The Top Fishing
Chapter 479 - 222: Making a Nest in the Sea_3

Chapter 479: Chapter 222: Making a Nest in the Sea_3

Fish!

On the surface of the water floated several pieces of a fish that had been artificially dismembered.

The live streaming audience had called it right, the people on the other boat were using dead fish to chum.

Upon noticing this, Lin Yang turned and walked toward Zhang Lin, who wasn’t far off, "The other boat is chumming. Do we have any preparations? I saw in the camera that they were throwing down lots of chunks of fish."

Zhang Lin wasn’t surprised and said, "Oh, you’re talking about that. Indeed, they’re chumming, but it’s of limited effect. We also have some prepared in the freezer of this yacht. Are you sure you want to use it?"

"Limited effect?" Lin Yang was slightly perplexed and frowned as he asked.

In any fishing scenario, chumming was the best choice to attract fish. Yet, to the captain, it somehow had limited effect. There must be information that he was unaware of.

"Chumming was indeed a good method in the beginning. When sailing, they would cut the fish into chunks and throw them into the water, forming a trail of blood and flesh underwater, which attracted nearby larger fish to follow. But with the decrease in Bluefin populations, this method has been used less and less over recent years, and its effectiveness has diminished," explained Zhang Lin, noticing his confusion.

"That’s still odd though, the fewer the fish, shouldn’t you want to chum more? How do you gather fish if you don’t chum? I’m not quite following your logic," Lin Yang persisted.

"Don’t rush me, I haven’t finished yet. The number of Bluefin has decreased, so the government issues fewer legal fishing permits each year. However, fishing for Bluefin Gold Spearfish has become a well-known cultural and tourism project, generating substantial income so it can’t stop. What do you do then?

Anglers without a permit can only catch and release the fish back into the sea purely for the thrill of it. Proper and regulated release doesn’t harm the Bluefin too much. But Bluefin are smart. After experiencing this, they’ve become much more cautious. As the number of catch and releases increases, they’ve figured out the human trick. After that, chumming just wasn’t effective anymore. Smart big fish can follow a boat for tens or hundreds of miles but refuse to bite the bait on the hooks."

With this explanation, Lin Yang immediately understood. This was just like the raw fish in the competitive fishing ponds slipping away.

Repeated catch and release had made some of the big fish here wiser. Scattering chum (fish chunks) even heightened the fish’s alert mentality, making them harder to catch.

However, after understanding this, Lin Yang still felt something was off.

"Hang on, you said large fish would follow the boat for dozens or even hundreds of miles?" he continued to inquire.

"Yeah, I’m not making this up. There’s a large fish detector in the cockpit that clearly shows it."

"Something’s not right. If it knows it’s man-made, why would it still follow the boat?" Lin Yang sharply noted this detail.

"Well, of course, they’re eating the dead fish that were thrown overboard," said Zhang Lin without hesitation.

"Right, that means they are still eating, which means the chum is still effective," Lin Yang nodded.

"Ah, now that you put it that way, it kind of makes sense.... Having big fish and not biting are two different things, having no big fish is another matter.... Shall we also try using some dead fish?"

"Mm," Lin Yang nodded in agreement.

What a joke, whether it was effective or not was unknown, but currently, it was a battle of fishing tactics, and if others were using it, Lin Yang wouldn’t feel secure if he didn’t.

It was like fishing in a stocked pond. As the fishing began, the angler next to him had already prepared several balls of chum, while he hadn’t brought any.

Bringing them doesn’t necessarily mean chumming will work, but it ensures that you won’t be disadvantaged. At worst, it would just be ineffective, the same as next door.

If you don’t bring any chum, nine out of ten times, you’ve lost at the starting line.

The choice was simple.

Soon, the two of them arrived at the yacht’s freezer, which stored several boxes of frozen mixed fish. The fish were small but varied—a kind not worth much money, buried in crushed ice, frozen solid.

Each of them took a box and carried it to the yacht’s deck.

The captain, seeing the mixed fish they brought up, said, "Are you sure you want to use these to chum? These mixed fish are very hard, and it might take some time to chop them up."

"No problem, I’m free anyway, I’ll take care of it. The small fish are easy to cut," Zhang Lin boldly took over the job of cutting the fish.

The fish were small, barely half a pound each, making them fairly easy to cut.

Soon, the basin was filled with large and small chunks of fish, each fish cut into two or three pieces, with the smell of blood gradually spreading across the deck.

"The chum fish is ready, should we throw it overboard now?" Zhang Lin asked Lin Yang, as if seeking approval.

Lin Yang nodded, "Go ahead, we’ve already lost almost half an hour. Don’t let the other team get ahead."

No sooner had he spoken than cries of surprise came from the Ghost Ship, a distance away. You could vaguely see Captain Joseph clinging tightly to a fishing rod, signaling his mates for help.

"The other side has got a bite first," Yue’er whispered, immediately maneuvering the drone’s camera to get a closer look.

As the camera zoomed in, the live stream’s image became clearer.

Joseph was clinging tightly to the fishing rod, which was so strongly bent it looked like a bow. Meanwhile, a series of clicking sounds were heard as the fish below struggled fiercely, rapidly pulling out the line.

"Damn, the opposition caught a fish first, and the line is going out so fast. Could it be a big one?"

"Damn it, those bastards are lucky, cut the line, break it, damn it all!"

"Looks like it’s not a small fish. Does this mean chumming is effective? What do we do, we can’t afford to lose face here."

Faced with the live stream viewers’ concerns, Lin Yang was still calm, the first one to catch isn’t necessarily the winner, and there’s still a long time left to fish. Caught a fish first didn’t mean much.

However, as he had never fished for Bluefin before, he wasn’t very aware of the strength of this kind of fish and didn’t know how big the one underwater was.