"That works?" Zhang Yang's eyes lit up as he saw the bobber action next to the angler who got lucky. He quickly made a decision.
In the next second, he decisively got up from his fishing spot, took out a packet of yellow noodles from the fishing box, and added 30% lubricating powder, a small amount of super-attractant, and some snowflake powder, preparing a moderate-weight mixed bait on the spot.
With the bait ready, Zhang Yang gathered it and squeezed it, soon pulling out two well-shaped bait balls.
After preparing the bait, Zhang Yang pushed the lead weight up about ten centimeters, adjusting it to a small flying lead state, patience and continued fishing.
With this minor adjustment, switching from squeezed bait to pulled bait, the bait's weight decreased, and in the small flying lead state, the speed of the sub-line's swing slowed down, giving the fish layer near the bottom more chances to bite.
Being so close to the neighboring angler, if the other angler had action, it wasn't normal not to get any bites in the off-bottom area, which could also avoid snagging at the bottom.
Patiently, Zhang Yang cast four to five rods in succession, finally seeing some movement in the bobber, which faintly floated in a small wavering motion.
Although he hadn't caught anything yet, this action greatly encouraged Zhang Yang.
Fishing competitions are much like solving math problems, analyzing the fish situation based on known conditions, finding the optimal strategy, and finally arriving at the answer.
In this process, calculations aren't important; the most important thing is the thought process.
And now Zhang Yang had found the way to solve the problem, making things easier from here on.
With pulled bait and small flying lead, it was clear that the bobber had fish signals, indicating the direction was correct, so Zhang Yang immediately made targeted adjustments.
He took out half a box of scattered cannon bait he had prepared, then added water again to readjust the state.
After slight water-to-bait ratio adjustments, the dry scattered bait exploded in the water, becoming a small wet scatter, coupled with Zhang Yang's subtle bait-handling techniques, it could pressure the scattered cannon into near-bottom positions before it dispersed.
It seemed inconspicuous, but this enhanced the target-specific nature significantly, much better than the neighboring angler's random and unformed pulled bait attempts.
After fine-tuning, Zhang Yang stably pulled bait with double hooks, pinching a fingertip-sized small scattered cannon on the hook shank, casting the rod and maintaining the frequency.
If there were cameras underwater at this moment, one would see the two bait particles on the sub-line enter the water one after the other, with the front half absorbing water and swelling, while only a small amount detaching, until reaching the off-bottom position where the bobber flipped, the small wet scatter on the hook absorbed water and began to disperse at the bottom.
This bottom dispersion enticing fish state precisely controlled the scattered bait powder above the waterbed layer, roughly 10-20 centimeters.
Carp rolling in this water layer quickly discovered the food and began to gather in small groups.
After being caught, the carp rolling didn't lack bait but wasn't in good condition and too timid to chase after the descending bait; they didn't like going down to the bottom either, so, naturally, bottom fishing wouldn't yield much success.
However, after Zhang Yang's targeted adjustment, the effect quickly manifested.
After repeatedly casting with small cannon frequency on the off-bottom journey five times, Zhang Yang saw the bobber make a slightly more substantial downward movement, raised the rod to hook the fish, and successfully caught one!
The underwater fishing rig transmitted a not-too-powerful force to the handle, but this fish was very significant.
Zhang Yang calmly controlled the fish's escape, using the rod's waist strength to lift it out of the water in one round.
A carp rolling weighing roughly seven to eight taels, with a big head and slim body, and the most distressing feature was its lips were slightly reddened from previous hooks, and even in this state, it leisurely chased bait and swallowed hooks!
The first fish successfully netted, Zhang Yang swiftly resumed maintaining frequency!
Regarding the basic skills of casting, Zhang Yang could confidently claim that everyone present was behind him.
One could see him grabbing the line, separating hooks, pinching bait, then shaking his wrist to precisely cast into the fishing position—the entire sequence of small casting actions flowed smoothly without any pause or cumbersome spots.
