My Ranch Chapter 25

Chapter 025: Bragging rights

Translated by me, edited by Kai.

“It’s almost time. We should head back soon.” Edward commented as he looked at the skies and estimated that it was almost 4pm. Those guys probably are here, so they start to pack up and head back.

The result of nearly 4 hours of fis.h.i.+ng can be said to be not bad. Of course the one with the most catches is Edward with a half meter long cod and 12 20cm long herrings. Apart from these, there are also a dozen or so centimeter croakers that were released. According to Edward, this type of valuable fish should be allowed to grow a bit more. There are also 3 sea ba.s.s, a 30cm long salmon, and 5 deep sea crabs (1). If these were sold in China then it would cost at least 150 yuan for a catty. There are also some small squid and octopus which were released as well.

Robins also had a fruitful catch, with 5 20-30cm long cod, 2 sea ba.s.s, and 4 herrings. Unlike Edward who is out to catch everything, he specifically targeted these fish. Since cods like to eat small squid so he specifically asked Edward to leave some for him when he catches them.

Lastly there is Jiang Hai with his abundant catch of 3 pieces of seaweed, if you count them as catches. In these 4 hours, he lost 21 fish hooks and 18 pieces of weights.

“No, let me try one last time. I don’t believe I can’t catch anything!” Jiang Hai is a very stubborn person. Thus having fooled around for 4 hours, with people giving him pointers on the side, he has finally left the newbie stage. In the last half hour, he only lost the hook once but kept the weight. Sadly he still has no catch to show.

“Haha, alright. Who says you’re the boss, go ahead, we’ll pack up first.” Edward laughed and gave the squid that he was about to release to Jiang Hai.

“Huh, I do not believe I won’t be able to catch anything.” Seeing the still alive squid, he picked it up and started to hook it onto the fis.h.i.+ng hook. But all animals have a mouth, thus, as he wasn’t paying attention, the squid bit him and sucked out a drop of blood.

“Fk, so unlucky. (2)” Feeling the pain from his finger, Jiang Hai cursed. Although the wound healed at an astonis.h.i.+ng speed, he still lost a 3 pieces of scales from his tattoo. Anyway, what can he do about it, it’s not like his blood’s power can be released to the public.

Thus Jiang Hai stubbornly hooked up this piece of squid and cast it out to sea. Maybe, because this time he is venting out his anger, he cast it out especially far. Of the 100 meter long line, 90 meters of it has been cast out. Then he quickly tightened the line to not let the weight sink to the sea bed and get caught on the reefs.

” *ze ze*, never mind that fact that our boss is new to fis.h.i.+ng, but his strength is just out of this world. It is really hard to imagine him having this much strength with his build. Where does it all come from?” Seeing Jiang Hai display his amazing strength, Robins can’t help but ask a rhetorical question. Packing up is pretty simple so Edward and Robins decide to clean up their catches while they are still here. If they had gutted the fish at home then not only would there be trash, but also a stinking odor.

Estates that are like Jiang Hai’s all have a hard time with the trash it generates. They can’t just dump it all onto the gra.s.sland or into the ocean. They have to wait for the garbage collection service which only comes every 3 days. Before then, all the trash can only be piled up outside. Due to this, if they pile the fish guts with the regular garbage then the fish stink will follow. In any case they have to wait for Jiang Hai so they might as well as clean the fish here.

This region here has no polluted water and the likes thus the water is very clear. Furthermore, these fish guts, bones and the like are not garbage when thrown into the ocean. Rather, they become food for the ecosystem below, so there is no need to worry about it.

“Haha, skills are slowly drilled out. Furthemore, he is the boss thus if he wants to then he can practice anywhere anytime.” Edward replied back.

Robins knows that what Edward said isn’t wrong. He also knows that his boss is very open hearted, but has no knowledge about anything related to cowboys, ranching or fis.h.i.+ng. He is just like any youth from the city, knows nothing but pretends to know everything. If they always pretend to know everything blindly, they are even more of a headache.

