The Top Fishing
Chapter 43 - 42: Black Drift Tangent

Chapter 43: Chapter 42: Black Drift Tangent

"Cousin, go for it! Tonight’s midnight snack depends on you," Li Xiaopeng chuckled from the side.

Lin Yang slapped his chest, "Leave it to me, Uncle won’t be able to get away from tonight’s snack."

Yang Xincheng pretended to be displeased, "So you two are ganging up to fleece me, huh? I don’t have much pocket money as your Uncle, so tonight we’re only having one dish, Mixed River Fish Soup!"

Lin Yang laughed, "You still have pocket money? Wait until I spill the beans to Aunt later." He cast his line into the river again.

This time the cast didn’t land near the Yellow Perch’s mouth. There were only two big Yellow Perches in the river, and the biggest hadn’t come out of the weeds yet.

Yang Xincheng had just turned around to sit back down for fishing when Lin Yang let out a small cry of success, "Got one."

"Damn it!"

Yang Xincheng’s face was a picture of disbelief as he gazed at Lin Yang. Was there another catch just less than a minute after casting the line?

Under the headlamp’s light, a huge white shadow flipped over in the water, and Lin Yang’s 37-tension fishing rod was bent into a full circle.

"Holy shit! Hold on, this one’s huge!"

Witnessing the scene with his own eyes, Yang Xincheng wished he could take the fishing rod from Lin Yang’s hands.

Such a big fish, only seen as a white shadow so far, and still unknown what kind of fish it was. It would be a pity if they failed to control it and it got away.

"Damn, how big is this fish? Why has it been so long and it still hasn’t surfaced?"

After a long struggle, seeing the fish had not yet flipped over the water surface, Lin Yang himself was beginning to feel surprised.

Indeed, what you see in the water and what you catch are totally different things. The fish here are as strong as Uncle said, their strength beyond imagination.

Yang Xincheng then hurriedly said, "Be careful, make sure you control the fish. It’s very rare to encounter such a big fish in wild fishing."

Splash!

A white shadow violently flipped its tail on the surface of the water, right within the beam of Li Xiaopeng’s headlamp.

Li Xiaopeng exclaimed, "Holy crap, a Big Plate Crucian Carp! Damn, how can there be such a big Crucian Carp in this river? It’s almost a pound, isn’t it?"

Yang Xincheng chimed in, "Damn, damn, damn! I’ve been fishing for so long and only saw Crucian Carp this size in fish farms. Be careful, don’t let this fellow escape."

To anglers, any Crucian Carp heavier than two taels is called a Big Plate Crucian Carp.

Carp crucian carp aren’t considered Big Plate Crucian Carps; anglers generally refer to them as Construction Crucian Carps.

Lin Yang was also fired up, as he had never caught such a big Crucian Carp before.

Thankfully, the 37-tension rod was resilient enough, and he had the line protection buff. Otherwise, pulling up this Crucian Carp with a 1.0 main line would indeed be a bit risky.

In the river, the Big Plate Crucian Carp’s bursts of energy couldn’t free it, the toughness and bounce of the fishing rod held it firmly in place.

A few minutes later, the big Crucian Carp eventually ran out of strength and was scooped up with the net Yang Xincheng had prepared beforehand.

"Come on, take a photo first!" Li Xiaopeng immediately took out his phone. Such a big Big Plate Crucian Carp deserved to be shown in his social circle for growing so big.

At that moment, Yang Xincheng looked at Lin Yang with a pitiful, pleading gesture, "Xiao Yang, next time you hook such a big fish, could you let Uncle have a shot at it? I’ve been fishing for three years and it’s my first time seeing such a big Crucian Carp."

Lin Yang nodded in agreement; he too had never seen such a large wild Crucian Carp, "Such wild Crucian Carps are probably only found in rivers; it takes at least ten years for a domestic Crucian Carp to grow this big."

"In a typical fish pond, unless it’s a feed pond, it’s impossible to raise a domestic Crucian Carp to this size. The river is well-protected against electric and net fishing, allowing the fish to grow so big."

Li Xiaopeng said, "Speaking of which, cousin, I want a turn next time..."

Lin Yang rolled his eyes at both of them, "Step aside, I’ve only caught three fish, and you’re already coming to snatch my spot. Isn’t that a bit shameless? Besides, could either of you have caught such a big fish?"

The thick air of challenge made both men burst into laughter.

Yang Xincheng loudly declared, "I don’t care, with such good fish activity tonight, I must land a Big Plate Crucian Carp."

"I’ll just move my position here. Traditional fishing? Just add a heavier sinker to pole fishing and it becomes traditional. I’m even using a double-hook setup; there’s no way I’m losing to you," Yang Xincheng boasted.

"Plus, I can switch to ledgering for better sensitivity, or if that fails, I’ll try deadstick fishing. As an angler, if I lose to a newcomer like you, I’ll have no face to be your master anymore!"

Yang Xincheng’s fighting spirit was ignited. It was the first time in years he’d encountered such favorable fishing conditions.

It was the perfect opportunity with company present to spice things up with a competition.

"Come on, Uncle, today you shall see what’s out there." Lin Yang gave up casting his line and waited for Yang Xincheng to move his gear over.

Seeing how serious the two were, Li Xiaopeng also called out excitedly, "Holy shit, I’m fired up too! Wait for me, I’ll go get a fishing rod."

With some hustle, the clock struck eight at night.

The three sat side by side at a two-meter interval, all positioned within this stretch of strong current.

Sitting too close could easily result in tangled lines if a fish wasn’t controlled well.

Yang Xincheng’s expression was solemn as he looked at the two, "Are you both ready?"

