428: Alligator Gar

A middle-aged man stepped out of the car, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, his hair meticulously groomed; upon seeing Yang Qi and his companion, he walked over with a beaming smile.

“President Zhang, long time no see, welcome, welcome!”

“President Ding, how are you!”

Zhang Jun stepped forward, and the two pairs of hands clasped tightly together, shaking.

“President Ding, I brought my brother here today just to win that hundred thousand yuan from you, hahaha!”

“Come, come, President Ding, let me introduce my brother to you! ...”

Zhang Jun pulled Yang Qi over and began the introductions.

“Hahaha, Brother Yang, hello, I'm looking forward to seeing this expert's performance!”

“Hahaha, President Ding, you flatter me; I will do my best.”

Yang Qi also smiled and shook hands with President Ding.

Yang Qi took a boat rock fishing rod from the car, and after assembling it, he decided to try using a lure first.

Carrying his fishing rod and activating his Supernatural Ability, he began walking around the Artificial Lake.

Zhang Jun and President Ding followed closely behind him, chatting.

In the vision from Yang Qi's Supernatural Ability, fish weighing over six or seven jin appeared one after another, including koi, Grass Carp, and Carp.

However, he also discovered a strange phenomenon: he didn't really find any small miscellaneous fish; there weren't even many Sharpbelly.

This phenomenon was extremely abnormal for such a wild body of water; it's often said that wherever there is water in the wild, there are fish, referring specifically to those small miscellaneous fish.

Here, however, it was the opposite; while there were some large fish, there were basically no small miscellaneous fish.

Every Angler knows that the reason for this situation is the presence of extremely ferocious predatory creatures in this water, such as the Alligator Gar.

Therefore, the small miscellaneous fish had all been eaten, and the large fish only existed because they were fast enough to escape.

However, it was estimated that they wouldn't last for long either.

Yang Qi walked around half of the Artificial Lake while observing, and President Ding, following behind, muttered to himself:

“Didn't Zhang Jun swear that this Yang Qi is a fishing expert? Why hasn't he cast his line yet? What's going on?”

Just then, Yang Qi suddenly spotted a pitch-black log lying in a concave muddy area of the Artificial Lake.

This log was about 1.2 meters long, thicker in the middle and tapering at both ends.

Upon closer inspection, Yang Qi realized it was clearly a strange fish, because he saw its tail move slightly.

“It really is an Alligator Gar!”

The Alligator Gar, also known as the giant gar or alligator fish, is one of the largest freshwater fish in North America and the largest species of gar.

An adult Alligator Gar is about 2 to 3 meters long, weighs up to 159 kilograms, looks like an alligator, and has long, thin, sharp teeth on its upper and lower jaws.

The Alligator Gar is a ferocious carnivorous fish that can eat almost anything, including birds, turtles, small mammals, amphibians, crustaceans, and carrion, though its main food source is fish.

Adult Alligator Gars are massive, covered in hard armor, and have almost no natural predators in their habitat.

However, their eggs and fry face threats from predators, and the eggs are toxic and should not be consumed by humans.

As an invasive species, the Alligator Gar has been discovered in China and many other countries; most of these Alligator Gars were abandoned pets that were artificially released into the wild.

They have already caused certain damage to China's native species.

Alligator Gars have currently been found in ten provinces and cities in China, and the authorities are working hard to eradicate them.

Yang Qi picked up his fishing rod and cast his line forcefully toward that spot.

With a “thud,” the lure traced a parabolic arc and hit the water.

He waited for half a minute and clearly saw the lure sink to the bottom of the lake, landing about two meters away from the Alligator Gar.

Yang Qi gently turned the fishing reel and began to slowly retrieve the line, bringing it in front of the Alligator Gar.

He clearly saw the Alligator Gar roll its eyes; it had obviously seen the fake fish.

However, the Alligator Gar only took one look—not even a second glance—and then remained in its motionless posture.

“Damn, is it that aloof?”

Yang Qi gently twitched the fishing rod, trying his best to make the fake fish look more like an injured small fish, constantly teasing the Alligator Gar.

But as he slowly turned the fishing reel, the fake fish was inevitably forced to gradually move away from the Alligator Gar.

The first cast ended in failure for Yang Qi!

It didn't matter; failure is the Mother-in-law of success, and effort is the father of success!

Yang Qi retrieved the lure and cast it forcefully toward the Alligator Gar's location once again.

With his technique, there was no problem with where the hook landed; it was still about two meters away from the fish.

But it was useless; no matter how good the technique or how accurate the landing, the Alligator Gar showed no intention of biting.

Just like that, Yang Qi cast four or five more times without any success; the Alligator Gar didn't give him any face at all.

Yang Qi shook his head helplessly, thought for a moment, and walked toward his car.

On the way, he ran into Zhang Jun and President Ding, who were sitting in the shade, smoking and chatting.

“Yang Qi, how is it?”

“Brother Jun, I'm going to change the bait; the lure isn't getting any bites.”

Yang Qi said, showing them the lure.

“Alright, Brother Yang, just fish for fun. President Zhang and I are going to the office over there for some tea. If you don't want to fish later, come over for tea!”

President Ding said, while pulling Zhang Jun toward that direction.

Besides accompanying Yang Qi to fish for Alligator Gar today, Zhang Jun actually wanted to cast a few lines himself; what if he caught it himself? Wouldn't he have more content?

But now that President Ding was pestering him to have tea, he couldn't refuse such hospitality! He had to give up fishing.

Yang Qi came to his pickup truck and took out two packages of frozen Mackerel he had brought specifically from the car refrigerator.

Carrying the plastic bag, he returned to the spot where the Alligator Gar was.

As expected, the fish was still there, lazing about.

Yang Qi immediately switched to a large hook, baited it with the Mackerel, and cast it toward the Alligator Gar.

This time, Yang Qi still gently turned the fishing reel, bringing the bait to the mouth of the Alligator Gar.

If it still didn't bite, he would have no other options.

If it were another fish, he could switch to snagging, but this was an Alligator Gar—its scales were impervious to weapons, and trying to snag it would be too difficult.

Fortunately, when the bait reached the vicinity of the Alligator Gar's head, Yang Qi noticed it move; its dorsal fin, which ran from front to back, began to sway like a snake.

Suddenly, it flicked its head, and its long mouth snapped at the bait.

Yang Qi immediately felt a massive force come from the fishing rod, pulling him so hard he almost stumbled.

“Damn, what a huge force!”

Fortunately, Yang Qi had rich experience in fishing for giant fish and had long since set his stance; as the Alligator Gar exerted its strength, he tightly clutched the fishing rod with both hands, squatted down with his legs, dug his toes into the ground, and leaned back rapidly.

After stabilizing his posture, he held the rod with both hands and forcefully struck to set the hook.