The good figure of the long-legged beauty perfectly fits Zhang Yang's aesthetic as a bit of a lecher, so Zhang Yang unconsciously glanced at her a few more times.
Initially, it was nothing special until the beauty took a phone call lasting a few seconds. When she hung up, her gaze accidentally met Zhang Yang's.
It was this brief eye contact that prompted Zhang Yang, as if driven by some mysterious force, to nod at her.
This seemingly appropriate reaction took on a different meaning in the beauty's eyes.
Feeling offended by the unabashed gawking of a young angler, the beauty seemed somewhat slighted. Her large Karssilan eyes reflexively narrowed slightly, like a proud swan striding away.
Hmph, although this guy looks a little handsome, his gaze is straightforward and completely undisguised. It's rude!
With some displeasure in her heart, the beauty pretended to stay composed as she left Zhang Yang's fishing spot.
As the long-legged girl walked away, Zhang Yang didn't take it to heart; it was just a minor episode. He refocused his mind, waiting for the competition whistle to blow.
After a while, all the competitors and referees were in position, and the loudspeaker sounded the whistle to start the competition.
The competition began, and Zhang Yang casually grabbed a handful of loose ground bait, squeezed it onto the lead seat, and with a flick of his wrist, effortlessly cast it to the spot roughly eight rods away.
Starting with the rod, he cast four balls of lead to establish the spot, then Zhang Yang used double-hook bait with loose ground bait to try his luck.
The competition lasts three hours, which is relatively slower compared to conventional freshwater angling contests, so Zhang Yang maintained a calm demeanor. The fish situation was unknown; after establishing several ball spots, he first tried casting a few rods to see what's beneath.
He kept the casting frequency at about two rods per minute, not too fast or slow, allowing a few seconds for the double-hook bait to hit the bottom.
Compared to Zhang Yang's "relaxed" approach to fishing, other competing anglers were much more aggressive. Within the first few minutes of fishing, most anglers were throwing hand-tossed bombs to heavily bait their spots, seemingly incurring no cost.
Especially the angler to Zhang Yang's left, who pulled off a trick, conjuring a small bucket of bait and unreservedly threw it all in within the first few minutes.
For a while, the sound of hand-tossed bait hitting the water along the fishing spots on both banks of the canal was incessant, giving Zhang Yang a sense of déjà vu from when he initially started fishing in stocked ponds last year.
Given that the fish in the canal are already timid, after such a bombardment, the first ten minutes of fishing resulted in no bites at the spots within Zhang Yang's sight.
Could it be that fish conditions in the canal aren't promising today?
Zhang Yang patiently observed the bobber's movements, hoping to glean some clues from the sparse details.
Fortune favors the diligent, and after persisting for a while, he indeed noticed something.
At the normal eight-rod casting spot, the bobber showed almost no reaction, but during a casual cast, Zhang Yang noticed that approximately one meter in front of the spot, a large and two small bubbles emerged from the bottom.
These bubbles appeared to be carp bubbles; bubbles surfacing in front of the spot indicate that fish are wandering nearby.
With this, Zhang Yang felt more assured.
No need for bait paste anymore; Zhang Yang decisively switched to using large double-hook Triangle Cannon intended for catching naïve carp in stocked ponds, bombing the rod to attract fish into the spot.
Since fish are wandering outside the spot, it suggests they were released in a foraging state, temporarily not biting due to the disturbance of hand-tossed bombs.
Such fish conditions were frequently encountered by Zhang Yang while fishing at the Oil House Fishing Ground; increasing the bait amount is all it takes.
Indeed, the situation matched Zhang Yang's judgment. After quietly raising the casting frequency for over ten minutes, the bobber began to show movement.
As previously mentioned, fishing is most dreaded when there is no activity; as long as the bobber's movement starts communicating with the angler, a skilled fisherman can judge the approximate situation of the spot, adjusting and adapting to bring fish up.
At present, Zhang Yang's bobber showed minimal movement in its trajectory; once the double hooks reached the bottom, the bobber began to make irregular, slight rise and fall motions, roughly less than half an eye in extent.
This type of bobber movement mostly indicates fish entering the spot, causing water movement due to their swimming.
In the first round, Zhang Yang tuned his bobber quite high, with a 2.5g lead-consuming bobber adjusted to ten-eye position, fishing at three and a half eyes, leaving a small bait core once the double hooks reached the bottom, in a relatively sensitive state.
Seeing fish beginning to enter the spot, indicating the loose ground bait state of the small yellow surface is effective, Zhang Yang continued maintaining his casting frequency, using Triangle Cannon persistently to lure fish.
About twenty minutes into fishing, anglers diagonally across began hooking fish, while Zhang Yang noticed the bobber movements becoming increasingly frequent, often showing a collision or bait pick action even when the bobber was at seven or eight eyes high.
With another cast of Triangle Cannon into the spot, the bobber normally flipped over and descended, suddenly giving a two-eye solid strike. Zhang Yang was slow to react, not raising the rod immediately. It then gave another one and a half-eye solid strike, with only the bobber tip remaining visible.
This continuous downward bobber strike indicated the fish has firmly taken the bait in its mouth. Zhang Yang decisively lifted the rod to hook the fish—it was a hit!
With water depth at three meters, the force below the water upon hooking a fish was still quite strong. Zhang Yang steadily controlled the curvature of the fishing rod, feeling the intensity of the prey's struggle.
The first fish made the line buzz during its initial exertion; the force it exerted was slightly intense, causing the fishing line and rod to emit humming sounds.
Zhang Yang didn't dare fully bow the rod, only maintaining the hooking motion, habitually placing his left hand at midsection of the rod handle, assisting with leverage to control the fish.