From the moment they heard the sound to when they turned their heads, it took about a second or two, so they couldn't see the size of the fish clearly, but the splash in the water was very noticeable.
"Damn, it's a big fish turning over!" Han Qiang shouted.
Zhang Yang glanced over and said in a deep voice, "That's a big fish over ten pounds!"
"Didn't Boss Luo say there weren't many big fish? Yet we can see a big fish turning!" Wang Yan said, slightly frowning.
"Who knows, originally there were big fish in the canal, and I've heard it hasn't dried up in decades, so there were already fish inside!"
Encountering big fish making splashes at the water's edge was quite common, so no one took it seriously, and they just chatted for a bit before letting it go.
The group strolled around the riverside, memorizing the general area distribution of the fishing spots, and soon returned the same way back to their hotel accommodation.
The competition was scheduled for early the next morning, so everyone stayed quiet today and didn't wander around, having dinner together downstairs before heading back to rest early.
The next morning at five o'clock, Zhang Yang's alarm went off.
According to the competition schedule, the official start was at eight-thirty. From the hotel to the competition venue was about a half-hour drive, so time was relatively ample.
For ordinary people, there really wasn't a need to set the alarm so early.
But who was Zhang Yang? He was an experienced expert with rich participation experiences from the south to the north.
With a fishing competition of a thousand people and staff across different zones, there would be at least over a thousand participants. The road would likely be congested, so Zhang Yang decided to wake up early to head to the venue.
He got up, washed his face, went to each room to call everyone up, had a simple breakfast, and by not even six o'clock, they started off to the fishing site early.
It was early in the morning, not yet the rush hour, so there weren't many people on the road. In less than half an hour, two cars arrived at the outer parking area of the fishing site.
Wow, just yesterday when they came to sign in, this place was deserted, but today is different. From the bend of the canal road far away, brightly colored small flags were already lined up along the route, and quite a few participating anglers had already arrived early.
Arriving early, they parked relatively close to the small square where the lottery draw was to be held, finding spots before the parking lot was full. The group leisurely got off the cars and looked around.
"Not bad, so many workers in vests, making it seem pretty legit!" Han Qiang remarked as he looked around.
Wang Yan, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, lowered his voice and said, "Look over at the five o'clock direction, there's quite a cute girl!"
Upon hearing about a pretty girl, everyone turned their heads to look, indeed, there was a rather nicely shaped young lady, wearing the uniform vest of a volunteer, directing the parking.
Zhang Yang couldn't help but mockingly say, "Not much with catching fish, but your eyesight is sharp!"
Wang Yan boasted, "That's right, who is your Brother Yan in society? No matter where I go, within a ten-mile radius, any young lady or newlywed, I can tell their measurements with a 100% accuracy rate."
Seeing that Wang Yan was about to start his social frenzy again, Zhou Chu, who hadn't spoken since getting out of the car, frowned and glanced at Wang Yan, "Calm down, except for the captain who's still young without a girlfriend, you're the only bachelor in our team, who doesn't know who?"
Being called out, Wang Yan irritably rubbed his nose, "Damn it! Master, you..."
"Hahahaha!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Despite the banter and jokes, the necessary preparations before the game still had to be done. With more than an hour left until the draw, Zhang Yang took out a large plastic basin from the back of the van and started preparing the bait.
Based on the fish species information they had obtained earlier, Zhang Yang was quite looking forward to the first morning's match.
The main target fish was carp, which had the highest stocking density, so the bait chosen was mainly yellow flour and the Four Gentlemen of additives,
For the three-hour fishing session, four pounds of loose bait were prepared in advance, a handful was taken from the loose bait and mixed with some light bran, kneaded to form a soft, sticky bait of appropriate firmness.
Except for Xiao Yi, who was responsible for filming and did not register, the other four people used the same bait setup as Zhang Yang.
Anyway, the yellow flour had great versatility, and besides carp, it could catch other freshwater fish species.
Having prepared the bait and made the pre-competition arrangements, time unknowingly reached over seven o'clock.
Just as Zhang Yang predicted, with a large number of people arriving in a short time, congestion appeared in the area outside the distant intersection, many late-arrival anglers were stuck there, moving at a snail's pace, the sound of car horns blaring.
However, since this event had been organized for several sessions, the organizers arranged for plenty of volunteers to direct traffic at the entrances, preventing any gridlock situations.
While Zhang Yang and the rest were comfortably waiting for the draw to enter the venue, Luo Dapeng arrived at the small square for gathering with some local fishing friends.
"President Zhang, you arrived early, huh? Almost got stuck on the road!" Luo Dapeng patted Zhang Yang on the shoulder, greeting him with a smile.
"Concerned about the competition, couldn't sleep in the morning, so I woke everyone up! Coming early doesn't hurt, we just got here a little while ago!" Zhang Yang replied casually with a harmless grin.
"Have you prepared the bait?" Luo Dapeng continued to ask.
"Yes, yellow flour and the Four Gentlemen, loose bait plus kneaded bait! Each person prepared four pounds, not sure if it'll be enough!" Zhang Yang said truthfully.
"What about the ground bait? You're allowed to use ground bait in this competition!" Luo Dapeng asked after listening.