Carefully placing the grass carp into the net, Zhang Yang continued fishing for groundbait, patiently starting a routine of casting at fixed intervals.
The bites were still very sparse, with over ten casts possibly yielding nothing, but Zhang Yang wasn't discouraged,
The 5.4-meter fishing rod combined with the extra challenge from the large flying lead seemed to have no effect on Zhang Yang, as he cast it tirelessly, one after another.
Finding the right direction, efforts always pay off, and after just over ten minutes, Zhang Yang once again saw a grass carp take the bait. After a bout of maneuvering, yet another grass carp over five pounds was netted.
With two consecutive fish caught, Zhang Yang's pressure in this competition was completely gone,
A teammate suggested that the grass carp might like elastic pellets, so Zhang Yang hung the elastic pellets soaked with additives on the lower hook, while keeping the top hook baited with groundbait, combining attraction and fishing.
A minor adjustment, but it unexpectedly had a significant effect. After switching the lower hook to elastic pellets, the chances of a grass carp biting increased significantly.
In just seven minutes, Zhang Yang netted two more grass carps weighing three to four pounds each.
For a moment, while the surrounding anglers were getting hardly any bites, Zhang Yang was able to create a small fish-catching surge.
In this way, Zhang Yang continued with the large flying lead and groundbait fishing, gradually netting a few more fish.
By the time the fishing spot went completely quiet, there was still half an hour left before the end of the morning competition.
At this moment, Zhang Yang's net already had seven grass carps in it, weighing an estimated twenty to thirty pounds, securing him a top spot in his group.
The fishing spot directly ahead was completely fished out and silent, and then Zhang Yang had a sudden thought about the spot he created near the left side boundary of his fishing position at the beginning.
Not knowing if that spot had attracted fish, he thought he might try casting a lure there while waiting!
With this thought, Zhang Yang baited up with two fresh bait pieces and flicked his wrist, casting accurately to the distant spot.
The bobber quickly flipped over and then slowly descended. It went all the way down without showing any useful movement,
Most of the fish Zhang Yang caught in this session were mid-water strikes, and seeing no movement at the expected depth, most of his anticipation faded.
Just as he was counting to ten in his mind, planning to lift the rod if nothing happened, suddenly the bobber moved.
The three-eyed bobber visible on the surface suddenly went dark all the way down, disappearing completely!
Zhang Yang was momentarily stunned, reacting a moment too late to realize a fish had taken the bait.
This kind of unreasonable bobber movement most likely meant a big fish!!
Thinking this, Zhang Yang gently lifted the rod to set the hook, slowly applying force to try and bend the rod upwards.
The fish underwater did not disappoint Zhang Yang; it provided a great deal of resistance, making the attempt to lift the rod seem like it was snagged on something immovable.
Using a large flying lead to cast far is originally a fairly extreme method of fishing, where the fishing line in the water is slanted, leaving little buffer for the angler to operate.
Catching a smaller fish is fine, as you can wait for the fish's head to be guided back, but for such a large fish that is impossible to pull, it's a bit awkward.
Zhang Yang reached out his arm, with the angle between the rod in his hand and the water's surface being less than thirty degrees. The slightest exertion by the big fish would lead to a scenario where the line snaps, and the fish escapes.
But who is Zhang Yang? This guy's fishing experience comes from rigorous training and a lot of practice, turning many reactions into instincts.
At this critical moment, Zhang Yang didn't continue to exert himself to provoke the big fish into escaping but instead maintained this posture, staying completely still.
He slowly crouched down, stepping off the fishing box, and with his left hand, very steadily opened the fishing box lid to take out the black elastic loss rope inside,
Then, he swiftly found one end of the loss rope, hooked it onto the loop at the bottom of the rod handle.
The entire sequence seemed to last a long time, but in reality, from hooking the fish to being stuck and then to hooking the loss rope, it took only seven or eight seconds at most.
The big fish still hadn't exerted itself, remaining in a stake-out state, and Zhang Yang had already prepared the loss rope.
