The Top Fishing
Chapter 55 - 054: The Hot-Tempered Old Man

Chapter 55: Chapter 054: The Hot-Tempered Old Man

Over there, I saw the old man with the small bucket starting to bait the spot.

The pit boss began to collect fishing fees from each spot, and everyone paid quite swiftly. Wang Jian Country soon reached Lin Yang.

"Young man, you seem a bit unfamiliar, did you come alone? What should I call you, and do you smoke?"

Lin Yang shook his head, handed over the fishing fee, and said, "My name is Lin Yang. It’s my first time here with two friends, so I hope the boss can look out for us."

Hearing that he came with friends, Wang Jian Country nodded and took ten yuan out of his pocket to give back to Lin Yang.

"First time here, I’ll give you a discount of ten yuan. Please come back often."

At this time, Yu Yitong next to him was displeased, "Hey, Boss Wang, that’s not fair. We paid a hundred yuan and didn’t get any discount."

Wang Jian Country, smiling, took out a cigarette and offered one, saying, "You guys are regulars here, it’s different for someone who’s new. Old Yu, no offense, but you are the most unruly here. When we start fishing later, don’t pick on the young man, alright?"

Yu Yitong took the cigarette, lit it, and took a drag before slowly saying, "Am I that kind of person? We are civilized people, got it?"

Lin Yang laughed, "No worries, I’m just here to have fun, no need for anyone to take it too seriously."

"Alright, if you need anything, just call me. I’m off to collect more fees, and we’ll start fishing soon," Wang Jian Country replied and went off to another angler after a greeting.

It was Lin Yang’s first encounter, and this pit boss made a very good impression on him. He spoke sincerely, gave a discount knowing it was Lin Yang’s first visit, and just like Uncle had said, this boss was indeed a good guy.

In contrast, the old man next to him left a much less favorable impression, his words and actions all reeked of a crafty nature, like someone who would not miss a chance to capitalize.

At 6:55, Lin Yang checked the time and set up his phone to start live streaming five minutes early.

Because he was fishing in Black Pond this time and there were too many anglers around, he decided not to fly the drone.

Moreover, since everyone was busy catching fish at Black Pond, Lin Yang couldn’t attend to much, so he simply set up the phone next to him to record.

"The host is not bad, started streaming on time today."

"It looks like the host didn’t go wild fishing today, switched to Black Pond instead. What are the fish like, and what’s the charge?"

"Yeah, I need a location, might go there when I’m free."

As soon as the broadcast started, many viewers who received notifications began to enter the streaming room.

Seeing the viewers asking questions in the barrage, Lin Yang answered, "Good morning, everyone. Today I’ve come to a semi-natural water area in Dongyang Town for a competitive fishing event. A hundred tickets, six hundred kilos of fish, split equally between carps and golden crucian carps. There’s about five minutes to go before we officially start fishing."

"Charged fishing? Isn’t this just a commercial pond? What’s so fun about that?"

"The guy upstairs doesn’t know, huh? Black Pond fishing has been pretty popular lately. If you don’t consider the cost, it’s much more exciting than wild fishing. We have a similar spot here too. My friend once caught over sixty pounds and after selling the fish even made a profit of nearly a hundred yuan from the owner."

"The host also does Black Pond fishing? I like playing in Black Pond too. I tried the rice wine bait I bought before, and it was very effective."

"Yeah, the host’s rice wine is super effective. I caught over thirty pounds of crucian carp yesterday, used up half the bottle, and I plan to buy some more today."

Lin Yang, "Today, as usual, I’ll list a thousand orders of my special rice wine bait for crucian carp, common carp, and catfish. Those who need it can order directly via the yellow bike service."

"All brothers who have paid the fishing fee, attention, we are starting the official competition!"

Just then, pit boss Wang Jian Country called out, and the competition began.

There were about twenty anglers in the pit, besides Lin Yang, the majority began energetically throwing fist-sized bait balls into their spots.

The sounds of bait splashing into the water were echoing everywhere, the scene was quite spectacular.

Among those baiting their spots, Yu Yitong next to Lin Yang was definitely counted as a warrior, with others only throwing in five or six bait balls at most.

He was different; he used up a bucketful of bait, and while others were done, he was still crazily throwing.

"Young man, aren’t you going to bait your spot? The old saying goes, no baiting, no fish. Paying to fish in Black Pond and not willing to bait, that won’t do," Yu Yitong curiously looked at Lin Yang’s dry scatter bait and said with experience.

Lin Yang shook his head, "Thanks for the reminder, but I’m not used to hand-baiting. You do your thing, don’t worry about me."

"Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you when you start losing out," Yu Yitong grumbled after hitting a soft spot.

Lin Yang just smiled and said nothing, scooping up a large handful of Scatter Bomb Bait, squeezed a lead sinker into the center of the bait, tightened it slightly, then with a swing of his right arm and a release of his left, a group of bait, led by the lead skin, landed precisely at a spot seven-eighths down his rod.

The entire process looked very smooth, the bait entered the water without causing a splash. Once the bait settled, he gently shook the rod, and the bait dispersed at the bottom.

