The Top Fishing
Chapter 69 - 068: Killing the Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs

Chapter 69: Chapter 068: Killing the Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs

Lin Yang whispered to his phone, "You all heard it, right? Boss Tang added another 200 to the jackpot, our chances of landing a catch just got a tiny bit better today."

"Take down the prize money, Boss Pan!"

"Come on, final minute, it’s time to start fishing."

Right at seven o’clock, Wang Jian Country called out, "Time’s up, everyone start fishing!"

The official fishing competition began, and just like last time, the cluster bombing technique of hand-throwing nests was in full swing.

Each person had at least a pound or two of nest bait, and some, like Yu Yitong who measured their bait by the bucketful, would throw fist-sized bait balls into their fishing spots as if they were free, the sounds of bait hitting the water exploding everywhere.

While everyone else was casting nests, Lin Yang and Zhang Qiang, who was sitting beside him, were the odd ones out.

Lin Yang was still using the old method of lead-skin weighted nests, while Zhang Qiang was even more confident, eschewing the lead-skin altogether and directly using double hooks to twirl thumb-sized triangular baits into his nest.

Triangular bait is a method similar to the way bowling ball baits are prepared, where when baiting, you intentionally do not round the bait with your fingertips, but pinch it firm, leaving three edges.

Once the bait hit the water, these edges would quickly soak up water and fall off, creating an effect that lured fish and increased diffusion, leaving behind a bait core for fishing.

However, this method of baiting was more suitable for slightly larger wet baits, and for dry, loose baits like the ones Lin Yang was using, it was much more difficult to apply.

If one were to make a horizontal comparison of the different baiting methods for fishing raw fish, wet loose pinched triangular was far worse than dry loose, barely comparable to the mediocre performance of a bowling ball twirl bait.

With just one glance, Lin Yang knew, Zhang Qiang’s skills had obviously improved by more than a little since last time.

No matter the strategy for baiting, this time Zhang Qiang at least had some thought about the state of the bait entering the water and its application, starting to use his brain. This was enough to show his fishing level was at least a bit stronger than that of an ordinary angler.

Now that’s interesting.

Lin Yang was already an advanced angler, having him fish in Black Pond with a bunch of mid-level or even beginner anglers was clearly a bit of mismatched competition.

He continued with five balls of egg-sized bait tied with lead skin into the nest, then Lin Yang began casting his rod more frequently.

Today’s fish activity was still unknown. With a potentially skilled rival by his side, he decided to play it slightly safe. After replenishing the basic nest, he didn’t immediately go for a large volume explosion of loose bait but pinched two smaller loose baits to test the waters.

With the fish activity unknown, start with small explosions!

After casting more than a dozen rods, if the double hook hit bottom and there was no bite, he would lift the rod without hesitation, not giving it time to sink in.

Based on his last experience fishing in Black Pond here, during the stage where everyone was hand-casting their nests, the fish, scared by all the bait bombs, would scatter and take time to settle down.

No one would catch a fish in the first ten minutes of fishing, and today was no exception.

After a fifteen-minute silence over the fishing ground, the fishing positions near the south bank began catching fish.

Fish were released at six-thirty, just an hour ago.

Catching fish within fifteen minutes of the start indicated that the quality of the fish released today was good, and Lin Yang made an initial judgment of the fish activity.

And just then, the nest that Zhang Qiang had been working for a while showed signs of life.

After the float settled in place, it began to tremble slightly, indicating fish were in the nest area.

On the next cast, he skillfully twirled two balls of soft, sticky bait that had just wrapped around the hook and cast them directly into the nest.

The float flipped, steadily descending, and once it reached the preset depth, it suddenly nudged up slightly, plop!

A bite of about a centimeter—a sharp tug.

Zhang Qiang didn’t rush to lift his rod, waiting until another faltering dip confirmed the fish had taken the bait before he struck to hook the fish.

