Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King-Chapter 665 - 384: The First Half of the Tournament (Part 2)

The first fish was a large crucian carp from the original pond, weighing nearly a pound, with a smooth and slippery silver-white skin.

Due to the lack of regular feeding, it had the physique of a wild crucian carp from natural waters. For a typical angler, catching even one such fish would be brag-worthy for a long time.

The hook was perfectly positioned at the twelve o'clock of the fish's mouth. Zhang Yang glanced at it and swiftly removed the hook, marking the first catch as normal.

With the first crucian carp steadily taking the bait from the bottom nest, the bites gradually picked up speed.

The seven-meter-two fishing rod seemed weightless in Zhang Yang's hands, allowing him to handle the bites effortlessly, regardless of speed.

Under Zhang Yang's deliberate nurturing of the nest, the fish activity evolved from initial sporadic catches to continuous catches, accelerating until it reached a burst of consecutive catches!

Can you imagine using a seven-meter-two long rod to catch crucian carp continuously?

Each time the bobber turned upright, it was immediately followed by a strong drop, slightly slower reaction, leading to another bite and a double catch.

Initially, the fish caught were pure native reservoir crucian carp, but as the continuous catching began, the stocked golden crucian started entering the nest as well. Various off-the-bottom bite patterns emerged, and Zhang Yang skillfully selected bites, almost never missing or snagging fish.

By ten o'clock in the morning, the anglers across the entire pond experienced persistent fish bites, but most were nearly driven mad by the small fish disrupting the bobber and resorted to using heavy lead to fish on the bottom, dealing with the rampant small fish.

As for Zhang Yang? He felt that the nest made at the beginning was likely consumed by the fish. Relaxed and unhurried, Zhang Yang took another large scoop of rice for making wine from the box and placed it into the feeder.

Subsequently, precise supplementation of the nest was achieved using bobber-sized wine rice bait on each cast.

Regarding supplementation, this itself is a skill. During the initial fishing, using lead to supplement with egg-sized nest bait posed no problems, but when the nest became active with fish, this method was unsuitable.

With so many anglers fishing simultaneously, the fish would naturally be startled. If the supplementation caused a big disturbance, slightly bad luck could scare the nest away, which would be counterproductive.

In this situation, Zhang Yang's use of large wine rice bait on double hook supplementation eliminated the risk of startling the nest.

He patiently worked the nest, cast by cast, and with his extraordinary skills, Zhang Yang's casting was precise, creating a concentrated area where the fish weren't affected by the supplementation.

After about twenty minutes of patient repetitive casting, the bites regained their pace. Zhang Yang repeated the previous actions leisurely, enjoying the competition without rush.

The morning competition concluded delightfully and leisurely for Zhang Yang.

At precisely twelve o'clock, the loudspeaker in the venue called out the referee's instructions.

"Attention, all competing anglers! The first half of the competition will temporarily end in three minutes. Please put down your fishing rods, seal your fish baskets, and proceed to the reservoir restaurant for lunch. The second half will commence promptly at one o'clock in the afternoon!"

Hearing the referee's announcement for the end of the first half, the anglers on the field breathed a sigh of relief. Instead of immediately putting down their rods, they crazily supplemented their nests using lead and bait!

An hour-long supplementation phase negated the fear of startling the nests. Zhang Yang joined the supplementation army, mixing the remaining half pot of wine rice along with the unused bait from the feeder into the nests.

After dumping half a pot of bait into the water, Zhang Yang finally put his rod down. After the referee announced the pause and rest period, he stood up from his fishing spot.

The entire morning's competition yielded excellent fish bites, so Zhang Yang felt no fatigue at all. On the contrary, he felt revitalized and invigorated.

"Boss, tired? How about a can of Red Moo!!"

As Zhang Yang stood up from his fishing spot, Xiaobao, who had been watching from behind all morning, smartly handed him a chilled Red Bull.

"I'm alright! How did the others perform?" Zhang Yang accepted the Red Bull and took a big gulp while asking.

