense force dragged Gu Nan forward two steps; he only managed to steady himself by bracing a leg against the side of the boat.

But then, he sensed something was off. The rod was bent into a deep bow, and there had been a massive pull just a moment ago.

But now, the line had gone completely still. More than likely, the fish had used that initial burst of power to dart into a large underwater cave.

Gu Nan braced the butt of the rod against himself, trying to use his full body weight to pull the fish out.

But unfortunately, he had overestimated his current strength.

If he had unlocked a few more maps and boosted his Power attribute, he might have had a chance of yanking the fish out.

For now, he would have to try another method.

The fish was holed up. Time to try and vibrate it out.

Gu Nan began to tap the rod, sending vibrations down the line. The goal was to continuously irritate the grouper with the shaking until it decided to come out on its own.

He tapped for quite a while, but there was still no sign of the fish. The vibrations from the rod probably weren’t strong enough.

Gu Nan had to adjust his gloves and resort to plucking the fishing line with his fingers, just like strumming a guitar.

These vibrations were noticeably stronger. After only two or three minutes of this, the rod stirred once more.

He had finally coaxed the big grouper out. Gu Nan quickly gripped the rod with both hands, putting his back into it and trying to gain some line.

In videos of people fishing for goliath groupers, even a weightlifting champion can’t manage one alone; they always need someone else holding onto them for support.

The Blue-bodied Large-spot Grouper couldn’t compare to a goliath grouper in maximum length or weight, but it was still a massive fish that could grow up to two meters long.

Gu Nan had just managed to lift the rod a little when it was yanked back down with a series of grunts from him, slamming against the side of the boat.

It was just like facing an Indian marlin over four meters long—utterly irresistible.

But a marlin runs away from the boat, and you can just let out the line. A grouper dives for the bottom with immense strength, which clearly makes it harder to catch.

Gu Nan held on to the rod for dear life, sweat dripping from his brow, waiting for the grouper’s current power surge to subside.

After a full two or three minutes, the pressure from the rod finally eased considerably.

”Phew~”

Gu Nan let out a heavy breath, then quickly raised the rod and cranked the reel, taking in several feet of line.

’As long as I’m careful now, I won’t let it get back into a hole.’

He managed to retrieve about three meters of line before that irresistible force struck again. Just like before, Gu Nan was locked in a stalemate with the fish.

In terms of difficulty, even though this grouper was much smaller than a marlin, it was harder to land. He had no chance to let out the line and play the fish; he could only fight it with brute force.

Fortunately, groupers have poor stamina. After a dozen or so of these deadlocks with Gu Nan, the giant grouper was finally spent.

Looking at the Elite BOSS floating on the surface—a fish well over a meter and a half, maybe around 1.7 or 1.8 meters long—he felt both overjoyed and vexed.

A fish this size would absolutely fetch a high price. The problem was, he wasn’t sure if a creature this big could even be kept in his shop’s tank.

He had actually wanted to keep a grouper of about one meter long—an easier size to manage—as the shop’s mascot. But for now, he had to focus on getting this one onto the boat first.

The grouper’s massive tail slapped against the water’s surface from time to time, still restless. It took Gu Nan several attempts before he finally managed to get a rope around it.

The crane whirred to life, and the enormous Blue-bodied Large-spot Grouper was slowly lifted from the water.

This time, Gu Nan didn’t leave the fish dangling in mid-air. Instead, he slowly lowered it until it was lying flat on the deck.

He removed the hook and sent the fish to his aquarium, only for the game to suddenly display a notification.

[Ding! The Blue-bodied Large-spot Grouper is too large, exceeding 1.2 meters in length. The host is advised to sell it as chilled seafood.]