When Zhang Yang arrived at the pre-arranged meeting point, Han Mocheng, Meng Fan, Liu Zi, and the others were already there. Over at the food truck, the anglers were queuing up to get their meals. This group wasn't in a hurry to eat; each held a bottle of Wahaha and chatted idly about the fish conditions from the morning.

Seeing Zhang Yang arrive, Meng Fan shouted, "Brother Yang is here!"

Zhang Yang grinned and asked, "How did you guys do this morning with the fishing?"

Han Mocheng pursed his lips, a bit frustrated, and said, "Don't mention it. I was doing well in the first half; the fish were biting much faster than the neighbors on either side. But when it got past ten o'clock, and the temperature rose, the fish stopped biting.

I almost tried all my tricks and ended up catching one fish in the last hour! It even hit a frog snagged earlier!"

Zhang Yang nodded and looked at Meng Fan, "What about you, Little Fan?"

Meng Fan scratched his head a bit awkwardly, "Pretty much the same as Han. After ten, the big crucian carp and carp at the bottom stopped biting. So, I switched to pulling bait and caught a few crucian carp, along with some assorted fish!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yang turned to look at Liu Zi and Wang Yan, who were also key participants among the five competitors this time.

"Don't bother looking; they're in the same boat! We were just discussing whether the fish got spooked and stopped biting!

What about you? Did you catch anything in the following hour?" Han Mocheng continued.

Zhang Yang opened the Wahaha and took a sip, slowly saying, "The bottom wasn't biting, so I used flying lead to fish the Ma Tuan and caught a few grass carps!

I estimate that before three or four in the afternoon, the fish won't be biting too well. You guys could try my approach!"

"Flying lead? Ma Tuan? You're using these two fishing techniques together? How's casting with a 7.2-meter rod?"

Wang Yan seemed a bit overwhelmed upon hearing Zhang Yang's fishing technique.

As an experienced angler, Big Flying Lead Wang Yan was quite familiar.

And while Ma Tuan is used in specific fish conditions when they don't recognize scattering bait, combining flying lead with Ma Tuan is something he hasn't tried before.

At this point, some might not understand why this isn't forbidden, but it's still hard to accept?

It's not that Wang Yan is making excuses; casting difficulties are indeed significant.

The flying lead technique, especially the big flying lead, involves pushing the lead seat directly below the float seat, which makes the center of gravity of the whole fishing setup relatively high.

At this time, the two hooks with soft sticky bait cores are heavier due to the Ma Tuan adhering.

Both parts have weight, but the center of gravity is not in the same place. Adding to that is using a 7.2-meter long rod, so casting difficulty is understandable.

Wang Yan is aware of these issues, so he was surprised when Zhang Yang mentioned this combination technique.

Zhang Yang looked around at everyone again: "If casting is difficult, then don't cast? I've always emphasized basic casting skills to you guys and targeted training precisely for specific fish conditions, right?

I made contact five times and caught four grass carps, about seventeen or eighteen pounds in total, isn't this leading over the others?"

"Uh, caught four? They're all grass carp? Are the grass carp in our reservoir biting this early?" Han Mocheng asked further.

Zhang Yang nodded, "Yes, I unexpectedly discovered this when adapting! I guess after noon, the fish won't be biting much better!

If there's no better choice, you guys could try the big flying lead with Ma Tuan! Oh, and for the Ma Tuan dipping sauce, I use fermented wheat grains!"

"Listening to advice gets you a full meal; we'll prepare some to test later! Always right to follow the leader's advice!" Han Mocheng agreed.

Once the team agreed on the strategy, their discussion about the competition's fish conditions wrapped up, and after waiting a few minutes, fewer people lined up for food. The group signaled to each other and headed to the food truck.

They filled their bellies according to personal preferences, and Zhang Yang led everyone into the prefabricated house.

To maximize everyone's performance, Zhang Yang prepared an extra batch of soft sticky rubbing bait, adding a bit of Ma Tuan glue to the original formula. Rolled in old-fashioned wheat grains, the prepared bait had excellent stickiness and consistency.

After preparing the afternoon's backup bait for everyone, Zhang Yang checked the time and saw that there was over half an hour left before the afternoon competition started. So, he pulled out a folding lounge chair from under the bed and relaxed with the air conditioning in the prefab house.

The others were at ease, finding places for a brief rest to prepare for the afternoon match.

Just when Zhang Yang was drowsily falling asleep, his phone in his pocket started vibrating non-stop.

He sat up quickly from the lounge chair, glanced at his phone to see a call from Liu Xingyun.

Staring at the others in the room, Zhang Yang tiptoed and pushed open the door, stepping outside.

"Hello? Brother Liu, what's up?"

"Where did you guys go? I wandered around the base and couldn't find you anywhere!" Liu Xingyun asked.

"Resting at the prefab house on the northeast corner of the north bank, what's going on?"

"The boss's secretary called me earlier, asking about the execution of the plan. How's your team's performance so far? Morning fish conditions seemed much worse than yesterday; how did you guys do?"

From this inquiry, Zhang Yang realized Liu Xingyun was reminding him about the promise to win the million-dollar prize before the competition began.

"Not bad, as of now, the chance of winning is pretty high! I was in first place yesterday! Performance was decent this morning; if nothing surprises us this afternoon, the championship is ours!" Zhang Yang replied confidently.