When he finally snapped back to his senses and peered closely, it seemed as though the motion had ceased.
Could it be an illusion?
Just as he was about to turn his head, he suddenly saw a star-shaped float on the surface of the water abruptly sink to the bottom.
Yue Feng realized that a fish had taken the bait and lifted the rod.
The force transmitted through the tip of the rod was quite strong, and Yue Feng slowly raised the rod, quickly bringing the fish to the surface.
"Young man, you're in luck, just a short while and you've caught a fish already! And it's not small either!" Seeing Yue Feng catch a fish, an old man nearby called out to him.
Traditional fishing usually involves a long rod with a short line, which, compared to Taiwan fishing, has a slightly lower efficiency in retrieving fish. Yue Feng reeled in the rod section by section, quickly got hold of the fishing line, unhooked the fish he had caught, and casually tossed it into the bucket.
Ding! Congratulations on unlocking the Carp species!
Ding! Congratulations on earning a reward of 100 Points!
Unlocking a species of fish even came with Point rewards! Yue Feng felt a surge of joy within, as this was an unexpected gain aside from the mission rewards.
The bigger surprise came soon after. Less than a minute after Yue Feng unhooked the fish to the bucket and re-baited the line into the water, the three star-shaped beans on the surface had just steadied when there was another violent bite.
A second strike! He had hooked another one!
The force on the tip of the rod was still strong, yielding another wild carp weighing over half a pound!
With two fish in hand, the prelude to a series of successful strikes unfolded. It was seen that Yue Feng's line had barely touched water when he got a bite, and if there was a bite, he caught a fish. In less than fifteen minutes, he hooked seven or eight large carps in a row, showing no sign of stopping.
Now, even the old man and the middle-aged angler nearby were beginning to sense that something was amiss,
Everyone was fishing, yet no one had seen a nibble for a long time. Why had the young man who had just arrived caught a series of fish in such a short period?
The two surprised individuals soon put down their rods and walked over to Yue Feng.
"Young man, what bait are you using?" the old man asked curiously.
Yue Feng answered, "Earthworms, the ordinary kind that cost one and a half per box!"
The old man took a few looks and indeed saw earthworms. He was somewhat puzzled about why Yue Feng was catching fish in succession, while he himself hadn't caught a single one for a long time.
"Right, could it be because of the bait? What kind of bait ball are you using?"
Upon being asked about his bait, Yue Feng also came to a realization.
Earthworms weren't anything special; all fishermen used them. Whether they were dug up in the wild or bought from a fishing tackle shop, there was no significant difference between earthworms.
The current series of successful catches was most likely due to the addition of Wild Fishing Companion Rice Wine to the bait!
"Oh, this is a product I'm still experimenting with. I run a little fishing tackle shop in town!" Yue Feng casually mentioned.
Ding! Shop Reputation +10
Ding! Congratulations on earning a promotional reward of 50 Points, this reward can be earned repeatedly!
System reward notifications popped into his mind, and Yue Feng's heart gave a slight stir. It turns out this was also possible!
"Fishing tackle shop? Young man, where is your store located?" both the old man and the middle-aged angler asked almost in unison.
"It's just down the alley south from the intersection of Meinan Road and Muxiang Road! Yuefeng Fishing Tackle!" Yue Feng naturally mentioned the store's address and name.
"Young man, do you still have extra bait with you? Can I try some? If it's good, I'll promote it for you on my friends' circle," the middle-aged angler casually said.
"Sure! Why not? Actually, I was hoping you two could help me test its effectiveness!" Yue Feng replied eagerly, and even lent his baiting tool to the two anglers.
Yue Feng divided up about less than two ounces of Rice Wine mixed with Wild Fishing Companion for the two anglers. They quickly set up new baiting spots and the three of them waited patiently.
As it turned out, there were still fish in the Jiulongjian Reservoir.
In just about ten minutes or so, there were movements at the bait spots of both the older man and the middle-aged angler, and they started catching fish.
"Hey! The lure works well! How do you sell this Rice Wine? I'm going to grab a couple of bags later!" The middle-aged angler caught four or five crucian carps in no time, which were more than what he caught the whole morning.
When asked about the price, Yue Feng did some quick calculations and said, "This stuff is still in the experimental phase, so it hasn't been finalized yet. If the results are stable, it will soon hit the market. As the ingredients are hard to come by, the price might be slightly higher. I haven't decided on the price yet, but it won't exceed twenty per jin!"
Normally, small packets of commercial Bait Wine Rice cost about three yuan for 120 grams, which translates to roughly twelve yuan per jin. If Yue Feng's product had as good effects as it seemed, doubling the price would be acceptable!
"Not expensive! Let's make a deal, save some for me! Actually, just give me your phone number, in case I can't find the store and lose contact!" The middle-aged angler was quite interested in the bait and decided to ask for Yue Feng's phone number straightforwardly.
"138*****," Yue Feng gave out his phone number, and soon his phone rang.
"My name is Liu Fengnian, young man, how should I address you?"
"Yue Feng!"
"Alright, alright. We'll chat more after fishing! Got another bite, and this one's not small!"
Afterward, the three men caught a good number of fish in a burst. The small ones were one or two ounces, the large ones over half a jin. On average, each person caught about ten or so fish.
Yue Feng, having set up his bait spot the earliest, ended up catching the most fish, roughly under twenty, totaling about six or seven jins.
As it neared noon, the fish bites finally slowed down.
While fishing, Yue Feng's brain was constantly at work thinking fast.
After testing and comparing with the other two, they could now be sure that the bait was very effective. Even in a sparsely-populated small reservoir they caught several jins of fish.
The only uncertainty for Yue Feng was whether the millet used in today's fishing was decisive thanks to the Wild Fishing Companion, or if the overlap of Rice Wine and Wild Fishing Companion produced a 1+1 effect.
The Wild Fishing Companion gift pack included a jin, and using it at a rate of 1% would allow for at least 100 jins of Rice Wine to be produced. His shop already had some assorted brands of Rice Wine in stock that weren't selling well, and he wondered how adjusting them might affect their attractiveness to fish.
With this thought, Yue Feng became restless. Catching more fish wasn't his main concern; figuring out the effects of the items he had was most important.
"Old man, brother, keep having fun here, I'm gonna head back first, we'll get in touch later!"
Yue Feng said goodbye, packed up his fishing gear, and rode his motorcycle back.
"Take it easy on the road! Call me when the Rice Wine is ready!" Liu Fengnian called out, watching Yue Feng leave.
Back at his shop, Yue Feng quickly found the Rice Wine stock.
Ordinary Bait Wine Rice
The packaging was labeled Bait Wine Rice, but the product wasn't quite living up to its name, made from broken corn pieces, which is why they were cheap at fifty cents but still not selling well.
The information from Insight was straightforward, nothing particularly good or bad. Yue Feng opened a few packages of Rice Wine, mixed them together, cautiously added a bit of Wild Fishing Companion powder, made some simple adjustments, and just like that, a new bait mix was ready.
The fish situation at Jiulongjian was too sparse and species too limited; half a day's fishing had unlocked only one type of fish. Wanting to experiment with bait and complete tasks at the same time, Yue Feng decided to take a longer ride, about seven or eight kilometers away from the town, to Qinglong Lake.