My fishing raft will ask for help.

Chapter 72 Fishing Before the Fishing Season

That's right!

I don't have a driver's license!

Zhou Miao slapped his forehead, realizing he had overlooked something so important.

Small boats don't require a driver's license, and he had already learned how to operate a fishing boat from Yu Muzhou, which led him to forget about this most important document.

Luo Hao looked at him, bewildered: "Ah Miao, you don't have a driver's license?"

Zhou Miao gave an awkward smile: "I forgot about the exam!"

Luo Hao: "..."

Luo Qianqian said to him, "Brother, how about we go night fishing together?"

"That's possible, but we have a few customers who have made reservations for tomorrow morning, so we need to be back early tonight," Luo Hao said, looking at Zhou Miao.

The meaning is clear: he can help drive the boat, but he needs to come back early to rest, so that not sleeping well will affect the business the next day.

"It's better not to go with them if there's business involved." Zhou Miao shook his head, frowning as he tried to think of a solution.

Giving up the trip would be too costly; pufferfish are not cheap fish, and they come in large groups.

Just as he was about to ask Luo Hai if he knew anyone who could drive a boat so he could hire someone at a high price to help him, Lu Xingyu suddenly spoke up: "Is it possible that I actually have a driver's license?"

Zhou Miao exclaimed in surprise, "When did you get your driver's license? I had no idea!"

"I came here to check out the fish rafts, and as soon as I decided to do this project, I signed up," Lu Xingyu said smugly. "Luckily I had the foresight, otherwise you wouldn't be able to go night fishing tonight!"

The lack of a driver's license disrupted Zhou Miao's original plans, so now he can only take Lu Xingyu with him when he goes out to sea.

Since he's here, Lu Xiaoxiao naturally won't be left behind.

This made Luo Qianqian hesitate; she wanted to follow along, but had to give up because she had customers the next day.

As for what Lu Xiaoxiao said at the dock, it didn't affect her. Who knows if the other party was planning to use this method to persuade her to give up?

Zhou Miao slowly steered the boat away from the fish raft, returning to the dock first, and asked Lu Xiaoxiao to fetch two blankets.

Lu Xingyu has to supervise the construction tomorrow, so I can't stay up all night with him.

However, Lu Xiaoxiao not only took a blanket when she went back, but also bought some snacks, drinks and fruits so she could have something to eat if she got hungry at night. She also bought herself some fish bait.

She won't be idle when she's at sea; she can't miss this rare opportunity to make money.

When she returned, Zhou Miao drove the fishing boat away from the dock and started cruising in an open area.

When we arrived at Sanshi Reef, it was pitch black all around, and there wasn't a single boat in sight.

The main activity at this reef island is rock fishing, where people mainly catch black sea bream, and occasionally some people try their luck and catch black snapper.

But to say that the fish resources are particularly good is not the case.

Even when fishing at night, anglers with connections will specifically look for places with fishing seasons to catch large yellow croaker or ribbonfish.

This results in Sanshijiao being bustling during the day but rarely attracting anglers at night, otherwise the spawning season for threadfin bream would have been discovered long ago.

Zhou Miao walked around the area and stopped at a spot where there were the most fish.

"It's really not nice to be surrounded by darkness. You guys keep fishing, I'm going back to my cabin to rest."

Lu Xingyu was still in high spirits on the way, wanting to go fishing together.

However, upon arriving at the destination, the surrounding environment and the sound of the waves inevitably reminded him of the time he spent surviving on a deserted island.

The loneliness of being surrounded by darkness made him feel uncomfortable, and he immediately lost interest in fishing.

"Aren't you going fishing with me?" Zhou Miao asked in surprise.

"No, I'm a little sleepy, I'll go to bed early." Lu Xingyu shook his head and went into the cabin.

Zhou Miao and Lu Xiaoxiao both felt that he was currently in a phase of recuperating and might be more afraid of getting tired, so they didn't pay much attention.

