The Top Fishing
Chapter 44 - 043: Red-Tailed Carp

Chapter 44: Chapter 043: Red-Tailed Carp

"Oh no!"

Seeing the fishing line cut instantly, three voices rang out in unison.

However, the incident was far from over. The big grass carp, startled by Lin Yang’s rod lifting, rushed upstream and its tail got caught on Yang Xincheng’s hook.

After waiting for a long time without any movement from the float, suddenly there came a big dip. Yang Xincheng also lifted his rod fiercely.

His fishing gear was not something that could be compared with Li Xiaopeng’s cheap ones, the rod bent into a big arc!

Yang Xincheng didn’t react for a moment and was dragged several steps forward by the big grass carp, almost falling into the river.

"Holy shit! What the hell is this?" Yang Xincheng was shocked, clinging to the rod for dear life.

Splash!

A big splash erupted in the middle of the river, Yang Xincheng’s rod snapped back, and he fell to the ground.

"Oh no!"

Again, two voices rang out in unison.

Coming back to his senses, Yang Xincheng stared at the splash in the middle of the river, muttering dumbfounded: "It’s off the hook."

With his years of fishing experience, his eyesight was still quite exceptional. He speculated, "This fish must have weighed at least twenty pounds. What the hell is going on tonight? Even such a behemoth shows up, all my years of fishing seem wasted."

He had fished here many times before, catching some grass carp and carps, including some catfish.

The largest fish he had ever caught weighed just over five pounds.

He had never seen nor heard of anyone catching a fish heavier than the one just now in this river.

The river was only so wide; it was hard to imagine big fish living in it. He had always thought that there were no fish over eight pounds in this river.

However, here Lin Yang was fishing tonight and had encountered something weighing over twenty pounds!

This was, damn it, more unbelievable than a fairy tale.

Lin Yang was also looking at his fishing rod which was fine, but the line had broken, snapped clean without dragging on.

The feeling at that moment when he lifted the rod, the immense force, was just too thrilling.

They say, ’A pig grows to three hundred pounds, a fish grows without a scale.’

No matter how long you raise a pig, it weighs at most just over three hundred pounds. But with fish, if they are raised for a long time, you really can’t imagine how big they can get.

At this moment, Yang Xincheng was even more convinced of his earlier thought—Lin Yang had a knack for fishing.

Otherwise, it was inexplicable why the big fish, which clearly came from downstream, would go for Lin Yang’s bait rather than his own, even though it was the same worm.

This couldn’t simply be described as luck; this was ridiculously outrageous fortune.

If Lin Yang didn’t pursue fishing as his path with this kind of luck, it would be a real waste.

As Lin Yang’s uncle, he also hoped that Lin Yang could turn his hobbies into his work.

Plus, he had heard from Lin Yang’s mother about his live-streamed fishing. Although he didn’t know exactly how much money he made, it was probably substantial.

He hadn’t seen Lin Yang’s live streams, only his edited videos posted on Douyin, so he didn’t know how much he sold in terms of bait.

"Let’s continue the competition. I want to see what else will appear tonight," said Lin Yang, replacing his broken line with a new one according to traditional fishing methods.

This time he was using the best fishing line his cousin Li Xiaopeng had, a 2.0 leader line, sturdy enough for a 30-pound behemoth, and he also switched to his best hook and float.

There was no need to change the rod; the current 37-tonality rod was very effective in helping him control the fish.

Though his uncle had a competitive fishing rod, wild fishing didn’t suit competitive rods.

Competitive rods are made for casting fish in competitions, and the feel of lifting the rod does not compare to that of a regular rod.

The most exhilarating moment of fishing is when you’re actually bringing in a fish. Skipping that part makes it dull for Lin Yang.

Li Xiaopeng watched his cousin and uncle’s catch with distress.

It was already past nine o’clock. Both of them had made impressive catches while he had only caught a few crucian carps. It was decided that he’d be treating them to night snacks this evening.

He looked enviously at Lin Yang’s keepnet; it was full of shiny Big Plate Crucian Carps, the smallest weighing about two liang and the largest nearly a pound.

More than ten yellow perches, which are among the tastiest river fish, had also been caught.

Meanwhile,

Lin Yang scanned the stretch of water in front of him, daring now to wrestle with the carps after switching to a different line.

He cast his line into the water, with the worm bait dropping near where he had spotted a big carp earlier.

The current was strong; it was impossible to cast accurately next to the carp’s mouth. He could only aim for its general vicinity and let the current carry the scent of the worm to attract it.

This required waiting.

Lin Yang quietly illuminated the float’s position with his headlight. In a short while, a shadow in the water gradually approached the float, and Lin Yang’s heart was lifted.

His serious expression made the other two nearby tense up.

With a few years of fishing experience, Yang Xincheng stared at Lin Yang’s float, able to filter out the movements caused by the water flow.

Seeing a noticeable dip of the float, his heart skipped a beat.

"That much lead, and yet such a movement occurs. The fish must be big," he thought.

Envy, all he could feel was envy. Lin Yang’s fish sense was too enviable.

He could only fish for floaters in such rapid currents, meaning the float’s buoyancy had to be greater than the sinker to keep the hook off the bottom, drifting with the flow.

The narrow and fast section of the river was good because the fish were less cautious and would pounce on the food without any exploring nibbles, biting hard right away.

Plus, the worm drifting with the current could attract all the fish in this waters to it.

This was also why he fished in the rapids and could keep up with Lin Yang’s count.

However, fishing in the rapids is quite a struggle.

