The Top Fishing
Chapter 39 - 038: Minions Stir Trouble

Chapter 39: Chapter 038: Minions Stir Trouble

After wrapping up his tasks,

Lin Yang sent a message to the owner of the courier shop. He had also just put together all the new orders from the morning and shipped them off, asking him to come by to pick them up before noon.

Then, he picked up the phone to let his mom know where he was going before gathering his fishing gear and heading to Xiangyang Dam.

He was only one species away from unlocking the first page of his aquatic handbook, so he planned to unlock the entire first page today to see if there would be any special rewards.

Xiangyang Dam was no longer the obscure little river it had been before.

Although it didn’t have the impressive sight of the riverbanks filled with anglers like before, there were still quite a few vehicles parked on the dam.

Many anglers are like that; as long as they see someone fishing there, they will come and try their luck whenever they have free time, regardless of whether or not there are any bites in the area.

Right now, Xiangyang Dam was exactly this kind of scene.

He walked down the slope and found a relatively flat fishing spot. Lin Yang began setting up his live streaming rig and laid out his fishing chair to start fishing.

When he first arrived, he noticed several anglers using their own prepared bait mixtures, and each one was pulling in fish behind their fish keepers, with cheerful smiles on their faces, which clearly indicated their good catch.

He took out two kinds of bait mixes, one for Crucian Carp and the other for Carp. He poured out a bit of each mix, then balled them up and threw them into the water.

This time he was using a new 5.4-meter fishing rod, which was to speed up the lifting and casting a bit.

The bait he was using now was a strong-scented variety he had bought in town when he arrived.

"Add water to the bait and then start today’s fishing," he said.

This time, Lin Yang chose a 1.0+0.8 line group, which had a suitable thickness, and with his line protection buff, it was strong enough even for big fish.

He prepared two types of hooks, one was size 3 red worm hooks, and the other was size 6 Ishiyaki hooks.

He also opened two kinds of baits this time, one was the freshly purchased strong-smelling Red Worm Storm aimed at some bite-happy small fish.

The other bait was sweet potato-flavored, targeting somewhat bigger grass carps.

It was already approaching noon. The water in front of him was penetrated by the warm sunlight, and he could see schools of shad chasing after falling grass seeds and insects on the surface of the water.

He chose the red worm bait first and cast his line into the water.

By this time, people had started to trickle into the live stream. Of course, these were his core followers who had set special alerts to get notified as soon as he went live.

Air Force Commander: "I just got into bed after night fishing and saw you started streaming. Seamless transition."

Lin Yang: "Ha-ha, how was last night’s catch?"

Air Force Commander: "Awesome. I used your bait mix and pulled in over ten pounds of Big Plate Crucian Carps overnight."

Fishing Non-Stop: "Daily check-in, woke up full of energy for another day, good morning streamer."

Lin Yang looked at the sky, which was quickly approaching noon, and corner of his mouth twitched.

The stream hadn’t been live for ten minutes when the number of viewers had already passed a hundred. The chat on the public screen started getting lively.

"Hm?"

Lin Yang saw the float suddenly dip underwater. He lifted the rod, but the hook came up empty.

I’m really not a fisherman: "Ha-ha, even the streamer misses sometimes."

Lin Yang chuckled and replied, "I’m using a small hook with a strong bait to catch some small miscellaneous fish for fun."

Using a strong-smelling bait like this often disturbed by the small fish that fiddled with the bait.

But there was no helping it, as his plan for today was to unlock as many fish species as possible, rather than just fishing for one or two types.

These small fish engaged quickly, but they were slippery and chaotic at the bite. Once they touched the bait, they would tug fiercely, causing a messy float signal, so missing the fish was inevitable.

After missing the first cast, Lin Yang took the red worm bait in front of him and patted it down forcefully a few times to firm it up a bit.

He pinched off a piece and tossed it onto the water in front of him, checking its condition and saw that the bait didn’t disperse and dilute quickly after entering the water.

Seeing this, Lin Yang started on the second cast.

This time, he didn’t cast far but rolled the bait into the size of a grain of rice, covering about one-third of the hook before casting the line again.

The float hadn’t even stabilized when it suddenly started to shake violently. This time, Lin Yang kept his cool and didn’t rush to set the hook.

Then, the float plunged downward, even pulling the tail of the float under the water.

Now, he struck the fish!

As the line emerged from the water, a little Mai Sui, no longer than a pinky finger, was seen struggling jubilantly on the hook.

[Experience Value +1, points +1]

A flash of light crossed his mind’s aquatic handbook, and all the fish icons on the first page were lit up.

Lin Yang checked the rewards, which were $100 and a skill called [Binding Hook Master].

He looked again and found that there were no special rewards after unlocking the entire first page of the aquatic handbook.

There was still only the skill reward for unlocking ’Mai Sui,’ which admittedly left him a little disappointed.

Next, he claimed the [Binding Hook Master] skill.

[Binding Hook Master]: Every hook you tie by hand will be in perfect condition, maintaining 99% tensile strength directly;

Lin Yang focused closely and didn’t notice any change at first, but the next second when he pinched the fishhook and leader line, the feeling in his hand was completely different.

