Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King-Chapter 587 - 336: Full Free Lead and Riding the Motorcycle (Part 2)
When Zhang Yang cast the third rod consecutively, the double hook had just settled, and the bobber stabilized and showed a slip of half an eye.
Under this fishing condition, Zhang Yang’s approach remained steady, deliberately waiting without lifting the rod, while his right hand held the rod handle, ready for the next move.
He then saw the bobber give a slight upward lift, followed by a powerful downward half-eye dip!
Waiting for this exact moment!
Seeing this, Zhang Yang lifted the rod to hook the fish, feeling the struggle from the hooked fish soon transmitted through the rod tip!
The struggle wasn’t intense, and from the feel of it, Zhang Yang knew it was only a small fish, barely over half a catty at most.
Nevertheless, Zhang Yang was very pleased. After a simple fish control, he raised his arm, using the rod’s backbone strength to lift the fish out of the water, bringing it along the water surface, and netting it safely!
When removing the hook, Zhang Yang habitually glanced at the hook’s position in the fish’s mouth; it was slightly inside the 12 o’clock point, which was still reasonable!
When casting a shooting lead far enough, the size of one baited hook needs to be larger to anchor, while the other is baited normally. Compared to regular fishing, this method is a bit blunt. The response time may also be slightly slower.
However, these are all normal phenomena, as long as Zhang Yang was aware of them, it sufficed.
After removing the hook and placing the fish into the net, the first match of the afternoon officially commenced! Zhang Yang re-baited the double hooks, placing a moist, dispersible Triangle Cannon on the upper hook, and cast the rod straight out with full strength again.
One fish was not enough; Zhang Yang needed more catches to validate his judgment.
This didn’t take long; after casting four more rods, the second fish arrived!
The bobber motion was similar, as after a tentative nibble, it dipped by about half an eye, hooking the fish once more.
Zhang Yang, by now familiar with the routine, reeled in the fish, feeling confident.
As long as he could reach the far spots, there would still be fish. With fish biting, other concerns were manageable through adaptive fishing and personal skills to secure the desired catch results!
In the following half-hour or so, Zhang Yang consistently cast his rod out straight with full length, catching a fish every two to three casts on average.
The farthest spot showed no signs of a large-scale fish swarm, but the bites were constant, not too slow.
Over forty minutes into the match, the other anglers across the pond saw their fish bites slow down.
Zhang Yang’s side also experienced significantly fewer bites.
But unlike ordinary anglers, Zhang Yang didn’t slow down. Instead, he adjusted the position of the washbasin and leader line box at his feet slightly, then pressed his body forward, holding the rod far out!
Reading this description might leave someone struggling to visualize, so let’s describe it differently.
Ever watched those highway motorcycle races on TV?
It’s like when the angler leans extremely forward on a high-powered motorcycle, with the body pressed down.
That’s the state Zhang Yang was in now. The fishing box below him was his motorcycle, with the fishing rod symbolically resting on the competitive mount’s front, leaning forward as much as possible without disrupting the body balance.
This fishing posture wasn’t invented by Zhang Yang; many anglers have tried it.
This is known in the community as riding a motorcycle!
In certain low-density competition ponds, in extreme fish conditions in later rounds, sly old fish hide far and refuse to enter the nest, so anglers can only reach out as far as possible to catch them.
The competition has rod and line length restrictions; one can’t extend them, so the only option is to stretch their arms forward.
This posture is very tiring, and long-term motorcycle fishing often leads to spine deformation or curvature. But there’s no other way; to catch more fish, you got to play this game.
In his past life, Zhang Yang was an expert in motorcycle fishing. His height and long arms made him stand out, second only to a few others with exaggerated height and arm span in the community. On the motorcycle fishing level, Zhang Yang was definitely top-tier.
Once this motorcycle fishing technique was employed, the next five rods saw Zhang Yang bring in four fish consecutively.
