Zhang Yang was pondering this question.

Logically, with such a large reservoir, if you find the right depth and relatively reliable terrain, and if there are fish nearby, they should have started biting after more than an hour.

Yet now, the spots for all three people showed no signs of activity, as if they had thrown their fishing gear into a home aquarium, motionless.

As mentioned before, no matter where you fish, if there's no communication between the bobber and the angler, it's the most extreme situation.

This means the angler can't get any useful information from the bobber's motion, and without information, precise judgment and adjustments can't be made. Many people fish all day without success; a lack of catches arises this way.

But considering who Zhang Yang is, even if the bobber doesn't move, he won't just sit around and wait. He quickly secured the slip knot, got off the fishing platform, and started preparations again.

"At the moment, I can't say exactly what's going on! Let's try the process of elimination, step by step! How about red worms? I'll prepare some red worm sandwiches and see!"

Zhang Yang called out, and soon Xiang Bin took out a package of fresh red worms wrapped in newspaper from the foam cooler.

Zhang Yang took about three ounces, and mixed it into the product bait with a natural grain aroma. In no time, he crafted a new sandwich.

Besides the sandwich, Zhang Yang also prepared several batches of product bait in various flavors like strong fishy, fruity, and milky – all the commonly used flavors.

After about ten minutes, there were four or five balls of trial bait placed in the bait bowl in front of Zhang Yang. He returned to his fishing spot, sat down, and began trying each bait flavor.

The frequency with the eight-meter rod was about every forty seconds per cast.

Xiang Bin and the others saw Zhang Yang constantly making adjustments and experiments, and they didn't rush him further. They chatted softly, killing time.

Unbeknownst to them, another hour passed, with Zhang Yang in high-intensity casting, but he didn't gather much useful information.

At the bottom, the red worm sandwich had a tentative nibble, but when he lifted the rod, the hook slipped.

With the strong fishy bait, he caught a silver fish scale, but none was hooked properly.

Although the information was sparse, Zhang Yang had some preliminary judgments based on the trial results.

There wasn't any fish activity near the spot, but catching scales on the outer edge and the escape proved that fish were slowly entering the spot.

But for unknown reasons, the fish in the reservoir seemed indifferent to the current bait used.

There's an old saying that a region's land nurtures its fish, and the environment of this mountain reservoir seemed isolated from the world. The fish growing here developed specific eating biases, which Zhang Yang understood.

Yet they are indifferent even to the most universal fishy bait and live bait like red worms and earthworms; Zhang Yang was quite surprised.

"Brother Yan, let me ask you something! Do you feed the fish in the reservoir besides setting bait?

Also, you mentioned catching a two-pound big crucian carp during winter ice fishing; what bait was used?" Zhang Yang asked with a frown.

Brother Yan was taken aback and shook his head in response: "The fish are wild; I never feed them!

As for what was used in ice fishing, I'm not sure, a friend caught it while playing with his wife and kids; I was dealing with something and wasn't on the mountain to see it myself!

Wait a moment, I'll make a call and ask!"

After saying that, Brother Yan took out his phone and dialed a number, soon asking about it.

About a minute later, Brother Yan hung up the call and looked a bit disgruntled: "Damn! Xiang Bin was messing with me!

He said there was no bite with red worms and earthworms during ice fishing; it was his eight-year-old son who hooked a wild jujube onto the fish hook and caught it! This bastard surely drank too much cat urine at lunch, making up stories!"

The mention of wild jujube struck Zhang Yang's mind like a thunderclap, and he jumped up from his fishing spot.

"Damn! I felt something was off; so that's what it's all about!"

Zhang Yang mumbled without context and started rummaging through his fishing box.

Soon, Zhang Yang found two small bottles of bait enhancers in his fishing box: one commonly used secret black sugar syrup for carp, and a trial-labeled 5# date paste, both containing date flavor components.

He didn't bother to prepare new bait; he directly divided the grouped natural bait into two and slammed it into the bowl to flatten it, then he added a bit of water, sprinkled the enhancers, mixed thoroughly, and used dry powder to absorb the moisture again.

In less than two minutes, he adjusted the flavors to create two new bait balls.

After adjusting the bait, Zhang Yang kneaded two peanut-sized balls onto the fish hook, flicked his arm, and threw them into the spot again.

Strangely enough, after adjusting the flavor, the first cast saw the bobber show a small tentative nibble.

He observed the bobber's slow tilt downwards, about half a mark, then quickly sliding back to the original position.

That motion was clearly a tentative bite; Zhang Yang didn't immediately lift the rod but patiently continued observing.

In the next half-minute, there was another similar bobber motion: it dipped and slid downward, then reset. Then when there was no movement, Zhang Yang slowly lifted the rod horizontally.

In the next second, Zhang Yang grabbed a pair of scissors, snipped the 0.8 line decisively, and replaced it with a new 0.5 thickness line with a size 5 hook.

"Xiao Zhang, what are you mumbling about? Have you gotten a clue?" Xiang Bin and Brother Yan asked curiously, seeing Zhang Yang's strange behavior.

Zhang Yang held a cigarette between his lips without smoking it, explaining softly, "Let me try again; I should be able to find the reason soon!"

After saying this, he changed to a thinner line, rebaited, and cast the twin hooks into the spot again.

Come on, come on, come on!

Zhang Yang chanted in his heart, his eyes focusing intensely on every movement of the bobber after it plunged.

He watched as the bobber plunged into the water, flipped, and finally stabilized as it reached the targeted depth.

As it reached the predetermined depth, it nudged slightly upward, then decisively plunged about half a mark!

Zhang Yang had been waiting for this bite, and at the moment the bobber moved, he resolutely lifted the rod and hooked the fish!

The underwater weight of the fishing setup transferred to Zhang Yang's right hand, and he felt relieved; he had caught it!

"Damn! Finally caught you!"

Zhang Yang spat out the cigarette butt and held the rod with his right hand, while his left hand maintained control, slowly lifting the fish.

Seeing Zhang Yang hook a fish after a series of adjustments, Brother Yan and Xiang Bin perked up and asked eagerly, "Got a fish! What did you use to catch it?"

Zhang Yang focused on the yet-to-surface fish in the water, controlling it while answering, "Added some date-flavored enhancers!

The fish here are used to eating wild jujubes, as no one has fished them, their feeding habits are a bit tricky! Don't rush, let me get the first fish up, and I'll explain!"

With the 0.5 line and over 2.5 meters deep water, Zhang Yang dared not exert force to control it. After carefully handling it for two rounds, he finally brought the fish to the surface.

As Zhang Yang predicted, a gleaming wild large crucian carp.

With the fish near the surface, Brother Yan was ready with the net, easily pulling it ashore.

The first catch of the four-person bait team had landed, and Brother Yan and Xiang Bin gathered around.

Zhang Yang casually removed the hook from the fish's mouth and scrutinized the fish in his hands.

This fish differed noticeably in shape from wild crucian carp caught outside, with most over a pound having wide backs and relatively flat, round heads, resembling the shape of a shoe sole.

However, the fishing rod caught today came from the reservoir with a narrow body; the skeleton was fully grown, but its width was only about two-thirds of normal.

The strength of the fish was relatively large, struggling solidly in Zhang Yang's hands, feeling much heavier than other fish over a pound and a half.

Zhang Yang grinned, "Case solved; now I know how to fish here!"