Examining the fish closely, it's plump, with thin lips and a slightly round head, indicating there isn't much of a food shortage in the reservoir. It's much fatter than the large carp often caught in wild rivers.

By rough estimation, the first carp weighs around seven to eight ounces.

"Xiao Yi, come over! The rod's out! Bring the small bucket over!" Zhang Yang took out his phone and sent a WeChat message to Xiao Yi, who was still on the North Bank.

Xiao Yi had been monitoring Zhang Yang from afar with his camera. Upon receiving the message, he sprang up from his chair, grabbed the small bucket, and headed toward the East Bank.

Holding the fish in his left hand, Zhang Yang couldn't let go. After checking the bait on the double hooks, he swung the rod forward with his right hand and then cast the fishing line precisely into the fishing spot with a large sweep of his arm.

The double hook rig entered the water, but the bobber remained motionless. Even when Xiao Yi arrived with the small bucket, there was still no sign of a second catch.

However, Zhang Yang was somewhat reassured: the fish had been caught at the twelve o'clock position, indicating there were fish in the spot, and they would eventually bite. The potential of the fish stock on the East Bank far surpassed that of the North and West Banks.

This might lead to someone asking, is it due to the eight-meter-long rod?

Zhang Yang's initial judgment is related to the rod's length, but it's not the main reason!

Because anglers on the West Bank are using eight-meter rods too, yet they have no bites so far. Besides the length of the rod, there must be other influences at work.

Whether it's reservoirs or ponds, any fishing activity is like solving a math problem: analyzing known conditions and then verifying to find the final solution (the catch).

Fish conditions were fine yesterday and the day before; the temperature and atmospheric pressure didn't suddenly change. Excluding natural factors, Zhang Yang could only analyze based on human factors.

The short rod near the bank got no bites, while the long rod further out managed to hook fish (7.2 meters) or catch directly (8.1 meters). Based on his experience, Zhang Yang speculates it might be the reservoir's owner spreading fertilizer along the shore or using electricity to stir.

Whatever the reason, if fish don't approach the shore, anglers are helpless. Without evidence, they can't argue with the reservoir owner. Fishing is a hobby where one willingly takes chances.

But now there's activity on the long rod, which equates to a glimmer of hope, and Zhang Yang decided to challenge himself a bit.

After another five minutes or so, Zhang Yang lightly bumped the rod tip, teasing the bait, causing the bobber to slightly dip and then quickly rise.

A dip first and then a rise—sure signs of a carp bite—Zhang Yang lifted the rod again, catching the second fish!

"Did you catch the bite in action?" Zhang Yang asked as he continued to expertly handle the fish.

"Rest assured, the lighting's great, the bobbing is crystal clear!" Xiao Yi affirmed emphatically.

The second fish was slightly bigger than the first. Zhang Yang roughly estimated it was close to a pound.

Carefully lifting the fish out of the water, Zhang Yang unhooked it and threw it into the small bucket, handing the rod to Xiao Yi as he walked toward the North Bank's fishing spot.

Given the activity far out on the East Bank, there's no point in staying on the North Bank any longer. After another hectic effort, Zhang Yang made two trips to move all his equipment over.

Having resettled the fishing spot on the East Bank, Zhang Yang poured the two fish in the bucket into the fish keeper and refrained from hastily setting up to fish again. Instead, he took out the bait bowl and got busier.

"Yang, what are you doing again? Didn't you already bait the spot?" Xiao Yi was a bit puzzled by Zhang Yang's series of actions.

Grinning, Zhang Yang opened a trial pack of strong-smelling carp bait, poured it into the bowl, and added a little extra of a potent lure ingredient and some Lubricating Powder, mixing them swiftly.

"The spot is taking too long to attract fish; I'm just adding a little extra to it!"

Zhang Yang swiftly drew the bait to one side of the bowl, allowing it to form threads after a few minutes.

After minutes passed, Zhang Yang gathered the bait into a ball, expelled the air, and gently broke it open to check the thread formation, confirming that it had threaded properly, he took the food tray to start busying himself.

"Didn't you say using worms is effective? Why switch to string bait now and make so much—this huge lump, it could last all day!" Xiao Yi still couldn't get a grasp of Zhang Yang's plan.

