Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King

Chapter 808 - 550: An Unexpected Mahjong Carp School

Upon seeing that the fishing setup with the smaller hook entered the water, the bobber turned over normally, followed by the familiar slight wag of the bobber’s belly.

The big hook couldn’t be swallowed; it had to work with the smaller number two hook, right? Zhang Yang patiently waited for a bite before lifting the rod, and sure enough, it was a precision hit.

The fish hadn’t surfaced yet, but Zhang Yang already knew his prediction was correct. The underwater strength was minimal, making it easy to bring the fish out of the water and directly into the net.

Seeing Zhang Yang catch a small fish, Sun Yi immediately shouted, "Teacher Yu, look over here! Zhang Yang caught a fish too, just like the high float position you mentioned. He’s landed a fish!"

Yu Wensheng nodded, "Our staff just captured a shot of Zhang Yang changing the fishing line. We didn’t know the size of the initial hook, but the close-up from the cameraman showed it was a number two hook with a 0.2 line!

This adjustment worked perfectly, and he caught a fish right away!"

Sun Yi smirked slightly and said with some disdain, "The fish is a bit small, looks tiny! Forced to show up so early!"

Yu Wensheng continued, "The fish Zhang Yang just caught is a small crucian carp born in the pond during spring, looking at about three to four per ounce by estimate!

These small fish have a notable behavior in the competition pond. They tend to group together easily, and within this vast competition pond, there might be several small and large groups! In other parts, there might be no bites, but once a group of these crucian carp comes along, the fishing situation becomes very intense! Tsk tsk, now the competition’s getting exciting!"

"The competition’s getting exciting? I don’t quite understand what you mean! We’ve reached the semifinals, and it’s been lively all along!"

"Haha, you’re thinking too literally. By ’exciting,’ I mean we’ll see different fishing styles from different anglers! Just watch and you’ll see!"

Sure enough, less than thirty seconds after Yu Wensheng said this, Zhang Yang was the first to make another adjustment to his setup.

The pre-tuned bobber was discarded, and Zhang Yang decisively took out a short bobber of about thirty centimeters from the bobber box.

Switching to the short bobber was the first step. After setting it on the bobber seat, he lowered the bobber seat by half a meter.

Earlier, he had already lowered the bobber by thirty centimeters. Adding another half meter, the total water depth was about 1.9 meters, but now the fishing depth is only about 1.1 meters.

Seeing this, those familiar with the technique might already know what Zhang Yang intended to do. Yes, you’re right, Zhang Yang decisively chose to fish on the surface!

Even though Zhang Yang wasn’t fully familiar with the fish situation in Pond No. 1 before arriving at Tiantian Fishing Ground, he knew how to proceed after catching the first mahjong-sized crucian carp.

The native-spawned mahjong-sized crucian carp loved to school, and with good water quality, one could even see the dark shadows of masses of small fish in some areas.

Currently, the competition is judged by number, not size, so it doesn’t matter if the fish you catch are large or small; they all count as one.

Now that a school of mahjong-sized crucian carp has entered the area, fishing on the surface is the most efficient method. The schooling behavior of small fish allowed Zhang Yang to save a lot of time on gathering fish to the spot, so he could directly start fishing.

Watching Zhang Yang quickly make the adjustments for surface fishing, he immediately and swiftly cast the rod into the water.

Because the line was shorter now, the bobber’s turning speed increased noticeably, and as soon as the bobber flipped over, you could see small movements, even though it wasn’t as significant as before, but the small fish grabbing the bait was quite noticeable.

This type of small fish bite generally isn’t too subtle, so if the fishing setup is paired well, and the bobber gives a firm downward response, lifting the rod will hit the target.

Zhang Yang intentionally slowed down his rod lift by a fraction and once again secured a small mahjong-sized crucian carp.

After unhooking and placing the fish in the net, Zhang Yang was still not completely satisfied with the condition of his current setup. So he lowered the bobber by another twenty centimeters to continue finding the optimal water layer height for the fish to take the bait.

In the following few casts, each time Zhang Yang cast the rod into the water, the bobber reacted quickly. After catching a fish, Zhang Yang would slightly adjust the fishing depth until after five casts, he stabilized the fishing depth at about eighty-five centimeters.

This depth, while not exactly on the surface, was definitely in the upper-middle layer, and the bobber flipped over quickly after entering the water, signaling bites much faster. Compared to the previous bottom fishing method, the efficiency was at least doubled.

While Zhang Yang continued catching fish, on the side, Huang Zheng noticed the situation in the fishing hole after a slight delay.

No wonder I couldn’t hit anything; it’s those small crucian carp causing trouble. Fishing for these? I’m familiar with that! I’m best at catching these fish the size of mahjong tiles.

Seeing this, Huang Zheng also began to make on-the-spot adjustments.

Seeing that the two anglers quickly adjusted their fishing methods one after the other, Yu Wensheng smiled and said, "I told you, Zhang Yang and Huang Zheng have adjusted their fishing methods. Currently, Zhang Yang is performing better; he took some risks, but the rewards were significant, creating at least a three-fish lead for Zhang Yang!"

Sun Yi glanced at the scoreboard and said, "It’s only the seventh minute of fishing, the first half isn’t over yet, and Zhang Yang is already five fish ahead! Looking at it this way, Huang Zheng seems to be under a lot of pressure!"

"Huang Zheng is indeed under a lot of pressure, but it’s still too early to determine the winner! Professional Competitive Anglers are very skilled in fast-paced fishing such as with these small mahjong-sized crucian carp. In our previous competitions, we often practiced with these; their experience is very rich!