Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King-Chapter 664 - 384: First Half of the Competition

Seeing this, some people might be curious: in a fishing competition at a reservoir with such pure, fresh fish, Zhang Yang should be best at offensive fishing methods like Yellow Face Scatter Shot, right? Why did he uncharacteristically switch to using commercial basic bait and pure Rice for Making Wine for baiting?

This highlights Zhang Yang's deep understanding of the reservoir's fish conditions.

It is now May Day, and as the water temperature gradually rises, small miscellaneous fish like Ruffe in the reservoir have already started to become active. These fish fry, only about two fingers in length, are difficult to catch even with a size 0.5 sleeve hook.

If you use purely aggressive fishing methods like Yellow Face or Scatter Shot, it won't take more than a few casts before these small, tricky fish are attracted, leading to bobbers dancing but no fish caught, which can be extremely frustrating.

In contrast, look at Zhang Yang's chosen method: using a fishy-scented basic bait paired with pure Rice for Making Wine to set up a bait point, where the weight is crucial.

By using a lead weight to place the bait and large bait balls to cast, the bait can be quickly delivered to the bottom of the bait point, thus avoiding small miscellaneous fish as much as possible, and allowing for catching denser original pond Crucian carp and newly released Golden Crucian carp.

Zhang Yang prepared a whole basin full of Rice for Making Wine bait, and then prepared some fragrant and fishy dough bait. Once both baits were ready, he patiently awaited the start of the competition.

Compared to Zhang Yang's calm and simple preparation, other anglers fishing at the reservoir for the first time were much more lively.

Without knowing the specific fish conditions, they prepared extensively, even to the point of exaggeration.

Many influencer hosts had four or five basins behind them, each containing a different formula of bait, along with assistants helping with the live stream, setting up stands, looking quite professional.

At eight o'clock sharp, the referee fired the starter pistol, and the first day's competition began!

At the moment the gun fired, eighty anglers on the north and east banks almost simultaneously raised their rods and cast their lines!

Zhang Yang also lifted his rod, with a ball of Rice for Making Wine bait about the size of an egg on the lead. Under his precise control, the bait fell at about the position of eight rod lengths.

Once the bait reached the bottom, Zhang Yang didn't wait, flicked the rod tip lightly to disperse the bait, and then consecutively dropped seven more balls of Rice for Making Wine until about a third of the bait in the basin had been used, marking the completion of the baiting.

Once the Rice for Making Wine bait was in place, Zhang Yang switched to using dough bait, casting at a frequency of about one cast per minute. Although some anglers at other spots had already caught fish, Zhang Yang was in no hurry.

With a prize as high as 1.5 million, to Zhang Yang it seemed like he was leisurely fishing outdoors; his casting frequency wasn't fast, keeping a calm and unhurried demeanor.

As the saying goes, being ahead at first doesn't count, the later advantage outweighs the initial lead. Starting early and catching a few fish doesn't ensure a sufficient advantage. On the contrary, too much dispersion and scent can attract disruptive small fish, and the nightmare begins.

Looking across the competition field with eighty anglers, except for Zhang Yang's experienced team, most people adopted a high-volume, fast-frequency casting approach, directly transferring the competitive pool's fish-grabbing strategy to the reservoir.

In the first half an hour, those who chose the aggressive fishing tactic did relatively well, catching some Golden Crucian carp, original pond Crucian carp, etc. But as the high-volume, highly dispersive baiting continued, the disruptive small fish started to act up.

Bobber fell in the water, hadn't even flipped right side up, before being pulled sideways, occasionally not pulled, bobbers furiously tapping but no fish caught—the problem of disruptive small fish, fully manifesting.

And what about Zhang Yang?

The bait he used was a fragrant and fishy dough bait, mainly composed of grain-based bait with a slight addition of shrimp powder for animal protein, making the overall bait a mild fishy scent, significantly less tempting to small fish compared to high-protein scatter shot strong fishy bait.

Gradually, small bubbles began to appear sporadically at Zhang Yang's bait point, indicating that fish were slowly entering the baited area.

Why was Zhang Yang not in a hurry to start fishing? This reaction is directly related to the competition's rules.

Single-round competition with a duration of up to eight hours, plus a one-hour lunch break, the total length was an exaggerated nine hours.

With a large water area, a significant fish density in the reservoir, and long continuous fishing, the technique used could not be the same as the short forty-minute to one-hour sessions in ponds or competitive pools.

The goal of early Rice for Making Wine baiting is to lure bottom-dwelling Crucian carp, Golden Crucian, and carp, etc., over.

In the competitive pool circle, there's a saying, "Open with a big win or steady catch all day," Zhang Yang continually worked on maintaining the fish density in the bait point; after the bait point was well-established, there would be constant bites, catching fish all day long.

At 45 minutes into the competition, Zhang Yang switched to a new rod with dough bait; as the bobber reached the pre-set fishing target, it lightly bobbed, followed by a neat one-eye lift.

This bite action had an extremely high success rate, Zhang Yang used his forearm to power the wrist, lifted the rod and struck the fish. There you go!