During the ten-minute halftime break, Zhang Yang, Meng Fan, and Han Mocheng discussed quietly together for a while before it was time. Everyone returned to the PK stage from the rest area.

The top 16 going to the top 8 competition is a one-on-one PK match. Anglers in the same group PK in turns according to the draw number. The first match between Zhang Yang and Xu Ting was over, and for the second match, the opponent was a young lad around twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

This fellow named Liu Wei seemed a bit unfamiliar to Zhang Yang. However, from the equipment he used, it should be a young angler from the Hua Clan team. Apart from the three-piece set of sun protection clothing, hat, and fish holder, which were sponsored tournament souvenirs from Hua Clan, other things like rods and fishing boxes were all Hua Clan equipment.

Having two anglers from the Hua Clan team in one group is quite a terrifying probability. The young fellow looked a bit nervous and not very talkative, and Zhang Yang didn’t greet him, maintaining a calm attitude as if facing an ordinary stranger angler.

Even Xu Ting, an experienced veteran, struggled against Zhang Yang, let alone Liu Wei, a much younger angler. Zhang Yang already had an overwhelming psychological advantage over him.

And speaking of Liu Wei, once he sat down next to Zhang Yang for a one-on-one PK, he was indescribably nervous. Why? Besides his lack of competition experience, there was also the earlier backstage conversation between Xu Ting and Liu Wei.

The Hua Clan team is a very united team, with very effective information sharing throughout the competition. Although Xu Ting seemed polite to Zhang Yang in person, behind the scenes, he shared Zhang Yang’s technical characteristics with his team members.

Xu Ting suffered from Zhang Yang’s slow-paced strategy, so naturally, he couldn’t let his young teammates fall in the same place. Liu Wei was reminded about the rhythm of the competition before stepping on stage.

After a simple one-minute preparation time upon coming on stage, all the staff and anglers were in position. The whistle for the second match blew, and the competition resumed!

During the ten-minute break in the match, the high-power oxygenators in the pond were on, and the enormous undercurrent could easily wash away the residual bait from the anglers’ spot. So, anglers face virtually a fresh start with each competition regarding fish conditions.

In the first game with Xu Ting, Zhang Yang had already figured out the changes in fish conditions in the fishing ground and found the right rhythm for the match. Thus, at the beginning of the second game, Zhang Yang started with full force, directly entering combat mode.

In the first three minutes, keeping a casting rhythm of about three rods per minute, he induced fish while subtly adjusting to fish conditions. After finding the most comfortable rhythm to catch fish, Zhang Yang soon resorted to his signature move, going for double catches.

In such a highly dense competition pond, there is no lack of fish. However, due to the short match duration in each section and the prohibition of second baiting using dispersible bait to attract fish, there are just a few minutes to attract and gather fish.

Once Zhang Yang began going for double catches, the rhythm of catching fish basically steadied down.

With split hooks on the double leaders, he normally pulled two full, round bait balls, flicked his wrist to cast into the water, and fixed his gaze on the bobber as it settled, then reached the predetermined water layer.

The bobber paused slightly, then showed a minor dip. Without grabbing, it quickly followed with a momentary pull of about half an eye, at which point, the hook already had the first fish biting.

Zhang Yang continued holding, and his bobber usually tipped slightly upward. After about one or two seconds, there would be a third downward or upward motion on the bobber. At this point, the chances of a double catch were at least seventy to eighty percent.

Seizing the right moment, Zhang Yang lifted the rod to pierce the fish; two gleaming crucian carp were pulled from the water, tracing a beautiful arc in the air before landing smoothly in Zhang Yang’s hands. Adjusting the Blocking Needle, he pressed down to remove the hooks, and the two fish promptly joined the catch, completing a whole double-catch operation.

Judging solely by casting frequency, Zhang Yang’s frequency wasn’t overly remarkable. Yet in terms of hook-up rate and double-catch rate, Zhang Yang’s data was astonishingly high. Having sorted out the fish’s feeding pattern, almost every cast landed a fish, with the catch’s growth almost perfectly matching time, the speed of increasing catches was astonishingly steady. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Now, neighboring Zhang Yang, Liu Wei originally appeared a bit nervous on stage. After the initial minutes of attracting fish concluded, his catch score quickly fell behind Zhang Yang’s.

Watching the neighboring referee confirm Zhang Yang’s fish catch as valid time after time, Liu Wei grew increasingly anxious. Initially, he could barely maintain stable performance, but when Zhang Yang, with three perfect double catches, extended his lead to five fish, Liu Wei’s mindset crumbled.

In the subsequent ten minutes of the match, Zhang Yang and Liu Wei displayed completely different statuses.

Zhang Yang frequently caught fish, steady as an old dog, while Liu Wei had inconsistent casting rhythms, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Occasionally, he prematurely struck but missed, and other times hesitated and let opportunities to hook fish slip away. The flaws from lack of firm basic training in usual practice were nakedly exposed in actual competition. By the end of the first half, Zhang Yang led significantly with a tail count of 35 to 16.

What does a 35 to 16 score mean? It’s almost like father versus son. If Liu Wei continues to perform poorly in the second half, it’s exaggerated to say that his total score for two sections might not even match Zhang Yang’s first half’s tail count.