Seeing this, people might wonder if motorcycle fishing really reaches that far with such significant effects?
Yes! It’s that magical!
The fish lingered just ahead of the double hook drop-point. If reached, it would bite the bait, otherwise, it wouldn’t come close!
Short differences of a few dozen centimeters created an invisible line separating the bait from the fish! Battle-savvy old fish refuse to easily cross this danger zone.
After riding a motorcycle through a small fishing spree, Zhang Yang became more invigorated, alternating a wet dispersible small Triangle and kneaded bait on hooks, continually casting with a very stable frequency.
With the motorcycle under him, he maintained the posture for twenty minutes straight without changing!
When the match-ending whistle blew, Zhang Yang placed the rod back on the support and finally relaxed like a tightly wound spring.
The scores hadn’t been weighed and recorded yet, so Zhang Yang couldn’t move around. He sat on the fish box without hastily packing up his tackle and lines but instead, kept moving his body joints.
Neck, wrist, forearm, upper arm, shoulder, lower back, even knees—anywhere fatigued or sore from motorcycle fishing, Zhang Yang skillfully worked through them all.
This wasn’t being meticulous to the point of fussiness; it came from past-life experiences.
Conditions like tennis elbow, spinal curvature, lumbar strain, herniation are occupational diseases hard for professional anglers to avoid.
In his previous life, though Zhang Yang achieved quite an accomplishment in the community, he didn’t avoid these occupational conditions due to early-career negligence.
Now, given a chance to start fresh, he definitely wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.
His demands on the team members like Liu Zi, Xiaobao, in aspects like physical strength, casting posture, and fishing habits, also came from this reason. As the captain and leader, Zhang Yang led by example, placing great emphasis on this!
After a few simple exercises, Zhang Yang felt clearly that the stiffness in his muscles and tendons had eased, then leisurely packed his tackle and bobber, waiting for staff to come and weigh the score.
Being in position six wasn’t without advantages; at least the scoring weight was quickly Zhang Yang’s turn.
A judge from another group, unfamiliar with Zhang Yang, mistook him for a newcomer and said sternly, "Angler, please lift your fish from the water for scoring!"
"Alright!"
Zhang Yang stood up, lifted the mouth of the competition fishing net, and successfully lifted the fish he caught within an hour from the water with a swishing sound.
"Wow! That’s a decent catch!" The judge remained silent, but the young guy assisting him couldn’t help but exclaim.
In this corner position, the overall fish condition wasn’t great. The previous five anglers returned with at most a dozen to twenty fish, barely hiding the bottom with half-kilo carps.
But looking at Zhang Yang, the competitive fish net with a 40 cm diameter, when lifted from the water, had a substantial bottom segment that was starkly different!
"What are you yelling about? Weigh it! So immature even as an adult!" The judge gave a sideways glare at the young assistant and reprimanded him harshly.
"Oh, okay!"
The young guy didn’t dare to talk back, nodded, took the fish from the net into the weighing basket, and covered it with a thin blanket to ensure the moving fish didn’t affect the weighing score.
Once blanketed, the fish calmed down instantly.
The young guy placed the basket on the electronic scale, and the result came quickly!
24.38 kilograms!
Adding the basket and blanket weight together, it totaled a little over 48 pounds.
Seeing the weight number, Zhang Yang knew the third round was secured!
Seeing this, one might ask why include the blanket and basket weight?
This is the characteristic of competitive matches; in ponds with poor fish conditions, anglers have too few catches. Adding the basket makes the score weight look slightly better.
There’s also a small knowledge point here; sometimes, a single small crucian carp can beat dozens of anglers.
The basket and blanket play a significant role here too.
Anglers with no catches, or zero, without any fish, aren’t eligible to weigh the basket and blanket. Even if there’s a small fry matching the competition’s eligible fish types, it can be weighed for a score.
Having one versus none often marks the difference between having and not having; fish weight and size become less critical.
