The Top Fishing
Chapter 76 - 076: Skin and Bones Fish

Chapter 76: Chapter 076: Skin and Bones Fish

"Because this is not a red worm, it’s a red earthworm."

Lin Yang smiled, fetched another bait basin, filled it with water, and continued after placing the worms in it, "This worm is also called a water worm, and it can also be used for fishing."

Tai sighed with relief, his towering height of 1.9 meters seemed to shrink a few centimeters: "So this isn’t a red worm, I thought it looked different."

"I actually knew there were many other worms that could be used for fishing, but I had never used them before. Today, fishing with you, Master Lin, I finally got to see these worms," Wang Bo remarked from the side.

After finding some more water worms, Lin Yang decided not to dig anymore. He washed his hands and said with a smile:

"I hadn’t thought of it initially, but we hadn’t had any bites using the usual bait here, and when I saw a worm crawling past my foot, I remembered we could try using worms to see if they would be effective."

"I think it will work!"

Wang Bo was excited and shared his thoughts: "This place is so remote, no one comes to fish here, and there’s no flowing water. There surely isn’t much for the fish to eat here, so they must be eating worms."

"Now that you, Master Lin, have caught so many worms, if there are any fish here, we’ll definitely see some bites!"

"That makes sense." Lin Yang nodded in agreement.

He then returned to his fishing spot, baited the two hooks on his 4.5-meter rod with water worms, and cast his line into the water.

He then said to Wang Bo and the others, "There are three more kinds of worms here; each of you should try one and see how it goes."

Tai didn’t need any further instructions; he immediately grabbed a maggot, cut it in half, and mounted it on his 4.5-meter rod that he too was using to fish mixed breeds, just like Lin Yang.

Although Li Xiaopeng and Wang Bo were somewhat reluctant, their desire to catch fish ultimately overcame their disgust, and they picked a worm to fish with.

In the live stream room, the viewers were supportive of Lin Yang and the others using worms for fishing.

"Using worms for fishing? Will that work?"

"There must be little to eat in this place. The only available food is worms, so using them might actually be effective!"

"But isn’t bait more fragrant? Don’t fish prefer to eat tasty stuff?"

"If there are fish here, having had nothing to eat for so long, the ones that survived must be crafty. Faced with unfamiliar bait, who would dare to eat it? They’d probably want to keep their distance."

"Now that you mention it, that makes sense!"

"Let’s see if we get any bites soon. If we do, then Master Lin using worms was absolutely the right approach."

....

However, despite switching to worms, Lin Yang’s float still showed no movement.

Li Xiaopeng, Wang Bo, and Tai were having the same luck.

Although this was normal, Lin Yang thought for a moment and then turned to ask Tai, "Tai, you guys have been baiting this area for a week. What exactly did you use, and how big was the area?"

"We used corn, wheat, and vegetable cakes, as well as some commercial bait mix, all intended for catching carp." Tai replied.

He then stood up, pointing at a large expanse of water ahead: "As for the area, it’s the spot we’ve been fishing in, covering both far and near waters with bait."

"How many pounds of bait did you lay down?" Lin Yang continued to inquire.

"Well... I used about forty to fifty pounds of corn, a dozen or so pounds of wheat, a dozen pounds of vegetable cakes, and fifty to sixty pounds of commercial bait mix... All together, it was roughly one hundred thirty to one hundred forty pounds of bait," Tai explained.

"....."

Lin Yang was somewhat speechless, with over a hundred pounds of bait; no wonder.

With so much bait laid down, if there were many fish it wouldn’t be enough, and if there were few, they’d likely be stuffed to death.

Moreover, this Heavenly Pit obviously had few fish and it seemed like no one had fished here before, so the fish wouldn’t have seen corn, wheat or vegetable products before, let alone commercial bait mix.

So, it was very likely that the bait Tai and his friends had laid down did not attract the fish at all and instead, it startled them, causing them to leave!

Seeing Lin Yang’s expression, Tai also realized that they might have made a mistake with the bait.

Embarrassed, he scratched his head and continued, "Then on the second day of fishing, seeing that there were still no bites, we added another ten-plus pounds of commercial bait mix...."

"Master Lin, did we completely mess up with the bait?"

"A bit...."

Lin Yang nodded, their excessive baiting method would have been fine for a reservoir, or even a natural river or lake environment.

But in a completely wild water pit like this, such a method was too reckless.

If luck wasn’t on your side, coming up empty-handed was quite normal.

Instead, if they hadn’t laid down any bait and just used worms or red earthworms for fishing, they might have caught some fish.

"Next time I won’t lay the bait like this...."

Knowing he had come up empty-handed for so many days and had also caused Lin Yang and Brother Bo to do the same, Tai appeared somewhat dejected.

No wonder his fishing skills were so poor, and he had even been let go by the fishing club; it turned out he couldn’t even manage the simplest task of laying down bait properly.

