The Top Fishing
Chapter 437 - 209: Continuous Fishing

Chapter 437: Chapter 209: Continuous Fishing

After the yacht was docked, the two men began their official fishing. Their fishing rods and line setups were already prepared in advance, so they could start fishing right away.

Lin Yang swung his rod and arm, casting the lure in a beautiful arc that landed precisely within the designated area.

As soon as the lure hit the water, he began silently counting the time it took for the lure to reach the bottom—1, 2, 3... It took a full six seconds until he felt the lure touch the bottom.

Upon touching the bottom, Lin Yang instantly judged that the water depth at this spot was slightly deeper than most of the places where they had practiced the day before—about two and a half meters.

To prevent the lure from lying too flat on the bottom and getting stuck, he slightly lifted the rod and quickly began operating the baitcasting reel to adjust the retrieval speed.

The smaller lure showcased more agility in the water than the larger ones used before. Under Lin Yang’s manipulation, it displayed various swimming motions like speeding up, pausing, rising, and sinking.

On the other side of the yacht, Wang Feng’s operations were much the same. After the training period, his lure fishing techniques could also now be considered masterful.

Neither of them noticed any strikes on their first cast, so Lin Yang started reeling in to prepare for another throw.

But just as he had reeled in half of the line, he suddenly felt a slight weight on the rod tip—a fish had struck the lure.

Big Mouth Bass were not only active on the bottom but also around the surface and mid-depths. Lin Yang didn’t care which fish was biting; he paused for half a second to let the fish fully take the bait and then lifted the rod sharply to set the hook—it was a successful strike.

The resistance from underwater wasn’t too strong, and he quickly pulled it up.

A fish with a somewhat broad, flattened round body, covered with numerous blue-black circular spots, was brought up.

Lin Yang recognized this fish—he had caught one during the practice day before. The locals called it Mei Bass, a predatory fish species not very large but with a strong urge to strike.

This fish was not their target. After bringing it next to the boat and unhooking it, Lin Yang released it back into the water and cast again towards another spot.

Perhaps the fish caught on his opening cast brought him some good luck because as soon as the lure touched the bottom on his second cast, he felt the rod tip sink—a fish was attacking the lure near the bottom and had bitten it.

Given the bite occurred at a depth over two and a half meters, the likelihood of it being the target species Big Mouth Bass was quite high. Lin Yang pulled sharply to set the hook, bending the rod in the process.

This fish was much more powerful. In its attempt to escape, it initially pulled against the drag, which he had adjusted. He tightened the reel a bit more, regaining control of the fish.

After two rounds, he finally subdued the fish underwater. He constantly lifted the rod and reeled in, quickly bringing the fish above the water’s surface.

This fish was indeed the target species for the competition, Big Mouth Bass.

Upon bringing the fish beside the boat, Lin Yang netted it with one hand, then used the fish gripper to unhook it, showing the catch to the viewers in the live broadcast.

"Take a look, everyone, this is our target species for today’s competition, Big Mouth Bass. This fish is widespread in the United States, highly adaptable, aggressively carnivorous, and its flesh is quite delicious. You could say its status in the US fishing community is akin to Crucian Carp in our domestic fishing circles, making it a popular target for the sport of fishing."

"Wow, that guy’s mouth is huge, no wonder it’s called Big Mouth Bass."

"It’s really big. Compared to that mouth, the lure used by the broadcaster seems a bit small. A couple of sizes bigger and it would still be easily swallowed."

"Is the fish caught by the broadcaster now big enough to keep? It seems to weigh at least a pound."

Lin Yang casually picked up a measuring ruler from the side and measured the fish.

The standard ruler was about four centimeters shorter than the fish, indicating that the fish exceeded the minimum length by four centimeters, meeting the competition’s valid fish standard.

"The fish is four centimeters longer than the standard size, qualifying it as a valid catch. We are in luck, starting with a good omen. Now, let’s put this fish in the live well on the boat and keep fishing," Lin Yang announced, placing the fish in the oxygenated well on the boat and continued fishing.

Big Mouth Bass are known to have territorial instincts. After reaching maturity, they mostly move alone, so it’s hard to catch many fish at one mark point. The areas are relatively sparse, and catching one big fish might mean no more of its kind in the vicinity.

Lin Yang then cast a few more times, searching the surrounding suspicious areas of the mark point, but like Wang Feng, he gained nothing more.

So he called out to the captain, and they continued moving forward to search for new marked spots.

Although they had only caught one qualifying fish at the first mark point, their luck could still be considered very good.

It’s worth noting that out of forty boats in the competition, less than half had found their first mark point, and only they had caught a fish meeting the qualification standards.

While Lin Yang was placing the fish in the live well, the onboard filming equipment automatically transmitted the basic details of the catch to the competition staff.

In fact, the action of measuring with the ruler earlier was part of the standard competition procedure.

On the backend at the competition staff’s operation center, with the first fish logged in, regardless of the weight, Lin Yang’s team was temporarily ranked first with their catch of one fish.

The competition staff had informed them correctly before the event. The mid-eastern coastal area was a good location. It took less than five minutes for the fishing boat to move forward when another potential fishing spot appeared in their field of vision.