Xiaobao replied, "Brother Yan and Brother Fan did well. But Brother Han used short rods, and his performance wasn't ideal! The aggressive fishing technique attracted small fish!"

"Oh, that Han, I told him but he wouldn't listen. Let's go, let's eat, and have a chat with him!"

Grumbling a bit, Zhang Yang strode toward the lunch area prepared for all the participating anglers and their assistants.

Behind the boardroom area, there were at least dozens of shaded tents set up. Under the tents were organized tables and chairs.

On another side, more than a dozen food trucks were lined up side by side, each with two women in matching outfits stationed at the back.

The meals were complimentary, and the dishes were prepared in bulk by the kitchen. Though not as refined as a star-rated hotel, there was a wide variety accommodating all tastes.

Zhang Yang casually took an empty tray and approached a relatively less busy food truck. Dishes, main course, soup, after a short bustle, he quickly got his lunch sorted and carried it to find a spot to eat, appearing no different from any other competitors.

Once Zhang Yang sat down, Meng Fan and Wang Yan soon joined with their meals.

"Leader, how did the fishing go?"

"Yeah, boss, roughly how many fish did you catch this morning? With the golden crucians released, it was exhilarating, my arms are sore from pulling fish!"

Both Wang Yan and Meng Fan had expressive faces, showing they likely performed well.

Zhang Yang replied, "It was all original pond crucian carp and golden crucians, roughly over a hundred and dozens pounds caught at least! Han, I heard you messed up?"

"Oh dear, how did you know!" Han Mocheng felt a little embarrassed, scratching his head, contrasting sharply with Wang Yan and Meng Fan.

"I heard it from Xiaobao! Did it really happen?"

"Don't mention it! I thought with such density, aggressive fishing would at least draw the fish up?

Turns out after fishing for a while, the small fish started bothering, all finger-length minnows, even with elastic band bait, still couldn't sink the hook!"

Han Mocheng irritably rubbed his face, with a hint of despair in his eyes.

"You, you! I told you not to fool around, but you wouldn't listen, insisted on doing things your way. Regret it now? Did you supplement the nest before lunch?"

"I did—dumped a half basin of loose bait along with the wine rice, and even unused hand bait went in!"

"Seven-meter-two?" Zhang Yang asked again.

"Five-meter-four! I didn't use long rods!"

Hearing this response, Zhang Yang was speechless: "..."

"What? Was the rod too short? I'm not really used to the seven-meter-two long rods, so I think there might be a major issue?" Han Mocheng spoke with some confidence.

"Never mind, it won't make much difference! As long as Brother Yan and Brother Fan perform normally, you're free to do what you like!" Zhang Yang spread his hands, disappointed, and dropped the subject.

Lately, Han Mocheng has been blending into the team with significant changes since the beginning.

His greatest strength is his confidence, and his greatest flaw is also his confidence.

In the competitive team, he increasingly displayed a captain's demeanor, enjoying making decisions and boldly taking responsibility.

Most of the time, his performance was quite good, but he occasionally made dumb moves, leading to issues.

Take today's competition: Zhang Yang already held a meeting yesterday to strategize for the competition, but Han Mocheng didn't pay much attention and instead relied on his own judgment to improvise, resulting in him ruining the fish activity in the first half of the day. Instead of catching many fish, he ended up watching small fish disturbing the springy bobber.

"Oh crap, maybe I'll switch to the seven-meter-two long rod in the afternoon? Is there still a chance to salvage the situation?" Han Mocheng scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Zhang Yang smirked, "Then switch to three-meter-six, using the smallest hooks and finest line, targeting the small minnows and little blue cutters. Perhaps the chances of turning things around would be higher!"

"Hmm, what you said makes sense! Since it's purely a count contest, might as well treat the dead as alive and try in the afternoon!" Han Mocheng resignedly strategized for the afternoon with a few words.

While they were chatting over lunch, suddenly Zhang Yang heard a voice calling behind him.

"Hey, Zhang Yang, you're all hiding here! Is there still room, find me a seat too!?"