In the afternoon, during the fishing session, he had specifically checked and thought that his fish was big enough. However, when he opened the Smart Rod Software, he saw that someone had already claimed a spot with a forty-two-pound Azure Catfish, which had just been flagged a few days ago, last week to be exact. The person who flagged it was the same Bro who had caught a twelve-pound Huchen that had bent his rod. He had a chance to break his own record, but it snapped instead—what a pity! If he had caught a Shou Sheng, it would definitely have made some waves in the Fishing Circle!
“Xiao Feng, your rod is slipping away!” After taking just a couple of steps, he noticed Xiao Feng's rod slowly sliding into the water. He quickly rushed over and grabbed the Shou Sheng tied to the rod, reeling it in with urgency. The fish was quite large, and the rod struggled to bring it back. It was still lazily gliding into the water when he yanked on the Shou Sheng; the fish felt the pain and started thrashing about.
He ran back to his spot and saw Xiao Feng hesitating to take over. As a novice in Taiwanese fishing, all the techniques he had hurriedly learned on the way were forgotten as soon as he hooked a big fish! He had been fishing at four meters with a twenty-centimeter line; this fish should be bigger than Shui Ge!
Staring at the rod in the water and then at Tan, Xiao Feng cautiously sought confirmation. He was fishing deeper than Shui Bi Zhang and using bait larger than Shui Bi Zhang’s. By proportional reasoning, his catch should indeed be bigger than Shui Bi Zhang's.
“Next time you fish at five meters with thirty-centimeter Bait Fish, you’ll definitely catch an even bigger one!” He patted Xiao Feng on the shoulder. Da Gui Wang laughed and shared some cigarettes among them before rushing back to guard his own rod; who knows when it would be his turn next.
After struggling for nearly ten minutes, they finally reeled in the rod. As soon as it straightened up, the fish calmed down significantly. “Xiao Feng, grab the Net; we’re about to scoop up the fish!”
Another ten minutes passed as they played with the fish; Tan had certainly enjoyed himself. The only regret was that it wasn’t his own rod that caught it—otherwise, it would have been perfect. They all understood that catching a twelve-pound fish was rare; they would be content if they could catch a few weighing around twenty pounds.
Meanwhile, on the Smart Rod Software forum, there were experts sharing their catches. Some had driven RVs over with plans to camp here until late May for a month and a half of fishing—unless someone else caught that twelve-pound Huchen along the way. The odds of that happening were quite low; big fish tend to be cautious when they wake up, and an injured big fish is even more wary—it wouldn’t easily come close to shore.
Once they finally netted the fish, which weighed just over ten pounds, they quickly shared their catch online to stir up some excitement in the forum; perhaps it would attract a few more club members.
Meanwhile, at the Fishing Tackle Shop, Li Ziyu was being escorted by someone holding hands as they strolled through the food street for half a day. “Ten dollars for a rose,” he said as he handed one to Li Ziyu in exchange for her heartfelt song.
As they wandered through the food street late into the night and drove back to their small courtyard, Li Yunfei and his group’s flight should have already landed in Nanchang by now. It wasn’t difficult to find out when Li Yunfei’s plane would touch down.
"Uncle Li, do you need any bait? If so, send me an address, and I'll send some over."
After sending the text message, I put my phone away and waited for a reply.
I had access to Wi-Fi on the plane, but I couldn't use WeChat; otherwise, Li Yunfei could receive messages at any time. Sending a text was different; he could only receive it once I landed.
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