Thus instead of having him help out blindly, you might as well as let him goof off for the time being. After most of the work had been done, he has an infinite amount of time to learn how to operate the estate.

Seeing Robins smiling expression, Edward did not follow up and kept his mouth shut. They both know what each other is thinking. You obviously have to pamper the boss. Especially during this period of terrible economy.

“Ah! I got a bite!” Just as they were happily packing up, Jiang Hai’s voice suddenly popped out.

Hearing this, the two can’t help but be in doubt. When the two turned to look, they only saw the fis.h.i.+ng rod parallel to the tightened line. It is as if it can snap at any time. The tip of the rod appears to have been already bent out of shape. Seeing this sight, the two are thunderstruck.

“Boss, you probably hooked onto a rock again.” Edward commented.

He doesn’t really care about this particular rod since the one he gave Jiang Hai is one for newbies. It has no special features but that of st.u.r.diness. It also isn’t very expensive. In the event that it breaks, it will only cost him $15 to replace.

But this is his fis.h.i.+ng rod no matter it’s price. According to the bend on the rod, 95% probability that it is hooked onto a rock. If a fish is really in the hook, then it weighs at least a hundred pounds. How is this even possible?

“No, no, no. It’s not hooked onto a rock. That thing is still fighting.” Jiang Hai denied. Here this Edward and Robins both carefully examined the line. Sure enough the line is flopping left and right. This means a fish is on the line and it is really a big one.

“This, this can’t be possible.” Seeing this sight, Edward can’t help but want to test out the strength of the fish at the end of line. Currently even Jiang Hai has no confidence left because the strength of the fish is just too great.

Seeing Edward wanting to take over, Jiang Hai handed the rod over without thought. But just as Edward got a hold of the rod, he felt a giant pulling force coming from it. If it wasn’t for his over 200 pounds body acting as an anchor, he would’ve already been pulled into the ocean.

“Not good. This is too big, I can’t handle it, here you go boss.” Edward struggled to say as he handed the rod back to Jiang Hai.

“I. Do. Not. Believe!” Jiang Hai muttered as he begun to exert all his strength. One hand held the rod securely in place, while the other one turned the wheel non-stop.

If there are between fishermen near by then they definitely would curse at his stupidity. Since it is confirmed to be a big fish on the line, then he should be letting out line instead on retrieving the line and at the same time tire out the fish. Once the fish is tired it becomes that much easier to retrieve it. But if they say this right now then they would receive a ma.s.sive beating from Edward.

There are only 100 meters of the line and Jiang Hai had already cast out 90 meters of it. With only 10 or so meters left in the wheel, what is there to let loose?

The best plan now is to protect the rod by simply cut the line and be over with it. But then again, this rod is too cheap to replace and Edward also wants to know what type of fish it is. Different kind of species keep on popping out in his mind. There are only a few species that live close to sh.o.r.e and have this much strength. There is the giant grouper, ocean sunfish (mola), humphead wra.s.se, tuna, swordfish, sailfish, and sharks. If it’s a grouper then that’s fine, humpheads are illegal to catch, molas taste disgusting, and the rest are all deep sea fish. So they rarely come this close to the coast, but he really has no clue what fish is on the line.

Truth to be told this newbie rod is simply too st.u.r.dy. The line is also strangely st.u.r.dy. Although retrieving the line is a very slow and tiresome task, but it is still being slowly reeled in. Now, even Robins has come over to see what the catch is.

90 meter distance isn’t really that far. After roughly 5 minutes, Jiang Hai has already reeled in close to 40 meters of it. At this distance you can begin to tell what species it is.

Under the three’s shocking eyes, a tall dorsal fin appeared. When it was reeled in another 10 meters, you can clearly see it’s distinctive features. Seeing its features the three are completely flabbergasted but also extremely excited at the same time, because that fin, that shape, and that size can clearly foretell that it is a shark.

Notes

1. the scientific name for these crabs are Portunidae Benthochascon.
2. unlucky, truly unlucky -.-
Kai: Maybe it would’ve been better if he got to decide whether a drop of his blood was ‘special’ or not.