The Top Fishing Master
Chapter 109: Fishing for Big Hauls

Chapter 109: Chapter 109: Fishing for Big Hauls

That night, Lin Yang discussed with a few others in the "Male Gods" group chat, asking who would join him the next day for another attempt at Qinglong Lake Reservoir to challenge the giant fish.

After some discussion, only Li Xiaopeng was free tomorrow.

Wang Bo and Tai were on business trips out of town, Wang Feng was also out competing and hadn’t returned, and Yang Xincheng had to work, leaving only Lin Yang and his cousin available.

The two agreed to meet at Qinglong Lake Reservoir the next morning.

After shutting off his phone, Lin Yang lay in bed unable to sleep, feeling somewhat excited.

Although he wasn’t completely certain the video was real, and couldn’t guarantee he would catch anything if he went, he just couldn’t sleep.

That’s just how people are; the prospect of a big event can greatly affect their emotions. It was understandable he couldn’t sleep, especially since fishing was the biggest thing for him right now.

Just remembering the outline of the giant fish in the video was enough for Lin Yang to feel his adrenaline pumping. The thought of catching such a big fish was thrilling.

The night seemed particularly long...

Early the next day, just past five o’clock, Lin Yang got up with dark circles under his eyes.

From his place to Qinglong Lake Reservoir was about an hour’s drive. There would definitely be many people going there today to scout for big fish, so he had to get there early to secure a good spot.

Whether or not he would catch anything wasn’t the issue; securing the spot was the priority.

After getting up, Lin Yang washed up briefly and then carefully checked over the fishing gear he intended to bring.

Fortunately, after unlocking the Gu fish the day before, he was rewarded with a set of rock fishing rods for challenging the giant fish, otherwise, he would have had to drive into town to buy a set today.

His set of rock fishing rods was similar to the one he had borrowed from Wang Bo last time to catch the big carp, only with a bit better quality and performance.

Once he checked everything was in order, he drove off.

.....

Over an hour later, after a winding drive, Lin Yang finally arrived at the Qinglong Lake Reservoir, this time at the sluice gate.

Fortunately, he started out early, encountering little traffic. Otherwise, even getting into the reservoir would have been difficult.

Upon arrival at the sluice gate, he found the area already filled with cars parked tightly together. Some people had risen earlier than him, and there were even quite a few who had probably come the night before, or hadn’t left at all.

After finding a spot to park his car, Lin Yang, with his gear, headed to the sluice gate. He was visibly awestruck by the imposing structure before him.

What he saw was less a sluice gate and more a dam, stretching for hundreds of meters from east to west. The sluice pits below numbered in the dozens, though now the sluices were closed, and the water level difference between the upper and lower sides was significant.

The deeper water level area above was his destination this time.

The last time they had fished here, it was in the middle reaches of Qinglong Lake Reservoir, but now he was at the water discharge outlet.

Although the area wasn’t as vast here, the water depth was the deepest. Lin Yang glanced at the water level mark on one of the sluice pits.

65M!

The water depth was impressive, a fitting place for big fish to dwell.

Walking forward with his equipment, Lin Yang saw a long line of anglers, each wielding a casting rod at the railings above the sluice gate.

Many other anglers fished with hand rods along the riverbanks. The reservoir outlet was constructed at its narrowest midsection, which made the water surface here much broader.

After finding a place to set down his gear, Lin Yang sent his cousin a location pin via his phone, and then he approached a few fellow fishermen nearby.

Before starting to fish, of course, he wanted to check out the fishing situation here.

Lin Yang didn’t pay much attention to the anglers using hand rods at the shore. Since he was after large predatory fish, those small rods weren’t of concern to him.

Approaching the row of people at the sluice gate, Lin Yang noticed their varied fishing methods. Some were using lures, others heavy casting rods, and one individual was even using underwater visual fish finders.

He despised that kind of person from the bottom of his heart.

Not to mention the use of harmful barbed hooks, the underwater visual alone took away from the true joy of fishing.

Lin Yang observed that among the lure anglers, aside from a few with several small raised-beak fish in their keepnets, the rest had little to show.

Especially the one with the visual fish finder who, by his own account, had been playing since yesterday morning and had come up empty-handed the entire time.

He walked a few steps further.

The casting rod anglers had some success, with their water boxes containing treasures like the Seven-star Sea Bass.

Additionally, Lin Yang heard a few people discussing someone encountering a big catch here yesterday morning. From their conversation, it was apparent that they too were here yesterday, and the viral video online was indeed real, explaining why so many had turned up early today to try their luck.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yang felt somewhat relieved. It seemed genuine, and the big catch hadn’t been landed yet.

After making the rounds, he returned to the relatively flat spot he’d found earlier.

About fifteen minutes later, Li Xiaopeng finally arrived, huffing and puffing with his belongings.

