Chapter 277 - 177: Those Bling Bling Eyes

Chapter 277: Chapter 177: Those Bling Bling Eyes

Gu Nan pierced a large hook through the back of a small tuna, leaving the tip exposed. He moved to the other side of the boat and tossed the large bait into the water, opening the spool to let out the line and allow the fish to swim freely.

The water on this side was open. As long as the fish didn’t swim under the boat, there was no risk of the line snapping.

The bait tuna was still quite lively, pulling the line and swimming off at a blistering pace, yanking out three or four turns of line from the reel every second.

The fish’s blood left a long trail in the water, immediately catching the attention of several large tuna.

Their noses weren’t as sensitive as a shark’s, but the scent of fresh blood at such close range was more than enough to draw them in.

But the main attraction was the bait fish Gu Nan had deliberately set. The faster it swam, the more blood it lost, and the weaker it became.

In the animal kingdom, an injured target is always the first choice for a predator, followed by the old and the weak.

"There might be more than one shark. I’m in," Wang Junhe said, his hands itching to join in as he watched. After a moment’s thought, he put away his fishing rod and went into the cabin to retrieve a heavy-duty boat rod.

He already had a fighting belt strapped to his waist, ready to battle a big fish at any moment.

His bait was ready as well. Unfortunately, the small tuna on his side had already been bled and put on ice, so he could only use a dead one.

Luckily, it was still fresh, so it should be just as effective.

Everyone began preparing to fish for sharks. Guo Xiao couldn’t resist swapping out his rod. Only An Jun stared, wide-eyed. He wanted to try his luck with sharks too, but he didn’t have a suitable rod or line.

Wang Junhe and the others didn’t have any spares on board, so they were willing but unable to help.

Just as they finished getting ready, Gu Nan’s rod suddenly bent down sharply.

"Whoa, that’s a powerful one!"

The moment he took the rod, he understood why An Jun had nearly been pulled overboard earlier. The pull was immense. He estimated the fish had to be two or three hundred pounds; an unprepared person wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Gu Nan yanked the rod back hard, and he immediately felt the fish in the water thrash even more violently.

The hook dug in deeper, and the sharp pain sent the fish into a frenzy. It started charging away from the boat.

This was a normal reaction—the instinctive choice most fish make after being hooked. Only a few sneaky ones would try to run under the boat.

Panicking, the large tuna under the water bolted blindly and slammed right into one of its companions.

This caused the line to go slack, and the powerful pull suddenly felt weightless.

Gu Nan’s heart skipped a beat. ’Did the fish throw the hook?’

He quickly cranked the handle to reel in the slack. Thankfully, the weight he felt on the line a moment later put him at ease. The fish was still on; he just didn’t know why it had suddenly stopped.

The fish came to its senses and took off again. The initial powerful pull transferred through the rod to him once more, yanking back out the few turns of line Gu Nan had managed to retrieve.

The only fish that had put up a real fight all night was the Wolf Eel, so he was still in great shape. He let the fish run for about twenty minutes, and once he felt its first powerful burst of energy subside, he started to fight it head-on.

He braced the butt of the rod against his abdomen, gritted his teeth, and lifted with all his might, the veins on his arms bulging.

For the current Gu Nan, a fish of two to three hundred pounds was the perfect challenge—not easy, but not so draining that it would completely exhaust him.

He seized the chance to gain a few turns on the reel. The angle of the rod slowly dropped, and once it was parallel to the water, he lifted hard again.

Repeating this process, he retrieved about forty to fifty meters of line. But by then, the fish had recovered and took off on another powerful run, tearing line from the reel.

This time, instead of letting the fish run, Gu Nan gripped the reel handle and fought to hold his ground. He leaned his entire body back, forcing the fish to struggle violently in place, which made the rod shudder nonstop.

But the pressure was immense. Gu Nan’s Power hadn’t increased by much, and the reward for activating the Far Seas Mode wasn’t a boost to his Power or stamina.

In the end, he couldn’t hold on and had to release his grip on the handle, letting the fish run again.

But while its second run might have originally lasted fifteen minutes, after the struggle he’d just put it through, the fish probably wouldn’t last ten.

Just as Gu Nan held on, further draining the fish’s stamina, a surprised shout erupted from Guo Xiao behind him. Clearly, he had hooked a big one, too.

This took him by surprise. ’It’s not Wang Junhe who got the first big one today?’

On their past few fishing trips, Wang Junhe had always been the lucky one. He never expected the tables to turn today.

Gu Nan quickly refocused his attention on his own battle. Honestly, as the fight wore on, he felt that the fish on his line fought a lot like a tuna. The feel was very similar.

But since he’d never caught a shark before, he couldn’t be sure.

After what felt like an eternity, the bent rod straightened slightly. The second run was over. The fish hadn’t gotten away, so its fate was sealed.

Gu Nan glanced at his watch. Just as he’d expected, the fish had only run for about eight or nine minutes before tiring out. His strategy of wearing it down had clearly paid off.

Even so, he didn’t let his guard down. As long as the fish wasn’t on the boat, you could never be sure of the outcome.

Considering how much time had passed, the fish must have tried to throw the hook multiple times. Before reeling in, Gu Nan gave the rod another hard tug to make sure the hook was set securely, then he began to reel with determination.

He coordinated the rod with his core, pumping and reeling, pumping and reeling.

The big tuna was exhausted, but not yet to the point of turning on its side, unable to control its body.

