The Top Fishing
Chapter 99 - 099: Riding the Giant Fish Again

Chapter 99: Chapter 099: Riding the Giant Fish Again

After setting everything up, it was already past six in the morning, and Lin Yang started the day’s live stream.

"Good morning, everyone. Today is the second day of fishing at Azure Dragon Lake. I replenished the bait spot before dawn, and now let’s see if there are any bites."

Preparing the bait at the same spot for two consecutive days can have a cumulative effect at the reservoir. When fish roam in search of food, they are likely to return the next day to places where food was plentiful. This is the core essence of baiting.

By baiting for two days in a row, Lin Yang’s old baiting spot had already attracted quite a few fish from the vicinity.

On his first cast, he caught a Crucian Carp with two tails, which took him by surprise.

"Wow, is this spot teeming with bites? The first cast and it’s a double tail. Check out the size of the Crucian Carp from the reservoir; this big one is almost a pound."

Lin Yang scooped the two fish ashore, casually grabbed the bigger one, and showed its size to his livestream viewers with his palm, drawing a wave of envy.

"Yesterday, I tried fishing here for a day, and I got a preliminary understanding of the fish situation at Spring Reservoir. The Crucian Carp are more active from morning till noon, so I’m focusing on Crucian Carp, and once the water warms up, I’ll try for bigger fish. The Big Flower Head Carp yesterday brought me quite a few surprises, so I specifically borrowed a set of gear suitable for landing a hundred pounds of giant fish; I’ll see if I can get lucky later...."

Fishing definitely follows the basic rules of fish behavior, and nobody is an exception.

From just after six in the morning until before eight, the spot where Lin Yang’s shorter rod was baited was constantly active.

It was fortunate that Lin Yang was using a large-bellied black pit fish keeper. If it had been an ordinary competition fish keeper, with two days combined, the catch approaching 100 pounds could have crushed the fish below.

After nine in the morning, the bites on the short rod decreased.

Time flies when you’re fishing, and it was Wang Bo’s turn to cook at noon. He had enough ingredients in his car for three to four days, and combined with the various fish they caught, the meals here were even better than at home.

Lunch took around an hour and a bit more.

After lunch, Lin Yang cleaned up the trash and returned to his fishing spot. He mixed some soil with old corn and prepared a new bait spot for his lure rod.

In his expectation, the window from two to three in the afternoon until before five was the best time for big fish at the reservoir during this season.

Choosing his target points, he threw a "hand grenade" around the water area to replenish the bait spot, and then Lin Yang washed his hands and went back to his tent to rest.

He confidently set his alarm for two o’clock and boldly went to sleep.

In the afternoon before the alarm went off, Lin Yang was woken up from his sleep by the dripping sound of the electronic alarm.

He got up and saw that Wang Bo had set up a rod array in the eastern section where no one else was fishing!

Five casting rods were lined up in a row on a specialized rack, and the fish on the rod to the far left had triggered the alarm, and its sound was coming from there.

"Got a fish? Big or not?" Lin Yang asked.

Wang Bo skillfully reeled in the line, looked up with a smile, and answered, "The fish isn’t very big, just about four or five pounds."

Hearing this weight, Lin Yang lost interest. Fish of this size were very common around the reservoir. To put it bluntly, they were basically deemed small fry.

Checking the time, it was already one forty. Lin Yang pulled in his own lure rod, replacing it with a few corn kernels.

Wang Bo’s casting area perfectly avoided the vicinity of Lin Yang’s baiting spots, with at least a twenty to thirty meter distance from the shore.

Since he was already awake, Lin Yang chose to continue the live stream — you never know when the big fish will bite.

When there were no bites, just chat.

However, Wang Bo’s casting array nearby was indeed effective. In just a short time, he had already landed two four or five pound carp back to back.

Meanwhile, in Lin Yang’s Crucian Carp spot, the Big Plate Crucian Carps were now slowly showing interest.

Over the next hour, there was no activity on his side, but Yang Xincheng’s rod array bells had rung.

Yang Xincheng, with his ample experience in reservoir fishing, grabbed the rod as soon as he heard the bell sound and started to pull in the fish.

"Xiao Peng, Xiao Yang, come help, reel in the rods on both sides, don’t get the lines tangled, the fish is not small."

In just one round, Yang Xincheng had determined the fish was not small. He reduced the tension by a great deal, and now it was pulling the line out with a clicking noise, frantically releasing line.

Lin Yang hastily walked up to the casting area, grabbed a rod, and started frantically reeling in the line. Casting for big fish has this disadvantage — if they are too close, the lines can easily get tangled after the fish is hooked.

The two others helped gather the other rods, and only then did Yang Xincheng finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Li Xiaopeng asked, "How big is it, the fish?"

"I think it’s at least twenty or thirty pounds. I feel like this is the biggest fish I’ve ever caught."

Fishing with a hand rod for big fish takes a long time and is very strenuous, but using a cast rod with a reel is much simpler.

