Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King

Chapter 859 - 575: Sneaking Into Chen Cang to Create a Heavy Baited Spot (Part 2)

According to the boss’s reservoir rules mentioned yesterday, fishing officially starts at seven in the morning, so after setting the spots, Zhang Yang and his group can still sleep for another one or two hours.

The symbolic extra nap was just a quick doze, and when they opened their eyes again, it was already bright outside. The two woke up normally as if nothing happened, and Zhang Yang discreetly picked up a big bag full of fish bait packages and quietly tossed them into the car trunk.

Breakfast wasn’t lavish, but both the quantity and taste were quite good. A little past six, Zhang Yang and his group of four had breakfast on time. After eating, they carried the fishing platform and other gear, heading unhurriedly towards the fishing spot that had been baited heavily twice last night.

While moving the gear, Xiao Wei and YOYO also helped out, walking side by side. From breakfast, Xiao Wei had been staring at Zhang Yang, and when they reached the water’s edge, Xiao Wei couldn’t hold it in any longer and asked, "What were you two up to last night? Lights were out so early, how come you both have panda eyes this morning?"

Xiao Wei mentioning it made Zhang Yang realize, he checked his dark circles with his phone’s selfie camera and glanced at Xiao Yi, indeed, both looked like they hadn’t slept enough due to staying up late.

"Didn’t do anything, just couldn’t sleep in a strange bed! Even snored in the middle of the night!" Zhang Yang pouted, casually making up an excuse to change the subject.

What a joke, Boss Zheng’s wife was watching these ’young masters’ casting their rods at a nearby spot, so they dared not mention baiting.

After setting up the fishing platform, fishing box, and other gear, Zhang Yang openly started mixing the third batch of silver carp bait at the shore.

This time, he didn’t have to sneak around, Zhang Yang prepared the bait using a regular fish bait bowl, openly making the bait ready, and then tossed the bait into the spot right in front of the lady boss.

At least two boxes of bait were used for setting the spots, but during actual fishing, the hand bait wasn’t much. After throwing the bait bowl into the water and finishing other tasks, Zhang Yang found a practical eight-plus-six line set, beginning the formal bait preparation.

Seeing this, some might be confused, wasn’t the bait already prepared? The spot setting bowl, isn’t that the prepared bait? Why bother with this second effort?

Yes, and no.

The bait for setting spots can indeed be used for hand bait, but not directly, because the state of the water impacts it; more detailed adjustments to the hand bait are needed before actual fishing.

Fishing for silver carp involves bait state and baiting technique, those anglers who thoughtlessly prepare bait and roughly hook it don’t understand how much detail like bait weight and condition affect the actual fishing.

Watching Zhang Yang on the foundation of semi-dry bait, he continuously wet and kneaded it with water, doing some adjustments, then grabbed a small bundle to put on the hook, and tossed it into the water at his feet to observe the bait’s weight condition and scattering state.

He observed the bait’s state for a while, feeling it was still slightly off from his requirement, so Zhang Yang underwent a second adjustment.

This time, the adjustments were more detailed than earlier; after just wetting the water first, this time Zhang Yang used both hands to wet them, gently kneading the bait in the bowl, feeling the subtle state changes before repeatedly going through this kneading process.

After several repetitions, Zhang Yang baited the fish hooks again and tossed them into the water at his feet for observation, silently counting the seconds in his mind from the bait’s entry until it absorbed water, expanded, and scattered thoroughly before he lifted his head.

The hand bait was ready!

Zhang Yang divided the hand bait into three portions, giving Xiao Wei and YOYO each a portion, then used a large bowl to prepare a portion for attracting fish, after busying with all this, the time turned exactly seven o’clock.

Old Zheng arrived on time, in his slippers, to collect the fishing fees at Zhang Yang’s fishing spot. Zhang Yang didn’t hesitate, and directly sent the agreed price via WeChat transfer.

