Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King-Chapter 572 - 328: Hidden Mysteries in Trial Fishing (Part 2)

After Zhang Yang got Xiaobao's fishing rod, he first pulled the bobber about 50 centimeters down the line and cast it into the water to observe the changes.

This step is actually very important in the eyes of experienced anglers. Many people talk about testing the float, and this is the action they mean.

Pull the fishing rig all into the water, then observe the bobber's position when it's between the water's surface and the bottom.

Many novice anglers are quite casual about adjusting the float. Sometimes they adjust it to a 10-unit setting, but during testing, it shows 7 units, yet they still prepare to fish with 10 units.

Someone who doesn't understand might ask, "Does a 3-unit difference really make a noticeable impact? Is it a big deal?"

For casual wild fishing, it's indeed not a big deal, but in a competitive environment, that 3-unit gap is huge.

Once Zhang Yang figured out the adjustment, he flicked his wrist to cast into the water, glanced at the bobber's position after it settled.

10 units with a small black mark, slightly different from the 11 units Xiaobao mentioned.

After testing, Zhang Yang hesitated slightly, took a small piece of lead from the toolbox, trimmed it simply, and clipped it onto the bobber.

"Why add more lead? My adjustment should be fine," Xiaobao continued to ask.

Zhang Yang smiled and shook his head, "Whether to adjust isn't important, what's important is to see the bobber's reaction and catch the fish!

Adjusting to a high setting but fishing at a low position works when fish are actively biting and the hook can be accepted before hitting the bottom. Now the bites are subtle, missing many strikes, so it's not suitable!"

"Will adding lead work in this situation?" Xiaobao asked, seizing the opportunity.

Zhang Yang shook his head, "I'm not sure either. We have to try and see! Watch how I find the point where the hook enters the fish's mouth, you'll find it useful in competitions!"

"Yes, I'm watching!"

After adding the lead, Zhang Yang tested the bobber again, reducing it from 10 to 5 units. This means the added weight represents a change of 5 units.

Finishing the test, Zhang Yang pushed the bobber back to the position marked by the positioning bead, casually added two small bait balls, and cast again.

The units slightly changed from the previous 3.5 to just over 2.

Zhang Yang knew this was a subtle change caused by different bobber adjustments on the line.

To be precise, the previous state where the bottom hook lay and the top hook lightly touched the bottom became a state where both hooks lay flat after Zhang Yang's adjustment.

The smaller difference between adjusted and fishing units means less tension on the line, more slack in the leader, making it easier for fish to bite, potentially reducing the problem of fish teasing the bait without hooking.

The bobber just settled for two seconds when small movements appeared again.

Light touch, rose a line, returned to its original position, second light touch.

Down it went a unit and a half.

Zhang Yang seized the opportunity, flicked his wrist to set the hook.

The fish was caught, but during the lift from the water, the hook unexpectedly slipped out. It bounced like a slingshot.

"Damn it, it was hooked too weakly!"

Reflectively, Zhang Yang grumbled, his rod followed the line's bounced direction, making a side move, using gentle force to absorb the released energy.

After smoothing the rig, Zhang Yang pushed the bobber up about half a unit, baited again and cast into the water.

The bites remained similar—light probes, bounce, then another probe, suddenly going down a half unit. Zhang Yang set the hook again.

After the bobber adjustment, the fish was steadier this time, and he used the rod's power to lift the fish out of the water, then continued to hold firm, flipping up a half-kilo carp.

The carp clearly had the appearance of an experienced Competition Pond fish, with a large head and a small body. It looked long but had no heft.

The most telling sign was that this fish seemed to know being caught posed no risk, like a half-grown carp acting calm as a Southern tilapia, unmoving upon landing.

As Zhang Yang unhooked, he glanced at the hook's position in the mouth, finding it at the 12 o'clock position slightly outward, no thicker than a leek leaf.

Roughly speaking, it's also at the 12 o'clock position, but in Zhang Yang's view, hooking it there meant it was slightly too responsive, with the strike reaching that spot due to insufficient depth, posing a high risk of losing the fish.

Thus, Zhang Yang pushed the bobber up another unit in front of Xiaobao.

After the second push, Zhang Yang baited and fished again.

After the two pushes, the units shifted from 2 to 3, with subtle changes in bite movement from the start.

There were significantly fewer tentative light bites, only a slight movement seen, followed by a definitive one-unit drop, with clean and decisive bites.

Setting the hook again, the hook was perfectly at 12 o'clock. After brief testing and adjustment, the same rod and bait produced drastically different results in Xiaobao's and Zhang Yang's hands.

"See! The bobber's adjustment is clear, did you catch it?" Zhang Yang confidently asked.

"Uh, I saw the movements clearly but didn't understand why! Could you explain a bit?

Especially why you pushed the bobber up twice? What's the reason?" Xiaobao scratched his head, looking at Zhang Yang with eager eyes.

"It's simple, adding lead balances the remaining buoyancy of the bobber. The original buoyancy was 11 units, now with the lead, it's only 6—the lead neutralized those 5 units.

As for pushing up the bobber seat, the seat position determines the water depth in normal adjustments, and pushing it up lengthens the water line!

On the whole rig, it increases the overall slack of the water and leader lines!

My adjustment had both baited hooks laying flat. When a fish bit, small movements were filtered, and you could set the hook when definite movements appeared! The success rate would be much higher!"

"Uh, let me try! Catching the bite doesn't seem that hard!" Xiaobao rubbed his hands, eager to try.

"Here, give it a shot! Be steady when detecting bites, and don't set the hook on unsteady movements!" Zhang Yang reminded him a few more times, still slightly worried.

Watching Zhang Yang adjust the bobber and catch fish instantly, Xiaobao felt it couldn't be that hard, thinking he could manage too.

But when he really baited, cast, and started getting movements, it wasn't the same story.

Movements up and down, various interactions, and rich bobber movements. He casually picked one that seemed reliable but set the hook and missed.

It's just that magical, just that unreasonable. Clearly, when Zhang Yang fished, setting the hook on bites worked, but when Xiaobao tried the same, he didn't even catch a scale.

Bewildered, Xiaobao looked up at Zhang Yang for help: "What's happening? Why do the fish behave when you're here, but become restless when I am?

With so many movements, which one do I go for?"

"Your baiting method is different. Your bait pieces are large, creating scatter and diffusion when entering water, attracting fish. For this fish condition, a steelyard bait is appropriate! Like this..."

Zhang Yang explained while demonstrating with a chunk of soft, sticky bait.

The bait ball from Xiaobao was a rough, long piece, but Zhang Yang made a bait ball resembling a steelyard weight, thick at the bottom and narrow at the top.

The bait ball was small with no closed ends, just slightly bigger than the hook's width.

"Trapping bait in long pieces creates extended sink times and scatter, increasing false bites, whereas a steelyard bait doesn't have this problem. Smaller bait volume, and if a fish wants it, it swallows it in one go!"

Try again, see if the baiting method change helps.