The Top Fishing
Chapter 89 - 089: Occupy the Camp First

Chapter 89: Chapter 089: Occupy the Camp First

The headlights swept across for a glance, seemingly an area long neglected and fallen into disrepair. Besides the trees, the roadside was overrun with various weeds up to waist-high.

Outside the southern wall of the manor was a relatively even area about twenty to thirty meters from the water’s edge, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, and the shore was fairly orderly.

In Lin Yang’s view, such terrain was excellent for setting up camp, much better than those barren, wind-swept areas.

The group stopped the car and spoke over their mobile phones:

Tai: "This is a fishing spot I got from an acquaintance, convenient for parking and setting up a tent. How about we camp here?"

Wang Bo got out of the car, looked around, and nodded, "The location is good, facing the sun and sheltered from the wind, but I don’t know how deep the water is or what the underwater terrain is like."

Tai: "It should be a gentle slope. Some groups used to fish here secretly. They say the fishing isn’t bad."

After getting out of the car, Lin Yang brought a headlamp to survey the water’s edge.

Under the effect of the "Check Fish" skill, the whole body of water seemed suitable for fishing, especially near a small protruding point at the southeast corner. The water appeared deep upfront, presumably a fish path nearby.

"How should we arrange this? Shall we start setting up camp now?" asked Lin Yang.

Wang Bo had also gotten out of the car and shook his head, "I’ll take care of setting up the camp. Master Lin, you just focus on securing a good fishing spot, pre-bait, and meanwhile, Tai, you drive the villager back home first."

"Okay, I’ll be right back."

After saying this, Tai turned the car around and first took the elderly guide back home.

Lin Yang was about to unload the fishing gear when Wang Bo, seemingly experienced, said: "Don’t unload all the fishing equipment. I suspect the reservoir management might come by tomorrow morning to collect fees. In case there are any regulations, it would be a shame to lose the fish we catch after all the effort."

"Makes sense."

Lin Yang agreed and didn’t unload things like the fishing box or stand. Instead, he put on waterproof overalls for setting up his fishing stand in the water.

It was his first time fishing in this unfamiliar reservoir, and he was quite methodical: he took out his nine-meter behemoth rod, directly rigged it with a large line and glow-in-the-dark float, and began trying his luck along the shoreline.

Lin Yang called this method "exploring and sounding."

What does it mean?

It involved using the fishing rod and heavy line to gauge the depth of the water and the general underwater terrain of the surrounding area.

As mentioned before, one should never fish in just any spot; whether you catch anything will simply depend on luck.

The correct approach was like what Lin Yang was currently doing—gaining a clear understanding of the surrounding conditions before making a decision.

By continuously casting his line, Lin Yang determined the underwater area was fairly flat and consisted of a gradually inward sloping beach.

The water was about 3.5 meters deep at a span of a full nine-meter cast, and at lengths between three and a half and four and a half meters, the water depth was from 1.8 to 2 meters—a terrain quite suitable for reservoir fishing, especially when the water temperature was still low in spring.

After circling the nearby area, Lin Yang selected a few fishing spots he deemed the best.

With the fishing spots picked, the next steps were simple.

He moved a box of baiting corn from the car, then, based on the water depths he had marked, he began baiting the spots.

Not sure of the situation, he didn’t bait too aggressively—a large baiting spot for the long pole fishing spot, three kilograms of corn.

Nearby, at a distance of about three and a half meters, he scattered half a kilogram of bait mixed with sake-soaked grains.

He made marks for the bait spots—after these were replenished in the morning and the fees were paid, they could begin fishing.

After selecting and baiting the spots for all three, Lin Yang, having nothing else to do, returned to the vicinity of where they had parked.

In less than an hour, the chosen campsite area had transformed.

A very bright light was mounted on a telescopic lamp pole about two meters high, casting a bright glow over the surrounding area.

Three individual tents had sprung up, each corner anchored with iron stakes, arranged side by side with their entrances all facing south.

By the time Lin Yang returned, Wang Bo was setting up an outdoor kitchen adjacent to the site for placing camping utensils, with four metal poles securing the corners and a canopy for sun and rain protection placed above.

The stove, gas cylinder, and other bulky but less valuable items had already been moved out, making cooking very convenient.

Wang Bo clearly wasn’t bragging. The tidy and orderly layout alone showed his thorough knowledge and experience with outdoor camping.

In such a short span, a three-person campsite had taken shape.

Lin Yang: "Nice job, Brother Bo, you’re pretty adept! Is there anything else to move, or can we lend a hand?"

Wang Bo: "Have you picked the fishing spots and baited the areas?"

"Rest assured, I methodically tested each spot with the long rod in my waders. The fishing spots are definitely perfect!"

"Great, there’s no rush to move anything else; we can bring the rest out early tomorrow morning to avoid theft. I’ve put the sleeping bags in the tents. Just a bit more to set up and we can rest early, then rise at dawn to start the battle."

"Okay."

