The fish aren't in good shape; they're weak, but now they're biting, making it incredibly convenient for reeling them in.
Any fish caught with a direct hit can basically be lifted out with one yank, sticking to the water's surface; they can quickly get to the household, making the efficiency of reeling them in far better than those lively fish from previous times.
What follows is a part of the competition that Zhang Yang excels in, consistently maintaining the density of fish in the nest, each cast bringing up Triangle Cannon, occasionally using double hooks with cannon to fill a few nests.
From the moment fish started biting, it was fast-paced all the way until around five-thirty when the sky was just getting light, and the biting slowed a little.
The scattered cannon was almost depleted due to intense bombing, and Zhang Yang felt the overall catch wasn't substantial, so he opened his fishing box to prepare another pound.
While squatting and preparing bait here, Qian Wenbo was casually walking back, yawning while holding his fishing rod.
"Got any bites, Xiao Zhang?"
"Not bad, caught a few!" Zhang Yang vaguely responded, continuing to stir the bait in the bowl.
Upon hearing this, Qian Wenbo was stunned: "Really? When did the fish start biting?"
"Around four! I didn't pay attention!"
"Damn! Why didn't anyone call out? Shit, this fishing, unbelievable!"
Qian Wenbo lost all sleepiness immediately, neglected the dew on the fishing box, plopped down, and started fishing.
The nest had been empty all night; the bait set down yesterday evening had long dissolved in the water, drifting who knows where, not to mention Zhang Yang was next door constantly replenishing the nest to gather fish. How could there still be any fish at Qian Wenbo's spot? He cast over ten times in a row, and there was no sign of anything.
Zhang Yang finished preparing the bait, then returned to his fishing spot, promptly replenishing more than ten scattered cannon shots, and the fish started biting again, continuing to reel them in.
"You're not being fair, you know, getting bites and not calling out!"
Seeing Zhang Yang frequently catching one fish after another, Qian Wenbo couldn't help but complain enviously.
Zhang Yang squinted with a slight smile: "I thought you were fishing all night, then suddenly you're gone when I wake up, even the rod collected; who knows where you went!
Besides, who says I didn't call out? Old Zhao and Wang Jun, I woke them up!"
Now it was Qian Wenbo's turn to be speechless.
Zhang Yang hadn't been on the scene an hour when he headed with friends to the car for drinks, and after a few bottles of beer, he slept on the vehicle; didn't care about anything else.
The only reason he managed to wake up at this point was because he forgot to cancel the morning alarm set before fishing, or else he would've slept as late as possible.
Even after making nests for a long time, Qian Wenbo didn't show any sign of building up the nest with fish; unable to endure seeing Zhang Yang's repeated successes, he finally couldn't resist.
"Hey, Xiao Zhang, how about a little arrangement, let me fish a few for fun! My nest is empty, can't gather any fish!"
Upon hearing this request to intrude, Zhang Yang felt quite disdainful; genuine anglers wouldn't be so thick-skinned.
However, he didn't refuse, after all, he had already landed, and the nest's state was similar to garbage time in a basketball game; catching one more was profit, no need to offend potential clients over an almost empty nest.
"Go ahead, we're all anglers, I won't stop you fishing here. But just to be clear, keep a steady hand on bites; I don't mind if you catch a few, but if you start slingshotting fish away, that's unacceptable!"
"Relax, we pals won't do something so lacking in skill like slingshotting in the nest!"
With Zhang Yang's consent, Qian Wenbo shamelessly turned his fishing box around and cast double hooks with soft sticky bait right into Zhang Yang's nest.
Though Zhang Yang did remind him to keep bites steady and avoid slingshotting, Qian Wenbo agreed; yet many times, things don't develop purely according to one's personal wishes.
Qian Wenbo's bait was barely in for ten seconds when the bobber indicated a subtle tug of about half a measure; seeing this, he couldn't resist raising the rod, the fish hadn't even surfaced when it tore the lip and escaped; the first fish, a perfect slingshot.
"Shoot! How can such good bites still miss? Lucky it pulled away from the nest, sorry!"
Qian Wenbo offered Zhang Yang an awkward smile to smooth things over, cleared the bait lines, and resumed casting at Zhang Yang's fishing spot.
"Be careful, fish aren't strong, bites aren't great, let them bite first!"
"Gotcha, hear you loud and clear, grab after a bite!"
Following the reminder, he finally caught a fish clean with a direct hit, pulling it happily to his feet, continuing to cast again.
Fishing three fish from the nest consecutively, Zhang Yang noticed a clear slowdown in bites from the nest.
Originally, bait was prepared to prolong the frequency; now, witnessing the intruding neighbor, it's unnecessary to make a wedding dress for others, so Zhang Yang simply gave up inducing more fish, opting purely for soft sticky bait joyfully.
The two of them caught two more fish from the nest, then it completely quieted.
Seeing this, Zhang Yang remarked: "You go ahead and fish here; I'll take the bait to Old Zhao!"
After a quick announcement, Zhang Yang got up with the bait bowl heading toward the south shore.
It must be said that waking up old Zhao and Wang Jun on time got them a nice catch.
The angler in the central position seemed to have gone off somewhere, never to be seen again, fortunately leaving old Zhao and Wang Jun with adjacent empty spots, equating to a large cabin without neighbors.
This advantageous territorial occupation without competitors allowed for endless bombardment of Triangle Cannon, naturally yielding substantial catch.
"Old Zhao, Brother Jun, how're things? How much have you caught?" Zhang Yang called out from several meters away.
"Are bites off on your side? Over here, we're still catching nonstop! What are you holding?" Old Zhao continued fishing while glancing at Zhang Yang.
"My side's basically got no bites left; Qian Wenbo's invaded my nest, so I'm done fishing! There's less than a pound of bait left, bringing it over for you guys!"
"Great, I'm just about out of three pounds of cannon!"
"I don't have much left either, half the cannon each, bites are still decent, grabbing a few more isn't a problem!" Wang Jun echoed.
Zhang Yang shared the cannon with the two, sitting in the middle, becoming the Fisherman, acting as net hammock for fish; with over forty minutes left until the end at six-thirty, one more fish was a win!
With constant bites, time appeared to fly by, before you knew it, the six-thirty alarm rang out.
After a night unseen, Diao Changhe emerged from the house, rubbed his eyes full of crust, and shouted: "Last night's proper fishing time is over! Time to pack up and sell the fish!"
Zhang Yang and the trio had been in combat mode since fish started biting, arguably the biggest beneficiaries of this fishing event. Seeing Diao Changhe calling time, they didn't bother with idle chatter, simply dropped their rods and gathered the catch!
As they exerted effort dragging the fish guards from the water, Diao Changhe and the remaining anglers, including Qian Wenbo, were left dumbstruck.
Each individual in possession of a 40 cm diameter competition fish guard filled more than one section, at a glance, at least a hundred pounds of fish per person!
"Holy crap! Wasn't there no biting last night? How did you three catch so much?"
Diao Changhe assumed no fish showed profit from fleecing "pigs" but ultimately, Zhang Yang's group succeeded.
Seeing Diao Changhe's tone growing unfriendly, Zhao Bingguang, smoking a cigarette, grimaced: "Oh dear President Diao, fishing your ponds is quite challenging.
We had no bites the first half of the night, crouched till past four to gradually get any bites. For this catch, we stayed awake all night!
Last night, with so many anglers present, I couldn't even bring myself to speak. The fish you stocked were all belly-up. Keep this up, and next time, us brothers might not show up!"