Chapter 432: Chapter 258: Yellow River Carp_2
"Who just said there were no fish in the artificial canal? How about this big carp?"
Zhang Yang, like a victorious general, pinched a large carp with one hand and proudly displayed it to his companions.
"Damn, such a big carp! This is a rare find! No way, I’m not leaving. I’ll keep fishing. If I catch three to five carp of this size a day, that’s more than enough!"
Han Qiang scratched his head, didn’t fuss about packing up, and quickly replaced his bait with fresher red worms, eagerly casting his line back into the water.
"See, I told you, the artificial canal has been untouched for over ten years, and people rarely disturb it. How could there be no fish? This isn’t the end yet, right? Come on, let’s solve our lunch problem first!"
Zhang Yang grinned, pulled out the fish guard and quickly changed his bait before casting again.
Just as the big carp was added to the guard, Han Qiang’s rod tip started to vibrate with power just seconds after changing his bait. Cautiously, he lifted the rod, and it bent down at once!
"Holy crap, I got a fish too! Just a small pull and there’s quite a sizeable fish!"
While exclaiming, Han Qiang bent his rod to play the fish. After a couple of rounds, he also reeled in a carp weighing more than a pound.
"Haha, another one over a pound! The fish in this artificial canal are amazing! It’s so immaculate!" Han Qiang also proudly showed off the fish and happily added it to the guard.
It’s not much to catch a big carp occasionally. Even in the Wen River during a lucky spring, you might encounter such hefty carp by chance.
However, when two people catch big carp almost at the same time in different spots on the canal, that’s something else.
Fish move in schools, and two big carps caught in a short time hinted at something promising. The others who hadn’t caught any yet checked their lines and replaced the bait with fresh red worms, casting their lines back into the water with renewed hope.
A few minutes later, the usually quiet Zhou Chu also had a carp bite, reeled it in, and caught another big carp!
"Wow, nice! This big carp is such a delight! Well, I’m adding it to the guard too!" Zhou Chu announced cheerfully.
"Uh-oh, something’s not right. Why are you guys catching fish while a few of us haven’t caught any yet? We’re all sitting in a row, and the fish are just swimming past us!"
Seeing Zhou Chu catch one, the yet-to-catch Meng Fan grew a bit anxious.
Zhang Yang glanced at Meng Fan and whispered, "Lift your fishing setup and let me take a look!"
"Okay!" Meng Fan obediently did as told and lifted his fishing line out of the water.
With just a quick glance, Zhang Yang identified the issue.
Everyone else’s space beans above the lead seat were open, but Meng Fan’s was locked. In such a setup, if a fish took the bait, it would require more force to transmit the signal to the rod tip.
Fish just coming out of winter have a very subtle feeding bite, and their movement and foraging posture in the water are not agile. This small detail might be why the bait isn’t getting into the fish’s mouth, so it’s understandable why he’s not catching any fish.
"Open the space beans above the lead seat by a few centimeters and try changing to a few live red worms!" Zhang Yang suggested.
"Got it, adjusting right away!" Meng Fan obediently made the adjustments and quickly cast the line back into the water.
Strangely enough, just as Meng Fan adjusted his setup and cast the first line, within less than a minute, the rod tip began to shake violently.
This movement was significantly larger compared to the earlier caught carp.
Meng Fan, slightly excited, lifted the rod to hook the fish, but the rod didn’t lift. The 3.6-meter rod engaged in an instant tug-of-war.
"Holy moly! I caught something big, and I can’t raise the rod!"
Meng Fan instinctively placed his left hand on the rod handle while sharing the experience with his companions.
"Stop joking; it’s just the start of spring for carp feeding. Do you think you caught a red carp or something?" Wang Yan thought Meng Fan was kidding and humorously teased.
"I’m not kidding; I’d be a liar if I were! It’s really a big catch! With a 0.4# line, I don’t dare push the rod!"
While Meng Fan spoke, he was already trying hard to lower his body center, pressing the rod handle to the ground.
