Chapter 034: Catfish Bite in Succession

On the other side, Lin Yang continued to search for fishing spots.

Although the fishing position they chose today wasn't that great, the range of spots they could choose from in front was quite extensive.

With the "Observation of Fish Behavior" skill, he could easily find the best fishing spot in the complex watery environment ahead, which spread out in a large fan shape.

The spot he selected was where fish were most concentrated, without issues like snagging the bottom, strong currents, muddy floors, or interference from smaller nuisance fish.

He also found a relatively good fishing spot for Wang Feng, who was nearby.

In fishing, there is a saying, "A thousand matchings, a million pairings, are not as good as seating your butt right," meaning that no matter how many things you do right, it's not as effective as simply being in the right place.

Finding a good fishing and baiting spot is very important for fishing.

Having found a good baiting spot meant that their fishing had gotten off to a good start.

Lin Yang, looking quite relaxed, lifted the rod, kneaded the bait, baited the hook, cast the line, and once again sat casting at an eight-meter range against the wind and waves.

This was possible naturally because his body had been enhanced and had double the physical fitness of an ordinary person.

Most people can't manage to cast eight meters while seated, but now it was something he could do with ease.

Seeing this, Wang Feng, who was also searching for spots, couldn't help his mouth twitching.

He had only invited Lin Yang to join the competition because he couldn't find anyone else at the time; it was just to make up the numbers, and he hadn't expected Lin Yang to have such a trick up his sleeve.

Searching, casting... searching, casting...

Once Lin Yang started fishing, he repeated these two steps over and over.

This is the secret to fishing for bighead carp and silver carp: knead the fermented bait into a big ball, hook it, continuously throw it into the spot, and break it apart at the right depth.

The water at Lin Yang's fishing spot was about four to five meters deep, and the depth he fished at was around two meters, half the water level.

He chose a size 10 Ishiyaki hook, which was quite large because his target fish was bighead carp and silver carp, which have particularly big mouths and would not be deterred by the size of the hook.

After casting more than ten times, Lin Yang noticed some slight movements after the float entered the water.

The fish was coming!

On the next cast, Lin Yang immediately changed his strategy.

Above the double hook, the top hook was baited with a large ball of bait as before, but the bottom hook was left with no bait.

At the same time, the two hooks were spaced about 15 centimeters apart.

As a result, the bait on the top hook slowly disintegrated in the water, and as it fell, it created the densest "fog zone" around the bottom hook.

Bighead carp and silver carp tend to not bite bait directly but rather suck in the diffused bait near the "fog zone." Once the bottom hook is sucked into the fish's mouth, that would be the moment to strike.

This time when Lin Yang cast his rod, he didn't immediately jerk it back; instead, he began to wait.

However, he didn't have to wait long; just one minute later, his float started to quiver.

Then there was a steady negative float movement, typical of a bighead carp or silver carp bite.

Seeing this, Lin Yang immediately lifted the rod and felt the weight from beneath the water.

Whoosh, the tightly stretched fishing line made a whistling sound.

"The host has a fish on!"

"Damn, he got a big one in less than half an hour?"

"Looking at the host's demeanor, that's no small fish."

Seeing Lin Yang catching a fish, many viewers in the live broadcast became excited.

From his seat, Lin Yang was seen holding the rod with one hand, pulling hard, the rod bending into a deep arc.

Many anglers who were waiting to throw their bait heard the commotion and turned their gazes over.

"Who's got a fish on?"

"Did Si Ge catch a fish? No, he's still looking for his spot."

"It's that young guy who just caught one, the one with the eight-meter rod, but he's using only one hand to hold the rod, so the fish is probably not that big..."

As the fuss grew louder, a drone flying in the sky also moved closer. With the drone's camera capturing the scene, Lin Yang was clearly displayed on the big screen.

There he was, holding the rod with one hand, his eight-meter rod bending into a deep arc. The sound of the main line cutting through water was a clear whoosh, audible even through the live broadcast signal.

"The arc of that bend doesn't look like it's a small fish."

"You hear that sound, the whooshing? Could that be the line cutting through water?"

"It's been a long time since I've heard that sound; it's a symbol of a big fish."

"I absolutely love that sound; it's even more exciting than hearing a Japanese action movie!"

"Outrageous! Such a deep arc, and this handsome guy is handling it with just one hand."

"This guy was only just searching for his spot, so this fish is probably just a stroke of luck. If it's snagged, it wouldn't be big, because a snagged fish tends to feel stronger underwater."

"The person above makes sense, if it's a snagged fish, because it's hooked on the body and not the mouth, the fish can put up a much fiercer fight and feels a lot stronger."

"It might not be snagged, right? This handsome guy looks pretty skilled."

"Upstairs lady, which skill are you talking about?"

"Of course fishing skills. I haven't experienced his other skills, but he seems like he'd be good at those too."

....

The live broadcast room on the competitive platform was buzzing with chatter, but the number of viewers there was much higher than in Lin Yang's live broadcast room.

While the chat room was abuzz with discussion, Lin Yang, controlling the fish with one hand, had completely taken charge of the situation.

The fish underwater had lost its impetus after several bouts of fighting, and he immediately increased the force and propped up the fishing rod.

