The first round in the afternoon ended quickly. During the position switch at halftime, Zhang Yang stuck to his usual method, not lifting the fish keeper out of the water. He dragged the opening of his fish keeper to position four, then reinserted it into the holder on the tackle box.

He glanced at the bait in the mixing bowl and, confirming there was enough for the second round, closed his eyes to rest again.

At this time, Huang Zheng, sitting across the pond, had also finished preparing for the second round. The fish situation in the first round was pretty much what he expected, and he felt he performed quite well, thinking he had a good chance of winning.

However, a WeChat message from his follower, who had been watching for him outside, made Huang Zheng frown.

"Brother Zheng, in the first round, Zhang Yang, who you asked me to keep an eye on, caught a total of 63 carp! Meanwhile, I counted only 52 for you! In terms of count, you're currently trailing by eleven fish after the first round!"

After reading the message, Huang Zheng's face instantly turned grim.

In the last match, five minutes into the competition, Huang Zheng deliberately observed Zhang Yang's fishing process. From a simple observation, Huang Zheng determined that besides being more skilled and making fewer mistakes, Zhang Yang did not seem particularly remarkable.

As the competition went on, fish came to Huang Zheng's spot more quickly, and he no longer had time to watch Zhang Yang.

Having achieved success at a young age, Huang Zheng was always very confident. In his mind, as long as he performed perfectly, even a legendary angler would have to eat his dust. This young Zhang Yang was no different!

But now, a message from his follower abruptly woke Huang Zheng from his dream.

"63 fish? How is that possible? The speed and operation earlier were at best a tie with mine; where did the ten-fish gap come from?" Huang Zheng questioned, full of disbelief.

"He used the Blocking Needle and a stiff rod, directly Flying Kicking hooks into the keeper! That's why his efficiency was much higher. Luckily, you did well with double-keeping to claw back a bit, or the gap would have been bigger!"

"Damn!!" Huang Zheng froze for three seconds before blurting out an expletive. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

As a professional angler active in top-tier competitions, Huang Zheng had a thorough understanding and in-depth research of all fishing techniques on the market.

The Flying Kicking technique was no exception.

In Huang Zheng's view, trying to use the Flying Kicking technique in a high-density pond for showing off with big crucian carp was one thing, but trying it in a Competition Pond was pure folly.

The Flying Kicking method has an extremely low tolerance for error, and mistakes could easily lead to losing the fish halfway or breaking the line, disrupting the fishing rhythm.

Moreover, this technique is very dependent on fish conditions, and if the fish aren't biting well, it's ineffective. With only thirty minutes per round, there wouldn't be enough time for the fish to gather, leaving no room for executing the Flying Kicking method.

To be fair, Huang Zheng's insights were not incorrect in general theoretical terms, but applying them to the current specific fish situation wasn't entirely accurate.

The low fault tolerance was true, but if the angler had solid enough fundamentals, personal skill could reduce the error rate.

There was indeed a possibility of mismatch with fish conditions, but as long as the angler had a profound understanding of fish behavior and made accurate judgments, they would know whether the Flying Kicking method was suitable for the conditions.

At Huang Zheng and Zhang Yang's level, it came down to the finesse of their execution.

Clearly, in the first round of competition, Huang Zheng's self-perceived perfect performance lost to Zhang Yang's more extreme approach.

Realizing the problem with the help of his teammates from outside, Huang Zheng sprang into action with targeted adjustments.

Since Zhang Yang managed to catch 63 fish across the pond using the Flying Kicking method, he too could achieve a similar result with some fish condition adjustment, providing a chance to catch up over three rounds!

Huang Zheng's idea wasn't wrong, but he overestimated his proficiency in the Flying Kicking technique and underestimated Zhang Yang's ability.

Put it this way, if technical skills in the Flying Kicking method were rated out of 100, Zhang Yang would score at least 98, while Huang Zheng would be lucky to score over 85.

From an entirely objective and unbiased standpoint, once Zhang Yang determined the fish conditions allowed for the Flying Kicking method and won the first round against Huang Zheng, it meant Huang Zheng had already lost; any further efforts were futile.

Soon, the second round began.

Zhang Yang figured out the fish conditions and quickly started with the most efficient strategy, preparing the area and then catching fish, almost perfectly replicating his first-round performance.

In contrast, Huang Zheng changed to heavy-duty equipment for the Flying Kicking method, but in actual practice, he couldn't immediately find a competition rhythm suitable for this technique.

Seeing this, some might question, what is competition rhythm? Huang Zheng is a master of Flying Kicking with a level above 90; if Zhang Yang can do it, why can't Huang Zheng? Isn't this contradictory?

Not at all.

What is competition rhythm? It sounds profound, but it's essentially the sequence of actions done at the right moments.

In the first round, Zhang Yang took five minutes to determine by trial fishing that the fish conditions were suitable for the Flying Kicking method, subsequently adjusting his tactics with precision to find the perfect rhythm for it.