Around 10:30 PM, Wang Bo switched the campsite lights to energy-saving mode, and the three of them each crawled into their sleeping bags inside their tents, set their alarms, and closed their eyes to sleep.

Lin Yang was a light sleeper and also finicky about new sleeping places, so he had a very rough night, waking up at every little rustle of wind or grass outside.

He hardly managed to fall asleep in the latter part of the night, and it felt like he hadn’t been asleep long when the alarm set for six o’clock in the morning went off!

Having agreed to get up early to prepare the fishing spot, Lin Yang had no choice but to force open his dry eyes and crawl out of the tent.

Dawn was breaking, the water was very calm, and there was no wind; by all appearances, it seemed like the weather would be good today.

"Morning, how did you sleep last night?"

Wang Bo also crawled out from his tent, stretching his chest and limbs while greeting Lin Yang, looking quite spirited, at least much more than Lin Yang.

Lin Yang yawned, "I slept poorly in the first half of the night, fell asleep later, but then it felt like I woke up soon after."

"Look over there, aren’t we lucky we came early to get a good fishing spot!"

Lin Yang followed the direction Wang Bo was pointing, turned his head, and jumped in alarm.

He didn’t know when it had started, but he could see at the edge of his vision that River Road was jam-packed with cars; there must have been an incident further up the road, as numerous vehicles were creeping along at a snail’s pace. By the looks of it, by the time they parked and settled into a fishing spot, it would probably be noon.

"Damn, so many people are here to fish!"

Tai, who seemed to have emerged from his tent at some point, looked around and said, "Good thing we came early last night!"

"Stop dawdling, wash your face, then go add more bait to the spot. I’ll make breakfast, and we’ll have stir-fried rice noodles this morning."

"Okay." Lin Yang responded, taking the towel and toothbrush and toothpaste he had bought the night before from the car, and walked leisurely to the water’s edge to start washing up.

A few minutes later, he finished grooming.

Next was a repeat of the previous night’s baiting process: three pounds of corn for the big fish spot, half a pound of bait mixture plus sake rice for the Crucian Carp spot.

Due to the large area of the reservoir, even though his sake rice was very effective, he needed to use a bit more.

Three fishing spots, six bait spots, and he quickly finished replenishing them.

After finishing the preparations, Lin Yang once again looked out towards the crowded River Road and took out his phone to quickly film a promotional video.

Midnight raid on Azure Dragon Lake, crazy anglers on River Road!

This video was meant as a preview before the live broadcast and would be deleted afterward.

After Lin Yang and Tai finished replenishing the bait, the aromatic stir-fried rice noodles were also ready.

Wang Bo’s cooking skills were indeed nothing short of impressive; using simple ingredients, some ordinary rice noodles, a few green onions, a little ginger and garlic, some chili powder, a bit of soy sauce, two scoops of peanuts, and one poached egg per person, he fully stirred the cooked rice noodles into a bowl that was very tempting to look at.

One large bowl per person, the three of them called each other to eat and were fully satisfied.

After breakfast, it was already fully light out, and the vehicles on River Road were still backed up, but the staff responsible for collecting fees had already rushed over by speedboat.

"When did you guys get here? The tents are already pitched!" The speaker on the speedboat was a man in his forties.

"We were the first group to come in from Dongyang Town at around four in the morning. Lucky we came early, or we would have been stuck outside too. You’re here to collect the fees, right? The fishing fees for the three of us!"

Wang Bo handed over the money while offering cigarettes, paying the full 600 yuan to the man.

The man then gave them three receipts as proof, exchanged a few words of small talk, and left on the speedboat.

"Alright, the fee is paid; we can fish in peace now! You guys try fishing first; I’ll set up the canopy. Once the sun comes out, it’ll get a bit hot, and we’ll have some shade...."

Although it was still early spring, the weather was good, and it would get a bit warm after the sun came up.

Lin Yang took his fishing gear such as fishing box and rod bag from the car, set up his fishing spot, and then set up a phone to start live streaming.

The live stream was enticingly named, "First Day of the Azure Dragon Lake Fishing Season - All Set for a Series of Catches!"

"Is the host at Azure Dragon Lake? Isn’t that a water conservation area where fishing is not allowed?"

"The news came out yesterday. It’s the first day of the fishing season today; you can fish as long as you pay the fishing fee."

"We’re here too, but we’re stuck on the road outside. How did you manage to start fishing so early, host?"

Seeing the messages from his followers, Lin Yang smiled and then said, "I got the news yesterday from a friend that Azure Dragon Lake was opening. So, we prepared overnight, arrived here at midnight, and have already set up camp. I’ve just started broadcasting, and I haven’t even adjusted my float yet. I baited the spot earlier to test how the fishing is."

"No wonder; so you arrived in the middle of the night!"

"I heard from a little birdie that there was a car accident up ahead. A fisher’s car hit a local woman on an electric bike. River Road is quite narrow, so it’s blocked. We still don’t know when it will be cleared."

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