"Don't worry, we're all seasoned drivers now, we're not going to stall at the start!" Wang Yan waved his hand, responding to Zhang Yang's chatter.

A group of people, carrying fishing boxes and rod bags with other equipment, grandly entered the venue and began their final preparations before the competition.

Luckily, Zhang Yang was broadcasting today, so his assistant Xiao Zhang helped out, and all the fishing gear and live broadcast equipment were sorted in one go.

After arranging the positions for the fishing box and washbasin, Zhang Yang quickly got to work.

He switched to the number four thick line, attached new leader lines, adjusted the bobber, and found the depth to get everything ready for the start of the competition.

Much like Zhang Yang predicted, the 4.5-meter fishing rod found a water depth of just over three meters, about 50 to 60 centimeters deeper than some of the other spots.

The 20-minute preparation period passed by quickly under the tense emotions, and soon the referee's starting gun signaled the beginning of the second round's single-tail weight competition!

As soon as the fishing started, it was much the same as yesterday, with the entire pond resonating with the sound of hand-thrown bait. Zhang Yang, like yesterday, didn't take the easy route and opted for the lead weight baiting method instead.

With his left hand, he grabbed a handful from the scattering basin, burying a lead piece inside and squeezed it gently into an egg-sized dough bait. Then, with his right hand holding the rod up and the left releasing at the right moment, he lightly dropped the lead weight bait into the target spot right in front.

The bottom bait just had a touch yesterday, not with much bait added, but today was different; Zhang Yang prepared at least ten pounds of scattering bait, half of which was used just for the bottom bait.

The hand-thrown baiting was at an end, but Zhang Yang was still slowly and steadily using his lead weight bait method.

If one carefully observed Zhang Yang's lead weight bait drop point, they would notice an interesting detail.

His bait spot was not just one place eight rod lengths directly in front, but surrounded with spots in the front, back, left, and right.

Right as the match started, Zhang Yang used the plum blossom stake baiting method, which explained why his bait had such weight.

With the main spot and four secondary ones completed, Zhang Yang glanced over the whole fishing area, casually kneaded two soft sticky baits and threw them into the baited spots, patiently waiting.

The overwhelming bombardment of hand-thrown bait dough bombs had a noticeable impact on the fish in the pond, with no one catching anything in the first fifteen minutes, leaving everyone staring and patiently waiting for the fish to bite.

In the black pit, the strategy for catching fast fish versus waiting for big fish is completely different. For those who can come to Jinghai Garden for a competition, most of the anglers aren't clueless novices, so today's competition looked quite 'health-conscious,' completely different from yesterday's frenzy of constant bait casting.

After completing the plum blossom stake baiting, Zhang Yang appeared even more relaxed.

Originally dealing with a muscle strain that made movement uncomfortable, the soothing plaster only temporarily alleviated it. A competition focused on catching big fish was rather friendly to Zhang Yang today; it didn't require the use of ultra-hard rods for frequent casting, allowing for several minutes per rod and making fishing much more relaxed.

The first half hour of fishing was very laid-back for Zhang Yang, until some spots on the northwest side began to catch fish in succession, making Zhang Yang slightly more serious.

He changed his strategy, where originally he used to cast the rod with dough bait on both hooks every five minutes, now adjusting to use wet scattering bait on the upper hook and freshly wrapped dough bait on the lower one, casting near the secondary bait spot on the right, wrist flicking.

For the next ten minutes, Zhang Yang maintained a steady average of one cast every two minutes, using the upper hook wet scattering and lower dough bait method to try each spot.

Baiting the spot takes time, and fish bites are relatively rare in deep water areas. After over half an hour of fishing, besides a few ambiguous exploratory bites, Zhang Yang hadn't noticed any solid biting actions.

However, with a six-hour competition, Zhang Yang wasn't anxious at all. He kept casting rod after rod, carefully observing the minute changes in the bobber's movements.

Just when Zhang Yang hadn't seen any fish bites yet, a sharp sound of a rod being jerked and fish being hooked suddenly pierced his ears.

The noise clearly wasn't the work of a skilled angler, as the rod sound was hasty and aggressive.

Swish, snap!

The rod snapped, the line broke, and the fish escaped, all in one smooth motion.

Startled by the noise, Zhang Yang instinctively glanced next door, noticing for the first time that his neighbor was a bulky guy of at least 200 pounds.

The chubby fellow, about 1.7 meters tall, wearing a loose Shimano charcoal sun protection outfit, sporting sunglasses and a bright gold chain around his neck, clearly gave off the impression of someone not short on cash.

"Ah, damn! The first big one got away!" The chubby guy cursed colorfully, swearing as soon as the line snapped.

It's common among anglers for big fish to escape, so Zhang Yang didn't say anything, his lips curling up slightly as he continued to watch his bobber.

This kind of small incident is quite common when fishing, so Zhang Yang wasn't fazed by it, but three minutes later, the familiar sound came again.

Swish, snap! The rod was jerked and the fish escaped, the same formula, the same result.

"What the heck are these shoddy hooks? Six bucks a pair, and they break the moment you jerk the rod! Lost two big fish already!"

The chubby guy looked at the spot where the leader line broke, clearly dissatisfied.

Six dollars for a pair of leader lines is quite pricey; even for a seasoned angler like Zhang Yang, his leader lines retail for three dollars at most, and for six bucks a pair, the quality shouldn't be poor.

Though Zhang Yang had encountered this chubby guy for the first time, he now had a preliminary judgment on his technique.

Lacking knowledge in jerking the rod to hook fish, unable to discern the quality of the line setup, this should be a beginner-level angler in the black pit, not a threat.

With this judgment, Zhang Yang naturally didn't take him seriously. There's no reason to be nervous when facing a novice angler; the opponent poses no threat to him.

However, Zhang Yang overlooked an important point: novice anglers often have beginner's luck.

And indeed, less than five minutes after losing the second fish, the neighbor caught his third fish.

Perhaps having switched to a thicker line setup, the piercing sound rang out again, but this time the leader line didn't break—it held!

Zhang Yang kept an eye on the chubby guy with his peripheral vision, noting the time he spent maneuvering the fish, roughly four or five minutes before a fairly substantial carp was netted.

"Haha, this one's good! Should be around eight pounds! Referee, referee!! I want to weigh the fish!" After catching the carp, the chubby guy was quite confident in its weight and promptly called the referee to weigh it.

The referee quickly came over, holding a large landing net head and a portable handheld electronic scale in the other.

"Who called the referee?"

"Me! Here! Help weigh the fish, please!" The chubby guy waved his fleshy hand, unable to hide his excitement. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Don't let the fish in the landing net touch the ground — be careful!" The referee reminded the chubby guy as he walked over to him.

Soon, the fish was moved from the landing net to the referee's net, and the electronic scale registered 3.77 kg.

Around seven and a half pounds, half a pound shy of the weight, just short of a hundred-dollar prize.

"Damn! Half a pound short! Damn luck!" The chubby guy muttered a few complaints, tossing the fish into the water at his feet.

"Not bad, you're the first to catch a qualifying fish on the East Bank! Keep it up, let me know when you catch more!" The referee gave a friendly encouragement.

"Sure thing! Thanks for the kind words!" The chubby guy nodded politely and continued fishing.

At this moment, Zhang Yang still felt very unfazed. Good luck and a few bites led the chubby guy to catch a fish barely reaching the threshold, no big deal.

This thought didn't last long, as in the next half hour, Zhang Yang began to doubt his judgment due to the chubby guy's actions.