As the next cast began, Liu Wenjun casually grabbed a handful of wet scattered bait the size of an egg from the bait tray and directly clenched it against the sinker seat of the fishing setup.

Thud! 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

A muffled sound, neither too loud nor too soft, was heard. Old Liu had used the sinker to bait the area and created a bit of a commotion.

At the level of Zhang Yang and Liu Wenjun, using a sinker to bait the area is such a fundamental skill that major mistakes are unlikely to happen. For instance, during the morning when they'd just started fishing to lure the fish, while the sinker baiting couldn't achieve complete silence underwater, at least the sound could be minimized.

How is it done?

With a 7.2-meter rod, how can you achieve sinker baiting without making much noise?

The details here are somewhat similar to Olympic diving competitions. By utilizing the waist strength at the tip of the fishing rod, you can control the angle and force when entering the water to minimize the sound and splash as much as possible.

Of course, there's a limit to this. No matter how good the technique is, there will be an ultimate limit.

The noise of Liu Wenjun's sinker baiting this time was noticeably louder than his usual technical performance, but it wasn't exaggeratedly loud—it was just so-so.

Zhang Yang initially didn't notice this, continuing to fish at his frequency and pace until a few casts later when Liu Wenjun's second sinker bait entered the water. That's when Zhang Yang heard the commotion, causing him to frown slightly.

Liu the Fishing King is playing tricks here, isn't he?! Zhang Yang couldn't help but murmur to himself.

Seeing this, some might be curious. Isn't it just a sinker carrying a bit of bait? If he's fishing at his spot adhering to competition rules, how does that become playing tricks on you? Is Zhang Yang being too sensitive, overreacting?

Actually, he's not. Zhang Yang's judgment is well-founded.

This requires a knowledge sharing on a little-known fact about fishing for Grass Carp.

When Grass Carp are feeding, they seem to be very simple and aggressive eaters, with fierce feeding behavior and obvious float movements, often with high surface takes or long horizontal drags.

Many people use grains like corn kernels as bait, but live bait like grasshoppers can also be very effective. In certain natural waters, lure anglers can even catch Grass Carp with artificial lures designed for predatory fish.

However, few people know that the Grass Carp is actually a very timid fish.

It's very sensitive to sounds and unusual vibrations in the water. Any slight disturbance will cause it to stop feeding or even escape far away. In cases of intense stimulation, a Grass Carp can be so frightened that it will stay motionless.

Zhang Yang clearly remembers one year when a local reservoir had a dam break, releasing many farmed Grass Carp, which eventually ended up in an eddy downstream with the water level receding. A group of locals were catching fish in less than a meter of water.

How were they doing this?

They used a wooden stick less than a meter long, constantly striking the water's surface in front of them, creating waves and noise. Meanwhile, the bighead carp in the eddy would jump out of the water, while most of the Grass Carp would stay motionless underwater. As long as the striking continued, the fish wouldn't move, allowing the fish catchers to grab and toss them onto the shore.

The reason for mentioning this extreme case is to illustrate a simple point: Grass Carp are timid. Liu Wenjun knows that baiting with a sinker every now and then has a direct impact on the surrounding fish behavior.

Zhang Yang and Liu Wenjun are fishing close together, with their spots being no more than five meters apart in a straight line. Old Liu's interference has noticeably affected Zhang Yang.

Realizing this, Zhang Yang glanced at Liu Wenjun out of the corner of his eye.

Old Liu sat stably on the fishing platform, his face revealing no emotion, completely composed and giving away no useful information.

Zhang Yang already knew what kind of person Liu Wenjun was, so there was no need to attempt any strategy talk.

If he continued fishing like this, the chances of catching more Grass Carp would be very low. Zhang Yang continued to calculate in his mind.

What to do? What method to use? What fish to catch?

It's not going to work this way. The other party is clearly up to no good here. Even though Zhang Yang couldn't pinpoint any fault, the fact is, if he doesn't adjust, he'll surely be hugely affected.

With this thought, Zhang Yang got up and opened his tackle box to take a look.

Basic bait, little medicine, fermented vintage jar stuff, musk herbal wine...

The tackle box was neatly organized, so you could see what was inside at a glance.

Zhang Yang hesitated for a few seconds, and a thought sparked in his mind. How about switching to dough bait and attacking the bottom again?

Continuing with light lead to fish for Grass Carp is definitely not going to work. If Grass Carp is ruled out, the remaining options are Carp and Green Carp, plus the bighead carp used for water purification in the reservoir.

Yes, bighead carp!! Bighead carp!!!

While contemplating the fish behavior, the word "bighead carp" suddenly flashed in Zhang Yang's mind.

To ensure the health of the reservoir's water body, Zhang Yang had released three thousand pounds of bighead carp while stocking the fish. Moreover, last year he also stocked a batch of white carp fry weighing over half a pound each.

The originally stocked bighead carp, growing over two years, wouldn't have much trouble turning three thousand pounds into four thousand pounds. The white carp fry stocked last year should weigh two or three pounds after a year of growth. Currently, the total bighead carp stock in the reservoir should conservatively weigh seven or eight thousand pounds.

At this point, with Carp and Crucian showing poor feeding activity and Grass Carp being disturbed, why not try fishing for bighead carp?

Bighead carp like warm temperatures, and the current midday water and air temperature are just perfect!