An ordinary person paddling a tire like this would have needed at least two hours to set six nets. Li Long finished in about half an hour, then paddled the tire back to shore.
His clothes stayed dry, and only his shoes got a little wet. Compared with yesterday, this was heaven!
"Long, you're amazing!" Tao Daqiang gave him a thumbs-up, praising him sincerely. "Just that knack for setting nets-I reckon I could never learn it in my whole life..."
That was the truth.
A dozen or twenty-odd years later, when the villagers had money to spare, quite a few people around Li Long's age bought nets for their households. They caught fish not to sell, but simply to bring something home and add some variety to their meals. After all, they had nothing else to do.
But in the entire village, no more than five people could paddle a tire with both hands while feeding out a net with their mouths.
Of course, Li Long had seen people with even greater skill, casting nets straight from wooden boats on Big Haizi. Plenty of people could cast a net from shore, but doing it from a boat meant using the boat's momentum and coordinating the body, waist, and feet. They had to spread the net while keeping their footing without being rocked over. That was no ordinary feat.
After all, this was Northern Xinjiang, not the inland regions where fishing communities were common.
Listening to Tao Daqiang's praise, Li Long felt rather pleased with himself too. He smiled and said:
"You just need more practice. Once the water isn't so cold, sit in the tire and practice a bit more, and you'll get the hang of it. Come on, let's find somewhere to cast the net."
Having learned their lesson