"Cousin, is it here?" he gasped a few times, then sat down on the grass and asked.

"That’s right, it’s this place. Just now, a few people mentioned they indeed saw it with their own eyes yesterday."

"So how do you plan to fish?"

"With this."

Lin Yang took out the casting rod he had brought, then from the box, he retrieved the drone, "Today, you’ll help me with the live stream."

"Okay!" Li Xiaopeng nodded his head.

With his skills, he certainly wouldn’t be able to catch a giant creature, nor did he have a big casting rod, so his main purpose today was just to enjoy the spectacle and, incidentally, to help Lin Yang fly the drone.

The casting rod Lin Yang brought could be used by hand or at sea, and he had already rigged it with a line and hook sturdy enough to haul in anything under a hundred pounds. With a line protection buff and such, even one or two hundred pounds wouldn’t be a problem.

As for the bait, he chose a large-sized Minnow Lure.

Li Xiaopeng didn’t rest for long; he quickly got the drone flying, and Lin Yang took the opportunity to start the live broadcast with the title "Hunting the Reservoir Beast."

No sooner had the live stream begun than many viewers received notifications and flooded into the channel.

Lin Yang, at present, had around 120,000 to 130,000 followers. In less than five minutes, the number of viewers in the live stream had already broken a thousand and continued to rise. It seemed the title he had chosen was indeed very eye-catching.

"The host has finally started broadcasting, I thought you had disappeared."

"Yeah, if you didn’t start soon we’d have to dredge you up from Qinglong Lake."

"Wow, it’s a bird’s-eye view again today."

"Hunting the Reservoir Beast? Is the host starting to play tricks?"

Upon reflection, Lin Yang realized he hadn’t live-streamed for quite a while indeed.

After the sudden weather change last time, he had gone home from Qinglong Lake and taken a three-day rest. Then for several days afterwards, he hadn’t broadcasted, and since he also hadn’t sent out any notifications, it had indeed caused quite a bit of worry among many people.

Lin Yang glanced at the phone beside him and explained with a smile, "I took a few days off at home, so I didn’t broadcast. I believe many viewers have seen the videos about the big catch in Qinglong Lake these past few days. We’re here today to try our hands at it."

"No way, is that video for real? I thought it was fake?"

"Who told you it was fake? I was at the Qinglong Lake Reservoir sluice gate yesterday morning, I saw it with my own eyes, it’s definitely true!"

"Host’s awesome, if you can haul in the big catch today, I’ll smash down an airplane gift right away."

"The guy above is too stingy, I’ll send a sports car gift."

Having prepared to start fishing, Lin Yang scanned the water surface in front of him and then cast out the rod in his hand.

His casting technique was flawless, and with twice the strength of an average person, he cast it over thirty meters in an instant.

Lin Yang intended to use the big casting rod as if he were lure fishing, which many people do when targeting giant fish, especially when fishing for large predatory fish species, casting rods are a good choice.

The water in front was vast, with considerable waves. Lin Yang let out half of the line in the spool with his cast, and the Minnow Lure at the end of the line quickly drifted about a hundred meters away with his constant tugging.

This is also why many people can’t catch big fish here with a hand rod or lure, because they can’t cast the rod far enough, so how can they fish?

The drone in the sky, under Li Xiaopeng’s control, swiftly flew toward the center of the reservoir, with the HD camera tracking the movement of the tossed lure.

The viewers in the live stream room saw this scene and started to flood the chat. Where else could you see such footage in a normal live stream?

Since Lin Yang didn’t know what kind of fish had shown up here yesterday, he decided to target the middle to upper layer with his first cast.

Layer by layer, if the fish can’t be found in one level of water depth, he would search lower. And since the Minnow Lure he chose was a sinking type, it was also perfect for searching for the target species at various depths.

He waited a few seconds, letting the lure sink about two to three meters deep, before starting to reel in the line.

There are some fine points to reeling in: in addition to pausing briefly after the lure hits the water before reeling in, the reel-in speed must also be controlled according to the water flow.

If the water flow is slow, then reel in faster; if it’s fast, slow the reeling down.

It’s all about making the artificial bait move like real bait, which increases the success rate of attracting fish.

Although there was no water-moving sluice gate at the reservoir outlet, there were some undercurrents below, so there was a slow movement of water.

This could be seen from the way the leaves floating on the water’s surface moved steadily in one direction.

Because there was movement in the water at the reservoir mouth, Lin Yang didn’t reel in too quickly this time.

After waiting a while longer, his first cast didn’t produce any results, until only twenty to thirty meters of his line were left and he still hadn’t had a single bite.

Lure fishing in a big open water is just like that. Not to mention this first cast, it would be considered normal even if you caught nothing for several consecutive days.

Without a baiting spot to attract fish, artificial lures are inferior to live small fish. Why would the large predatory fish bite?