Because there is a spinning reel, it significantly reduces the difficulty of playing the fish. Setting the drag to a suitable level allows the fish to both pull and deplete its strength effectively.

Yang Xincheng occasionally slightly loosened the tension to let out the line, and at other times, he tightened the tension to reel in. He firmly controlled the rhythm of playing the fish, and after several intense rushes, the large fish underwater gradually diminished its force.

Seeing that the big fish was about to surface soon, the Lure Rod that Lin Yang had carefully prepared also showed signs of movement.

The tip of the rod trembled, and while everyone’s attention was on Yang Xincheng, no one noticed the sound of the bell; after a few rounds, the rod was pulled flat, even digging up the ground holder.

It was then that Lin Yang realized his rod had caught a fish.

"Damn, my rod caught a fish too!" Lin Yang sprinted towards his fishing spot.

He stretched his long legs and ran like the wind, quickly reaching his spot and scooping up the rod in a movement like scooping the moon from the sea.

Upon gripping the rod, his first reaction was to vigorously lift and stab the fish, an essential technique when fishing with a Lure Rod.

There are four common types of fishing rods: the Hand Pole, which has a finer tip suitable for ponds, reservoirs, and lakes.

Lure Rods, also known as sea rods, besides being suitable for sea fishing, can also be used in large reservoirs and rivers.

The third type, the Lure Rod, is a dual-purpose rod for both sea and freshwater big fish fishing, and the fourth type, the Lure Rod, is used for fishing ferocious carnivorous fish.

After hooking the fish, Lin Yang felt a strong force transmitted through the line assembly. He tilted the rod to one side, attempting to control the fish’s surge simply, but it was ineffective.

The line was tightly tensed, and without turning his head, it continued to race into the depths.

In just a few seconds, Lin Yang’s heart clenched with the overwhelming force.

An 8000 large-sized spinning reel, although a domestic second-tier brand lacking some of the fine craftsmanship of imports like Dawa Ximano, certainly had sufficient brake resistance.

The brake was almost at its tightest yet it still frantically pulled at the line—had Lin Yang not been familiar with spinning reels, he would have suspected a malfunction in the reel’s drag system.

In just the first charge, the fish took more than 80 meters of line under at least 10 kilograms of resistance.

This method of line release, steady and firm like an old bull, was something Lin Yang had experienced the day before with the Big Flower Head, but the feel of the Hand Pole and Lure Rod was different, making direct comparison difficult.

Now, only one word could describe the sensation from this fish: huge, and not just ordinarily so!

"Everyone, pay attention, a big fish is coming. I’m not sure how large it is, but the strength is incredibly shocking. The spool has already lost over half its line and it doesn’t seem to be easing up."

At this critical moment, Lin Yang still managed to interact with the live stream viewers, his expression appeared relaxed, but his tensely flexed hands spoke volumes.

After another 100 meters charge by this big fellow, it finally slowed down.

Seeing this, Lin Yang knew his chance had arrived. He locked the brake, rested the rod on his abdomen, and frantically lifted the rod, pressed down, and reeled in—repeating these actions continuously.

The advantage of the big reel became apparent. The line wound more quickly and the power was transmitted more smoothly. Lin Yang managed to retrieve at least half the line in one breath, restoring the spool to a relatively healthy state.

"Damn, such a big reel was just making a crackling sound, how big must this fish be?"

"If I’m not mistaken, it looks like an 8000 series reel right? Can its brake resistance reach 10 kilograms? Just this one took half the spool."

"No doubt, the host has caught another behemoth. Fishing for huge creatures with a hand pole is indeed challenging; switching to a rod with a reel makes it much easier. Keep it up and bring it in!"

While Lin Yang was locked in a standoff with the fish, the fish that Yang Xincheng had hooked finally flipped over and was pulled out of the water—it was a Carp weighing about 20 pounds, which was considered huge even for the reservoir.

After Yang Xincheng landed his fish, everyone at the camp turned their attention to Lin Yang.

They saw him holding the rod steadily, the drag on the spool crackling as it released line continuously—this was already the third round of surges.

"How’s it going, Xiao Yang? A big one?"

Lin Yang nodded, "It should be bigger than the Hua Lian from yesterday. The drag is almost locked tight and it can still rush out at least 100 meters in one breath, thank goodness I chose the largest reel beforehand. If it were a regular 3000 or 4000 series reel, it probably would have given out in one round."

As the force of the surges diminished again, he repeated his previous actions and reeled the line back in.

After several repetitions of intense line retrieval, Lin Yang could faintly feel the heat from the reel and line.

"Brother Wang, splash some water on it, it’s getting hot."

Wang Bo casually opened a bottle of mineral water and generously splashed it on the reel, cooling it down for Lin Yang.

He stood aside and asked, "Still with a single hook line?"

"Yeah." Lin Yang nodded.

Wang Bo: "If you’d used a treble hook, a fish this big would have gone insane from the pain. You really foresaw this!"

"It’s not certain yet, let’s see if we can bring it up."

"Everyone’s here to help, you can switch out if you get tired."

Lin Yang: "Okay."