Ten minutes into the fishing, more than half of the bobber bait in front of Zhang Yang has been used up, yet he shows no intention of catching anything, continuing to cast at an ultra-high frequency.
What's the rhythm? It's a cycle where he pinches bait on the double hooks, lifts the rod as soon as the bait hits the water before the bobber even settles.
The tactical aim is to draw the fish to the surface for fishing, the purest and most extreme form of float fishing.
If successful, it provides a huge lead; if not, early time is wasted.
In the first ten minutes, Zhang Yang maintained this high frequency rhythm, but being experienced as he is, he wasn't just blindly casting without any considerations.
Within the rhythm constraints, Zhang Yang also paid attention to the fishing environment around him and the conditions other anglers were experiencing.
Collecting intelligence is essential for good fishing; other anglers' reactions can also provide a lot of indirect information.
So far, Zhang Yang is quite optimistic about the fish conditions in this session.
It matches his pre-fishing judgment; the fishing spots around the middle and waist are doing quite well, with most anglers gradually catching fish, not affected much by yesterday's rod practice.
At the fifteenth minute, Zhang Yang's first box of bait was completely used up. He then turned around, scooped another basin of bait for float fishing, and repeated the previous actions.
Zhang Yang set his mental expectation of 25 minutes, believing if he could attract fish within this timeframe, he would perform no worse than those fishing the bottom.
As time ticked by, Zhang Yang's face showed not a hint of tension, maintaining a standard casting posture like a machine, endlessly repeating the cycle.
In the 18th minute, Zhang Yang continued casting as before, but this time he sharply noticed several unusually distinct ripples on the water surface.
Seeing this detail, Zhang Yang intentionally slowed his rod lifting speed slightly, making a simple observation.
The super lightweight bran bait exploded into a lot of atomized powder upon contact with water, increasing the ripples around where the bait entered the water.
Suddenly, a small carp flipped on the water surface, playfully wiggling its tail.
Zhang Yang sensed the moment, realizing the fish layer had been drawn up!
The next second, he flicked his wrist, casting two bait balls attached to double hooks into the spot.
Double hooks entering the water, the bait balls were much smaller than the bobber, naturally slowing the bobber's flipping time.
It was this tiny difference that snagged the fish below, causing the bobber to indicate a bite once it turned over.
This is the high-layer fish response; Zhang Yang lifted the rod to hook the fish, and indeed, he felt the sensation of a small carp taking the bait at the rod's tip.
The first fish was out of the water, the first catch!
Zhang Yang glanced at the hook's position in the fish's mouth, noticing the hook point was significantly off, not at the standard 12 o'clock position, but rather at the corner of the mouth.
This indicated the timing to lift the rod was slightly late, and the bait was swallowed too deeply.
The hook catching the mouth corner without a double catch made Zhang Yang frown slightly.
In the next cast, Zhang Yang again used bait, but changed his technique from slanting small bait to scraping large bait, casting into the spot again.
It appeared as the same type of biting action, but this time, the resistance was greater when lifting the rod; once lifted, the double hooks each caught a fish, achieving a double catch!
Small bait easily enters the mouth but is less likely to be noticed by fish; enlarging bait balls can subtly adjust the extent of the fish taking the bait, enhancing fishing efficiency.
With just a minor adjustment, the rhythm of catching fish was found, and Zhang Yang began a streak of continuous catches.
Double catch!
Double catch!
Double catch again!
In the next three casts, they were all double catches.
From casting to catching, Zhang Yang's hands were rock steady, and in the blink of an eye, his fish holder already had nine fish!
In the next forty minutes, Zhang Yang replenished the spot with a cast of bobber bait every four or five casts, mostly catching double catches, rapidly catching up and overtaking the fish caught in the first twenty minutes.
When the first match reached the final ten minutes, Zhang Yang's fishing spot was bustling with fish.
Whenever double hooks with bait entered the water, the bobber didn't even have the chance to fully indicate before fish scrambled noisily for the bait, the fish density so high that a mass of fish could be clearly seen from the bank.
At this point, float fishing is inherently discreet, and few can master it effectively, so Zhang Yang's anomaly was noticed early on by the patrolling referee.
The referee responsible for patrolling Pond No. 1, Old Yang, was among the earliest professional freshwater fishing referees.
He has seen many fishing experts in various sizes of competitions, and quite a few skilled in float fishing, but it's the first time seeing someone as efficient as Zhang Yang.
Initially, Old Ma asked him to keep an eye on Zhang Yang to nitpick some flaws, but he found no faults and was eventually thoroughly impressed by Zhang Yang's fishing skill.
Using float technique the entire time, with an exceptionally high rate of double catches, such skill level is, in Old Yang's view, about on par with professional competitive anglers in the country, at best.
Another five minutes passed, the 60-minute match was nearing its end, and the loudspeaker announced the referee's rod retrieval notice!
All competing anglers please note, there are only 10 seconds left until the end of the first match. Once the whistle sounds, put down your rods and wait for staff to tally results!
Countdown 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!