Previously, when tying hooks, although he was somewhat proficient, there were minor differences in every aspect of the process such as the number of turns of the line and the length of the line reserved. It was these details that affected the final length of the tied fishhook.

But now, Lin Yang casually picked up a fishhook, and with a few swift movements of his fingers, he had tied the hook perfectly in no time at all.

Not to mention the speed had doubled, the length of the line left over was exactly the same each time.

After skillfully tying a hook, Lin Yang looked at his hands incredulously, then casually cut another piece of leader line.

Strangely enough, this time he didn’t use a ruler to measure the line but relied solely on his eyesight, and he cut the line perfectly.

Comparing the two lines, they were the exact same length, as standard as if he had used a ruler.

Just a glance was enough to cut the line accurately—no wonder the skill is called Binding Hook Master, it truly lives up to the title of "Master."

After the experiment, Lin Yang then went back to tying bait on the hook and casting the line into the water.

Swish.

Another Mai Sui was caught, slightly larger than the one he had caught before.

[Experience +1, Points +1]

.....

In a little over an hour of fishing, Lin Yang thoroughly got into a tussle with the little miscellaneous fish in the water.

Meanwhile, his points and Experience Value continuously increased, and although they were minimal, Lin Yang was quite content and untiring.

"Hey, young man, how’s it going today?"

Just as Lin Yang was enthusiastically pulling his rod, an elderly man came over.

Lin Yang looked over and saw that the elderly man was walking towards him, holding a small stool in his left hand and carrying a tote bag in his right.

Seeing the elderly man’s equipment, Lin Yang felt a sense of familiarity—wasn’t this how he used to look when he fished?

"Haha, it’s passable," Lin Yang responded with a laugh.

"Oh, young man, your bait doesn’t seem very good, catching only little fish," the elderly man commented.

Since Lin Yang had been catching small miscellaneous fish, he hadn’t bothered with a keepnet, and the little fish were swimming lively in his bait bowl.

"I’m just fishing for fun." Lin Yang felt a bit embarrassed being looked down upon by the elderly man and replied awkwardly.

The elderly man shook his head, lost interest after a few glances, sat down on his small stool, clearly not impressed by the little miscellaneous fish that Lin Yang had just caught.

Lin Yang smiled and said nothing more, continuing to pull in the miscellaneous fish in front of him.

The little more than an hour of fishing had allowed him to unlock two more freshwater fish icons, the Pangpi and Qing Shao, both common types of small miscellaneous fish.

The special reward for unlocking these two types of fish was incredibly frustrating—just a few hundred bucks. Lin Yang felt like cursing.

Since he hadn’t yet caught a Gaya, which he used to frequently catch, he didn’t switch to the bigger bait and continued to pull in miscellaneous fish.

Lin Yang hadn’t been pulling his rod for long when he saw the elderly man next to him swing his fishing rod, and a half-jin Big Plate Crucian Carp was pulled out of the water.

"Nicely done, sir. You just got here and already caught a Big Plate Crucian Carp," Lin Yang said with a smile.

"Haha, the weather’s good today, so the fish are biting fast," the elderly man said while noticing the float twitching in front of him. With a lift of his rod, another Big Plate Crucian Carp was hauled ashore.

Lin Yang became curious at this point; he hadn’t seen the elderly man prepare any bait, and surely using earthworms couldn’t account for such quick catches?

If catching one Big Plate Crucian Carp could be chalked up to luck, then catching another right after was a surprise.

Deciding to investigate, he got up and walked over to see what was special about the elderly man.

"Sir, I’m envious of how quickly you’re catching fish. You’ve hooked another one already," Lin Yang said, not too subtly flattering the elderly man.

The elderly man laughed heartily, beaming with pride, "I’ve been fishing all my life, so I have a pretty good idea what Crucian Carp like. Not to hide it from you, young man, I’ve never gone home empty-handed once I start fishing. Look at this..."

As he spoke, the elderly man took out a syringe from his pocket and squeezed a bit onto the hook, enveloping the hook in a sticky liquid.

He then dabbed it into the bag in front of him, and instantaneously the hook was covered with yellow grains of millet.

"Wow, I never knew bait could be used like this!"

Feeling intrigued, Lin Yang asked, "Sir, what’s that stuff in the tube?"

The elderly man replied, "It’s a dipping sauce I made with honey and clove water."

In his mind, Lin Yang marveled at the ingenuity of veteran anglers, coming up with such unusual fishing methods.

But upon reflection, he could understand the appeal of the technique—the sweetness of honey and the rich, lingering scent of cloves, plus the millet grains attached, was irresistible to the fish underwater.

Moreover, this bait had a naturally sweet taste, which likely helped avoid the disturbance of the small miscellaneous fish, proving to be especially effective for the largest group of fish underwater, the Crucian Carp.

Of course, this type of bait had its drawbacks; it could only be used in small rivers and ditches. In broader waters, it would lose its advantage.

Having understood the reason, Lin Yang’s curiosity waned.

After bidding the elderly man farewell, he returned to his fishing spot. In just a short while, he had learned another way of fishing, which might come in handy later.

Fishing was like that, everyone with their method, numerous and quirky, all gradually growing through mutual learning and slowly finding their unique style.