Chapter 199 - 135: Gu Nan: I’ve Hooked a Big Fish. Do You Dare to Eat It?

Chapter 199: Chapter 135: Gu Nan: I’ve Hooked a Big Fish. Do You Dare to Eat It?

Gu Nan didn’t let go all at once. Instead, he slowly eased his grip and completely handed the spot over to him.

Guo Xiao felt the immense force coming from the rod and quickly leaned against the gunwale, bracing with his legs. A still-worried Gu Nan held onto his arm for support.

After just a moment, his body began to tremble and his face flushed beet-red. He even started making grunting noises, like someone straining on the toilet.

"PFFT!" Wang Junhe and the others nearby immediately erupted in laughter.

"Hahaha! Old Guo, what are you doing? Giving birth?"

"It’s just a fish! You don’t have to be so dramatic!"

Guo Xiao couldn’t answer. He was afraid if he let out a single breath, the rod would be ripped from his hands.

A man who usually sits in an office and only works out occasionally might have a decent physique, but that doesn’t mean he has much Power.

Guo Xiao wasn’t a burly man either; he was on the skinny side, so his strength was nothing to write home about.

Gu Nan stepped forward and loosened the locked drag a little. The fish immediately ran faster, but Guo Xiao could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Damn, how big is this fish? It’s got so much power! Ah Nan, you’re incredible. You were in a stalemate with it for so long and still had the energy to talk."

"It’s nothing. I’m young and I eat well, so it’s only natural I’m a bit stronger," Gu Nan said humbly. He then added, "Brother Guo, if you get tired, let Brother Wang take over. I’m going to grab a bite, I’m starving."

Wang Junhe nodded in understanding, all the while verbally taunting Guo Xiao, trying to get him to switch out sooner.

But Guo Xiao stubbornly held on for another seven or eight minutes before he completely gave out. The fish was just too powerful for him; he couldn’t even last long simply letting the fish run.

Wang Junhe was up next. The moment he took the rod, his expression changed drastically. ’Holy cow, this thing is trying to pull me into the sea!’

He was in slightly better shape than Guo Xiao and lasted for about ten minutes, successfully surviving the fish’s first powerful run.

He even managed to reel in about twenty meters of line, but when the fish made its second run, he couldn’t hold on anymore.

The shipyard owner took his turn. Of the four men, he was in the worst shape and even sported a large potbelly.

All that extra weight was for nothing. The fish’s second run was nowhere near as strong as its first, yet he only lasted four or five minutes, earning him ridicule from both Guo Xiao and Wang Junhe.

The diving instructor had the best physique of them all. Not only did he teach diving, but he also occasionally organized spearfishing trips for his friends.

A single spearfishing session could last over an hour, so his stamina was top-notch.

He managed to drag the great fish, which had run out nearly four hundred meters of line, back to the two-hundred-meter mark before he tired out and had to tag someone in.

After grabbing a bite to eat, Gu Nan came back out and took the rod. He could feel that the fish’s power was significantly less than before.

He gave a powerful pump upwards, and the rod lifted high. The fish was clearly exhausted.

He grabbed the reel handle and began to crank. The line came in not quickly, but steadily.

After a few minutes, the fish seemed to recover some energy, and its struggles grew more intense.

Gu Nan simply held the rod back. After a stalemate of only a minute or two, the fish gave up the ghost.

Any further burst of energy from an exhausted fish was just a final, short-lived struggle.

Gu Nan took his time, in no rush at all. Beside them, the electric reel continued to work, with Guo Xiao and Wang Junhe taking turns hauling in its catch.

Since they had started fighting this big one, the electric rig had already pulled in a dozen or so deep-sea scorpionfish. They must have been positioned right over a school of them, as they hadn’t caught any other type of deep-sea fish yet.

About twenty minutes later, the great fish finally came into view!

Wang Junhe: "Holy shit, it looks like an amberjack!"

Guo Xiao: "What do you mean ’looks like’? It *is* an amberjack."

The diving instructor: "I’ve only ever seen an amberjack this big in pictures."

The shipyard owner: "I was lucky enough to see one once. Some fishermen caught it. It was a meter and a half long, but I don’t think it was as big as this one."

Guo Xiao stared at the fish, gritting his teeth. "Son of a bitch. I come here to fish countless times a year, how have I never caught a single big one?"

Wang Junhe patted his shoulder consolingly. "Forget Meter Level ones, the biggest you’ve ever caught was a half-meter ’bomb’."

"Bomb" refers to the bomb fish, scientific name *Sarda orientalis*.

Also known as the striped bonito, it’s one of the species most often passed off as tuna and is one of the country’s main seafood exports.

Those words hit Guo Xiao hard. Even with bomb fish, Wang Junhe had caught one that was seventy or eighty centimeters long, while his was only half a meter.

While they were talking, the diving instructor had already sunk a gaff into the fish. The shipyard owner successfully got a rope around its tail, and they activated the hoist to bring the fish aboard.

The huge fish hung in mid-air. Gu Nan went to check the scale: one hundred seventy-two pounds.

"..."

’Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll buy a lottery ticket as soon as we get ashore. One hundred seventy-two tickets, and they have to have the numbers one, seven, and two in them.’

Guo Xiao came out with a tape measure. After laying the fish down, he measured its length: one point seven two meters.

Everyone who saw the number: "..."

Just then, Wang Junhe suddenly sighed.

Guo Xiao asked, puzzled, "What’s wrong? Ah Nan has already caught two huge fish. Why aren’t you happy?"

Wang Junhe explained, "I was just thinking it’s a shame. It would’ve been great if he’d caught these two massive fish during the competition. One hundred seventy-two pounds... I can’t say for sure it’d win first place, but I bet it would definitely make the top three."

But Guo Xiao shook his head and laughed. "We’re in the deep sea now, which is outside the competition’s boundaries. Don’t overthink it. With Ah Nan’s luck, he’s guaranteed to place. In fact, I think he’s got a great shot at first. Who else has the luck to catch two fish this big in one morning?"

Although the shipyard owner wasn’t providing the boats for the competition, contestants who didn’t have one could rent one.

They were all Class III fishing boats, which weren’t allowed to go more than twenty nautical miles offshore.

Wang Junhe thought about it, realized he was right, and let it go.

He then joined the others, arguing over who would get to buy the fish as they bled it.

Everyone wanted an amberjack that big. They had a silent agreement among themselves: whoever bought it got the bragging rights.

As for Gu Nan, he had already returned to the side of the boat to silently continue fishing with the electric rig. He wanted no part in the world of these bigwigs.

In the end, the shipyard owner claimed the amberjack. He basically asked everyone to do him a favor, cashing in on his "face."

Twenty thousand yuan. It was a slight premium, but for a freshly caught fish of this size, paying a little extra was completely normal.

And because this amberjack weighed the same as the oilfish, the shipyard owner and the diving instructor were finally won over.

’Good luck was one thing, but the kid’s physical conditioning was impressive, too!’

They had all seen how Gu Nan handled the oilfish earlier. He seemed to bring it in with ease, a stark contrast to the sorry state the four of them had been in.

So, they figured that as long as his luck didn’t suddenly run out, Gu Nan had a very high chance of winning first place.

After all, even if you hooked a big fish, it wasn’t easy to land it. The competition was one person per boat, with no one else to help.