The two found their spots, took out their fishing rods, and prepared to start fishing.

To avoid wasting time, they had already tied the cables along the way.

Although the fish finder didn't show any big fish, Zhou Miao still chose to use the bottom-fishing method with a jigging plate.

Large fish come out at night and roam a wider area, while fish finders have a limited range and may not be able to detect them.

He threw the jig into the water, and after it sank to the bottom, he began to swing the fishing rod up and down to tap the bottom. This noise immediately attracted the attention of the small fish nearby.

Unfortunately, the iron plate bait was too big for them to bite or swallow.

Lu Xiaoxiao, who used krill for fishing, was the first to reap a harvest.

Sure enough, the fish attracted by the fishy smell of the shrimp immediately gathered around her, and the fastest of them swallowed the bait in one gulp.

Lu Xiaoxiao quickly turned off the spool and then reeled in the line to hook the fish.

She didn't expect the fish to come so quickly; the bait hadn't even sunk to the bottom before it was caught.

Moreover, the fish was not small. The moment the rod was set, a strong force struck, immediately bending the tip of the rod.

Zhou Miao turned his head and looked at it. Judging from the size of the fish, it must weigh at least a pound!

He was somewhat tempted and considered whether to switch to smaller jigs and try catching smaller fish first.

But after hesitating for a few seconds, I decided to leave it like this for now. If no big fish bites after ten or twenty minutes, I'll switch to something else.

He continued tapping the bottom slowly, and then watched as Lu Xiaoxiao caught a large pufferfish.

"..."

Lu Xiaoxiao stared speechlessly at the fish that had been brought up; she hadn't expected the first one to be this.

Zhou Miao shook his head and chuckled. "It's a pretty big pufferfish, but unfortunately it's not very useful!"

For the next seven or eight minutes, neither of them caught a fish.

This puzzled Zhou Miao. The fish finder showed that there were plenty of fish in the water, so why were there no bites?

Just then, Lu Xiaoxiao's fishing rod made another sound.

The force seemed to be quite good this time, and the fishing rod bent quite badly.

Lu Xiaoxiao struggled to lift the rod and reel in the line. After a while, a large squid appeared on the surface of the water, squirting ink continuously. It looked to weigh about three or four pounds.

"Not bad, it's a big squid. I'll scoop it up for you."

Zhou Miao quickly wedged the fishing rod into the fishing hole on the side of the boat, and then picked up the landing net to help.

After successfully catching the squid, he didn't immediately pull it up. Instead, he swung the net back and forth, letting the squid expel all the ink from its belly.

He only lifted the squid up after it had vomited until its entire body turned white.

"What a huge squid! Brother Miao, how much does this cost per pound?" Having discovered a new species, Lu Xiaoxiao squatted down to observe it with great curiosity, and took the opportunity to remove the fishhook.

"Squid is cheap, around thirty yuan per pound!"

Zhou Miao took a look and realized that this was not the famous giant squid, but an ordinary squid.

Lu Xiaoxiao threw the squid into the live fish hold: "Thirty yuan is not bad, but the squid is quite delicious."

"If we catch a lot of fish tonight, we can keep them for ourselves!"

"Um..."

After catching the squid, the fish seemed to be biting a little better, and Lu Xiaoxiao soon caught a lionfish.

These fish are rare and can sell for over 100 yuan per catty (500 grams), but they don't grow very big; the one she caught only weighed about six or seven ounces.

As for Zhou Miao, he still hadn't gained anything.

He decided to give up bottom fishing and change his bait to catch smaller fish.

As a result, while turning the handle to reel in the line, a powerful force suddenly appeared, instantly pulling the rod into the shape of an arch bridge.

He almost lost his grip on the fishing rod, but quickly set the hook after realizing what was happening.

The heavy force reminded him of the ten-pound red snapper he caught while fishing on a fishing raft; the feel and pulling force were almost identical.