However, because the tuna were located at a depth too deep for others to see, only Ye Feng could spot them.
Captain Zhou and the others looked around, finding very few common fish schools nearby, let alone precious tuna.
Therefore, Captain Zhou couldn't help but frown and say, "Kid, are you sure there are tuna around here? Why haven't we seen any?"
"Yeah! Ye Feng, could you be mistaken! There aren't even many fish schools here!" Boss Xiao also said disappointedly.
Only Xiao Feifei said, "Why don't we look around a bit, maybe they're nearby!"
Ye Feng smiled and said, "No need! The tuna schools are right below our fishing boat, but they're in water that's too deep for you to see from the surface!"
The visibility in the seawater was only about twenty meters, while the tuna schools were located in water depths below thirty meters. Naturally, they couldn't see them looking down from the surface.
Ye Feng estimated that if someone dived down about ten to twenty meters, they should be able to see them.
"Right under the boat? Really?" Captain Zhou was somewhat skeptical.
Hearing this, Ye Feng said, "Captain Zhou, stop worrying about whether it's real or not. You lost the bet just now! Now you and your crew have to follow my orders!"
Upon hearing Ye Feng's words, Captain Zhou was speechless and replied, "Alright then! Tell me what to do!"
Ye Feng asked, "You must have some very skilled divers among your crew!"
Captain Zhou nodded, then loudly called out to the crew behind him, "Ah Long, come up!"
A sturdy young man immediately ran over.
Captain Zhou introduced, "Ah Long is the most skilled diver in my fleet. Diving ten to twenty meters is no problem for him!"
Ye Feng glanced at Ah Long and said, "Very good. Put on your diving gear and dive down about ten meters. You should be able to see the tuna schools!"
Ah Long nodded and immediately put on his diving gear and went down.
Everyone on deck watched as Ah Long slowly submerged, eventually disappearing from sight.
Three minutes later, Ah Long surfaced, his face full of joy. He exclaimed, "Captain, there really are tuna, a large school of them, and they're all large-sized! There are bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, and even bigeye tuna!"
Hearing this, Captain Zhou was stunned and exclaimed, "What? Really? And large tuna?"
Under normal circumstances, small tuna are found in the surface layers from zero to twenty meters. These tuna are generally not large, weighing less than ten kilograms.
The tuna that Captain Zhou and his crew had caught in the past were these small-sized tuna.
As for large-sized tuna, such as bluefin tuna, southern bluefin tuna, bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, and albacore tuna, which weigh over 20 kilograms, they are found in deep waters below thirty meters and are difficult to see with the naked eye.
"What? There are really tuna! That's great, absolutely great!" Boss Xiao was overjoyed upon hearing this, and a heavy stone in his heart was finally lifted.
"Haha! Ye Feng is amazing! There are really tuna here!" Xiao Feifei was also delighted.
If they couldn't bring back tuna, they didn't know how they would explain it to the mayor at the Dragon King Hall. Now that they had found tuna, everything would be easier.
"We've finally found the tuna, let's start catching them!" Captain Zhou was also excited, rubbing his hands together, ready to get to work.
But Ye Feng said, "Wait a minute! How do you plan to catch these tuna?"
Captain Zhou replied, "For large-sized tuna, of course, we use the longline fishing method!"
"Longline fishing? What method is that?" Xiao Feifei asked curiously.
Boss Xiao also looked puzzled, clearly having never heard of such fishing methods.
Captain Zhou then explained, "Longline fishing involves attaching buoys to a main line, which floats at a certain depth underwater. At intervals, branch lines with hooks are attached to the main line. There can be up to 3,000 hooks, stretching across a vast area of the sea. Longline fishing can catch large tuna."
Hearing Captain Zhou's explanation, the two looked as if they understood but not quite.
However, Ye Feng objected, "Longline fishing is too troublesome and not efficient. We don't have that much time! We can't use longline fishing!"
Captain Zhou, hearing this, asked in confusion, "Then what method should we use?"
"Let's use the purse seine fishing method! This way, the catch will be faster and the yield will be larger!" Ye Feng said.
But Captain Zhou immediately countered, "Purse seine fishing won't work! Although the catch volume is larger, the tuna caught will be piled on top of each other and injured during their struggles. The tuna at the bottom will discolor because they cannot be processed in time!"
"More importantly, this method can only catch small tuna within zero to twenty meters! And it's difficult to catch the tuna schools below thirty meters!"
Ye Feng heard this and smiled, "Don't worry about that! I'll handle it! By the way, do you have any bait on your fishing boat?"
"Yes! What do you need bait for?" Captain Zhou and Boss Xiao were very puzzled.
Ye Feng said, "Don't worry about it, just listen to my commands!"
"Alright! We'll listen to you!"
Although Captain Zhou was very confused by Ye Feng's actions, he still ordered someone to bring out a pile of bait and place it in front of him.
Ye Feng picked up the bait and sniffed it, saying, "It's alright! Now, lower the fishing net!"
Captain Zhou truly couldn't understand Ye Feng's actions at all, but he still braced himself and ordered his men to lower the fishing net.
Seven or eight people together lowered a super net tens of meters long into the sea.
After they had set up the fishing net according to Ye Feng's instructions, Ye Feng directly grabbed the bait and scattered it into the sea handful after handful.
"What are you doing? Are you trying to lure the tuna up like this?" Captain Zhou looked at Ye Feng as if he were an idiot.
Ye Feng nodded seriously and said, "That's right! Let's use the 'invite the king into the warmth' strategy. Once the tuna schools enter the range, you'll listen to my command to reel in the net!"
But Captain Zhou immediately said, "Nonsense! How can this possibly attract tuna from below thirty meters! It's a complete waste of bait!"
Boss Xiao saw this and also advised, "Yes! Ye Feng! This will at most attract some small fish from the surface!"
"Don't worry, everyone! If I say it can be done, it can be done!" Ye Feng said confidently.
But Captain Zhou objected, "No! This is simply reckless..."
However, Boss Xiao saw this and intervened to stop Captain Zhou, saying, "Forget it! Let him try!"
"What? How can you, Boss Xiao, also go along with him on something that's clearly impossible! We finally found the tuna, what if we scare them away?" Captain Zhou said indignantly.
Ye Feng said, "Don't worry! If I fail to lure the tuna up, the responsibility is all mine, and I won't blame you!"
Captain Zhou hesitated for a moment and then said, "Alright then!"
Thus, Ye Feng continued to scatter handfuls of bait onto the vast sea.
What they didn't notice was that every time Ye Feng grabbed a handful of bait, he would pause for half a second before scattering it...