There was a saying, "The carp leaps over the dragon gate." If someone saw a carp leap out of the water, trace an arch like a gateway, and plunge back in, it was considered very lucky, a sign that something good might happen in the days ahead.
But what was going on now?
The splashing of the leaping fish nearly drowned out the diesel engine. Great sprays rose from the sea as shoals of fish jumped clear of the surface and played among the waves, sending nearly a hundred meters of water boiling.
"What kind of fish are those?" Father Ye asked excitedly once he recovered, steering the boat toward them.
"We'll know once we get over there."
Ye Yaodong leaned his whole body against the gunwale to gaze into the distance. Suddenly finding the hat on his head a bit of a nuisance, he actually took it off for once.
It did not obstruct his view, but he felt he could see more clearly without it.
"Damn, looks like there are loads of them. Moving to a different spot today was the right call."
"Haul in the net first."
They could not stop midway through trawling. If they stopped, the net would sink, so all they could do now was haul it in for the time being.
Ye Yaodong answered and hurried to haul in the net.
"Damn it, they just had to start jumping now. Even hauling this in fast will take fifteen or twenty minutes. Hope we make it."
Their fishing boat was trawling the middle and lower depths, while those fish were churning up the surface. If they had been trawling the upper layer, they could have caught the whole lot in one net and saved themselves the trouble, instead of scrambling at the last minute