"All day? I want to use it up in two hours! Red worms are good for bites but poor at attracting fish. Without scatter baiting, I'll make do with string bait! Let's see if I can lure the fish over!"

Pinching the sub-lines, Zhang Yang pulled two thumb-sized bait balls from the outside of the bait ball with a casual swipe, then began casting frequently.

Yes, you heard right—an 8.1-meter rod cast at frequency, averaging about two casts per minute.

For ordinary anglers, casting a precise eight-meter-one rod to the spot is challenging enough, and even swinging a big whip is quite difficult.

But these challenges didn't seem to bother Zhang Yang in the slightest.

With steady hands, Zhang Yang cast the rod while seating firmly on the fishing box, with precise and standardized movements, about nine-and-a-half out of ten casts landing within a forty-centimeter radius of the spot—it was extremely accurate and efficient.

This eight-meter-one rod casting frequency went on for over an hour.

With such a high frequency, Zhang Yang had used up more than half of the large chunk of bait on the bait board, turning back to the bowl to gather the remaining bait together, continuing the casts.

Over an hour of casting, Zhang Yang constantly watched the bobber's movements, but as expected, the chance of small movements was quite low.

Among fish bites, only one occurred within an hour, and now it's nearly eleven-thirty, with only three carp in Zhang Yang's fish keeper.

However, these conditions were already anticipated when Zhang Yang decided to use the long rod for frequency casting to lure fish; everything was within his expectations.

Half an hour later, at exactly twelve o'clock, Zhang Yang's phone alarm rang.

This was previously set by Zhang Yang. Hearing the alarm, Zhang Yang cast the fishing rig into the water again, turned off the fishing platform, bent down, and poured himself a cup of hot water from the water bottle.

It was merely a normal turn to drink and rest, but suddenly an unexpected incident occurred.

A soft sound brushed behind him, and Zhang Yang's rod was forcefully tugged by a fish, getting caught at the rod limit position.

"Holy!"

Zhang Yang put down the cup and quickly turned around, grabbing the fishing rod.

Thankfully, the rod limit stopped it from being pulled down!

The superstition of catching fish upon turning around, lighting a cigarette, or urinating was perfectly in play!

Luckily the fish hadn't escaped, Zhang Yang slowly lifted the rod.

It was still a carp, around half a pound in size.

As he unhooked the fish, Zhang Yang noticed the hook had gone deep; it was hooked to the throat area, with remnants of the Lubricating Powder bait still visible.

"What a close call! Almost pulled it off!" Xiao Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhang Yang grinned, "I've got a feeling; there are fish in the spot! Set up the equipment right; I'm about to start a binge!"

After saying this, Zhang Yang hooked a large commercial string bait on the top hook and a red worm bait on the bottom hook, casting into the water nonchalantly.

Having been reminded by Zhang Yang, Xiao Yi immediately adjusted, and sure enough, as expected, just as the bobber settled after the first cast, a clear biting movement appeared.

Zhang Yang raised the rod lining up with the biting rhythm, accurately hooking the fish!

"Really got fish? That's unbelievable! It was quiet for so long before!" Xiao Yi couldn't help but mutter.

"You think my hour-long casting frequency was for nothing! We've got content for this episode!"

Zhang Yang was indeed correct; they had content for this episode.

From switching back to red worm bait, Zhang Yang under the noonday sun of April at twelve, began an extraordinary fishing performance.

The owner of the reservoir and anglers on the West Bank weren't exaggerating about the carp sizes—most were over half a pound, occasionally hooking pound-sized ones too.

Zhang Yang wielded the eight-meter-one rod with great vigor. In less than an hour, he had caught over thirty fish.

It was at this point that Xiao Yi, who had been relaxed all morning, started to get into the battle mode.

From full-body shots in the distance, to half-body closeups, to bobber action close-ups, and fish retrieval shots—basically all the video content needed—Xiao Yi happily filmed away.

As Zhang Yang's performance hit its stride, even anglers from the opposite bank initially didn't pay attention. Later, unsure who couldn't hold back first, they moved their fishing platforms and gear over to the East Bank.