With a whoosh, the sound of the fishing line slicing through the water’s surface could be heard, striking accurately.

Zhang Qiang had set his hook.

The fish didn’t put up much of a fight; it breached after one round, and Zhang Qiang skillfully disengaged the hook and glanced over at Lin Yang as he placed the fish into the keepnet.

Lin Yang was still focused on preparing his swim, showing no signs of a catch.

Zhang Qiang thought to himself: Old Yu just bluffs, this guy really isn’t as mythical as they say, does he still think he’s going to lure the fish to the surface today?

His thoughts continued, but his hands remained busy; he re-baited a swim and waited for the bait to settle before lifting his rod again, casting out freshly baited hooks.

Strangely enough, as soon as the bait reached the bottom, the float dipped again, the movements mirroring those of the first fish.

With two fish caught in quick succession, Zhang Qiang’s confidence grew, his judgment proving correct. The guy next to him was just a paper tiger, garnering fame and reputation through deception, not worth mentioning.

As he secured the second fish in the keepnet, Zhang Qiang couldn’t help but call out to Lin Yang, "Hey, Master Lin, got a bite yet? I heard you’re fantastic at float fishing for carp, is that true?"

Lin Yang, who had been patiently attracting fish, was slightly taken aback by Zhang Qiang’s address. The two had only competed over a couple of fish before and hardly knew each other – what was there to talk about?

"Not yet."

Zhang Qiang squinted: "Your miraculous bait doesn’t seem so miraculous! I’ve caught two already, at least try to catch one to keep in the net."

Lin Yang also squinted, calmly replying, "Whether my bait is miraculous, you should know better than me, right? And, have you forgotten what I once told you? ’Being early doesn’t mean you’re in the lead; the latter one can press down the bedstead.’"

Zhang Qiang detected the sarcasm in Lin Yang’s words but still retorted defiantly, "Then you better hurry up, or else if you keep reloading your swim, all the fish will be gone, and then they’ll stop biting!"

Lin Yang replied with a smile at the corner of his mouth: "Okay."

"It’s Zhang Qiang again, ever since he lost to the streamer last time, he’s never dared to stream again."

"Although Zhang Qiang is annoying, his skills are much better than the old man’s from last time; he’s steady with his bite detection and landing fish. Streamer, be careful."

"Let him show off for now; in a bit, we’ll just put out his fire and watch him stare!"

Hearing Zhang Qiang’s voice, the viewers in the live stream room were also indignant.

Lin Yang glanced at the barrage and said, "Everyone, don’t get restless yet. I haven’t fed the swim, I’ll keep drawing the fish a bit longer, today’s fishing conditions aren’t as good as the last match!"

Hearing him say this to the live stream, Zhang Qiang felt even more smug. Just then, the float dipped once more, and he set the hook and struck again, securing another fish with precision.

He was three fish ahead now, Lin Yang had yet to set his rod, and he feared if he waited much longer, the whole pond really might stop biting.

However, Lin Yang was still not in a hurry; his strategy was entirely different from Zhang Qiang’s.

To set the hook without catching the wind and to land the fish with a twist require completely different strategies in terms of angling.

The earliest group of fish to gather at the feeding spot were the baby fish; they would stay at the spot, greatly reducing the wariness of their companions passing by, making it easy for them to join and be held by the swim.

If he started fishing too early, it would be like slaughtering the chicken for eggs!

If Lin Yang had been like Zhang Qiang, rubbing small baits and fishing off the bottom, he would have set his hook by now.

Of course, Lin Yang wouldn’t do such a thing; as the number of fish increased, he carefully controlled the depth at which his bait entered the water, typically striking the rod just as the float tipped, scattering the bait without giving the fish a chance to bite.

Under his deliberate cultivation, the fish gathered more and more, quickly going from two or three to seven or eight, then over ten... From a small group, they gradually accumulated into a large school, and the signs of fish activity on the water’s surface became increasingly abundant.