Zhang Yang slightly frowned and calmly responded, "Just messing around, not worth mentioning! If I remember correctly, this should be our first meeting right? Not sure what kind of advice you have for me?"
Ma Yuhua didn't directly bring up the matter of Han Qiang buying fishing lines before, but continued to berate Zhang Yang with an aggressive tone.
"It's not about advice, just a reminder to you. Young man, think before you speak or act. Don't fish for a few days and forget your own name! In the W City fishing circle, no matter how skilled you are, you can't cause any upheaval!"
Hearing Lao Ma's attitude, Zhang Yang laughed angrily and squinted his eyes, "Did you have fake liquor this morning? Do I know you? Why are you pretending to be a big-shot with me!
You've been passive-aggressively from your first word with me, did I provoke you?"
"Last time Xiao Han cut the big line, was it you saying that I sold garbage fishing line? What? A man who stands to pee, dares to talk but not to admit?
Now that I've caught you talking behind my back, I've got no problem asking you for an explanation?" Ma Yuhua finally couldn't hold it in and mentioned the fishing line issue.
It was quite a coincidence, Ma Yuhua almost forgot about this matter, but during the draw, he heard Old Meng call Zhang Yang's name, which reminded him.
Even more coincidentally, the two's fishing spots were next to each other, making Lao Ma, who was usually treated respectfully, speak a series of seemingly rude words.
With this reminder, Zhang Yang immediately realized why this guy had such a bad temper upon meeting—because of this matter.
Zhang Yang smacked his forehead, "Oh, I remember, the one selling one-dollar trash line sets for ten bucks is you, who I thought was taking gunpowder from the start!
I said that, I admit it! You're allowed to fool people, but I'm not allowed to say it?"
In the case of selling garbage lines, if facing outsiders, Ma Yuhua could still bluff a bit, but in front of peers, he really had nothing to justify.
After pausing for several seconds, Ma Yuhua softened his tone, "Just a reminder, keeping a low profile is good for you!"
Seeing the other party running out of words and starting to act meaningful, Zhang Yang smirked, "Being high-profile is illegal?
So in the W City fishing circle, I can't cause any trouble. What? I'm the Monkey King, and you think you're the Buddha? Please, get the police to arrest me!"
Zhang Yang's words left Ma Yuhua speechless.
Even though Lao Ma's experience and position were evident, usually, any young angler would treat him with respect, yet Zhang Yang simply didn't buy it.
At this moment, Lao Ma was burning with anger but had nowhere to vent, so he could only glare at Zhang Yang, ending the first hostile exchange.
If Ma Yuhua had been slightly more restrained in his speech, Zhang Yang might have given him some face, at least wouldn't have turned against him outright.
But starting off by scolding him like a son, Zhang Yang didn't spare him at all, directly escalating the confrontation. This essentially meant that a grudge was thoroughly formed between them.
After the verbal skirmish, Ma Yuhua turned around to prepare for the competition.
Zhang Yang, on the other hand, felt much better, taking out the loose cannon fills from his convenience bag to fill the bait box,
opened the hook line box for backup, placed towels, nets, and various tools in the most convenient spots, and prepared a basin of water beside the fishing box, ready for the competition to start.
The brief quarrel didn't affect Zhang Yang much, but Ma Yuhua was very irritated.
The agitated Lao Ma also took out the prepared bait and simultaneously opened the fishing box to bring out a bottle of powdered carp fruit acid, generously sprinkled several caps into the prepared bait.
Carp fruit acid is also a very common small drug used for fishing carp, with a sour and sweet taste, quite effective for carp fishing in this hot season.
However, like sweet wilderness food, there are currently no legal channels to purchase it in mainland China, only a small portion of anglers with connections can get it.
Others smelling this sour smell might not know what it is, but Zhang Yang immediately recognized it as carp fruit acid.
This was the opponent planning to suppress him using the attractant effect of the small drug since the verbal exchange led nowhere.
Not backing down either, Zhang Yang opened the fishing box to take out Jinlong carp packed in kraft paper bags, similarly enhancing the bait flavor in the loose cannon, spreading the unique Jinlong aroma quickly around.
Having adjusted the loose cannon, Zhang Yang calmly awaited the start of fishing.
Trying to rely on small drugs to outdo me? Talk about picking the wrong opponent!
The ten-plus minutes of preparation passed quickly. After glancing at the time, Meng Xiangqiu shouted, the competition begins!
Almost at the instant the match started, Zhang Yang grabbed his 5.4-meter rod with his right hand, immediately baiting two spots with sinkers both far and near.
The nearby 3.6-meter spot was baited with three egg-sized balls; the distant 5.4-meter spot had five balls.
After making the two spots, Zhang Yang immediately pinched a triangle cannon with double hooks to start the frog-pinning at the nearby spot for attracting fish.
The frog-pinning technique taught to the four of them not long ago was executed much more proficiently by Zhang Yang, with each double hook triangle cannon nearly overlapping the previous cast's spot, forming a column of smoke dragon mist in the water quickly.
Looking at the neighboring Ma Yuhua.
This guy was also using the sinker bait method, but at the current timing, frog-pinning, as an advanced fishing method, had yet to be used by anyone in competitive matches, so Lao Ma only made one spot, at about eight rods equivalent of a 5.4-meter fishing spot.
As a disciple of Teacher Hua, Ma Yuhua's bowling bait method was exceptionally refined, creating the bottom spot before starting a series of frequent casts, utilizing scattered bait to gather fish.
With Ma Yuhua's proficient bowling bait method, such a large fishing ground, aside from Zhang Yang's group, anyone else would suffer a big loss if caught off guard.
But these tactics in Zhang Yang's eyes were some already obsolete tricks, having no advantage whatsoever.
Fishing had just started for five minutes, and already anglers from the South bank had caught fish. The competition rules didn't allow hand-casting bait, so the overall fish activity in the pond was minimally impacted after everyone started fishing.
On Zhang Yang's side, there were slight movements on the bobber due to frog-pinning, but he intended to focus on attracting fish to make spots initially, choosing not to rush into catching fish, patiently continuing crazy pinching triangle cannon.
The goal was to attract all the fresh fish in the nearby spot first.
After roughly ten minutes of casting, Zhang Yang's spot started experiencing fish darting, with frequent minor collision line movements after the bobber flipped.
Based on this, Zhang Yang judged that the fish layers already gathered at relatively high positions within the spot.
Seeing that the timing was basically ripe, Zhang Yang immediately changed the bottom hook bait to soft sticky pinch bait and cast it once more.
As the fishing setup entered the water normally, the bobber flipped and descended smoothly, and at a height at least ten centimeters above the bottom, a straightforward and powerful jerk!
Wrist flicked, rod lifted, fish hooked!