The fish quickly surfaced smoothly, a huge head flashing with a silvery light, its enormous mouth opening and closing. Under Lin Yang's guidance, it gradually neared the shore.

Wang Feng had already been waiting by the shore with the landing net, and as the fish approached, he gently scooped it up, and the fish was on land.

Lin Yang turned the live-stream camera onto the fish that had been landed.

"Holy moly! That's a huge white carp!"

"This size, it must be six or seven pounds, right?"

"I've never caught a catfish before, today really has been an eye-opener."

Seeing the barrage of comments from the viewers in the live-stream, Lin Yang couldn't help but chuckle: "Not that big, not that big. This size is just average for catfish."

Lin Yang's words naturally reached the ears of the surrounding anglers and the viewers on the platform, instantly attracting another wave of envious and jealous glances.

"I'm envious, a six or seven-pound white carp."

"So awesome, such a big fish with such a long pole, and he landed it with one hand."

"Please accept my kowtow, Master Angler."

"Just now someone said that the fish was snagged, but I saw it, it was clearly a clean bite!"

While others were still expressing their amazement, Lin Yang had already released the fish back into the water.

He then opened the water produces guidebook, which once again unlocked a new fish species reward.

This time, the reward was ¥1000, with a 'Precision Nesting' skill, adding +5 to Experience Value and points respectively.

Lin Yang reviewed the 'Precision Nesting' skill description, which had two effects:

First effect: Achieves one hundred percent precision in nesting, hitting the mark every time within 20 meters.

Second effect: The lure effect of nesting material increases by 30%.

Seeing this description, Lin Yang's eyes lit up; this effect was too strong.

It not only allowed for 100% precise nesting but also enhanced the lure effect of the nesting material, and most crucially, this 'Precision Nesting' skill was effective for all fish species.

Unlike his Crucian Carp tonic, which only targeted small fish, and the medium to large fish buff, which was only for bigger fish.

After receiving the reward, the effect of his precision nesting skill took immediate effect. Coupled with the medium to large fish buff he exchanged at the beginning, he was now more than 50% ahead of others in his fish landings rate.

Lin Yang calmed himself down, remade his bait, and cast his rod into the water once more.

The live-streaming drone overhead hadn't had time to fly off and was still focused on him when, just under a minute after casting, Lin Yang suddenly struck.

Whizz whizz whizz—

The sound of the main line cutting through the water came again, and the rod bent dramatically into a curve—he'd hooked another fish!

Many viewers in the live-stream were still discussing the big white carp he'd just landed, and now they were once again utterly astounded by Lin Yang.

"This is too ridiculous, the bait had only just hit the water for a minute, and he's hooked another fish."

"A human miracle, a catfish after catfish."

"How many fish are there underwater for him to get a bite in less than a minute?"

"Is this video really at Binjiang Reservoir? I remember Binjiang Reservoir having very scarce fish resources, how could there be so many fish there?"

Many of the other competitors at the scene started to doubt themselves.

There was no movement at their own spots, so why did Lin Yang catch fish before them, and even in quick succession?

Could it really be that he was just sitting in the perfect spot, right above a school of catfish?

Over at Lin Yang's position, having just hand-landed a white carp, he had gained even more insight into playing catfish.

However, through the force transmitted by his hands, he judged that this second fish was significantly larger than the first one.

He played the fish single-handedly for a moment, but when the fish powered up for the second time, Lin Yang had to use his other hand. Gripping the rod firmly with both hands, he kept it nearly perpendicular to the water's surface.

After a good seven or eight minutes of playing, the fish finally ran out of energy.

Successful landing!

Seeing this fish, the surrounding anglers, including Wang Feng and Si Ge, once again looked envious, as this one was even bigger than the previous catch.

Most importantly, this one wasn't a white carp, but a Hua Lian, also known as bighead carp or Fat Head.

The biggest difference between Hua Lian and white carp is... the Hua Lian tastes better. The head of the Hua Lian used to make chopped chili fish head is simply a delicacy.

"Hahaha, Brother Yang, looks like you're in for a treat again, the head of the Hua Lian is a very fine ingredient."

"That's right, the meat of the Hua Lian is also more tender and doesn't have as many annoying small bones as the white carp."

"This Hua Lian, if not ten pounds, must be close to nine, right?"

Lin Yang lifted the fish with the fish gripper, estimating the weight: "Indeed, around ten pounds, pretty much the same as the big carp I caught the other day at Xiangyang Dam."

This remark didn't elicit much reaction from Si Ge and the others, as they all knew that Lin Yang had previously caught a ten-pound carp and even an almost twenty-pound Big carp.

But many of the other anglers around, including the viewers in the competition platform's live streaming room, were once again stunned.

"What? He caught a ten-pound carp a few days ago?"

"A ten-pound carp is rarer than a ten-pound catfish, many lifetime anglers might never come across one."

"And he said he caught it in a river at Xiangyang Dam; the resources in the river are even scarcer than in the reservoir!"

"Totally badass, this guy really isn't simple, he's a genuine fishing expert."

Many people around were now looking at Lin Yang differently, inwardly thinking that it certainly wasn't a fluke that such a skilled angler was landing fish consecutively.