Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King

Chapter 853 - 572: Heroes Compete for Supremacy (Part 2)

The accommodations were in a prefabricated building by the reservoir equipped with an air conditioning kitchen, and Brother Ma had brought all of his luggage, arranging everything meticulously to settle in completely.

Once the gear was set up by the water and the warm spring breeze blew by, the intoxication from the welcome lunch had mostly dissipated unknowingly.

The two brothers each fiddled with a fishing rod, sitting side by side on spacious European-style fishing chairs. Brother Ma took out a cigarette and handed one to Zhang Yang. They each lit the cigarettes, cupping the flames with their hands, and then Brother Ma leisurely said, "Your club has reached quite a professional level in such a short time. However, I noticed a problem during lunch!"

"Problem? What problem, Brother Ma?" Upon hearing this, Zhang Yang felt a stirring inside as he pondered what Brother Ma might have noticed.

"In your club, your position seems a bit awkward. Are you the general manager, team leader, or captain? From what I gathered during lunch, it seems Han Mocheng and Wei Song are the vice-captains."

True to his widely experienced persona, Brother Ma had noticed nuances that Zhang Yang never even mentioned, but the observant Brother Ma still caught onto them.

"Well, I’m kind of a team leader by default! Although I’m a core member of the club, speaking from my own development plan, besides having to act together during the club league, I have other things to prioritize, and can’t devote all my energy to the club.

When May Day passes and the weather warms up, I need to operate the new TikTok account independently! By that time, I will inevitably have to take the film crew across the country."

"This..."

Brother Ma, purely based on personal intuition and keen observation, judged that Zhang Yang’s positioning was a bit off, but did not expect Zhang Yang’s plan to be completely out of sync with Brother Ma’s common sense.

For Zhang Yang to manage the club affairs competently was already impressive, and yet this guy was considering simultaneously focusing on another enterprise. The only explanation could be that Zhang Yang was very confident in his fishing abilities, not needing routine training to maintain a high competitive state.

"Hehe, although it’s a bit demanding, I’ve thought it through; the issue shouldn’t be big! It’s not me who’s exhausted, but rather Old Zhao. Besides ensuring the normal operations of the company’s affairs, he needs to worry about the club’s management work.

It’s somewhat manageable now with no tournaments happening, but once the club league begins, I’m not sure if Old Zhao can handle such high work intensity!"

After hearing Zhang Yang’s analysis, Brother Ma said, "Haven’t you considered individually recruiting a qualified club manager? Such a professional task can’t be a long-term duty for Old Zhao!"

Zhang Yang replied, "I did discuss with Old Zhao, but haven’t found a suitable candidate yet! The position of a club manager is too sensitive; besides having sufficient ability, trust is important, as later there might be involvement in many sensitive matters! Our foundation in the fishing equipment industry and the competitive circle is too shallow..."

"True, just take it slow..." Brother Ma nodded, deciding not to delve deeper into the topic.

The rest of the afternoon went by quite leisurely for the two. Enjoying the warm spring breeze with sun hats on, they casually chatted while fishing slowly, and time flew by without notice, transforming swiftly into dusk.

At noon, Old Zhao had already heard that Brother Ma brought a whole case of Maotai, so when dinner time arrived, Old Zhao drove over to find Brother Ma.

This time he didn’t bring the club members; only Zhang Yang, Brother Ma, and Old Zhao took a car to a well-known barbecue stall in town, where they drank beer and skewered until past ten o’clock, ending the session there.

In the following days, Zhang Yang mostly shuttled between the reservoir base and the club residence. Every so often, he bought groceries to visit Brother Ma at the reservoir, dining there while handling his own affairs, seeming to spend over ten days in the blink of an eye.

There’s a saying from the Three Kingdoms about being ’reluctant to return to Shu’. These days, Brother Ma seemed slightly reluctant to leave such a lifestyle behind, with the reservoir base rarely having outsiders. Brother Ma lived comfortably there; whatever daily necessities he needed could be bought in town, leading to an exceptionally ease-filled, joyful life. As he joked to Zhang Yang, it felt like stepping into early retirement.

During this period, the scramble for talent in the competitive Taiwan fishing circle had nearly reached its end, with professional competitive anglers who made names for themselves widely recruited into teams by major fishing equipment companies. From the major club approval list released by the Chinese Fishing Association, including Zhang Yang’s club, a total of 18 clubs had passed the first batch of audits, with the recorded professional angler count formally breaking the hundred-mark.

Seeing the milestone of surpassing a hundred, some might feel that in such a large-scale outdoor sports category, only around a hundred professional anglers exist in China? The number appears quite sparse?

Admittedly, the proportion is indeed very low from the overall base of personnel to registered professionals, but that’s the reality.

This was after a surge in the numbers due to the formal club registration and audit process. Before the restart of the club league, anglers who relied on fishing for livelihood were only in the tens when counted together. This data indirectly reflects how poorly developed the professionalization of Taiwan fishing is.

The anglers previously active in the competitive arena mostly maintained their continuous competition engagements through family subsidies.

Few were deemed valuable by industry companies, willing to bear costs and sign contracts with them.

Like in Zhang Yang’s team, paying salaries to youngsters like Liu Zi and Xiaobao, alongside full subsidies for travel competitions and sign-up fee benefits spreading within the circle, could certainly be met with envy driven derision from peers.

In no time, another dozen days passed, the temperature warmed gradually, and finally, the first bubbling tournament scheme post club league’s resumption was issued.

On this day, Zhang Yang was busy catching fish with his teammates at the Practice Pole Pond when Old Zhao hurriedly appeared in the club’s backyard, clutching a stack of A4 paper printouts.

"Put aside what you’re doing for a bit, the league’s competition plan is out!" Old Zhao called loudly.

"Whoa, is the club league about to start? When does it kick off?" Zhang Yang immediately stood up from the fishing spot upon hearing the news.

"Mid-May, the competition will be held in Xiangnan. The first round will be the club bubbling tournament, akin to the entry phase of qualification tournaments. In rotational matches, as long as the team participates, it can acquire most of the basic participation points. Moreover, the top four teams can earn slots for promotion to the premier league!"

"Premier league qualification? Does this mean the rules are somewhat similar to football leagues?" Han Mocheng inquired curiously upon hearing Old Zhao’s explanation.

"Somewhat! But it’s not as tough! Currently, all clubs passing the audit automatically qualify for participation in the second division league.

According to the promotion rules set by the sports bureau and the Chinese Fishing Association, starting next year, newly registered clubs need to go through qualification tournaments to eliminate lower-tier clubs to secure second division league qualifications!

The premier league requires at least six teams to be included before it officially starts!"

Old Zhao’s explanation helped everyone instantly understand the competition system’s rules and meanings.

In essence, the competition rules for Taiwan fishing competitive club leagues are essentially adopting the football league’s framework, with slight tweaks made in some details.

Looking at this, the club’s main goal this year is to secure qualification to the premier league, which is enough for now, as without a sufficient number of clubs entry, the premier league competitions wouldn’t commence anyway.

From the overall event progression, the league just started this year, looking more like a buffer transitional phase, with regular major competitions to gradually begin once various club forces stabilize.