Chapter 774: Chapter 443: Advancing to the Top 16

"Oh no!"

"What the hell!"

"Damn it!"

...

Zhang Yang was like a lousy actor, deliberately letting out a bit of ’frustration’ every time a fish broke free or the spot got disrupted. At this moment, his voice would subconsciously prompt Liu Xiaotao, standing beside him, to glance over.

Don’t underestimate this seemingly insignificant move; in reality, it has a huge impact on Liu Xiaotao’s mindset.

Think about it, you’re at a prime spot near the aerator with a good chance of catching big fish quickly, and the competition is almost over. After the position switch, I’ll be the one at your spot, catching fish in no time. So, it’ll be me, Liu Xiaotao, pulling fish non-stop.

But what happened instead? It seemed like a casting mistake, losing a fish on the left, throwing off the hook on the right, and the perfect spot was repeatedly abused and ruined. The better the dreams of inheriting that spot were, the harsher the reality became. You could say, each time a fish was lost, Liu Xiaotao felt like his heart was bleeding.

Amid this atmosphere purposefully created by Zhang Yang, the third part of the competition neared its end. The referee announced a temporary halt to switch fishing positions, and Liu Xiaotao stood up from his spot as if a weight had been lifted off him.

"Zhang Yang, you’re really something. That last section, the fish were biting much faster!" Liu Xiaotao glanced at Zhang Yang’s bait and continued with small talk.

Zhang Yang grinned innocently, "It was alright; the spot was great, right near the aerator. There were obviously a lot more bites!"

"Teacher Zhang, were you using scatter bait towards the end of the last section?"

"Oh, yes! I was just idly practicing bait mixing to prepare for later competitions, and then unexpectedly caught some carp that started biting. So, I upped the frequency and added some scatter bait to the spot! The bites were good in this place, and the fish gathered quickly!"

"Oh, alright! Thanks for sharing!"

"No problem!"

Overall, Zhang Yang wasn’t lying, but in terms of details, he was obviously misleading Liu Xiaotao.

In fact, Zhang Yang was already prepared for the carp bite and fish gathering by the end of the previous session, and after switching positions, he continued with a specific rhythm of arrangements. What Liu Xiaotao saw—Zhang Yang catching fish continuously—was only a surface phenomenon. The detail of how Zhang Yang purposely laid down bait in intervals went unnoticed by Liu Xiaotao.

Seeing this, some might scoff and wonder what’s the point of such misdirection. Isn’t it just the same result in the end?

No, it’s actually different. If Liu Xiaotao believes it and acts on his interpretation, he’s likely to suffer a big loss.

While scatter bait can attract fish, for those fish that have been caught and released before, it’s not entirely positive; excessive dispersion scares them away. In extreme cases, the more scatter bait you use, the fewer fish dare to enter the spot.

On the other hand, adding one or two small scatter bait balls occasionally to maintain a mildly stimulating environment might be more effective in attracting fish. In everyday pit fishing, using wet, small scatter bait for second-day catch-and-release fishing works on this principle.

Liu Xiaotao took over Zhang Yang’s spot, anxiously adjusting the scatter bait for the final round after setting up his fishing box at the designated line.

Since he decided to go all out and had information from Zhang Yang that the fish were responding to scatter bait, the scatter bait preparation was made with a low water ratio, very aggressive in style.

Water ratio 1:0.3, bombarding upon entering the water, quickly attracting nearby fish into the spot. If everything went ideally, fishing continuously for the entire thirty-minute last round to make up for the fish lost in the previous rounds wasn’t out of the question.

With such emotions, Liu Xiaotao went all in. He used a full bowl of the pit’s scatter bait feast provided for the competition.

Quickly, the final round of the competition resumed, and Liu Xiaotao started his double-hook scatter bait bombing spree.

In Liu Xiaotao’s understanding, taking over Zhang Yang’s spot likely left some bottom fish, and bombing with high bait volume should fill the spot with fish. When that happens, he’d pull fish in rapid succession, secure a spot in the next round, become group champion, and reach the pinnacle of his life.

But after blindly throwing bait for five minutes, the water above the spot was murky, and when Liu Xiaotao switched to dough bait, the line fell into the water, but the bobber acted like it was in a tank, with no reaction.

In fishing lingo, the bobber had absolutely no communication with the angler! 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

On the other side, Zhang Yang, although casting slowly and using a small amount of scatter bait, was catching fish at a steady pace. Every few casts he’d catch one, then repeat the process, maintaining control of the catching rhythm for the last part of the competition.

What the heck? That’s not right. How come Zhang Yang is getting bites, but despite my heavy baiting, I’m not? After noticing this, Liu Xiaotao started questioning himself profoundly.

With a bit of thought and further observation of Zhang Yang’s methods, Liu Xiaotao quickly realized. Heck, today’s fish were all previously caught and released, atmospheric pressure was low, bites were already scarce, and aggressive scatter bait was useless. The more you use it, the more the fish get scared. No wonder there were no bites!

Everyone understands the reasoning, but there’s a difference between coming first and last; on-the-spot performance and reaction speed differ greatly. Often, even a small error can lead to a massive difference in outcome.