CHAPTER 928: CHAPTER 911: A TURNAROUND IN THE BITE

The atmosphere offstage is great, and the second round of the competition on stage is still ongoing. However, the entire second round seems very disappointing in terms of fish activity, with only a few fish caught from start to finish.

It’s worth mentioning that Xue Kai naturally applied the tactics he learned earlier, using his idle moves without Yue Feng’s prompting. While the fish were slow, he kept replenishing bait in the empty spots at the corners, persisting until the end of the second round.

As Wang Xiaomin was about to go on stage, Yue Feng reminded him: "Xiaomin, judging by the time, the phase where the temperature is highest and the pressure is lowest might start changing in the third round. Keep an eye on the conditions while fishing! The competition is judged by weight, so carp hook and big fish are the key to determining the score. Don’t let the neighbor flip the score without you noticing!"

Wang Xiaomin nodded: "Don’t worry, Brother Feng! I’m aware of these minor issues, I definitely won’t embarrass you!"

"Alright then, get ready to go on stage; it’s time to blow the whistle for a player change!"

Sure enough, less than half a minute later, the referee blew the whistle, Wang Xiaomin went on stage to replace Xue Kai from the second round, and once again sat at the competition desk.

While watching earlier, Wang Xiaomin had opened his Fishing Box and retuned the bait. This guy had an even wilder approach than Yue Feng, directly adding large amounts of light bran and Snowflake Flour to the basic Ragworm. After kneading and opening the mixture, it was lighter than what Yue Feng had prepared before. It seemed he was determined to search the bottom in the high fishing trajectory for more catches.

The silver crucian carp around the bait spot was originally sparse. After two rounds of one-hour competition and searching, nearly every fish that could be caught was dry, with the occasional straggler around the bait spot being a lucky escapee.

However, Wang Xiaomin did not feel discouraged. With patience, he sorted out the bait spot from start to finish again, and in just five minutes, he caught three silver crucian carp, including one larger-sized one.

After those three fish, the fish activity became quite depressing—so low it was frustrating, and despite adjustments and searches, there was not a single bit of action.

This extremely slow fish activity persisted until about twenty minutes into the third round.

A gentle southeast breeze began to blow, causing ripples on the water surface, and both the anglers on stage and the teammates watching offstage faintly felt a wave of coolness.

Once the breeze began, it didn’t stop, and soon the water surface ripples started to densely accumulate, allowing oxygen from the air to penetrate into the water.

With the wind stirring, the water surface also created some convection, gradually balancing the surface and mid-bottom water temperatures, somewhat alleviating the impact of high temperature and low pressure on fish activity.

Once the wind started to blow, Wang Xiaomin’s thoughts became active, and he kept changing fishing methods to probe the fish condition.

At the twenty-fifth minute, the dead fish activity finally began to change.

These were two small-sized lure baits that Wang Xiaomin habitually used. After entering the water, they slowly reached position, and then he habitually flicked the rod tip to tease a little.

This teasing usually received no response, and fishes often stayed away from the bottom, but this time was different. Under the usual teasing, the float quivered slightly, giving a half-point downward indication.

Seeing this unusual move, Wang Xiaomin reflexively flicked his wrist to hook the fish, and he hit it!

The fish’s power underwater wasn’t great, feeling only about half a pound, but Wang Xiaomin was still very cautious, meticulously tired the fish out, and after two rounds, brought it to the surface and carefully drew it near with a dip net.

A six-seven-ounce carp hook, the trouble for the afternoon, and finally the carp hook opened its mouth to feed at the bottom!

With the next rod, Wang Xiaomin directly abandoned the Da Fei lead full swimming layer search method and switched to the conventional bottom fishing, forming the dual-hook bait into bean-sized pellets. Such bait was far more reliable than the tiny residue at the lure hook tip.

After casting four or five rods, another bottom bite appeared!

Another fish successfully hit!

With two carp hooks in the box, the leading score widened significantly.

Seeing this, the angler from the Hua Club next door couldn’t hold back, and likewise adjusted his fishing method to bottom fishing, head down, casting continuously.

At this time, there were a little over two minutes remaining before the end of the third round.

Wang Xiaomin pondered the stage fish activity, bit his lip, gave up on continuing to catch at the bottom, and started increasing the frequency, setting up bait spots in the left, middle, and right directions of his fishing position.

The plum pile fishing method was once again employed.

Seeing Wang Xiaomin so clear-headed, Yue Feng and Zhao Zheng exchanged a glance offstage.

Zhao Zheng exclaimed: "Xiaomin really has a natural knack for fishing; he knows the fish activity is still lacking a bit now, and that time isn’t crucial. He replenished the bait spots ahead of time for me to save time when I go on stage. With the next two rounds, the advantage will accumulate into victory!"

Yue Feng smiled and nodded: "You and Ran should stay stable in the next two rounds. It seems we’re leading by quite a bit, but there are big fish in the pit, and one big fish could flip the score! Always keep a little reserve at that spot farther to the right front and don’t be just focused on catching fish and forget!"

Zhao Zheng patted his chest: "Rest assured, Brother Zheng will be very steady when on stage! Just hang on for the championship! Even though the Hua Club team is stronger than the previous few teams, they’re still limited and not worth mentioning! Watch me pull them apart in one round!"

A few minutes after making these bold claims, the third round ended, and Zhao Zheng swaggered onto the stage, replacing Wang Xiaomin.

"Not bad, Xiaomin, your performance in those last few minutes was very impressive! You used your brain in fishing!" Yue Feng didn’t hold back his compliments.

Wang Xiaomin shyly scratched his head: "Since the fish activity was slow, I just replenished the bait spots! Once the bait spots gather more fish, Brother Zheng and Ran can seize them too, it’s the same later!"

"Indeed, that’s a great mindset! Wang Zhen, did you hear? Learn more from Xiaomin!"

Wang Zhen was a bit thick-skinned: "Of course, we talk fishing privately all the time! Xiaomin taught me a lot! We brothers never keep secrets from each other!"

Seeing these close friends in such harmony, Yue Feng smiled and nodded.

In the fourth round, Zhao Zheng went on stage, gradually replenished a circle of bait spots, and quickly began catching fish, rotating fishing among the three bait spots, and catching a carp hook every seven or eight casts.

After a little more time passed, the speed of fish bites increased to every four or five casts, then every two or three casts.

By the time the fourth round was halfway through, the fish bite speed increased even further, with a tendency to jump quickly.

Not only Zhao Zheng himself, but also the Hua Club angler next door started fast jumping, and the opposite team’s fish biting quickly as well, raising the pace of the competition considerably.