Fortunately, Meng Fan used a lightweight competitive rod with a good balance. It had a soft tip but also a decent backbone. A slightly harder rod might have snapped the hook before anyone could see the fish.
"No need to panic; if the fish doesn’t move, neither should you. Just gently play it! With such cold water, even a big fish won’t be a problem. Take it easy, and you’ll reel it in!" Zhang Yang advised, which calmed Meng Fan down.
Zhang Yang was right. Despite the big fish underwater in these few-degree water temperatures, it didn’t have much strength. After a brief panic, Meng Fan quickly settled into a rhythm, maintaining control of the fish. A few minutes later, he gradually raised the rod to a safer angle.
In the next ten-plus minutes, it turned into Meng Fan’s fish-playing show. All the methods he practiced for controlling and playing fish were put to use skilfully.
From hooking the fish to it breaking the surface, the ordeal lasted fifteen minutes; finally, the big thing flipped and floated up.
A slender-bodied fish with golden scales, red tail, weighing at least seven to eight pounds!
Notably, the color and body shape of this carp were obviously different from the wild carp in the local Wen River.
The golden scales were a darker shade, and its downward-growing large mouth looked like a small pig’s snout. The lips were incredibly thick, and even in the net, it kept opening and closing. The two hooks of a size three sleeve hook were completely swallowed, contrasting sharply with the massive mouth.
"Wow, this carp is so beautiful!"
"Indeed, the golden scales and the body shape look more like a Grass Carp, quite pretty! Not like the carp we’ve previously caught in the pits and reservoirs!"
A carp of at least seven to eight pounds was rare, and after netting it, everyone eagerly admired it because the fish was so pretty.
Zhang Yang inspected the fish a few times, sensing something was different, though it felt vaguely familiar.
Fueled by curiosity, Zhang Yang examined it more closely.
Upon seeing the fish’s moustache, Zhang Yang suddenly realized!
Ordinary carp have two whiskers, but this big carp had four!
During his travels for competitions, he once ate authentic Yellow River carp in a different region. The body shape, scale color, and moustache characteristics were notably those of a Yellow River carp, distinctly different from farmed carp.
Considering the artificial canal is part of the water diversion project from the Yellow River, the water source being the Yellow River stream, the speculation seemed plausible.
"If I’m not mistaken, this should be a Yellow River carp! The four-whisker variety!" Zhang Yang announced, unable to contain his excitement.
"Come again? A Yellow River carp? But this isn’t the Yellow River; it’s miles away!" Wang Yan instinctively shook his head upon hearing this conclusion.
Meng Fan, appearing to have a revelation, pulled out his phone to look up the characteristics of Yellow River carp on the internet, compared it with the fish in hand, and matched them one by one.
And indeed, except for the canal’s water quality being much clearer compared to the silt-laden Yellow River, all other characteristics matched up.
"Oh my god! It really seems to be a Yellow River carp! Check out the images I found online!" Meng Fan, as if discovering a new world, showed his phone to his companions.
Everyone got intrigued, and upon further inspection, it really did seem to be a Yellow River carp.
"This doesn’t make sense. How did a Yellow River carp end up in our artificial canal? Every pumping station has a filter mesh. Let alone big fish like this, even small fish fry half a pound in weight can’t get through. Even if they manage to pass, they’d be shredded by the impeller!" Zhou Chu, staying pragmatic, couldn’t help but frown and speak.
Zhang Yang grinned, "They pump water every day. Maybe they brought fish fry or even eggs over? We’re not doing scientific research here, so we don’t need that much evidence! If the features match, then it’s a Yellow River carp!
This is certainly a rare delicacy and a top-notch river fish that money can’t easily buy! If there’s no other use for it, let’s find a restaurant for lunch and have a taste!"
Meng Fan was no slouch either: "Since we caught it ourselves, let’s try it! We’ll add it to the lunch menu for a special dish!"
At the mention of food, the group of mischievous friends’ eyes lit up with excitement; catching a Yellow River carp at the pumping station meant their trip wasn’t wasted today!