When the float drifts out of this area, you have to pull it up and put it back down, lifting the rod about every minute.

If the fish bite it’s fine, but when they don’t, it’s easy to give up on this spot.

Suddenly, just as Yang Xincheng was watching Lin Yang’s float, Lin Yang’s float vanished in an instant!

"Lift the rod quickly!" he urged.

Before he had even spoken, Lin Yang had already lifted the rod.

The fishing rod bent into a large arc, with the tip pulled down lower than the base, and the fishing line made a whooshing sound as it moved through the water.

Hearing this sound, Yang Xincheng’s blood boiled immediately, and he subconsciously pulled up his own rod to avoid getting the lines tangled later.

"Xiao Yang, walk over to my side, try not to let the big fish disturb your fishing spot."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sound of the fishing line cutting through the water was especially loud at night, pumping up all three men.

Li Xiaopeng rubbed his hands and walked over: "Cousin, are you tired? Let me help you fight the fish."

Yang Xincheng: "Damn, I didn’t catch any big fish last year, why don’t we let Uncle have some fun?"

Seeing both men eager to fish, Lin Yang said, "You guys should just rest. I didn’t get that beast earlier, but I’m definitely getting this fish up."

Seeing he wasn’t going to get his turn, Yang Xincheng said with a sheepish smile: "Xiao Yang, fight it out! Your rod has strong flexibility, there won’t be any problems, and you can trust my fishing line, even a thirty-pound fish won’t be able to break it."

"Alright!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yang didn’t hesitate to put more strength into it.

Splash!

A huge splash sounded downstream, and a red tail flashed under the light.

"Big carp!" Yang Xincheng exclaimed.

"Cousin, go for it! Give it all you’ve got!"

"Xiao Yang, you have to get it up, carp meat isn’t that tasty, but carps have roe this season, and that’s some good stuff."

Don’t just think about eating, get the fish up first, go get the landing net, this fish looks like it’s about seven or eight pounds."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

After fighting for more than ten minutes, the big carp suddenly made a powerful surge toward the middle of the river.

Lin Yang gripped the fishing rod tightly and overpowered it with brute force.

No need to worry about the rod or the line, just get it done!

After that burst of energy, the big carp clearly had lost its strength and was slowly dragged by Lin Yang toward the shore.

Yang Xincheng, who had the landing net ready, quickly aimed for the fish’s head and scooped it up onto the bank with a strong sweep.

"Phew!"

Lin Yang let out a heavy breath. It had only been a matter of minutes, but it was a sheer test of raw strength, and while the big carp’s energy was depleted, he was also exhausted.

However, looking at the carp that was half a shoe longer than Yang Xincheng’s foot gave him immense joy, and he immediately ran over to pick up the big carp.

"Come on, take a picture!"

"This is the first time I’ve seen such a big carp, I’ve got to post it on my Moments or I’d be letting down Cousin’s hard battle."

Yang Xincheng took out his phone to take a picture of Li Xiaopeng, while smiling: "Before you, I had already taken a photo and posted it on Moments. I bet tomorrow this part of the Qingshui River is going to be bustling."

Lin Yang looked at them speechlessly: "Damn, really? It’s just a seven- or eight-pound carp, is it really worth showing off like this? Besides, I was the one who reeled it in."

The two paid no attention to Lin Yang’s words and pulled him in for a group photo with the big carp before finally placing the fish in the keepnet.

Lin Yang checked the time: "With less than half an hour to go, I’ll be satisfied if I can get a few more carps."

Yang Xincheng laughed at his eagerness but looked at the bustling keepnet: "You should be content with your catch; let Uncle take care of the rest of the carps. I’m afraid you won’t be able to handle them."

Compared to Lin Yang’s catch, he was quite behind.

The difference with the Yellow Perch was too great, and although the number of Crucian Carps wasn’t much different, there was a big difference in weight.

As for the carps... The big carp that Lin Yang had just caught was at least eight pounds. He wouldn’t be able to surpass Lin Yang tonight without some incredible luck.

But luckily, someone was doing even worse than him. Li Xiaopeng’s keepnet currently held only a few pathetic little Crucian Carps.

Seeing their envious looks, Lin Yang said: "Uncle, your fishing method isn’t suited for the rapids. I suggest you try the ’silent rod’ technique."

"Silent rod technique?" Yang Xincheng and Li Xiaopeng both looked at him.

Lin Yang took out a 3.6-meter rod with a stiffness rating of 37, added a heavier sinker, moved the space bean limiting the lead skin seat upwards, and then removed the float.

"Cast the rod into the water, pull the fishing line straight so the tip bends slightly. Since the space bean restricting the lead skin seat has been moved, the seat is hollow in the middle, allowing the line to move freely, and the weight of the sinker won’t affect the fish biting."

"Once a fish bites, the rod tip will nod, and you’ll also feel the bite. If it keeps nodding, you can lift the rod. At night in these waters, you’ll hardly ever come up empty-handed."

"During the day, the small fish might disturb, so there can’t be too much assurance, but at night, there’s a very small chance of an empty rod with the silent rod technique."

Yang Xincheng eagerly took the rod, put away his previous one, and began casting.

Being an experienced angler, he understood what Lin Yang meant without needing any guidance.

Indeed, shortly after using the silent rod technique taught by Lin Yang, he caught a Crucian Carp.

Excited by the catch, Yang Xincheng gave Lin Yang a thumbs up: "Impressive, Xiao Yang. I didn’t expect you to have not only good luck but also so much knowledge. Within minutes of casting, I caught a fish; I’m really getting into it."

After saying that, he cast another line into the water.