Three rods, five rods, ten rods!
During Zhang Yang's persistent casting and gathering of fish, the little actions after the bobber flipped became more frequent and concentrated.
When fishing progressed to about 15 minutes, there were already four fish in the net, and the bobber's bite actions finally stopped being as weak as they were initially.
Experienced fishing experts can determine a lot from the bobber's action.
For instance, the same small group of fish—three or five nibbling with or without commitment—a small semi-visible bobber float, or even mouths biting while leaving no discernible bobber response.
When the fish group grows to a dozen, the feeding actions become notably more pronounced, reflected in the bobber's intense half-bite action.
As fish group density reaches a certain level, and their bravery increases, evident competitive feeding begins, the bobber reacts differently.
It might bounce or even become a momentary black float, and even with the same fish, the eating response varies greatly under different levels of safe environments.
The fish in Zhang Yang's spot, their eating actions shifted from initial sluggish, half-dead movements to become regular and forceful, and experienced anglers refer to this phenomenon as "smoothing out the bites."
After discussing the general situation at Zhang Yang's side, looking at the entire No. 2 fishing field, the fishing conditions weren't as optimistic.
Traditional anglers' fixed thinking for fishing mixed carp is to bottom fish with squeezed bait, at most changing a bit over the spot, playing with a mix of attractive bait and fishing consciousness is already considered advanced.
However, there wasn't a single expert like Zhang Yang who could accurately assess the fishing conditions instantly based on small details from neighboring anglers.
Carp rolling, after hooking, doesn't sink to the bottom, and before forming groups, are timid and dare not chase bait, several factors combined make conventional squeezed bait bottom fishing contradict the actual fishing conditions, being successful would be miraculous.
As Zhang Yang's fish conditions progressively smoothened and fishing sped up to enter an ideal state, sitting at position ten on the opposite bank, old Zhao had been fishing for 20 minutes but had caught only three fish, two targeted bites close to the shore, and one good luck catch hooked on a fish belly in a normal spot.
Relying on luck ultimately doesn't last long; it's been seven to eight minutes without a bite. Old Zhao was slightly anxious.
Though anxious, old Zhao didn't lose his composure, given his age.
Before entering the field, Zhang Yang briefly reminded him, if the fish conditions aren't good, to observe other anglers who are catching fish.
This seemingly casual reminder significantly helped old Zhao.
Position ten is mid-southern bank near the oxygen machine; although the fishing spot's advantage wasn't reflected in actual fish conditions, it undeniably offered old Zhao considerable visual advantage for observing anglers across the bank.
Soon, old Zhao noticed Zhang Yang at position 33 was already catching fish steadily, three to five rods per fish, although the speed wasn't fast, it was far superior to other anglers.
Once Zhang Yang started catching fish, old Zhao seated across had no mental pressure to copy the techniques.
After careful observation, old Zhao realized Zhang Yang was using pulled bait. After pulling bait, he would pinch a small scattered cannon on the hook shank, coupled with pushing the lead sleeve higher for small flying lead; old Zhao quickly grasped Zhang Yang's fishing strategy.
Although old Zhao didn't have deep insights into fish conditions like Zhang Yang, he could still mimic correctly.
Old Zhao re-prepared a batch of pulled bait, struggled as the small scattered cannon was too dry to pinch, added a little water, then flew the lead sleeve up several centimeters, completed the adjustments, and rapidly entered practical fishing.
When not having clear thoughts on fish conditions, mid-southern bank disadvantage doesn't show, but after mimicking fishing adjustments, quickly the spot's advantages started impacting.
Old Zhao, with patience, cast seven or eight rods, and bobber movements increased, selectively picking bites according to his habits, quickly Zhao Bingguang reversed his earlier advantage of having no action.
Found the thought process, old Zhao steadied and solid, fish conditions stabilized with faster catches, soon continuing a stream of catches.