While Wang Bo also wanted to habitually scold Tai a bit, seeing his despondent mood, he ultimately kept silent.

Although they had been good friends for a long time and had a good relationship, he knew it wasn’t the right time to say harsh words.

Just when the other three thought the water pit was completely ruined, Lin Yang suddenly said with a smile, "Not necessarily, maybe the way you laid the bait, Tai, wasn’t entirely without benefit...."

"Hmm?" Tai looked up, somewhat excited.

Could it be that he had actually laid the bait correctly?

Lin Yang picked up his 4.5-meter fishing rod, stood up, and walked towards the edge of Tai’s fishing spot, meanwhile saying:

"Tai, it’s been almost ten days since you laid the bait down. The fish in the water might have started to get used to the bait you laid."

"So if the bait you put down hasn’t gone rotten, the edges of the bait area should have some fish trying to eat it by now."

As he spoke, Lin Yang had reached the grassy area that Tai hadn’t dug up, pointing to the water in front of him, he asked, "Tai, the edges of the bait area you laid should be about right here, right?"

"That’s right, that’s right!"

Tai saw Lin Yang grab his fishing rod and start moving, and he quickly grabbed his own fishing rod to follow.

"Then I’ll try fishing from this spot...."

Lin Yang said, having already cast his line, and Tai also cast his line not far from him.

As for Wang Bo and Li Xiaopeng, they also squeezed to the other end of the fishing spot with their own rods and cast their lines at the edge.

Lin Yang first placed his fishing rod on the ground, then took his phone stand, found a good angle, and aimed the camera at both his fishing spot and the float.

If a fish were to bite, this setup would capture any movement of the float as well as the entire scene of him lifting the rod and catching the fish.

However, after Lin Yang’s first cast, he waited for two minutes and the float remained completely still.

So he lifted his rod, slightly changed the position, and cast again.

But it was still the same.

Seeing this, Wang Bo’s heart sank from not far away.

Could Master Lin’s guess have been wrong?

No, with Master Lin’s impressive skills, he couldn’t be wrong!

It must be that there were simply no fish here, it had to be so.

At this moment, the viewers in the live stream also felt slightly disappointed.

"Switching to the edge and still no bites, it seems like there really are no fish in this spot."

"Looks like the caster’s earlier guess was wrong."

"Can’t understand why Master Lin would choose a fishless spot for fishing, is he intentionally making it harder for himself?"

"Yeah, suggest that the caster in the future should avoid such fishless spots for fishing, really not very interesting."

....

After waiting another two minutes with the second cast, there was still no bite.

Lin Yang furrowed his brows and changed his position slightly again.

He cast another line.

Tai initially thought this cast also had little hope.

However, this time, after the float settled, it suddenly wiggled irregularly to the left and right.

It was that wiggle that made Tai’s heart clench immediately.

Could it be that Master Lin was about to catch a fish?

After seeing the float move, Lin Yang felt certain, knowing he must have guessed correctly.

The Heavenly Pit indeed had fish, and they were not in the middle of the bait area that Tai and others had prepared, but right at the edge of it!

Soon, the wiggling float sunk with a dip.

Lin Yang quickly lifted the rod.

Whoosh!

The fishing rod bent into a semicircle.

Fish on!

"Oh ho! Finally got a fish, Master Lin truly is a Master, so impressive...."

Seeing Lin Yang catch a fish, Tai, who had been holding his breath for a while, cheered up, feeling the gloom that had hung over him for several days was swept away all at once.

Thinking to himself, "Fish in the water, today I brought Master Lin here to fish, you guys are really in for it, just obediently get caught by me, hahaha...."

"Good, finally got a fish."

"Seems the caster’s change was effective."

"Being able to come up with so many ways to handle a no-fish situation, Master Lin’s fishing experience can match some of the famous veteran fishing masters."

"It appears that even in wild fishing, Master Lin has a knack for it."

Not just Tai was relieved to see Lin Yang catch a fish, but the viewers in the live stream also felt reassured.

Soon, the fish surfaced.

Not too big, it was a Crucian Carp weighing about three taels.

Tai, who had already prepared the landing net, immediately helped Lin Yang scoop up the fish.

After seeing the fish up close, Lin Yang slightly frowned, somewhat disdainful of this fish.

Normally, catching the first fish after more than an hour should have been happy.

However, the key issue was that the fish was too thin!

A proper Crucian Carp, instead of having a plump belly, was flat and nearly as thin as a Bian Fish.

If this fish were not so thin and were a normal fish, it would have weighed at least five taels!

"This fish is really thin!"

"Yeah, it’s starved to just skin and bones...."

On the other side, Wang Bo and Li Xiaopeng, knowing Lin Yang had finally caught a fish, hurriedly came over to check and, seeing the emaciated Crucian Carp, both shook their heads.

Although catching a fish was joyful, catching such a skinny fish was somewhat less liked by many fishing enthusiasts.

Because they all felt that catching such weak fish was a kind of sin.