As the depth increased, after reaching a depth of over twenty meters, Chu Mingcheng no longer needed to kick his fins and could drop straight down.
The fish seemed to sense that it couldn't escape into the deeper water, so it started to dodge sideways.
Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng flipped himself over, from an upside-down position to a vertical one, then gently kicked his fins to maintain neutral buoyancy, keeping himself at this depth of twenty-six meters.
The descent was rapid, with only thirty-three seconds having passed.
But he didn't waste any time, aimed his spear at the Striped Rockfish to his right, and fired. Unfortunately, he had misjudged the fish's movement, and it just managed to dodge by turning away.
Chu Mingcheng regretfully retracted the line; previously, his hit rate with mackerel had been high, with only one escaping.
That's because the movement of mackerel was easy to predict; they generally wouldn't change direction suddenly over short periods.