The Top Fishing
Chapter 106: Trying Out Lure Fishing

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Trying Out Lure Fishing

"Brother Lin Yang, we’re heading off now. There’s a competition next door in the city tomorrow, and we’re rushing over now. Let’s fish together next time."

"Sure, Brother Feng, come back when you have time, and I’ll treat you to a meal." Although Lin Yang didn’t know Wang Feng very well, he knew Wang Feng was a good person to make friends with, especially since he had been a great help when he first started fishing. So Lin Yang was quite willing to deepen their friendship.

Hearing Lin Yang’s words, Wang Feng nodded, and then he left with his filming crew.

As for Lin Yang, he was eager to get back and cook the fish; he had already figured out what to do with the Yellow Water Carp.

Of course, he would store the other two in the fridge. Making one for lunch today would be enough.

Although the taste of frozen carp is definitely not as good as fresh, there’s no way his family of three could eat them all in one meal, and it would be a waste to let them go bad.

Driving back, Lin Yang quickly returned to Qingyang Town. He specifically went to a tobacco and liquor store in the town to buy a bottle of high-quality liquor because he planned to make pan-fried Yellow Water Carp with alcohol.

Yes, you read that right, Lin Yang was planning to prepare a dish himself today.

The idea came to him a few days ago when he was fishing at Qinglong Lake and saw Wang Bo and that angler friend could both cook.

Since he’s taking the fishing route, he would inevitably have to go outdoors in the future, and if he had no food to eat, he would have to rely on himself. Therefore, he had to master the skill of cooking, which was also for the sake of eating better on future fishing trips, after all, he couldn’t always rely on others.

After he got home, Mrs. Lin was cooking in the kitchen, and he told her that he would make a fish dish for lunch today.

Mrs. Lin didn’t know what had gotten into her son, but seeing that he wanted to cook, she was naturally very happy—it meant she could brag to others about how delicious her son’s cooking was.

Making fish wasn’t difficult. Although Lin Yang hadn’t formally learned, hadn’t he seen a pig run even if he hadn’t eaten pork?

He just needed to first clean up the fish by removing the scales, guts, and gills, then pull out the bloodline and cut slashes on both sides. Next, he would apply salt, MSG, and cooking wine to the fish’s body to marinate and remove the fishy smell.

Then he’d heat oil in a pan, add green onions and ginger to fry until fragrant, followed by putting in the carp to pan-fry. Once golden brown on both sides, he would add some water and starch to thicken the sauce, remove the wok from the heat, pour in white liquor, then return it to the heat until the alcohol was cooked off, and the dish was ready to serve.

This famous dish actually wasn’t difficult to prepare; the hardest part was the raw material. Even if Yellow Water Carp is now farmed, there aren’t many of them.

In fact, during the fishing earlier, Lin Yang had noticed a distinctive feature of this fish -- it had four nostrils. If judging by color and appearance was difficult, the four nostrils could serve as a distinguishing feature.

Of course, the carps from Weishan Lake also have four nostrils, and their flavors are similar, so selling them interchangeably wasn’t a loss.

After Lin Yang finished cooking the dish, Old Lin also finished setting the table, and the family of three had a delightful meal. His parents couldn’t stop praising the pan-fried Yellow Carp with alcohol he made. Although there was some exaggeration, Lin Yang himself also ate a considerable amount.

He could responsibility say that there was nothing wrong with the dish he made. In fact, this was quite normal; children who grew up in the countryside usually can cook—it all depends on whether you’re willing to do it or not.

Lin Yang remembered that when he was young, back when they lived in an adobe house with a clay stove, he had to wake up early to help light the fire and watch his mother cook. Over time, the few simple steps of stir-frying were etched in his memory.

So for him, cooking was quite simple, it was just a matter of putting in a bit of effort to make it delicious.

Lin Yang spent the afternoon at home. Honestly, he quite enjoyed this lifestyle that might seem a bit slack to others. The only slightly uncomfortable part was that he often had to wake up very early.

But that’s just the nature of fishing—have you ever seen anglers who sleep in every day?

Maybe some of you have seen the video ’Fishermen Rushing Out of the Subway’—in order to secure a good fishing spot, the elderly anglers often have to get up at three or four in the morning.

If you get up at eight or nine in the morning to go fishing, you might not find neither the fish nor a spot.

So, Lin Yang’s day passed uneventfully, and he went to bed a little after nine at night. Then, in the blink of an eye, it was the next morning.

He had thought about continuing to rest the previous two days, but he didn’t feel the same today.

In the past few days, no one in the ’Angling Gods’ group had invited him to go fishing, which was normal since they weren’t professional anglers and had their own lives to attend to.

Lin Yang considered himself a dedicated angler by now, but he also didn’t spend all day, every day, fishing outdoors.

After getting up, he planned to try his hand at lure fishing today.

Speaking of which, he had mastered the art of the lure rod for a while but never had the chance to really use it.

