First, he took out his phone to contact the wholesale seller for express delivery, ordering three pounds of bloodworms with an extra ten yuan for shipping to get them by tomorrow's early bus! It was said in the crucian carp bait formula that adding bloodworms could double the fishing effect.
Besides, Yue Feng also added Wild Fishing Companion to the standard crucian carp bait formula, bringing the bait's fish-attracting effect to its peak.
Finally, it was time for the bait. Yue Feng prepared a full three pounds of Rice Wine bait, planning to fish heavily if the overall fish activity was favorable. If he could create a frenzy, it would definitely cause quite a stir.
Additionally, starting the WeChat group idea could be pursued initially. The existing few dozen clients were also seeds for word-of-mouth growth; if used well, they would undoubtedly have a certain spreading effect.
After Yue Feng had completed all the preparations he could think of, he set his alarm clock and went to bed early, as the upcoming week would be a daunting challenge, and a lack of rest would definitely affect him.
Early the next morning, the bloodworms Yue Feng had ordered arrived via the early bus. Keeping an eye on the time on his phone, when it struck ten-thirty, he locked up, hopped on his scooter, and headed straight for the river section at Wangjiazhuang.
On Monday, compared to other times, there would be fewer fishermen. This was evident from the morning's business, as many working-class fishing enthusiasts had to work and couldn't afford the time to fish.
After a slow start, Yue Feng arrived at the river to find that the prime spot near the plow tip was occupied by only two anglers. Usually coveted spots, now vacant, were a rare sight.
Seeing this, Yue Feng quickly and efficiently unloaded his gear and set up his Carbon Fishing Platform at the position near the plow tip.
"How come you guys are fishing at this time? The fishing has been good today. The morning bite was fierce, but now the action has slowed down a lot!" a young angler nearby casually struck up a conversation.
Yue Feng, no longer letting go of any chance to promote his shop, responded, "No choice, I've opened a small fishing tackle store. I was selling items this morning, and only when the store gets less busy can I find the time to go fishing!"
"Oh? You run a fishing tackle shop?"
"Heh, 'run' is a bit much, just a small business. My shop is in the alley on the east side of the intersection between Muxiang Road and Meinan Road—Yue Feng Fishing Tackle. Stop by sometime if you get the chance!"
"Sure, I'll definitely drop by when I have the chance!"
While they talked, Yue Feng had swiftly set up the fishing platform, did a quick test to make sure it was stable, and then rolled up his trouser legs and climbed on.
Using a fishing platform comes with many benefits. First, the area underneath your feet is relatively clean and free from too much mud or sand. Another advantage is the ability to use a shorter rod to reach spots slightly further than the usual fishing points.
For example, with Yue Feng's current setup right by the water's edge, he could reach at least a meter further than with a standard 3.6-meter fishing rod. Sometimes, an inch longer means an inch stronger, giving him an edge over others without them noticing.
After settling all his gear, Yue Feng commenced his fishing session.
To fish well, the key was baiting the area. Yue Feng, departing from his past approach of baiting little and often, went all in with a whole bag of Rice Wine bait on the first cast, hoping for a miracle with heavy baiting!
"Tsk tsk, that's some serious baiting there. Having your own store gives you a solid foundation, huh?" the guy next to him joked, showing his teeth in a grin.
"Heh, I'm trying out heavy baiting; who knows, it might trigger a feeding frenzy!"
After baiting the spot, Yue Feng moved on to preparing his bait. He had done his homework before arriving by learning the method for creating 'Lure' with bloodworms online, mimicking the techniques, and combining bloodworms with commercial bait to get started.
Here it's worth mentioning what 'Lure' signifies. It's a colloquial term among fishermen and has nothing to do with the traditional street food by the same name.
```
To get more specific, a meat-stuffed bun used for fishing refers to adding a certain amount of bloodworms to a normal commercial dough bait and then sprinkling in an appropriate amount of Lasi Powder or Insect Glue to make a type of bait.
Since the bait contains both vegetarian dough and meaty bloodworms, it's called a meat-stuffed bun.
This concoction, because it includes quite a few bloodworms, has a very high cost, but it also has a very good fishing effect because of the presence of the bloodworms.
Soon, Yue Feng followed the recommended bait-to-water ratio from online and prepared half a bowl of the meat-stuffed bun bait.
Yue Feng's bait opening technique was pretty bad, so the condition of the meat-stuffed bun wasn't great—it was barely passable!
Following the key points mentioned in the tutorial, he slowly gathered the prepared bait into a ball and then separated the sub-line, dragging it across the balled-up bait, and two bait balls wrapped with bloodworms and dough were hooked.
After a brief observation, the result was a bit worse than he had expected, but it was roughly good enough.
Once the bait was ready, Yue Feng started fishing.
For the next half hour or so, whether it was the weather or because he had chummed the water heavily, Yue Feng patiently cast his line repeatedly in the fishing spot, but there was still no activity.
Just then, a silver-grey Wuling Hongguang van came from the industrial road and parked not far away.
Having had lunch with nothing much to do, Liu Mingyuan came to the riverbank as well, feeling the itch to fish.
Though the fishing gear sold in Boss Liu's shop wasn't anything special, the equipment he used himself was quite high-end—a Dawa fishing box alone was four figures.
Liu Mingyuan stood at an elevated spot and glanced over, noticing there was still one spot open at the tip of the plow, so he immediately unloaded his equipment from the car and headed straight over to Yue Feng's area.
"How's it going today, fellas?" Liu Mingyuan greeted, with a cigarette hanging from his lips while he set up his gear.
Yue Feng looked up and shook his head, "I just got here a little while ago. Haven't had a bite after chumming the spot!"
The young man sitting next to him glanced at Liu Mingyuan and gave a meaningful smile, "Yo, Boss Liu, the fish bite was pretty quick this morning, but it slowed down a lot at midday with the higher temperature. Come over here; I have a spare spot! Today's fishing is interesting!"
"Heh, Xiao Zhang is here too! Well, I'll take your advice, and let's fish next to each other." As he spoke, Liu Mingyuan put the fishing platform he had taken off the car to the side—it wasn't needed—and instead placed his fishing box right next to where Xiao Zhang was sitting. The spot next to Xiao Zhang was specifically leveled with a shovel by someone who fished there yesterday, making it fairly flat, and it didn't require setting up a fishing platform. The only drawback was that it was a bit too close to Xiao Zhang.
After choosing a good spot, Liu Mingyuan chummed the water with some Rice Wine bait according to his habit. When he glanced out of the corner of his eye at Yue Feng's area, he saw that the Bait Opening Bowl behind him still contained a small half bowl of meat-stuffed bun.
"Wow, young man came prepared for wild fishing, not afraid to invest!"
Yue Feng chuckled, "Didn't go for the large male worms. It's a mix of the smaller male Insect Buds and females, so it's not expensive!"
Bloodworms also come in different qualities, with the highest priced being the extra-large males, starting at seventy to eighty yuan per jin for delivery. The smaller males, commonly known as Insect Buds, are slightly cheaper, around thirty yuan per jin, while the females cost about the same as the Insect Buds.
Xiao Zhang, never one to shy away from excitement, chimed in, "You came late, brah. The young one over there chummed the water pretty intensely earlier on, must've gone through at least a jin of Rice Wine! If the spot gets hot today, there might just be a massive catch!"
```