Return to the small fishing village of 1982

After saying that, Ye Yaodong turned around and was about to go home, but was pulled back by Azheng, "Why are you so anxious! Don't we know that the water level has risen and we can't see the hole? It's a small novel. He went to the rice field yesterday to check the drainage, and saw a lot of rice fields on the bank of the ditch. The newly dug eel hole. It is estimated that the rice fields were flooded and it looked for holes again. He thought that the typhoon had just passed and everyone must be busy cleaning up at home, so he waited until the sun was not so bright before calling us. "

"That's pretty much it. Have you brought the hooks and earthworms?"

"I took it, I took it, why do you still need to tell me?"

"Then wait for me, I'll change into a pair of rain boots and get a bucket."

He hadn’t caught eels in decades, and he was quite interested in it. It was just a country boy’s hobby.

After coming out, he looked at Xiaoxiao curiously, "Were there many fish in your rice fields yesterday?"

"It's not bad. There are crucian carp, carp, and grass carp. The grass carp is quite big, but the other fish are very small. I don't know where they came from. Do you want it? If you want, go to my house to get it. It tastes terrible, and I don't want it." Do you know what my father brought home?"

Everyone shook their heads. At this time, people at the beach didn't like eating freshwater fish very much. They thought the earthy smell was too strong!

Only Ye Yaodong said rudely: "If you don't want me, I'll go to your house later to get grass carp and crucian carp. I won't want carp."

He doesn't like to eat carp. He likes to eat braised crucian carp and crucian carp tofu soup. Braised grass carp is also good.

Yesterday, his eldest and second brothers went to the fields to check and didn't say anything about catching some fish. They were probably too small, and they were used to eating sea fish and didn't think freshwater fish tasted good.

The group of people walked slowly to the road and then walked in the direction of Dongqiao Village. The fields of their villagers were all at the junction with Dongshan Village.

It’s only early July and rice transplanting hasn’t started yet. The fields are empty. Late rice rice will not be planted until mid to late July.

Walking in the dirty fields, Ye Yaodong looked at the mud on his feet and luckily wore rain boots.

In fact, the best time to fish for eels is in May. At that time, the climate warms and the water temperature rises. The eels emerge from the mud caves where they overwintered and gather in relatively spacious shallow waters such as fields, ponds, and ditches to look for bait and fatten. Appetite is strong at this time, which is the best season for fishing.

Xiaoxiao put down the bucket and said, "You can take the fishing rod and earthworms yourself. There are empty bottles in the bucket. Pour some earthworms into each one and divide them among yourself."

Their fishing rod is very simple. They just made it by themselves. It is a small wooden stick with a line and a fishhook tied to it. Although it is very simple, it can still be used many times.

Ye Yaodong took the small wooden sticks in their bucket and the jar containing earthworms, and put earthworms on the hook at the end of the bamboo stick. The earthworms went through the hook without exposing the hook tip. The others also put on the earthworms and started looking for them.

"Let's act separately."

"Old rules, competition to see who catches the most, the one with the least will drink and wash the dishes next time!"

Oh, it turns out there is such a rule, and he almost forgot about it.

When eels are in the water, they usually dig holes in soft mud or burrow in natural mud holes or stone caves. Therefore, when fishing for eels, you must first find eel holes.

However, not all eels have ventilation holes, because not only eels but also earthworms live in the soil. The holes between them are connected to each other and they can borrow ventilation from their neighbors. They may not always be in the same place when eating at night. Place out of the hole.

Sometimes it is blocked by a piece of grass, or the water is not clear enough, and there are many small floating lotuses.

But there must be eel holes on the mud bank. At this time, you have to rely on your fingers to find them. Use your index or middle finger to insert all the fingers on the bank between 5 and 10 centimeters away from the water at an angle of 30 degrees to 45 degrees.

It feels like it's suddenly empty inside. You can see water when you lift your fingers. There's a lot of space inside so you can dig out and fish. This means you've found the eel's nest. Sometimes there are bubbles on it. If there are bubbles, it's the legendary guardian. The cave is the eel cave where the eels nest.

There are also holes that can be identified with the naked eye, and you can see them if you look carefully within an area of ​​8 cm above the waterline.

Ye Yaodong had just taken a few steps when he saw a number of round and smooth holes around the mud bank under his feet, about the thickness of his thumb. Just as he was about to put them in the holes, he heard Xiaoxiao shout, "I caught one." !”

"Oh? It's quite big, it looks like half a catty!"

Ah Wei also said happily: "I also caught one! It seems a little small."

"I caught it too!"

When everyone had a harvest, Ye Yaodong was not in a hurry. He fished for a while with the tip of the hook pointed downward at the entrance of the hole. He could clearly see the water in the hole coming in and out, and he also heard a "pop" sound. .

Hooked!

He caught an extra large eel, estimated to be about seven taels, which looked quite thick.

At this time, the size of wild eels is generally only about two or three liang, and eels that reach four liang are very rare. This one is really huge.

Decades later, with the pollution and damage to the environment caused by people's production and life, there are fewer and fewer wild eels in rural fields. Those as big as this are usually farmed.

With good luck, he caught such a big one on his first fishing trip. Ye Yaodong was instantly filled with enthusiasm, put it in the bucket, continued to bait, and changed to the next hole.

At this time, there are many eels in the fields, which are easy to catch and require little effort. Moreover, many holes on the banks of the ditches are newly drilled, and some of them have traces left by the eels foraging, making them easy to distinguish.

After only catching two, Ye Yaodong saw two eel nesting holes (eels that lay eggs) because there was foam at the entrance of the hole.

He didn't put out bait to catch this kind of fish, because the eel roe in the hole after the eel was caught, or the newly hatched eels would all die after a period of time.

Is it sustainable development?

Why do we need to eliminate human offspring?

There will be fewer and fewer wild eels in the future!

He slowly moved his position, and there were more and more eels in the bucket. Some were big and some were small. The biggest one was his number one catch, and there were also two or three of the small ones.

After using up the earthworms in the jar, he straightened his back and stretched. The sun was almost setting.

He shouted to a few friends who were squatting or standing not far away: "Hey, the sun has set. It's time to call it a day and go home for dinner!"

"The last two earthworms are left, let me finish fishing!"

Aguang yelled and continued to squat down. The others all walked out regardless of whether they had finished fishing or not.

"How much did you catch?"

"15!"

"16!"

"13!"

"Oh~ you wash the dishes! I'm 18!"

"Really? Let's take a look...it seems there are more earthworms than us. If I had known, I would have gotten two more earthworms!" Azheng sighed.

"Don't worry, A Guang is still there." Ah Zheng shouted to A Guang who was standing up in the distance, "A Guang, how many fish have you caught?"

“These two caught 16!”

"Okay, I'll do the dishes next time."

I am willing to admit defeat!

"Hurry up, hurry up and go home for dinner. I'm so hungry. Just take it back and put it in the pot to stew."

This bucket weighed 5-6 pounds. Ye Yaodong silently counted the heads in his mind. There were 17 people in the family, which was enough for one person, and there was still one more left.