It was the last fishing trip at Qinglong Lake that reminded him of the lure rod when Lin Yang tried casting rods.

Before setting out, Lin Yang sent a message to Wang Bo, asking if he knew about lure fishing equipment. During their last fishing trip, he had seen Wang Bo’s impressive collection of fishing gear, complete with a variety of high-performance, high-quality tackle. Lin Yang wanted to ask for advice to avoid any pitfalls.

"How did you get into lure fishing? It’s not very easy to catch anything around here with that, since even the fish with upturned mouths have slippery mouths, and the lures don’t easily hook them," Wang Bo immediately replied to him.

"No worries, I just wanted to give it a try." Seeing Wang Bo’s reply, Lin Yang couldn’t very well say he was already an expert at lure fishing, so he simply responded casually.

"I’m not very skilled at lure fishing myself, I’ve only tried it a few times. If you want to buy a rod, it’s best to do it online, but if you want to go today and ordering online will be too late, you can buy one at this shop, and then there’s this river where I caught a black fish."

Seeing that Lin Yang was genuinely interested, Wang Bo didn’t waste words. Instead, he directly sent two addresses: one for the tackle shop and one for the fishing spot.

After thanking Wang Bo, Lin Yang had breakfast at home and then drove out.

He drove straight to the tackle shop in town that Wang Bo had mentioned.

"Welcome, can I help you with anything?"

The shop selling lure tackle, at least from appearances, seemed much larger than those Lin Yang had visited before, with quite impressive decor, displaying a variety of fishing rods everywhere.

When Lin Yang walked in, a smiling sales associate came over to him.

"Uh, I’d like to buy a lure rod."

"Do you have a favorite brand or model in mind?"

"No, this is my first purchase. Just recommend something with good performance and quality," Lin Yang said.

Hearing this, the sales associate began to introduce him with a smile.

"In that case, I’ll recommend our Guangwei brand to you. There are two types of handles for lure rods, one is straight and the other is pistol-grip. The straight handle is matched with a spinning reel, while the pistol-grip handle is matched with a baitcasting reel. Then you need to try them to decide whether you want a left or right-hand orientation for more comfort," the sales associate explained.

Following the sales associate’s introduction, Lin Yang turned his attention to the fishing rods on display.

"The spinning reel is different from the one used on sea rods, right?"

"Correct, it’s different. Sea rods use what’s called a fishing reel, also known as a fishing line reel. The basic structure is pretty similar, but because of sea fishing, they are much larger, with sizes like 4000 and 5000, and there are also 8000s. But here, for lure fishing, we mostly have 1000, 1500... As for line output speed, the lure spinning reel is faster and more convenient, with a better balance point. Since sea fishing is more about casting out a hook and waiting for a fish to bite, like traditional fishing, while lure fishing involves constant moving to mimic prey to attract carnivorous fish, it’s a continuous motion of luring, so there are some differences. Beginners might start with a spinning reel, but baitcasting reels are the future trend and even easier to control the line, although they are quite a bit more expensive...," said the associate.

The sales associate’s explanation was very thorough.

Lin Yang could tell that the shop Wang Bo recommended was indeed a good one, and after listening to the detailed introduction, Lin Yang purchased a 2.4-meter, pistol-grip, dual-tip baitcasting lure rod. The whole set came to just over four hundred yuan, not expensive, and they even threw in a box of artificial baits.

After getting everything ready, Lin Yang drove to the fishing spot Wang Bo had told him about.

This spot was in a stream in Qingshan Town, a place of rapid currents. It was very hard to catch fish with traditional float fishing here, but it was exactly the kind of place predatory fish loved.

"Strange, why are there so few fish here?"

Because the water in the stream was very clear and quite shallow, it was easy to see into the water.

In such a place with a wonderful surrounding environment, there should have been lots of small fish, but after looking carefully for a while, Lin Yang could only sporadically spot a few lone small fish, unlike the scene with swarms of small fish he and Yue’er had encountered last time.

"Never mind, I’m here now."

Lin Yang didn’t fuss much and decided to try fishing for a bit; if worst comes to worst, he could always switch spots. After setting up, he stood on the bank and started to flick the lure with the rod to attract fish in the water.

Trying out lure fishing for the first time, he understood why so many people gave up float fishing once they tried lure fishing. Compared to the stationary style of float fishing, the dynamic action of simulating prey with lure fishing was much more interesting.

Although lure fishing for the first time was fun, the fish situation here clearly wasn’t good, and even with decent skills, he hadn’t hooked a fish after five minutes.

However, at that moment, Lin Yang was quite patient. He figured he’d take his time.

Another ten minutes went by.

By this time, Lin Yang had already changed positions several times, and just as he was about to look for a better spot, he suddenly felt the rod jerk heavily as he was pulling in the line.

"Did I catch a fish?"

Although it was his first time catching a fish with a lure, the sensation of a fish bite was generally similar, and Lin Yang was certain he hadn’t snagged a garbage bag or a piece of wood, as this thing was moving.

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