The Top Fishing Master
Chapter 772 - 321: The Great Species War_2

Chapter 772: Chapter 321: The Great Species War_2

Lin Yang’s greatest advantage was still his observational fishing skill, as well as the fact that the fish just happened to appear here.

Facing Lin Yang, the beauty was flushed with embarrassment and annoyance—she hadn’t expected such a thing to happen. She was confident in her own fishing technique and believed she could have caught the big fish if it had already been in the nest.

So by now, she had concluded that Lin Yang must have arrived just as the big fish entered the nest, and coincidentally he managed to hook it at first attempt. Such bad luck was something she could only accept.

However, in the eyes of the audience, she might be misunderstood and seen as far inferior to Lin Yang’s level.

Nevertheless, she did have a high opinion of Lin Yang’s skill, so losing to him was somewhat easier for her to accept. After all, the outcome of the competition was a foregone conclusion—Lin Yang had won first place, and he topped the overall points leaderboard without a doubt.

The second-placed was the Tianyuan Team, not very far behind Lin Yang since their club members had caught three pikes, and though these were lighter, they had one more in number.

Several other well-known clubs also ranked at the top in the first leg of the competition. The overall trend was that the strong were getting stronger, the weak were increasingly falling behind, and the disparity in points was growing.

It was evident that this multi-round, multi-session competition format was relatively fair, better reflecting the strength disparity between the clubs.

After the competition ended, the anglers were responsible for dealing with the fish they caught.

Some chose to take them home, others to release them, and still others left them to the TV crew to handle.

Lin Yang chose the third option. He decided not to release any of the fish he caught because they were predatory species—letting go of one meant taking the lives of many more in the water, especially with those invasive species, which could certainly not be released.

As for eating them, apart from the Nile Perch, the rest weren’t particularly tasty, including the pike.

Lin Yang had also eaten his fill of sea bass on previous occasions, so he wasn’t much interested in trying Nile Perch and simply left all the fish for the TV crew to deal with.

The TV crew was thrilled to receive this news. After all, those were three fish weighing over 100 pounds each and two big eels. The TV crew immediately put the fish into the live fish tank upon receiving them.

When Lin Yang caught the Alligator Gar and the African catfish, he had just thrown them ashore. Fortunately, both types of fish were very hardy and could survive a day on land without dying. So once they were returned to the water, they were as lively as ever with a strong will to live.

Then, the TV crew announced that there would be a special program airing during prime time on the CCTV Exploration Channel that evening.

The name of the program was ’Fierce Fish Face-off,’ and its content boasted quite the allure.

’The domestic tiger of the waters battles three foreign invasive species’—which is stronger and which is weaker?

The TV crew also released some pictures, notably of the big fish caught by Lin Yang, clearly indicating the program’s highlight was to see which of these fierce fish was the strongest!

Suddenly, many who liked fishing or enjoyed watching unusual types of programs were filled with anticipation.

....

At prime time that evening, CCTV-10 aired the special program as scheduled.

This show was considered a spinoff of the ’National Travel Fishing Competition,’ its phenomenal popularity exceeding everyone’s expectations to a fiery extent.

Thus, CCTV-10 was very willing to capitalize on the program’s popularity by producing some spinoff shows.

As expected, the host for tonight’s program was Xia Xiaoxue, being something of a fishing expert herself.

Dressed in a suitable and refreshing suit, Xia Xiaoxue appeared in a place akin to an aquarium. Calling it an aquarium was an understatement—it was merely a few large aquarium tanks.

Inside these tanks were several big fish: one Alligator Gar, one African catfish, and one Nile Perch—each of these three weighed over a hundred pounds and housed in separate tanks.

Additionally, there were two pikes, one weighing over 90 pounds and the other over 120—both indeed could be considered massive creatures. These five fish were currently being kept in different tanks.

The camera panned over each fish, while captions on the TV broadcast provided information about them.

Alligator Gar: An invasive species, native to North America, large and fierce; mainly lives in pure freshwater, occasionally in brackish waters; solitary in nature with toxic organs and roe; it is an extremely aggressive and large fish.

This species can grow up to three meters long, covered in tough scales, with a mouth full of dense teeth. If it appears in natural waters in China, it will cause substantial harm.

Next, there was a detailed introduction to this Alligator Gar, which weighed over 100 pounds and was a fish caught by Lin Yang in the Qianxia Lake Reservoir.

In addition, the program team also provided an estimate, calculating how much native fish this Alligator Gar would have to consume from birth to reach its current size if it had grown up in Qianxia Lake.

The answer was astonishing because the unit was not pounds, but tons!

An Alligator Gar, which grew up in Qianxia Lake from birth, would need to consume several tons of native fish, and one can imagine the tremendous impact this would have on the local ecosystem!

Upon viewing this, the audience members could not help but exclaim.

"What a disaster, this Alligator Gar is really no good fish, devouring so much native fish, it’s like an ecological assassin!"

"The problem is that it’s poisonous everywhere, completely inedible, or else I would’ve tried eating a couple, at least contributing to our country’s environmental conservation."

"The issue lies with its inedibility, otherwise, it probably couldn’t have invaded our native waterways...."

As viewers hotly debated, the camera shifted to the next fish, the African Catfish.

This African Catfish looked very plump, with a huge head that appeared capable of swallowing a child whole. As its mouth opened and closed, rows of sharp teeth were visibly disturbing and terrifying.

"Such an ugly Catfish, much uglier than our domestic ones."

"What on earth is this trash? I heard it doesn’t taste good either."

Audience members immediately switched to complaint mode.

The program also introduced the African Catfish in the same way as the previously mentioned Crocodile Sparrowfish.

Originally from Africa, it’s huge, eats virtually anything, and will even consume corpses in certain African rivers, including human corpses....

Seeing such an introduction, the viewers in front of the TV were even more disgusted, and their disdain for the African Catfish surpassed that of the Alligator Gar.

Next, the program continued with the introduction of the third fish, the Nile Perch.

This fish naturally originates from the Nile River but, unlike the previous two invasive species, the Nile Perch does not pose as significant a threat, mainly because it’s delicious.

Although it’s also a fierce carnivorous fish that would prey on local fish and shrimp after entering China’s waters, a consoling fact is that it does not eat for nothing; it converts the local fish and shrimp it consumes into its own flesh, which can then end up on the dining tables of Chinese people.

The taste of Nile Perch is by no means inferior to that of the local freshwater perch, and it is known as a delicacy among river fish.

It was not until the Nile Perch was introduced that the audience finally felt a bit happier.

"This is a qualified invasive species; we wouldn’t mind more invasions of this kind of Nile Perch."

"That’s hilarious, I bet most of the invasive Nile Perch probably can’t even reach adulthood."

"Indeed, I’ve seen such perch in the market before, caught by someone who claimed to be a fisherman. But the largest Nile Perch he caught was just a few pounds, and the one from Qianxia Lake weighed over 100 pounds, so it was quite lucky."

"Unfortunately, its luck ran out, living so well and then caught by Master Lin."

"Lin Yang is indeed strong, no fish can escape his hook!"

With the delicious reputation of the Nile Perch, the atmosphere of the program became more relaxed.

However, the background music of the program suddenly turned passionate and uplifting, and the camera switched once more, focusing on one of the aquarium tanks.

At the same time, the host Xia Xiaoxue began to speak.

"Now it’s time for today’s program’s key characters to make their entrance; look at these two fish!"

The camera zoomed in, and it was those two huge pike: one weighing over 90 pounds and another over 120 pounds, also caught by Lin Yang during the competition.