Using lead skin to deliver bait was something any veteran angler would consider basic, something anyone could do quite slickly.

However, it was still a novel sight for many new anglers.

Lin Yang pulled off such a move that many were left stunned.

"What kind of operation is the host doing, using lead sheets to bring the bait down? He seems very skilled."

"Skill isn’t the point, did everyone not notice that such a large clump of bait entered the water without hardly splashing or making a sound? This method is much stronger than hand-throwing the bait."

"I’ve only seen experts use this technique in platform fishing competitions, and it feels like they aren’t as smooth as the host."

As Lin Yang continued to repeat the previous motion, he calmly explained, "This is lead sheet fishing, a very simple method of baiting. Just as I am doing now, grab a handful of bait, place the lead sheet in the middle, gently squeeze it tight, lift the rod, and swing it towards the fishing spot."

"The host makes it sound easy."

"Saying it’s easy+1, I’ve tried to follow along, but it’s not easy. If you’re unlucky, it drops directly on your foot; if you’re lucky and it goes out, the landing point is not precise, either too far or too close, and the bait scatter is too loose."

"Right, can you share some key points on the operation? I’d like to learn this."

Seeing that there was a viewer interested in learning, Lin Yang took the opportunity in between baiting to say, "Okay, let me explain a few key points."

"Firstly, addressing the issue someone mentioned about dropping on your foot, that’s simple: your lead weight isn’t at the center of the bait. Just pay a little more attention, and you can solve that."

"The second key point concerns the landing spot of the bait, which is also simple. The principle is that the bait is swung out, not flicked out. When operating, ensure the force is steady without suddenly accelerating; once the force is steady, the landing spot will generally be consistent too."

"The last point is about entering the water without splashing, which is also simple. If you manage a steady force as mentioned in the second point and then slightly control the speed of the bait moving, try to make it as slow and stable as possible. You can start with a small amount of bait to get a feel for it and gradually adapt."

Viewer: "It sounds so simple, but actually doing it is another thing entirely. Is there a quicker way to master it?"

Lin Yang shook his head, "There’s no shortcut in fishing. I can share technical points, but I can’t make you an instant expert. Every technique requires a certain amount of training. If you want to fish well, you still need to endure some hardship. There’s a saying, isn’t it, ’One minute on the stage needs ten years of work off the stage.’ In fishing, it’s not that exaggerated, but you still need to put in some effort."

Upon hearing Lin Yang say this, the viewers in the live stream rather agreed, but when these words drifted to Yu Yitong’s ears, he felt it was a bit of nonsense.

In Yu Yitong’s plain understanding, fishing is mainly about luck and courage.

Bait it and just wait for the lottery draw, as for all this technique and operation talk, it sounds serious but has minimal impact on the catch. Being a host is just about misleading people.

.....

Five minutes before starting to fish, hand-throwing the bait had basically concluded, and the fishing site quieted down.

All the anglers quietly stayed in their fishing spots, waiting for the fish to enter the bait, and then to catch the fish.

However, Lin Yang didn’t just wait passively for a bite.

He continued with the lead sheet bait for five or six balls, then he started the scatter bomb bait frequency mode.

With his index, middle, and ring fingers together, he scooped from the bait box, pinched a bundle of scatter bomb bait, buried the hook in the center of the bomb, and with the addition of his thumb, squeezed towards the center—a very standard scatter bomb baiting was completed, double-hooked as the method required.

Many newcomers in the live stream were full of questions when they saw this technique.

"What kind of fishing method is this, pinching it so big, can the fish even ingest it?"

"Something doesn’t seem right. It feels unreliable from the host, the bait is also too dry. Going on like this, is there even any bait left on the hook?"

"Is there anyone experienced to explain what fishing method this is? The host wouldn’t aim without purpose, he seems serious when casting the line."

Lin Yang glanced at his phone screen: "We’ll talk about fishing techniques and methods later, let’s focus on the preliminary work now. Watch closely, and if you have any questions, we’ll address them later."

Next.

Lin Yang’s double-hook, big triangle scatter bomb was just a continuous swing, averaging twenty seconds a rod, the float would flip and then he’d lift the rod; soon, the water around the bait spot was muddied by the scattered bait.

At this moment, if there were an underwater camera, you could clearly see, from below the water surface where the bait dropped all the way to the bottom bait spot, a vapor trail connecting from top to bottom.

Meanwhile, Yu Yitong was secretly brooding over how Lin Yang’s livestream wasn’t reliable.

Suddenly, his float at the bait spot moved slightly and dipped down diagonally, the fish eye quickly disappearing under the water.

Bite.

Yitong wasn’t bothered by any of that.

The next second, a sharp screeching sound was heard as Yu Yitong lifted his rod with both hands to hook the fish.

However, as he lifted the rod, he didn’t manage to hook the fish; on the strong horse-tail tied line, the lower hook was gone.

"Damn! What kind of crap line is this, even 2.0 strong horse is instantly cut, too scammy!" Yu Yitong couldn’t help but curse.

Lin Yang glanced over with the corner of his eye and said nothing.

This old man had the age but was far lacking in technique; with that kind of force in lifting the rod, it was no wonder it broke.