Three days fishing, two days drying the nets — i.e. doing things by fits and starts.
Tips
culture
The proverb 三天打鱼，两天晒网 (sān tiān dǎyú, liǎng tiān shài wǎng) — literally 'fish for three days, dry the net for two' — describes someone who works at something inconsistently. It comes from chapter 9 of 《红楼梦》 (Dream of the Red Chamber) and remains the go-to phrase for criticizing on-and-off effort in studies or hobbies.
mistakes
打鱼 is a verb-object compound, so 打 and 鱼 can split: 打了一条大鱼 (caught one big fish), 打过鱼 (have done fishing before). Don't confuse it with 钓鱼 (diào yú, to fish with a rod) — 打鱼 implies nets, traps, or general fishing as a livelihood.