Having arranged the loss rope, Zhang Yang finally breathed a sigh of relief, beginning to tentatively lift the rod, observing the big fish's reaction.
As the force of raising the rod increased, the curvature of the fishing rod changed slightly, but overall it still seemed like a tug-of-war state, with the fish not moving.
Big fish that stake out are a challenge; if he can bring this one in, the morning competition's result will be perfect!
Zhang Yang quietly muttered to himself as he started rhythmically tapping his rod handle with his left hand.
Seeing this, many people might be confused: what's staking out? What's with the handle tapping?
To explain, staking out is generally a reaction encountered when large fish, having reached a certain size and weight, are hooked.
The fish head burrows into the bottom sand or mud, remaining motionless. Due to the fish's large size, it's very challenging for the angler to pull it out by the fishing line alone, similar to a fish hook snagging a submerged wooden stake, hence the term staking out.
In such a situation, the worst approach is to rely on brute force, stubbornly yanking or forcing the rod upwards to pull the fish out.
Many novice anglers, fortunate enough to hook a big fish, react improperly when faced with staking out, resulting in either snapped hooks or broken lines, and less than one in ten successfully lands the fish.
The correct response to big fish staking out? It's quite simple: Zhang Yang's gentle handle tapping can solve most problems.
With the rod arced and taut, the fishing line acts like a harp string. Lightly tapping the handle might seem quiet to humans, but the vibrations travel through the rod to the fishing line and eventually to the fish's mouth bucked on the hook.
This kind of stimulation is quite severe for big fish. Most can't resist starting to move to escape after a bit of tapping.
Zhang Yang patiently tapped the handle over twenty times, and sure enough, the big fish couldn't withstand the stimulation and began moving slowly underwater.
With the loss rope as insurance, Zhang Yang had much more confidence,
He wasn't in a hurry to control the fish but rather tentatively guided and applied force. As long as he could get the big fish to turn and slowly arc the rod, then he had passed the most dangerous phase.
Zhang Yang was lucky this time; during the guiding phase, the big fish didn't dash across the river but swam steadily northwards.
This made Zhang Yang relax, slowly shifting positions and applying steady force, raising the rod to about sixty degrees.
The big fish didn't make a break for it, which directly related to the relatively gentle force Zhang Yang used during the hook-set,
Some scientific literature states that fish have a sense of touch but not pain as humans understand. Zhang Yang tends to agree with this theory.
Numerous domestic fishing experts have conquered big fish that far exceeded the limits of their fishing gear using small hooks and thin lines.
Now, this big fish was in a similar state, recovering from the brief initial panic from being hooked, feeling uncomfortable with what was happening in its mouth but clueless about what was going on, aimlessly swimming around.
In the subsequent laps of maneuvering the fish, Zhang Yang skillfully managed the underwater big fish's direction of force using his precise and delicate maneuvering technique.
He guided the fish rod forces perpendicularly to the fish's strength direction whenever possible.
The big fish moved around within the range of two nearby fishing spots under the guidance of the underwater force, forming a large ∞-shaped track.
Some might still not understand this; how can such a big fish be led around simply on a line? Doesn't it resist?
In reality, when conditions are suitable, this is indeed the case!
To draw an analogous comparison, consider a strong old ox capable of pulling a plow. If you were to tug on its tail with force, even several adults might struggle with it.
Yet, a little child could lead it around effortlessly, just because the rope is connected to its nose ring.
Leading an ox or maneuvering big fish by an angler follows a similar principle fundamentally; the difference is only that the ox is domesticated and inherently docile, whereas the big fish didn't panic because the stimuli to its mouth during the hook are minor.
Once the big fish stabilized its underwater state, the matter became a question of time; Zhang Yang needed only to continue guiding the big fish to swim underwater, and once the big fish's energy reserves ran out, there would be no more struggle opportunities.
The maneuvering continued for over twenty minutes, and with three minutes remaining until the competition ended, this big fish finally exhausted its strength, belly-up, floating to the surface!