Although the rod was extremely light, the power transmission was very strong; the force of the fish underwater could be transmitted through the fishing line to the palm of the hand with precision, giving a fantastic sense of total control.
With just one simple round of playing the fish, the first catch of the day was pulled up to the surface, a big crucian carp weighing about four taels!
It was the first time Yue Feng had used proper equipment and Taiwan Fishing Technique to catch a fish, and he instantly fell in love with this wonderful feeling. He unhooked the fish, placed it in the fish guard, and quickly set up another ragworm and cast the second rod.
After catching a fish, Yue Feng realized that he had actually misjudged the timing of the bite; the powerful pause was not due to small fish disturbing the float, but rather a misjudgment caused by the superior performance of the float.
The only thing he couldn't quite understand was that the float he was using now seemed to exaggerate the biting action too much. With ordinary floats, a half-eye pause would already be pretty good.
After catching the first fish, Yue Feng's hands and feet became even quicker.
Once the bait was in the water and had reached the bottom, he gently played with it. If there was no action, he would lift the rod and repeat the cast, always ensuring the two pieces of bait had a certain range and movement near the baiting spot.
If he had used his old, clumsy, and heavy fiberglass rod, achieving such a casting frequency would've been a pipe dream. But now, with Qing Hong in hand, all he needed was a gentle toss and swing, and the action was complete without straining his arm at all.
Under this relentless high-frequency casting to lure fish, it wasn't long before Yue Feng saw the second bite.
The float gently dipped, followed by a sharp plunge—another crystal-clear two-eye biting action.
This time Yue Feng didn't miss his chance. With a flick of his wrist, he lifted the rod to set the hook successfully!
With the experience of the first fish under his belt, Yue Feng was much steadier this time; he exerted force upward with his arm, relying on the power of the rod's spine to surface the fish, and quickly pulled it near.
Having caught two fish in a row, Yue Feng quickly caught the attention of the fishermen on the shore. Everyone was struggling to get a bite in the middle of the day, but here he was, catching fish one after another, making it impossible to keep a low profile.
At first, people didn't recognize Yue Feng, but after he caught the third crucian carp, some began to walk over towards him restlessly.
"Eh! Aren't you the fishing gear shop owner who was also here yesterday? You're Yue Feng, right? I'm Wang Dong, we met yesterday!" one of the anglers, who looked somewhat familiar to Yue Feng, recognized him.
Yue Feng looked up and smiled amiably, "Hello, that's me!"
Wang Dong took a good look at Yue Feng's equipment and said, "All brand new gear, huh? Swapped a shotgun for a cannon, did you?"
"Haha, I had no gear to use, so just bought some at random. How's your catch going today?" Yue Feng asked.
"Don't get me started on the catch. I don't know what's up, but the fish haven't been biting well along the shore all morning, just caught a few early around six! What bait are you using? You caught fish shortly after arriving!"
Yue Feng pointed at the top-quality ragworm laid out on the bait box, "Just mixed up some commercial bait, came to test out the results! Where are your buddies? They went to the store early this morning to buy Bait Wine Rice, why haven't I seen them?"
"Don't talk to me about those animals. They heard that the upper stream of Qinglong Lake was fruitful, so after fishing for a bit in the morning and the bites stopped, they drove off! I've been nurturing this bait spot for several days and couldn't bear to move!"
"Perfect, help me out, will you? Take a moment to try out the newly mixed dough bait." Yue Feng quickly opened his bait box, took out a lump of dough bait roughly the size of a fist, and handed it to Wang Dong.
"Much appreciated!" Wang Dong took the bait from Yue Feng.
Wang Dong set the tone, and several other guys nearby also started to cozy up to Yue Feng. He turned no one away. Before long, he had given away more than half of the freshly prepared pot of commercial bait.
The bait recipe provided by the system really did perform well in practice, even without the use of Yue Feng's Rice Wine bait. Several anglers who got the bait started catching fish one after another.
However, as Wang Dong said, the fish situation on the west bank of Wangjiazhuang wasn't very good today. Apart from the occasional slow bite at Yue Feng's spot, most anglers were catching fish at an extremely slow rate, sometimes going ten or twenty minutes without a single bite.
The only consolation was that although the fish bites were slow today, the size of each fish was quite large.
The clear bites on the Peacock Feather Float combined with the ultimate sensation of the Qing Hong fishing rod made Yue Feng lose track of time as he squatted over his fishing box the entire afternoon.
Distributing the trial packs did have a certain promotional effect; no matter whether the overall fish activity was good or bad, after switching to the bait provided by Yue Feng, the anglers managed to catch fish at least.
There were anglers who skeptically thought it was just a matter of luck and stubbornly switched back to their own bait, only to end up without a single bite.
Quite a few anglers who tried the sample packs came back asking for Yue Feng's contact information, and by evening, Yue Feng had gained more than ten new fishing friends interested in his products. The promotion had also earned his shop an additional seven hundred Points.
As the sun set, Yue Feng put down his fishing rod and stood up to stretch, noting that it was getting late and time to head back.
After packing up his equipment and picking up his Fish Guard, he had thought that with the slow bite rate, the catch would be small, but the Fish Guard was filled with no fewer fish than the day before.
The scarcity of bites was real, but the size of the fish was large, and since Yue Feng didn't keep small fish anyway, this saved him the effort of releasing them.
"Not bad, huh? It didn't seem like you were in a hurry, but you still caught a good amount in the afternoon. These fish must weigh over twenty pounds at least, right?" Wang Dong asked enviously after a few glances.
Yue Feng nodded: "About that! The fish were indeed larger today!"
"Bro, are you heading back to your shop or..."
Wang Dong was interrupted by the sudden ringing of his phone from his pocket. He hastily made an apologetic gesture and took the call.
"Hello, Old Liu, are you guys back yet?"
"Dongzi, let me tell you, you really missed out today! Old Li and I had a massive haul, at least forty or fifty pounds each! Are you home yet? If not, swing by the town and pick up another ten packs of Bait Wine Rice from Yue Feng's for me!
This Rice Wine is magical. We arrived late and sat in spots nobody wanted, but once we baited the spot, it was non-stop action in less than half an hour. Dozens of people watched our spectacle; it was damn exhilarating!"
Liu Fengnian's voice came from the phone, revealing that these anglers were actually quite good friends behind the scenes.
"Cut the crap. You guys had a blast, but I wasn't exactly Air Force either. Yue Feng is right next to me, and we've got a new bait recipe in the shop today that worked really well here at Wangjiazhuang!"
"You didn't mention it, but I used the trial pack from Yue Feng today! Bring me another five packs of that product bait! Old Li and I have discussed it, and we plan to go back to today's fishing spot early tomorrow morning to fish for the whole day, afraid that we might miss Yue Feng if we leave too late!"
"All set!" Wang Dong nodded and hung up the phone.
"Old Liu and the others had a blast fishing at Moon Bay! They asked me to bring them some Rice Wine. I'm planning to get some for myself too!" Wang Dong said to Yue Feng succinctly.
"That's great! I'm staying at the shop!" Yue Feng nodded his head.
Packing up his fishing gear, Yue Feng led the way on his motorcycle, with Wang Dong following in his SUV, heading straight for Yue Feng's fishing gear shop.