It was being dragged through the water, but it would still occasionally give a flick of its tail in a weak attempt to struggle.

The line swayed, and thinking the fish was trying to throw the hook again, Gu Nan gave the rod another sharp yank, causing the tuna a jolt of pain.

If it hadn’t been completely out of energy, it definitely would have gone on another run.

Seeing the fish had quieted down, Gu Nan resumed reeling in the line at his own steady, unhurried pace.

The 10% recovery speed bonus was having a clear effect now. As Gu Nan continued the fight, he realized he wasn’t nearly as tired as he had been a moment ago!

The rest of the fight was relatively easy. He was using the golden fishing rod from the game, which had a huge attribute bonus and drained the fish’s stamina much more quickly.

It was a completely different experience from when he’d borrowed Guo Xiao’s rod to catch tuna last time. This was at least twice as easy.

SPLASH! Waves churned on the surface in the distance, and a huge silhouette faintly appeared.

It was still too far away, and with the dim light of the night obscuring his view, he couldn’t make out the fish’s shape yet.

’I wonder what kind of shark it is,’ he thought, a little curious. ’If it’s not a protected species, I’m definitely bringing it aboard.’

The chances were slim, though. In China, all medium-to-large sharks were protected species. You could only keep some of the smaller, more numerous shark species.

This one was at least two hundred pounds, possibly even three hundred. No matter how he looked at it, it wouldn’t be a legal catch.

He slowly reeled in more line. When the entire dark shape finally came into view, Gu Nan froze for a second, then broke into a wide grin.

It wasn’t a shark as he’d assumed, but a precious, massive tuna.

Judging by its big, shimmering eyes, Gu Nan knew it was a bigeye tuna.

’The ocean is so unpredictable,’ he thought. ’You can never be sure what you’re going to pull up. No wonder the fight felt so much like a tuna. It really was one.’

The price for bigeye tuna was a little higher than yellowfin, but not by much. Currently, it could sell for seventy or eighty yuan per catty.

His was huge and had a higher fat content, so someone might even offer a hundred yuan per catty.

The seventy-to-eighty-yuan price was usually for fish around a hundred catties, or even smaller. For these kinds of fish, the bigger they were, the more expensive they got—that was true even for yellowfin.

Given the current fish populations, you could still catch plenty of tuna in the tens-to-a-hundred-catty range. But fish that grew to two or three hundred catties were truly rare. This was especially true for bigeye tuna, which had been classified as a vulnerable species, proving their numbers were dwindling.

Fortunately, China hadn’t yet added these high-value commercial fish to the protected list. Otherwise, anglers like them would lose another species that was a thrill to catch for sport.

Since he hadn’t expected to catch such a massive tuna, Gu Nan hadn’t brought out the harpoon.

So, he could only grab the gaff with one hand and accurately strike the fish’s head, saving him the trouble of having to spike its brain later.

SQUELCH! Sensing the mortal danger, the bigeye tuna gave a few last, weak struggles.

But that was all it could manage. Its stamina had been completely drained by the fight; it didn’t even have the strength to thrash.

Against any other set of gear, its fate might have been different. But unfortunately, it had run into Gu Nan and his cheat-like advantages. Its life as a fish could only come to an abrupt end.

After waiting a moment to make sure the fish was dead, Gu Nan quickly used the hoist to lift it aboard.

"Huh? That looks like a tuna. Weren’t we supposed to have sharks? How’d it turn into a tuna?" An Jun, in the distance, was taken aback. He was the only one left on that side of the boat; Wang Junhe had moved to the bow to fish, to prevent a big fish from running under the boat toward Gu Nan if he hooked one.

He said it quietly, and only Guo Xiao, who was behind him, heard it.

Guo Xiao turned to look and was overjoyed. ’It’s a tuna?’

’Does that mean the one I’m fighting is a tuna too, not a shark?’

A jolt of pure excitement shot through Guo Xiao, rushing straight to his head.

Catching that big GT last time had been an incredible thrill, and this was a massive tuna!

No wonder it was such a difficult fight! The line just kept peeling out, and he couldn’t gain any of it back no matter how hard he tried.

If he hadn’t chickened out a bit and braced his rod against the gunwale, he probably would have already been forced to call for help.

While Guo Xiao was having a blast, Wang Junhe at the bow was getting frustrated. ’It’s been so long, why aren’t the fish biting?’

It could only be chalked up to bad luck. In reality, the small school of bigeye tuna was active entirely on Gu Nan’s side of the boat. Since the fish weren’t over there, they naturally wouldn’t take his bait.

Guo Xiao’s success today was also thanks to Gu Nan. It was Gu Nan’s fish that had slammed into its companion, leaving the other fish dazed and disoriented. It had broken away from the school and wandered to the other side, where it came to its senses just in time to see the bait and take it.

A whole school of yellowtail amberjack was blocking the space between the two boats, so Wang Junhe had no chance of catching a bigeye tuna.

After hoisting the fish up, Gu Nan immediately started bleeding it. The hoist held the fish suspended in mid-air, head down, as blood poured freely onto the deck, filling the air with a thick, fishy stench.

This made him look forward to his own big boat even more. With that vessel, bleeding fish alone would be so much more convenient, let alone everything else.

He checked the time. It was a little after four in the morning; there was still a chance to catch another one.

Encounters with bigeye tuna in Chinese waters were rare. Seizing the precious opportunity, Gu Nan let the fish bleed out slowly. He was out of live yellowtail, so he had no choice but to rig up a chilled one and continue fishing.