Reincarnated as a Fisherman and a Dad Chapter 156

  After that incident, the two made a plan to protect their livelihood. If another boat tried to follow them, they would fish using a long line instead. They would not approach the island at all until they made sure no one was following them. They would rather waste time than expose their secret spot.

  "The lobsters can last for days in the traps, so it's not that bad. But the long line, Karlos, we don't have bait. Do we just set the long line and hope the fish will get hooked?" Brandon frowned, clearly skeptical about the idea.

  "Do we even have a choice? Let's do longline fishing and wait until they leave. If they don't leave, then we'll just continue doing longline fishing." Karlos answered, clearly frustrated.

  Karlos glanced at the boat. It was quite far but still visible to the eye, and it continued following them. Its silhouette was obvious, but they couldn't discern whose boat it was, the darkness hiding its identity.

  "Alright, I'll unroll them. This spot is deep and good for longline fishing. We can fish here." Brandon exhaled, accepting the plan. There was no better option anyway.

  Brandon threw the hooks into the water one by one while the boat continued moving forward. Once they were done setting the line, the two decided to take a rest and eat their meals, letting the long line sit idle so that more fish could hopefully get hooked.

  "You brought something nice today?" Brandon asked, trying to lighten the mood.

  "My wife cooked mutton last night, and I just reheated it using the microwave," Karlos smirked.

  "That's cool."

  The two shared the meal while using biscuit crackers as a staple, dipping them into the mutton sauce. After half an hour, they finished eating and drank hot water from the thermos to fight off the cold.

  "The boat is still following us," Brandon said while looking at the distant boat.

  "Let them be. We won't confront them. Once the sun rises, we'll see who they are."

  Boats could often be recognized by their paint and patterns, and Karlos knew most of the boats around the beachside and Bay Harbor. For now, the two had no choice but to play along with the situation.

  After a short rest, they looked for the bobbing floater. Honestly, they didn't have high hopes of catching fish since they didn't have bait. They were simply wasting time so that the other boat would get tired and leave.

  But unexpectedly, Brandon felt that the line was quite heavy.

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  "Huh?" He looked confused as he began pulling it up. There was a force resisting him.

  Soon, the first hook surfaced and a grouper flipped wildly in the air. Its stomach was bloated and reflected the beam of the flashlight.

  "A grouper, and it's alive." Brandon sounded surprised.

  "There's a container with water. I'll put it there." With the flashlight on, Karlos carefully punctured the fish's stomach to release the trapped air. This way, the grouper wouldn't die quickly and could remain alive longer, which increased its value.

  "This is an Orange Spotted Grouper, a nice catch." With the help of the flashlight, Karlos identified its species.

  Just as Karlos finished handling the first fish, Brandon pulled up the second one.

  "Another grouper... Too bad it's already dead."

  Brandon wasn't that disappointed. He hadn't even expected the long line to catch any fish, let alone two.

  A grouper was still expensive even when dead. However, many buyers preferred live ones because their freshness was obvious. A live fish fetched a higher price.

  They placed it in another container meant for the lobsters.

  "... Another grouper, and it's alive." If Brandon had been surprised earlier, now he was simply confused. They had caught their fifth grouper one after another.

  '... Did we find another fishing spot?' Brandon wondered to himself. His heart started beating faster with excitement.

  He decided to remember this location in case they had to rely on longline fishing again. This area seemed to be abundant with grouper.

  Grouper was a very expensive fish because of its delicious flavor. It was a prized catch that fishermen loved to sell.

  They were so happy that they almost forgot their original reason for doing longline fishing. By the time the 70th hook was hauled in, they had caught 25 groupers along with 32 other types of fish.

  "The sun's here."

  The first rays of sunlight made them remember their situation. They immediately turned around to check if the boat was still following them.

  "They left."

  Brandon narrowed his eyes and saw the tiny silhouette of the boat far away in the distance. He clicked his tongue.

  "They escaped before we could recognize their boat. Bunch of bastards," Brandon muttered.

  "So what's our plan? Most of the groupers are still alive. If we visit the island, these groupers probably won't survive that long. Should we sell them first?" Brandon asked while thinking about how to preserve their value.

  Karlos checked his phone. It was 5 a.m. After thinking about it, he decided that it would be better to return to the fish port first and sell the groupers and other fish.

  "It's still early. We can sell them first. Then we'll harvest abalones before hauling the lobster traps. The tide is still high at this hour, so it's difficult to harvest abalones anyway."

  "Alright, you're the boss."

  They weren't that far from the fish port anyway. A round trip would only take about an hour and a half at most.

  The boat turned around as they headed toward the fish port to sell the fish first before returning to the island later.

  Karlos went full speed and reached the fish port after forty minutes. They quickly found buyers and sold the fish without haggling over the price. In total, they earned 23,000 pesos.

  "Where are the abalones and lobsters?" a buyer asked. He had been waiting for Karlos's boat to arrive so he could buy their usual catch, only to see fish in the containers.

  "We'll return later."

  "Alright, sell them to me," the buyer said eagerly.

  "If you're still here."

  Karlos and Brandon immediately left after confirming the sales and counting the money. Their boat roared as it traveled at top speed.

  After forty-five minutes, they stopped in front of the island. The sun was already rising, and the tide was just waist-deep. The two chipped the abalones off the rocks one by one. They moved quickly because they didn't want to waste time. Once the high tide arrived, they would have no choice but to stop.

  [Thank you guys for your support.]