Over a thousand bucks in his account, Reservoir Boss Zheng smiled broadly: "It’s seven, you can start fishing now! Don’t worry, fishing for silver carp makes you VIP clients, no one else will be allowed to disturb you at this spot! Just call me directly for any issues! Watch the fishing platform, stay safe!"

Zhang Yang smiled, "Alright, then we won’t be reserved! If we catch big fish or get a big haul, you can’t be mad!"

"Don’t worry, I, old Zheng, am a man of my word. We do as promised, absolutely not going to play that sore-eye game!" Boss Zheng patted his chest assuringly.

"Alright, Xiao Yi, get the equipment ready, let’s get to work!"

With a shout of ’get to work,’ the four-person squad quickly went into combat mode.

You could see Zhang Yang, using a ledger rig with unusual hook spacing on the child line, pinching a walnut-sized bait ball with five fingers, then cast the empty hook, with a swift flick of the wrist, easily swung the fishing setup into the baited spot ahead.

Seeing Zhang Yang’s group formally starting to fish without setting spots again, Boss Zheng secretly rejoiced.

His wife just mentioned that Zhang Yang’s group only managed to prepare about three-pack-baits worth for the spot, once tossed in, not even a splash was visible.

The fishing fee exceeding a thousand is likely all net profit again; these young people fishing are simply rookies; they don’t understand fishing!

Fishing silver carp without spot-setting, just relying on cast-and-bait method, in five hours, how many casts can they actually make with that method, it’s amateurish.

Zhang Yang’s fishing strategy indeed differed from other silver carp fishers; even Xiao Wei and YOYO couldn’t suppress their curiosity.

"Zhang Yang, aren’t we going to set more bait spots? The fishing fee is so high, the water surface so large, can we rely on just casting to draw in the fish?" Xiao Wei couldn’t resist asking.

Zhang Yang surveyed around, seeing Boss Zheng and the lady boss had walked away, then grinned and explained, "Just follow my lead, keep a consistent rhythm, I’ll remind you when it’s time to replenish the spot! How do you think Xiao Yi and I got our panda eyes? We secretly baited during the night; replenished the spots twice with two big basins of bait!"

"Really? You’re not kidding, right, Zhang Yang?"

YOYO, hearing this news, showed extreme suspicion, the young girl couldn’t effectively connect two large basins of bait with nighttime spot-replenishing operations.

Xiao Yi calmly commented, "True, the silver carp bait we brought in the car, we about dumped in two boxes already!"

Xiao Yi was always steady and honest, Zhang Yang still might joke around and tease, but lies were almost never heard from Xiao Yi’s mouth.

"So...how should we fish next?" YOYO asked with slight apprehension, not expecting Zhang Yang to be so daring to sneak-move at night.

Zhang Yang continued, "The bait quantity is definitely enough, just maintain consistent casting, it will be fine; the symbolic spot-setting done a little past six might scare the fish, but usually within half an hour, the dispersed fish schools should return! Then, depending on the bites, we’ll adjust the procedure accordingly!"

Xiao Wei nodded, "Alright, I’ll follow your lead! I was unsure before, now I feel confident, watch me and I’ll bring out a fifty-pound fathead!"

The following half-hour indeed matched Zhang Yang’s prediction almost closely, traces of silver carp began appearing slightly on the outer edge of the spot, but the fish schools still hesitated to advance.

During this period, all three anglers slowed their rod-lifting pace slightly; finally, the bobber in Zhang Yang’s spot started showing little movements.

When silver carp enter to feed, they either come en masse or not at all.

Zhang Yang consistently held back his impulse to lift the rod at minor movements, ignoring them.

There were no proper feeding motions, mostly just line brushing and water flow causing changes in the bobber’s float position.

Zhang Yang wasn’t anxious, awaiting the bait to dissolve completely, then quietly lifted the rod to replace the bait and slowly swung it into the spot again.

After several consecutive casts, the actions within the spot became increasingly frequent.

Zhang Yang knew, a large batch of fish had begun entering the spot!