Zhang Yang grinned: "The first wave of fish is lured in by the baiting spot, mostly strong and active individuals in the fish group. Such fish bite fiercely, and the impact of adjusting the bobber height isn't much!
The fish coming later will definitely have less stamina and activity, naturally different.
If I'm not mistaken, did you adjust this number two bobber to over ten indicators?"
"Eleven and a half! I originally thought to adjust to eight indicators, but I cut too much lead!" Old Zhao said with some frustration.
"That's it! If they escape, they escape. Still, let's adjust it again, or else it'll be easy to bounce off next time!"
"Hey, I don't believe it! Will the next one escape again? I'll try it again!"
Normally, in a calm and peaceful state, Zhang Yang's reminder would definitely make Old Zhao humbly accept his advice.
But previously Zhang Yang took the rod and didn't catch anything for quite a few casts, making Old Zhao doubt Zhang Yang's carp fishing skills.
Mysteriously, the two got competitive!
Zhang Yang laughed without saying anything, squatting down with a cigarette in his mouth.
Old Zhao re-baited, cast twice consecutively, and patiently waited again.
In less than ten minutes, the bobber showed an almost identical biting motion to the previous fish.
A slight movement, followed by a decisive dip of about one indicator.
Lift the rod and hook the fish! Successfully hooked!
The rod arced, but before the first round of reeling the fish ended, it escaped again.
In the same manner, two more fish escaped consecutively, leaving Old Zhao stunned. Could it really be set too sensitively?
Without Zhang Yang having to say anything, Old Zhao instinctively pushed the bobber back to the position where Zhang Yang had adjusted it earlier, and started fishing again.
Seeing Old Zhao adjust the bobber, Zhang Yang didn't say anything and got up to walk towards Wang Jun on the other side.
Unlike Old Zhao's spot, Wang Jun caught a few fish after setting the bait in the morning, but then the spot went completely quiet, not showing any movement for half an hour.
"Still catching fish? How many?" Zhang Yang asked Wang Jun from behind.
"Four fish, three misses! Damn, it's weird! The bites were good at first, now they aren't biting!" Wang Jun muttered, confused.
Hearing Wang Jun's comment, Zhang Yang was speechless, wanting to retort, but held back!
With the continuous misses and escapes, even the largest fish group would be scared away. Now the spot is empty, having bites would be bizarre!
Zhang Yang pointed to the opposite North bank: "Do you know how deep the water is on the North bank? I think starting a spot there might improve the fish activity!"
"It's a bit shallower there, about two and a half meters! Do you think it will work? I still have some bait left. Should we try over there?"
"Let's go! I'll help you carry the stuff!"
At Zhang Yang's suggestion, Wang Jun moved his fishing position to the North bank.
"How about you fish for a while?" Wang Jun spoke as he began to form bait balls with both hands, the fist-sized bait bombs were standard in the unrestricted hand-thrown spots back then.
"If I'm fishing, let me fish! But if you give me the rod, don't throw bombs with the bait!" Zhang Yang nodded and took Wang Jun's rod.
"Without bait bombs, when will the fish come?" Wang Jun was a bit confused as Zhang Yang's approach touched on his knowledge blind spots.
"Don't worry, I'll use the rod to carry the bait!"
Zhang Yang glanced at the bait in the basin, calmly opened Wang Jun's tackle box and took out a bag of pure grains, grabbed a handful and sprinkled it into the bait.
After absorbing water through the pure grains, the bait's water ratio decreased, becoming similar to a simplified version of dispersing bait (see explanation①).
With the bait's water ratio adjusted, Zhang Yang grabbed an egg-sized ball of bait, placed it on the lead seat, stood up and cast the rod, accurately placing the bait in the spot.
Compared to the fist-sized bombs entering the water, this baiting method was much quieter, with almost no splash, and layers peeled off after entering the water. The precisely cast spot was very concentrated.
Zhang Yang consecutively used the lead to carry bait to make four bait balls, then placed the bait basin by his side, pinched one hook with a large triangle of bait, and the other with normal bait, fishing steadily.
"What's this fishing method? Directly forming large balls and tossing them in would be much easier!"
Wang Jun watched Zhang Yang's method from start to finish and still didn't quite get it, though he'd been fishing for years, he'd never seen anyone fish for carp like this in a pond.
Zhang Yang grinned: "I'm just killing time, whether it'll work or not, we'll find out soon enough!"
"Fine, try it, I feel it won't make much difference!"
Wang Jun's attitude now was similar to Old Zhao's earlier attitude, both were indifferent and just letting Zhang Yang do what he wanted.
Wang Jun didn't know whether this baiting method would be effective, but Zhang Yang understood the difference in attracting fish between hand-thrown bait and rod-carried dispersing bait.
After about ten minutes, the bait basin was frequently grabbed for bait, creating a shallow pit, with at least a pound of bait tossed in.
Finally, fish were entering the spot!
The bobber started showing subtle movements, Zhang Yang's first step of baiting was complete!
After another ten minutes, Zhang Yang felt the spot was being nurtured enough, and pinched two normal baits onto the double hook, casting again into the fishing spot.
"Do you believe the next cast will hook a fish?" Zhang Yang asked with a smile.
"Hah, it's been less than half an hour, it's not that easy to activate the spot! Not even in active conditions! I don't believe it!" Wang Jun sneered, full of doubt!
Ordinarily, it takes at least an hour with normal baiting to attract fish. In poor conditions, with lower fish density, it takes even longer!
In the next second, he was proven wrong.
The bobber flipped normally to the bottom, suddenly with a sharp and strong dip! Zhang Yang lifted the rod and hooked a fish! Successfully hooked!
"Whoa! It's really hooked, how did you know?" Seeing the arcing rod, Wang Jun was amazed!
Catching fish was common, but knowing beforehand that the next cast would hook a fish, Wang Jun thought he couldn't manage that! But Zhang Yang had done it!
Zhang Yang reeled in the fish with stability, and after several rounds, brought the carp out of the water, slowly pulling it to his net.
Just half an hour of repositioning, and Zhang Yang revived the previously totally quiet fish activity.
"Haha, didn't fool you, right? If you use soft sticky small bait for the next cast, there'll be bites too! Believe it or not?" Zhang Yang laughed as he placed the fish in the keeper and pinched two more baits.
"How did you do it, this is remarkable!?" Wang Jun instantly became a fan, full of curiosity.
"Can't explain in a few words, let's chat at the store over tea! You can learn this triangle baiting method! If used in active fish conditions, it's very effective!"
"Sure! Show me how it's done!"
Little did Wang Jun know, just learning a bit of Triangle Cannon's method from Zhang Yang, it would make him unbeatable in the surrounding ponds, defeating opponents left and right for quite some time!
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Explanation① Dispersing Bait: A type of bait technique in Taiwanese fishing, achieved by lowering the water ratio of the bait, making it relatively dry and loose, quickly dispersing upon entering water, and creating a cloudy effect that strongly attracts surrounding fish. Among Taiwanese fishing bait techniques, it is the most typical aggressive fishing method.