Fishing Livestream

A few minutes later, Wang Xiaomin, following the reminder from his captain Yue Feng, prepared a new batch of bait for his good buddy Wang Zhen.

With this adjustment, the bait adhered to the hook much better. With a pull of the double hook, there were now two fluffy balls, and the condition was unbeatable.

A few more minutes passed, and the first round of the competition ended. The referee called for a change of players, and Wang Zhen, carrying the newly adjusted bait, strode confidently onto the field.

Zhao Zheng handed the rod to Wang Zhen, briefly pointed out the casting position and the frequency of bites, then gracefully stepped down from the stage.

For Zhao Zheng, his task for this round was completely fulfilled.

Zhao Zheng was relaxed after completing his task, but Niu Zhuangzhuang from Tiancheng Fishing Gears was having a hard time with this round.

Self-assured, Niu Zhuangzhuang never felt his skills were inferior to anyone's. Even against masters certified as fishing experts, he wouldn't back down, let alone Zhao Zheng, an unknown newcomer just starting to emerge.

After his turn, he sat with a stern face. By the end of the first round, Zhao Zheng had outdone him with five more fish. In the quarterfinals, this advantage was quite significant.

"What's up, Zhuangzhuang? You didn't perform well in this round, struggling with the pressure?" Captain Qiu Guoyun glanced at Niu Zhuangzhuang and asked with concern.

Niu Zhuangzhuang was still baffled by his loss, scratched his head irritably, and said, "Damn it, this is weird! At the start, I was comfortably in sync with Zhao Zheng across the way!

But after fishing for a bit, he started catching an extra pair of fish, waited a while, and then caught another pair. The fish bites weren't fast, but he managed to overtake me! Did you guys see anything wrong from the sidelines?"

Qiu Guoyun and the team had already discussed it below the stage, saying, "We feel that your error rate was too high! Of the five-fish disadvantage, three were due to fish you missed that he captured. The actual lead is just two fish! It mainly comes down to the flavor of the bait or perhaps luck!"

"Hell, there were mistakes, but they were only after being inexplicably overtaken and getting anxious! It still doesn't explain why I was caught up! Luck? I don't believe it!"

Zhang Xufei handed over a cigarette, "Alright, stop dwelling on it. It's just five fish, you can catch up quickly. Sun Hao is up next, let's see how he does. The opponent coming up should be a rookie, maybe we'll pull back the score in just one round!"

On the competition field, after some guidance from Captain Yue Feng, Wang Zhen had a basic strategy. After taking the rod and sitting down, he started planning to use the "chat and provoke" technique Yue Feng had taught him!

"Hey, Mr. Sun Hao, right? In the first round, your teammate was outpaced by my pal Zheng by matching rhythms! What do you think?" Wang Zhen quietly initiated a conversation.

In reality, the competition wasn't as strict as everyone imagined. Many anglers knew each other, and whispering, as long as it didn't affect others, was quite common.

Sun Hao turned to look at Wang Zhen, a bit disdainfully, and said, "It's just a few fish's advantage, isn't it? Catching up is a matter of minutes! Stop going on about beating rhythms and such! Trying to sound professional, how many years have you been fishing? Do you even know what rhythm means?"

"Hehe! You know, I can learn from you! I came to the competition mainly to learn!"

"Let your technical coach teach you! Don't bother me with pointless chatter!"

"You can't explain it either, can you? I'm telling you, don't look down on me. I'm really good at maintaining rhythm. Why don't we try and see?"

"Damn! Let's try then! You think I'd back down from a kid?" Sun Hao didn't think much of it and agreed without hesitation.

"Alright then, keep up the frequency, maintain the rhythm. Let's compete through bait and basic skills. Whoever gives up first loses!"

"Let's get started, it's just fishing, no need to drag it out!"

With a mind full of calculations, poor Sun Hao was easily provoked into this trap with just a few words.

Before long, the audience noted a slight change in the competition's rhythm on the stage.

Wang Zhen and Sun Hao, imitating the first round, once again synchronized their fishing frequencies, clashing head-on.

Seeing this, Yue Feng grinned, "Wang Zhen isn't dumb, looks like his little talk was successful!"

"Judging by the frequency, Sun Hao seems quite relaxed, huh? Can Wang Zhen gain any advantage?"

Coach Niu wasn't optimistic about the second round on the field.

Yue Feng: "Not gaining an advantage isn't a problem. As long as the tactics are thoroughly executed and no major mistakes are made, that's a victory!

Coach Niu, don't forget, Wang Zhen is technically the weakest member of the team. If he can hold a 50-50 with Sun Hao, we're already profiting! Xiaomin and Zhao Ran just need to perform a bit better, and our chances of winning are promising!"

Wang Xiaomin also glanced at the situation on the field and said, "Captain, you guessed right, Sun Hao actually accepted the challenge! What should I do when I go up? Continue to provoke? I think after two rounds, they'll surely catch on!"

Yue Feng: "When you get on the stage, just fish however is most efficient! Though the fish behavior isn't fast today, their biting activity is decent, and the fish are quite steady. Bottom hook or fixed layer are reliable methods!"

"But, I feel like today's fish aren't chasing up for the bait much.

After more than a round of fishing, they mostly bite just slightly off the bottom, compared to the usual upward movement, today's fish behavior is too stable, staying at the very bottom!" Wang Xiaomin said with a small frown.

After Wang Xiaomin's words, Yue Feng was slightly stunned.

He had been watching the match but mainly focused on the team's performance. The fish behavior wasn't fast, with less than thirty fish caught after a round.

What Wang Xiaomin said seemed right, the fish bites were indeed slow.

Less than twenty thirty fish in half an hour translates to a rate of under sixty per hour, which is considered slow. For many Category Four competition fish, this is about that level, attempting an aggressive fishing tactic might not provide a significant advantage.

"Why not adjust to a direct bottom-approach float? The jujube pit float for bottom interface doesn't have much advantage!" Yue Feng suggested.

"I think that's reliable! Few bites during the journey, they're mostly steadily taking bait at the bottom, maybe I should give it a try on my own? Switch to my modified short-legged float for one round?"

Wang Xiaomin, aside from being diligent in training, liked tinkering in his spare time. This short-legged float was one of his "research" results.

So what's a short-legged float? It's actually an improvement rooted in the fast flips of the steel-foot float used by Taiwan Fishing predecessors, transformed into a fast-attack, long-bodied short float type for bottom fishing efficiency.