Li Xiaopeng felt the seriousness and spoke with gravity, "Ready."

"Start!"

The three rods hit the water one after another, with Lin Yang being the quickest, followed by Yang Xincheng, and Li Xiaopeng the slowest.

Yang Xincheng glanced at the time, "It’s just past eight o’clock. We’ll call it quits at one minute past ten. We have two hours to compare our catches. There’s no limit on species—it’s both about quantity and weight. Tonight, the loser treats us to midnight snacks."

Since it’s a competition, of course there needs to be some prize, and night fishing is inherently a physically and mentally demanding activity.

By ten o’clock at night, you’re bound to be hungry, so naturally you need to get something to eat—no one skimps on a meal or a late-night snack.

Just a few minutes had passed.

With a ’whoosh’, Lin Yang struck a fish, determined to win the competition; his first catch was a Big Plate Crucian Carp weighing over two ounces.

"I’ve got a fish too!"

Suddenly, Yang Xincheng exclaimed softly, lifted his rod, and a Crucian Carp slightly smaller than Lin Yang’s flew straight out of the water.

About half an hour later, Li Xiaopeng also caught his first fish.

But his fish kept struggling in the river and stubbornly refused to surface.

After playing it for two minutes and seeing the fish still hadn’t flipped over, Li Xiaopeng grew impatient and reached for the fishing line.

Lin Yang, who caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of his eye, anxiously said, "You can’t grab the fishing line; you’ve got a number 4 hook and a main line of 1.0, directly grabbing the line with a Crucian Carp this big will make it a hundred percent chance of losing the fish."

There was no reason not to listen to what Lin Yang said, so after a while, he finally picked up a net and scooped the fish out.

Yang Xincheng said with a smile, "This is my competitive fishing equipment: a 19-tune 6H, 4.5-meter fishing rod, the line group is a main line of 1.0 and a leader line of 0.3, and a barbless hook size 4. This whole set costs over two thousand and is all high-end gear; I can ’fly’ any fish under two pounds directly."

Li Xiaopeng said discontentedly, "Damn, Uncle, aren’t you bullying people? Competing with two thousand yuan worth of equipment against my few hundred yuan worth, where is your conscience?"

Yang Xincheng was nonplussed, "Real professional competitive anglers have full sets of equipment that cost at least tens of thousands for a basic set, and those at the higher end, like national second-class anglers, their full sets cost over a hundred thousand. Compared to them, my gear is just rubbish...."

"Are professional anglers making that much money?" Li Xiaopeng was intrigued and asked curiously.

"Of course, professional competitive anglers frequently compete, and those with higher visibility get advertising fees, with competitions below category four being related to fishing gear advertisements."

"Competitions of category four and above have a high level of attention and may feature advertisements for other products, though mainly it’s still about fishing gear."

"In special-grade tournaments, anyone able to participate usually has hundreds of thousands or even millions in advertising fees."

"However, once it gets to the level of a special-grade Master angler, they typically endorse their own products. They have their own bait brands and fishing gear brands, and those are the real moneymakers."

Li Xiaopeng gaped at Yang Xincheng, "Damn! Is fishing gear and bait really that profitable? They don’t need hundreds of thousands or millions in advertising fees because they endorse their own brands?"

Yang Xincheng nodded, "Don’t underestimate that bait that costs just a few or a dozen yuan. Once a brand gains enough influence and opens up its sales, the income can be several times stronger than the advertising fees."

"Damn!" Li Xiaopeng inhaled sharply.

Meanwhile, Lin Yang smiled without saying a word.

Having sold bait for a few days, he naturally knew his Uncle wasn’t bluffing; after all, he was a live streamer with just tens of thousands of followers who could earn tens of thousands in a day.

Those with millions, tens of millions of followers, earning hundreds of thousands or even millions in a day shouldn’t be impossible.

Of course, his earnings were mainly due to the strong effects of his secret bait recipe.

If he were selling the same mix as those bigger live streamers, he probably couldn’t even afford to eat.

Moments later, Yang Xincheng occasionally glanced at Lin Yang.

He had a feeling, a belief that Lin Yang might become a special-grade competitive fishing Master in the future.

Because he noticed Lin Yang had a ’fish sensation’, a very mysterious thing.

Some people just know where the fish are wherever they go, what bait to use, and can easily catch fish, and such people ultimately become fishing masters.

Take this time as an example.

In the same river, despite his years of angling experience, he couldn’t beat a novice like Lin Yang.

Even now, sitting beside him, although the frequency of their catches was comparable, every fish Lin Yang caught was bigger than his own.

What was even more amazing—

Using the same earthworms, Lin Yang could catch big Yellow Perch, while he could only catch smaller ones.

Even though his float sank in the water and was barely effective, he could still accurately reel in the fish.

This was a ’fish sensation’, a very clear ’fish sensation’.

Such people are born to fish, and as long as he is willing to study competitive fishing, his angling skills will definitely be great in the future.

"Xiao Yang, do you ever want to become a special-grade competitive fishing Master?"

Lin Yang did not expect his Uncle to pose such a question, and as he was absentmindedly considering it, he spied a large dark shadow in his field of vision.

On closer inspection, he exclaimed, "Damn." It was a nearly one-meter-long grass carp.

"What happened?" Yang Xincheng asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Lin Yang replied with a wry smile, "I have a feeling that my line is going to break this time."

No sooner had he spoken than the float submerged and disappeared from view.

"Big black float!" Li Xiaopeng exclaimed in surprise.

Lin Yang jerked his rod upwards with a ’snap’, and the line broke off cleanly, with no dragging, and even a line protection buff would have been futile this time.