According to the competition rules, after the first round ends, anglers have five minutes to move and change fishing positions.
Before the four rounds of competition are over, no scorekeeping is done, which ans that as long as the angler doesn't want the fish to surface, the fish in the net can be dragged underwater to the next adjacent fishing position.
Zhang Yang did just that. He stood up and stretched lazily, and the angler next to him also stood up. The angler at position number eight was the unluckiest, having to move from number eight to number one, while the others simply shifted accordingly.
In position changes during competitions, such minor matters are handled quite smoothly, with everyone moving their fishing boxes and dragging their fish nets underwater to relocate their catches.
Zhang Yang played a little trick, deliberately making a big movent while dragging the fish net to change positions, so the second angler at his position would have slightly slower fish bites. This was a clever utilization of the rules.
Zhang Yang quickly moved to the adjacent position five and, after setting down his fishing box, hurried back to collect the bait buckets and other items he left behind.
Once everything for the position change was ready, only a minute and a half had passed, leaving over three minutes for rest and preparation.
Zhang Yang had used very little of his bait and didn't need to adjust it. He had a good handle on the fish situation, so there was nothing else to modify. The remaining three minutes beca his rest ti.
He sat on the fishing position, took a deep breath, and slowly closed his eyes.
Just then, the angler next to him seemingly noticed Zhang Yang's 'abnormality.'
"Hey, buddy, what's wrong? Feeling unwell? Need to call the staff?"
Hearing the greeting, Zhang Yang opened his eyes again and saw that it was the angler at position six on his right, looking at him with a slightly concerned expression.
Zhang Yang shook his head and politely said, "Thank you, I'm fine, just adjusting my mindset, a bit nervous!"
"Oh, nervous? I thought you weren't feeling well! It's good that you're fine, let know if you need anything!"
"Sure! Thanks again!"
After the interruption from the angler next door, Zhang Yang couldn't continue his ditation. He did a final check of the positions of the bait buckets, hook line boxes, nets, and waited for the preparation ti to end to continue fishing.
The three minutes quickly passed, and the referee blew the whistle to start the competition again.
A new round began.
Overall, the fish activity at position five wasn't much different from the previous position four where Zhang Yang was, except that dragging the fish net seed to have disturbed the fish in the water slightly.
In the first five minutes of the second round, the fish activity was relatively sparse, but gradually returned to normal as more bait was tossed.
In the subsequent competition, Zhang Yang hardly changed any tactics or fishing strategies, using double hook bait with scattered baiting from the second round to the end of the fourth round.
It must be said that the professional mixed breeding competition pond at Tiantianyu is truly abundant in fish. Even with 168 anglers fishing in a big pond, the fish bites continued till the end of the morning's four rounds of competition.
At the end of the fourth round, Zhang Yang imdiately set down his fishing rod.
197 fish, with the large competition fish net provided by Hua Clan, filled at least two grids.
He waited for a while for the weighing staff, who jointly lifted the fish from the water, and the final weight was 169.3 pounds.
Zhang Yang's estimation was very accurate. With nearly 170 pounds of catch, he secured the first rank in his group, successfully advancing past the first round.
Just as he finished signing the competition result sheet, a man in his fifties, with a blue-and-white chief referee badge on his chest, suddenly arrived with several other referees to conduct a surprise check on Group H.
"Random check! All anglers, put down your fishing boxes and wait for the inspection!"
The chief referee announced without giving anyone ti to react, starting the inspection with the first angler's fishing box.
Seeing this, Zhang Yang was slightly taken aback. Wow, they actually do this?
Zhang Yang was surprised not because the rules prohibited referees from inspecting anglers' fishing boxes, but because he knew that although the rule existed, the referees rarely enforced it strictly.
This kind of post-competition surprise inspection was very rare. Having participated in many official bait competitions in his past life, this was the first ti Zhang Yang encountered such a situation.
With nothing to hide, Zhang Yang calmly waited for the staff to inspect his fishing box, confident there was nothing forbidden inside.
The referees quickly checked everyone's equipnt and fishing boxes, confirming there were no prohibited items before turning away to continue inspecting the north bank.
"Wow, quite a show with this surprise check!" The angler at position seven joked with Zhang Yang and offered him a cigarette.
"Yeah, anyone signing up for this tournant should know the rules on official bait. Who would risk it without reason!" Zhang Yang responded with a smile.
"Could soone have reported this?"
Zhang Yang paused, maintaining a neutral expression.
"Probably not, it's just the first round; would anyone bother?"
"True!"
...
After a few idle conversations, the weighing of the last angler's catch was completed, and the staff gave the signal for anglers to collect their equipnt and leave the venue.
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