Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 27 Not Everyone Has Diamonds

"Someone has been here in the past two days." Li Long said, looking at the footprints in the snow, "They must have come here to catch fish."

"The small lake is public property. If you can fish in it, others can certainly do so as well. It would be great if we could catch another water rat." Li Jianguo said with a smile.

"That's not easy." Li Long shook his head. "These things stay in the underwater grass in winter. Some of them just hibernate. They are not easy to catch."

"It's a matter of luck."

Tao Daqiang said nothing, but his eyes were shining, he was also looking forward to catching a water rat. One of those things is worth several fish.

When they arrived at Xiaohaizi, they found several ice holes on the ice surface.

However, these ice holes have been covered with thick ice again. Because water expands when it freezes, the ice at these ice holes is thicker than other places.

"Should we chisel the ice again?" Tao Daqiang asked, touching his hat.

"No need. We originally filled the ice hole with snow. Now we just need to clear the snow away." Li Long found the ice hole they had dug earlier and began to clear the snow with a shovel.

"Juan, Qiangqiang, go pick up those hairy reeds." Li Jianguo assigned tasks to the two children.

Li Juan and Li Qiang were both plump and had begged for a long time to come along, so they were now actively looking for the hairy reeds that had been cut but not taken away.

Soon they found a large pile of reeds. Li Jianguo asked them to divide the reeds into two piles, one not far from the two ice holes.

At this time, Li Long and Tao Daqiang had already dug out the snow on the ice hole, and there was a layer of ice underneath, but it was not very thick.

Using an iron chisel and a pickaxe, the hole in the ice was quickly knocked open.

Li Long used a scoop net to scoop away the floating ice on the water surface, and then said:
"Wait a minute, some fish should come over soon. We've hit this place a few times, so there shouldn't be many fish at the beginning."

"It's good enough as long as I have it," Li Jianguo said without any greed, "It's better than eating pickles every day."

"That's true."

Tao Daqiang didn't say anything, but his tall figure was bent over, staring at the water surface intently.

"Da Qiang, you can't see it," Li Long said with a smile, "The hole in the ice is too small. If you're in a hurry, just use the scoop net to fish it out a few times."

"Will it affect the fish that come later? Won't it scare the fish away if I catch it now?" Tao Daqiang hesitated.

"It doesn't matter. As long as there is movement, the fish will definitely be startled. It will happen sooner or later." Li Long handed him the scoop net. "There are two ice holes anyway. Just try them back and forth."

"Catch it, catch it!" Li Qiang shouted on the ice. Catching fish and shrimps, from young to old, from five or six years old to old to eighty or ninety years old, there is no man who doesn't like it.

"Don't shout!" Li Juan patted her brother, "What if you scare the fish away?"

The suppression from his bloodline made Li Qiang shut up immediately, and even held his breath, watching Tao Daqiang's actions.

Li Long didn't care much about it. He felt it wasn't very cold at the moment, so he didn't light the fire.

He thought about going to the fishery in the spring to see if he could get some old fishing nets and make a few scoop nets. When there is a flood in the spring, the water in this small lake will rush out from the side, and then the fish will rush to the reed lake below, which is a good time to catch fish.

As for not hunting birds in spring and not hunting fish in April - the crucian carp in April are indeed full of seeds in their stomachs, but the crucian carp that rush down from the lake will die of thirst if they are not hunted.

Crucian carp are particularly good at reproduction. There was a time when, when watering the fields in spring, as soon as the water stopped, there would be half a pit of crucian carps as big as a palm in the puddle that rushed out from the middle gate.

If someone picked it up, they would take it home. If no one picked it up, after a few days the water would dry up and it would be lunch for flies. Tao Daqiang had experience in fishing once before. He went down to the middle of the ice hole, stepped on the ice steps specially left, then bent down and put the scoop net into the ice hole, spun it in circles and scooped it hard. After scooping it, he quickly leaned back, took out the scoop net, and slapped it hard on the ice surface.

Li Qiang was sharp-eyed and immediately shouted:
"There are fish, there are fish! Alive ones, and ditch fish! Wow! What a big fish!"

It wasn't that big actually, just a big crucian carp slightly bigger than a palm. There were indeed a few ditch fish that looked very similar to loaches, jumping hard on the ice, and then they were slowly frozen.

"Juan, Qiangqiang, pick up the fish and pile them together."

There were not many fish caught in the scoop net. The largest one was a large crucian carp, weighing about 300 grams.

Twenty years later, such fish would cost twenty-five yuan per kilogram. Now, if you sell this fish, it would cost less than fifty cents.

Li Juan and Li Qiang picked up all the fish together, including small crucian carps that were only two or three centimeters long.

Seeing the fish, Tao Daqiang became excited, yet a little unsatisfied. He immediately bent down and cast another net.

This time was even worse than the last time. There were two finger-long ditch fish and three palm-sized crucian carps in the net.

"Let's go to that ice hole." Li Long said, "The fish haven't come here yet, we need to get some fresh air."

Tao Daqiang was somewhat unwilling, but he also knew there was nothing he could do, so he climbed up and handed the scoop net to Li Long.

Li Long went over to the ice hole, put his feet firmly on the ground, and slowly extended the scoop net into the water.

His movements were not as big as Tao Daqiang's. He swung the scoop net underwater, slowly turning it in a big circle, and then suddenly pulled it back.

"Wow! Big fish! There is a big fish in my uncle's net!" Li Qiang shouted before the net was even put on the ice.

Li Long felt the weight in his hand and realized that it was indeed a big fish. He put the fish in the scoop net onto the ice surface, and a grass carp about one foot long immediately jumped up on the ice.

Li Qiang ran over quickly and tried to catch the fish, but the grass carp was very resilient and slapped Li Qiang in the face with its tail!

Li Qiang's face turned red from being slapped, but he was stubborn and refused to let go, holding the grass carp's gill cover tightly.

"Okay, okay, you caught the fish." Li Jianguo hurried over and took the fish from Li Qiang's hand.

"Qiangqiang, good job!" Seeing the tears in Li Qiang's eyes, Li Long knew that this slap really hurt. He quickly diverted the little guy's attention and said, "Pick up the other fish and put them in the bag."

"Qiangqiang is really good." Tao Daqiang also praised, "That grass carp is really strong!"

Li Long secretly thought that it was bad, it would be better not to praise him at this time, just pretend that nothing happened, and Li Qiang would let it go.

But after so many compliments, Li Qiang's feeling of grievance immediately surged up, and he burst into tears:
"It hurts! Dad, uncle, this fish hit me so hard!"

"Qiangqiang, don't cry!" Li Long said hurriedly, "When we get back, ask your mother to cook this fish for you to eat. This will avenge you! You must remember this fish!"

"Okay, I remember it!" Li Qiang wiped away his tears, looked at the fish deeply and said.

Well, I guess I'll have to eat this fish today.

The fishing continues.

Thanks to Uncle Awen for his monthly ticket, and thanks to everyone for their recommendation tickets
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(End of this chapter)