Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King-Chapter 652 - 378: Winning Big

"Oh, what's that smell, Teacher Ma!" Zhang Yang asked knowingly.

Ma Yuhua had a cigarette in his mouth, the ash was quite long but he was reluctant to flick it, and he evasively said, "Since I'm sitting next to you, I must be serious! It's easy to capsize if you're not careful! I remember in that big pit by Old Meng in the summer, I suffered because of you!"

"Haha, I was just lucky to catch the right moment! You have real skills; my half-baked technique is no match for yours!" Zhang Yang continued to banter.

"Don't try to fool me with your words, that trick doesn't work on me. Just perform steadily and normally! I'm a man of my word; if I say we'll play until dark, whether I win or lose, I'll definitely stick to it!"

"Haha, you're blocking my escape route; I initially planned to leave if I lost too badly. With what you just said, it seems inappropriate for me to leave halfway!"

"Regarding that big pit, my stamina might not be enough, but fishing for carp in this Winter Fishing Hall is my strong suit, so watch out!"

"Thank you for the heads-up, I will definitely learn from you seriously!" Zhang Yang nodded repeatedly, although Old Ma's words carried a bit of rivalry, Zhang Yang's demeanor remained humble.

Zhang Yang had actually made up his mind, not to widen the score too much, follow the opponent's pace, and winning a few more fish would be sufficient. This way, he could get the prize while leaving Ma Yuhua with some dignity, avoiding embarrassment.

With that decision made, a new round of the fishing competition began.

The fifteen participants, under Da Ge's unified call, simultaneously cast their rods into the water, beginning a new round of fishing.

Having planned the strategy before fishing, Zhang Yang's performance this time had some differences compared to the previous one.

From the first cast, Zhang Yang firmly kept pace with Ma Yuhua's casting rhythm. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

When Old Ma was creating a nest with the first few casts, Zhang Yang followed suit; when Old Ma started fishing at the bottom, Zhang Yang allowed his bobber fishing gear to reach the bottom too. Whenever the opponent lifted his rod, Zhang Yang did the same.

If there were separate video cameras behind them recording real-time footage at that moment, you could see that Zhang Yang's and Old Ma's operations were almost mirroring each other.

The physical proximity and synchronization of their casting frequency and rhythm significantly reduced the factors influencing the outcome.

Essentially, who ends up taking the prize depends on the bait's attractiveness and each person's skill in adjusting the fishing line, hooking technique, and bite control.

The reason Zhang Yang dared to boldly follow Old Ma's fishing tempo was his absolute confidence in these aspects.

After fishing for a while, the results quickly became apparent.

Despite Old Ma adding some medicine and shrimp powder to adjust his bait, facing Zhang Yang's bait with added Musk Herbal Wine showed no advantage. In the context of their perfectly synchronized frequency, Old Ma's bites were noticeably fewer.

Seeing this, Zhang Yang was concerned about pulling ahead too far and began consciously adjusting his fish-catching pace.

Whenever Old Ma caught a fish, Zhang Yang followed suit; when Old Ma hit a double catch, Zhang Yang did the same. Controlled consciously by Zhang Yang, their scores were exceptionally close.

Old Ma, being a seasoned angler, could do multiple things at once while fishing, and he simultaneously monitored Zhang Yang's performance. Discovering that their competition was neck and neck and evenly matched, he felt a complex emotion rising within.

This Zhang Yang, he's really strong.

Despite using almost all his skills, he couldn't widen the gap; Zhang Yang was just too closely matched! It won't work, I need to push harder! Old Ma thought to himself.

With this mindset, Old Ma's performance was noticeably better than in the previous session. His casting was quick and smooth, and every detail of retrieving fish was maximized.

After twenty minutes of fierce fishing, Old Ma even broke a sweat, but Zhang Yang calmly kept pace, unfazed.

In the last two minutes, Zhang Yang finally sped up just a tiny bit, allowing more fish bites, and caught a few extra fish.

When the alarm went off, Zhang Yang knew clearly about his and Old Ma's fish count.

71 to 70, Zhang Yang had caught one more fish than Old Ma.

"Well done, young man! You kept up pretty tightly in that last round!" Ma Yuhua took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and offered one to Zhang Yang, lighting his own.

"Your pace was too fast, I struggled to keep up!" Zhang Yang said as he lit his cigarette.

"This round is probably close to seventy! What's your estimate?" Old Ma continued to ask.

"Estimate? I wasn't counting; my focus was all on the bobber, couldn't afford to get distracted, or I'd fall behind!" Zhang Yang played dumb again.

"Let's count and see! I believe your catch won't be less than 65 fish!"

"Thanks for your blessing!!"

Soon, Xiaobao and Liu Zi began going around to tally the scores.

Even though they changed positions, the overall average performance in fish catches this round was not significantly different from the previous one.

The water temperature was relatively low, the fish density was quite high, but their activity level was somewhat restricted.

This situation was akin to a miner discovering a rich gold mine, but one's mining volume is highly limited; the potential of the gold mine's reserves is difficult to fully exploit in a short period.

For a long time, the mining output of this gold mine will remain very stable until most of the reserves are depleted, leading to a noticeable change.