"That was a good meal."
Having finished breakfast in the dining room of the Edo, Jin looked around at the faces gathered at the table.
There were Jin, Elsa, Mine, Hanna, Martha, Marcia, Goose, Saki, Toa, Stearena, and Vivienne.
Reinhard and his wife, Count Kuzuma and his wife, Lishia, and Rodrigo had already returned home.
"I was thinking we might try some trolling today," Jin spoke up.
"Trolling?"
"Yeah. It’s a type of fishing... I think? You trail a line behind the boat while it's moving and catch fish that way. I believe you catch fish that eat live bait."
Jin was mostly relying on technical knowledge from his previous world, so he wasn't entirely certain, but he figured that was the gist of it.
"Ooh, 'trolling,' huh! Doing it while the boat is moving sounds like fun. It might even be a viable new fishing method," Marcia said, clearly interested. Any technique involving a boat was bound to catch her attention.
"What kind of fish do you think we’ll get?" Jin asked her.
"Well, since we'll be a bit offshore, probably something like girera," Marcia explained.
The girera was a fish similar to a largeeye bream, measuring between fifty and seventy centimeters. They lived slightly away from the coast and fed on seaweed and small crabs.
"I see. Anything else?"
"Hmm, maybe some fuko too."
The fuko resembled a sea bass and could grow to about a meter in length. They typically fed on small opossum shrimp and sandworms.
"S-Sandworms..."
Elsa's face paled at the mention of the bait.
"Don't worry, I'll put the bait on for you," Jin assured her, which seemed to put her at ease.
"Yes, yes, it's lovely that you two are so close," Marcia teased, "but the other one to watch for is the baram. They don't taste good at all. In fact, they’re a real nuisance because they tend to tear through nets."
The baram was a large, coastal predatory fish that bore a resemblance to the barramundi of Earth, though in appearance only.
"If we hook one of those, I guess we’ll just 'release' it," Jin said, using a fishing term he had picked up once.
"Master, is this speed acceptable?"
Marine 543, who was at the helm of Stream 43, looked to Jin for instructions.
Since Jin didn't actually know the optimal speed for trolling, he could only guess.
"Let's see. Start slow and gradually pick up speed. We’ll find the sweet spot eventually."
"Understood."
"Hey, Jin! We're ready over here!"
"Alright, let's cast off!"
They were using two vessels for the excursion: Stream 43 and Stream 45, both trimaran-type destroyer craft.
Jin, Elsa, Hanna, and Reiko were aboard Stream 43, while Goose, Saki, and Marcia were on Stream 45. The other members of the group had decided to pass on the activity and remained behind on the Edo.
As the two boats accelerated from a walking pace to a brisk running speed, the lines began to tense.
"Oh, here we go!" Marcia cried as her rod doubled over.
"We've got one too!" Jin shouted, bracing his rod almost simultaneously. "This is quite a pull!"
The fishing rods, which Jin had reinforced with a Toughening spell, bent like bows under the strain, but there was no fear of them snapping. The lines were made of ground spider silk, which was strong enough to support a ton of weight on a single strand.
The reels were also Jin’s custom work. Though not electric, they were being cranked by a Golem arm.
"Reiko, the net!"
"Yes, Father."
The catch was a fuko, nearly a meter in length. Reiko scooped it up effortlessly with a massive landing net. Almost at the same time, Marcia landed a girera in the seventy-centimeter range.
"Hey, Jin! Let's keep it up!" Marcia yelled from the parallel boat.
It seemed that fuko and girera traveled in schools of dozens or even hundreds, so when they were biting, it was best to land as many as possible in quick succession.
"Oh, I think I've got one too," Saki noted as her rod twitched.
"Onii-chan, I caught one!" Hanna cheered.
"Reiko, support Hanna."
"Yes, Father."
The rods were secured to the boat with chains, and everyone was wearing life jackets and safety lines to ensure no one would be pulled overboard, but Jin preferred to be cautious nonetheless.
"Ah, Jin-nii, over here as well."
"What!?"
When two people on the same boat hooked fish at once, the lines risked becoming tangled depending on how the fish thrashed.
"Jin! Reel them in fast!" Marcia shouted over with expert advice.
"Right! Elsa, Hanna, reel them in all at once!"
"Got it."
"Okay!"
Even with the aggressive reeling, the rods, lines, and reels held firm. Within seconds, Elsa had landed a ninety-centimeter fuko, while Hanna brought in a seventy-centimeter one.
Over on Stream 45, Saki landed a fifty-centimeter girera. Though the boats were only about ten meters apart, they seemed to be hitting different schools of fish.
"There are so many! Let's keep them coming!"
By the time they finished at noon, the tally for Stream 43 was three fuko for Jin, two fuko and one girera for Elsa, and four fuko for Hanna.
On Stream 45, Saki had caught four girera, Goose had five girera, and Marcia had four girera and one fuko.
"That was so much fun!" Hanna said, looking thoroughly satisfied.
"Let's have the fuko as sashimi tonight. We should probably freeze the rest," Jin suggested.
As it happened, Jin took such a liking to the fuko sashimi that he later established dedicated preserves for fuko and girera on Hourai Island. As for the girera, while they tried it as sashimi, Marcia's recommendation of grilling it with butter soy sauce turned out to be an even better match.
"This afternoon, let's go play on Maia Island."
The surveys conducted throughout the morning had confirmed that Maia Island was safe. The southern side was shielded from the waves by Alcyone Island, resulting in a calm sea and beautiful, pristine sandy beaches.
"Alright, everyone," Jin announced. "Let's try some watermelon splitting... or rather, 'shiika-wari'."