The Top Fishing
Chapter 746 - 311: First Battle Victory_2

Chapter 746: Chapter 311: First Battle Victory_2

Lin Yang assumed a bow stance, girded his waist, and held the rod in one hand and the reel in the other. He methodically lifted the rod and turned the reel to retract the line, repeating the action until the line was gradually reeled in.

It seemed effortless at a glance, but if someone with sharp eyes were present, they could see Lin Yang’s muscles tensed up on his arms. The fish, which seemed easy to handle, was not that easy at all.

It must be said that the fishing resources in Hawaii were indeed excellent. After he caught a fish, several others also started catching fish one after the other.

Some catches made a big commotion, naturally attracting the photographers to come over.

Lin Yang was intently battling with the fish in the sea; the fish was strong, but in the hands of Lin Yang, who was experienced in catching big fish, it seemed moderately challenging.

After about thirty minutes of tugging, a huge Yellowfin Tuna was pulled onto the fishing boat by him.

The staff immediately crowded around, put a rope around the fish’s tail, and hoisted the fish from the sea.

The fish was lifted by the crane, and the weighing equipment showed the weight of the fish: 288 kilograms!

(Normally, pounds should be used, but kilograms seem somewhat more comfortable to read, just like this.)

After the value stabilized, the recorder immediately found Lin Yang’s name on the tablet, and entered the value of 288 kilograms under the Golden Spearfish option.

After a brief delay, at the plaza where the opening ceremony took place, a large screen displayed several lines of text:

Team points ranking: first place, 288, CN, Global Team.

Individual points ranking: first place, 288, CN, Global Team, Lin Yang.

The heaviest Golden Spearfish: 288, Yellowfin Tuna, CN, Global Team, Lin Yang.

At the same time, on the fishing boats participating in the tournament, there was a small LCD screen displaying the exact same text.

In some notable places on Kona Island, there were similar displays showing the progress of the competition.

Most of the people who came here at this time came for the fishing tournament, or were simply family members of the competitors, and the sponsors were not going to miss any chance to advertise themselves.

For instance, not far from Yue’er and her companions’ parasol, there was a monitor exclusively sponsored by TikTok that was also displaying the real-time progress of the match.

"Wow, Brother Yang’s name has appeared up there!"

"It really has, it looks like cousin is the first one to catch a fish!"

Although they all had confidence in Lin Yang’s ability, this competition, after all, gathered some of the world’s top sea fishing experts.

Yet among the thirty-six teams from around the world and hundreds of top anglers, Lin Yang still managed to stand out.

Of course, it was only the first day of the competition, and the fish Lin Yang caught wasn’t that big, so the development of the competition was still uncertain.

But this first name on the leaderboard was bound to attract attention from everyone.

"Haha, Master Lin is still very impressive, he has caught much bigger fish than this 288-kilogram one! Just him winning a few individual awards wouldn’t surprise me at all; if he didn’t, that would be shocking."

Back in the competition area, after Lin Yang’s Yellowfin Tuna was weighed, it was immediately released back into the sea, handed over to a waiting skiff on the side for release.

Big fish like Yellowfin Tuna, Marlin, and Swordfish, due to their larger size and stronger survivability, almost have a 100% survival rate if the release process is done correctly.

The main threat for a big fish out of the water is oxygen depletion, so as long as the fish’s oxygen supply is quickly restored, it should be fine.

The fish coming from the deeper water layer had to go through a decompression procedure to ease the pressure difference from the high-pressure deep sea to the low-pressure surface.

The skiffs specially used for releasing big fish would tow the oxygen-deprived fish for a distance, waiting for it to absorb enough oxygen from the sea water and regain its vitality before letting it go free, completing the release process.

For this, the organizers prepared several skiffs specifically for the release of big fish caught during the tournament.

This was not something Lin Yang needed to worry about, as there were professionals in charge of it. What he needed to do was to keep fishing.

For the next cast, he chose a different direction to throw in. In the Golden Spearfish family, the largest one was the Bluefin Tuna. Naturally, the direction that yielded the Yellowfin Tuna was no longer appealing to him.

"Swoosh"

The bait was cast; this time he used almost all his strength, sending the artificial bait flying hundreds of meters away.

This time, it took a bit longer for the fish to bite. Almost three minutes passed before his rod signaled a bite.

"Swoosh!"

He struck, and he had a bite!

The rod never whipped without reason, and only Lin Yang could do that.

"Squeak... squeak, squeak..."

This time, the fish that bit the hook was obviously not of an ordinary size. The giant golden drum reel, with a braking force as high as 900 pounds, and even under lock-down conditions, shockingly, the spool was still pulled, albeit just a little. But it was still astonishing.

(The braking force of a fishing reel primarily depends on the friction of the brake pads and the pressure exerted by the adjusting knob on the brake pads. Lock-down means that the adjusting knob is tightened to the point it can no longer be moved, maximizing the reel’s braking force. It’s not like a bolt lock where it cannot turn at all.)

Of course, just because it could pull a fishing reel with a 900-pound discharge force didn’t mean the fish weighed over 900 pounds.

Take humans, for example, a normal adult can completely lift objects that are one and a half times their body weight. Strength and weight are not the same thing, but they are related.

Generally speaking, the greater the strength, the bigger the weight.

So, Lin Yang estimated that this fish on the hook weighed at least 600 pounds!

This fish wasn’t as easy to pull in as the first one; it was destined to be a long battle.

As Lin Yang and the big fish in the sea pulled back and forth, other contestants were not idle either; they continued to catch various fish.

His first fish that topped the chart at 288 pounds, a Yellowfin Gold Spear, was replaced by another beast weighing 303 pounds.

Two hours later, the ranking information on the screen had undergone earth-shattering changes.

Team Points Ranking:

First place, 789, USA, Pirate Team.

Second place, 333, CN, Northern Team.

Third place, 288, CN, Global Team.

Individual Points Ranking:

First place, 303, USA, Pirate Team, James.

Second place, 290, CN, Northern Team, Deng Zhixin.

Third place, 288, CN, Global Team, Lin Yang.

Heaviest Golden Spearfish: 303, Yellowfin Tuna, USA, Pirate Team, James.

Heaviest Flagfish: 197, USA, Pirate Team, John.

Heaviest Swordfish: 205, USA, Pirate Team, Jonathan.

Heaviest Marlin: 290, CN, Northern Team, Deng Zhixin.

Heaviest GT: 84, USA, Pirate Team, Jack.

.....

The leaderboard, once dominated by Lin Yang, had now become blooming like a garden full of flowers.

However, the most eye-catching was the Pirate Team from America, a team of four but three members on the leaderboards.

Although it was still the early stages of the competition, this was enough to prove their formidable strength.

The names of these teams on the leaderboard were all temporarily chosen, just like Lin Yang’s four-man Global Team. Because Lin Yang liked to run around the world fishing, he casually named it the Global Team.

After two hours of tugging, Lin Yang could already see the outline of the fish in the water. Its torpedo-like shape was definitely a Golden Spearfish.

And judging by its phenomenal size, it was most likely a Bluefin Tuna, as other types of spearfish rarely grew that big!

The fish, still brimming with vitality, was now darting to the side. Lin Yang had to follow carefully to avoid tangling lines with his teammates.

"Tsk tsk, Master Lin, this catch of yours could probably win a prize!"

More than two hours had passed, and Lin Yang’s teammate, Chen Xiaodong, hadn’t landed a single fish. All he could do was watch Lin Yang struggle with the big fish while making room for him.

"Hopefully, it would be great to win a prize!"

Of course, Lin Yang would be incredibly pleased if he could win a prize.