As he brought in the first fish, Zhang Yang felt a subtle sensation that the fish situation might be better than he anticipated.

In his expectation, during the rod casting phase to gather fish, it would take at least ten casts to start getting bites.

But on the eighth cast, a high hook-up occurred, and when unhooking, Zhang Yang intentionally checked where the hook was attached in the fish’s mouth; it was positioned at 12 o’clock, perfect depth.

With this in mind, Zhang Yang continued to cast normally after baiting with two hooks.

This time, the hookup wasn’t at such a high point as the previous cast, but once the bobber reached the preset water layer, biting movements began to appear.

These movements aren’t necessarily entry actions, but it’s sure that fish have gathered around the nesting area.

At precisely a half-eye down movement, Zhang Yang set the hook again.

The power of the fish underwater transmitted through the tackle to Zhang Yang’s hand, hooked again!

With two consecutive fish caught properly, Zhang Yang immediately reacted to the change in fish conditions.

The fish bites were much better than he had predicted, continuing to fish at the current water depth may not be advantageous.

Thus, right in front of the countless viewers in the live stream, Zhang Yang decisively made a slight adjustment to his fishing method.

Sun Yi, who appeared in the camera, seemed surprised and said, "Teacher Yu, look, Zhang Yang is adjusting the bobber downwards!"

In the camera, Zhang Yang’s action of adjusting the bobber downwards was very noticeable, and Yu Wensheng observed intently the details of Zhang Yang’s adjustment, realizing he altered the bobber position by about fifteen centimeters, causing Old Yu to frown.

"Zhang Yang is quite confident in the fish behavior!" Yu Wensheng stated with a very affirmative tone.

"Huh? How do you figure that? What makes you say so?" Sun Yi was taken aback by Old Yu’s comment, requiring a moment to process.

Yu Wensheng smiled slightly, clarifying, "If I’m not mistaken, after Zhang Yang caught two fish consecutively, he discovered that the biting actions were significant, setting a higher expectation for the fish condition in Pond No. 1! Hence, he chose to adjust the bobber upwards!

Why do I say he’s confident about the fish condition? It comes from the degree of his adjustment!

Originally, his method was normal bottom fishing adjustment, catching the fishing setup at approximately ten centimeters above the bottom to capture bobber’s hookups in the descent path.

Now, adjusting directly ten centimeters up without modifying the lead weight during usual baiting, the bobber can no longer fish at the bottom! Because the weight of the double hook baits will black the bobber drag with the remaining buoyancy!

Only when confident in much anticipated frequent hookups, one might adjust the bobber like this, shortening the line by ten centimeters slightly narrows the time the setup reaches the water!"

With Yu Wensheng’s analysis, Sun Yi immediately understood.

From a god’s perspective summarizing this adjustment, previously Zhang Yang was adjusting three eyes and fishing three and a half eyes, but before the setup reached, he would change bait at around seven or eight eyes. If the fish bite wasn’t good, no modifications were necessary to fish at the bottom directly.

Now that Zhang Yang realized the fish bites were strong, he’s not considering the bottom fishing option anymore, directly adjusting the bobber, fishing around ten centimeters above the bottom.

Although the fishing layer height hasn’t changed, the setup line shortened, optimizing his fishing technique to some extent.

"Uh, just started less than three minutes, and Zhang Yang adjusted his fishing method already, currently leading with a 2:0 catch, given this observation, it seems Teacher Wang Chao’s earlier strategy might be at a disadvantage!" continued Sun Yi.

Yu Wensheng nodded, "That’s right, but also depends on how quickly the fish situation progresses! If I’m not wrong, two fish down, Wang Chao should try his strategy of rapid frequency nesting effect now!"

Sure enough, no sooner had Yu Wensheng finished speaking than Wang Chao, after preparing a new cast, flicked his wrist to cast into the nest area.

This time, however, he didn’t immediately lift the rod to change bait, instead, with his right hand gripping the rod handle, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on the bobber on the water surface.

In just a few seconds, the bobber quickly flipped under the influence of the lead weight’s gravity, descending steadily.

Ten eyes

Eight eyes

Six eyes.

The bobber’s numbers steadily declined, quickly reaching about five eyes.

At this moment, a clear sliding motion appeared on the bobber.

Wang Chao’s gaze sharpened, resisting the urge to strike.

After the sliding bobber phase, the bobber briefly paused at five and a half eyes, then slightly rose a half-eye upward.

This time, Wang Chao couldn’t resist, decisively struck, resulting in a surprising double fish catch on the first formal bite.

Seeing this, some might be puzzled, with the sliding action and slight upward tip, those movements aren’t typical biting bobber phases. How did this result in a double catch by striking?

It can’t be explained away by plot convenience, right?

Indeed not, the sliding bobber phase is a rather loose term. Why use slide to describe it is mainly because the overall bobber’s snapping action is insufficient, i.e., the fish eating the bait or turning away after entry doesn’t impart a crisp enough bobber reaction.

The causes for unsure reactions are quite diverse: light fish bites, slow fish movement speed, uncomfortable bait-eating posture, inadequate upward pulling force resulting in bending lines, etc., all possible, but not absolute.

Anyone might encounter sliding bobber phases, including Zhang Yang who fishes above the bottom, may see such bobber actions albeit with a low strike rate. Generally, anglers observing this won’t blindly strike.