Chapter 018: The Turtle is a Fish

The viewers in the livestream were all eagerly waiting for the fish to be landed. During this period, the retention rate of the audience was incredibly high, with almost everyone entering the livestream sticking around patiently once they saw the host slipping a big fish with thin line.

"Buddy, could it be snagged on the bottom?"

Just as Lin Yang was persisting, another angler came over to join him.

It was now noon, and the fish were biting less, so many anglers had some free time.

"No, it's moving, but this fish feels so slow..." Lin Yang shook his head.

This wasn't the sensation of being snagged and immobile; it was clearly that something had been hooked, but this thing was slowly reversing into the water.

This was unusual. Although fish can swim backwards, they shouldn't when hooked. With the pain of the hook, they should be swimming erratically.

Moreover, the water here wasn't very deep, so the presence of particularly large fish was unlikely.

Yet, as the fishing rod was almost bent into a bow by the tension, Lin Yang was somewhat baffled. Thank goodness the rod was flexible, or his newly-purchased rod might have broken today.

And the fishing line was the same; he had specifically chosen a line in the morning that was even thinner than the one used for catching crucian carp. If he hadn't had the line protection buff, it probably would have already snapped.

"Did the host hook a planet?"

"Probably not, the fishing line is moving slowly, it could be a carp."

"This is so strange. I've fished for so many years, and I've never seen anything this peculiar after hooking a fish..."

As the fishing rod got increasingly bent and the line whistled through the wind, many viewers in the livestream were bemused.

At this moment, Lin Yang was also considering whether to just cut the line. A set of line cost only a few dollars, but his fishing rod was worth over seven hundred, and he didn't want to break it over one fish.

While he was hesitating, a thought suddenly struck him. He reached down, grabbed a stone from the ground, and threw it directly into the water.

Lin Yang's sudden action not only baffled the viewers watching the livestream but also stunned the few anglers watching nearby.

Throwing a big stone down like that, wasn't he afraid of startling the fish and causing it to snap the line?

Just when everyone thought the line was about to be cut, the tension on Lin Yang's fishing rod instantly decreased, and the fish from the bottom was hauled up by him, then slowly pulled to the shore.

When everyone saw what it was, they were bemused again, followed by a screen full of question marks.

Because, at this moment, Lin Yang had actually caught a... turtle?

Upon seeing this thing, Lin Yang finally understood why it had been crawling slowly backwards.

"There are turtles in this water?"

Securing the large turtle by its shell, Lin Yang lifted it up, feeling that it weighed about three pounds or so.

Of course, this thing was different from a fish.

No matter how strong a fish is, it has no leverage in the water, so a three-pound fish is something his fishing rod could handle.

But the turtle was no ordinary creature; its claws could have been hooked in the crevices between the sand and stones on the bottom, making it almost impossible to pull out.

And when he threw a stone into the water just now, all creatures like turtles and terrapins share a trait: they retract their claws and necks when startled.

The turtle did the same, shrinking away, which gave Lin Yang the opportunity to pull it up.

"Anchor, I'm on my knees for you, your operation was just too awesome!"

"Hahaha, who would have thought, we actually fished up a big turtle."

"I guess no one could predict the species, but I guessed the weight at 1250g, that should be very close, right?"

"Is this the legendary Fishing King, indeed capable of catching anything."

Seeing the shock of the viewers in the livestream, Lin Yang chuckled and said, "As the old saying goes, where the water is shallow, there are plenty of turtles, brothers everywhere."

"The water here is rather shallow, Crucian Carp gather around this area, so a lot of fish that prey on Crucian Carp are active here, some people have even caught Black fish with lures, but catching turtles usually happens at night, and you'd better use something like liver or other animal innards for bait."

While Lin Yang was still explaining to the camera, the brother who had gone to fetch the fishing net had come back: "Brother, the fish, did you reel it in?"

"Yeah, this is it." He shook the big turtle in his hand as he spoke.

"What? You just fished a turtle?" The brother was shocked, feeling his brain struggling to keep up.

"That's right." Lin Yang nodded with a smile.

"Damn it, it really is a big turtle, it's huge!" He inspected the turtle in Lin Yang's hand, cursing involuntarily.

When Lin Yang was reeling in the fish earlier, he had already attracted a lot of attention from the surrounding anglers, and now that the turtle was on land and he had called out, many people gathered around to see the excitement.

Getting a turtle was a rare occurrence already, let alone one this big.

"Young man, are you selling this turtle? I'll offer three hundred bucks!" One of the anglers blurted out an offer to buy the big turtle on the spot.

"Three hundred? Xiao Li, are you dreaming? I'll offer five hundred, just say the word and the cash is yours."

"I'll bid six hundred!"

"Seven hundred here!"

For the average citizen, turtle is considered a rather upscale river delicacy.

Among them, there's a distinction between farmed and wild turtles, with a big difference in market price. A turtle weighing two to three pounds, if farmed could sell for 50-60 yuan per pound, while the wild ones could go for over 150 yuan per pound, and the price goes up with size.

Lin Yang had even seen a news article before, where an old man caught a 16-pound wild turtle and sold it on the spot for 4500 yuan, which was equivalent to an ordinary person's monthly salary.

Distinguishing between wild and farmed turtles was actually quite simple.

First of all, the claws of a wild turtle are very sharp, whereas those of farmed turtles are blunt.

Secondly, the underside of a wild turtle is colored like the skin on a child's face, with a pink tone and clear, distinct blood vessels and veins, whereas the underside of farmed turtles appears somewhat pale, lacking the clarity of the vessels and veins found in wild turtles.

Then there's the color of the wild turtle's back, which leans slightly yellow, usually with black spots and fine, clear wrinkles along the fringes. Farmed turtles, due to a lack of water flow and more silt, tend to be darker in color.

Lastly, there's the difference in physique. Wild turtles, needing to hunt and move extensively, have a robust and firm muscular build and are slightly flattened. Conversely, farmed turtles are generally sluggish, bloated, with loose muscles that lack vitality.

The turtle that Lin Yang had just fished out was well-proportioned with a yellowish-brown carapace, and it was full of life; anyone experienced could tell at a glance that it was definitely wild.

Selling a big wild turtle of such size for six or seven hundred yuan was no problem at all.

For many fishing enthusiasts, managing to take a wild turtle home made an entire day's unsuccessful fishing worth it.