If you talk about experience in handling big fish, Meng Fan actually doesn't have much practical experience, but he's quite reliable in the sense that he has a lot of experience using thin lines to handle three to five-pound carp when fishing in private ponds.
Now that he's handling a big fish, aside from the force going beyond his control, the basic idea of handling the fish and the technique of controlling it are in sync, plus the line gauge of the fishing gear being relatively thick, so he is responding fairly appropriately.
From the moment the rod bent, Meng Fan remained in a state of staying still as long as the fish didn't move, waiting for the big fish to start swimming slowly. Only then did he carefully maneuver with it by adjusting the angle of force on the rod!
Seeing Meng Fan being so cautious while handling the fish, Zhang Yang felt that there was no need to remind him and switched to his commentary role, keeping an eye on the live stream chat room.
[Wow, judging by the rod's curve, the fish seems pretty big!]
[Just a timid question for Brother Yang, the cast just now was pretty accurate, any tips?]
[Looks like young Meng is handling the fish very cautiously, isn't the line pretty thick? Why not be a bit bolder!]
[When catching such a big fish in wild fishing, how should an inexperienced angler operate? Speaking of which, I've been fishing for three years, and the biggest fish I've caught was a one and a half-pound carp tail; I haven't caught anything bigger!]
[Brother above, we're in the same boat. I haven't even caught a one-pounder, only small fish everywhere I go, and it's hard to catch a decent carp!]
Zhang Yang glanced at the chat room, smiled, and said, "Young Meng's caution in handling the fish is right!
When unsure of the big fish's size and strength, blindly exerting force is very risky!
If the big fish gets stimulated and starts a full-on sprint leading to a tug-of-war, even if the line is big enough, it's very easy to snap the hook or break the line!
If you're a relatively inexperienced beginner angler and unexpectedly encounter a big fish, my personal suggestion, if you have companions nearby, is to seek help from experienced ones!
Without understanding fish-handling techniques, a beginner's success rate in handling big fish is close to zero.
Don't fool yourself into thinking you have some unique gift that others don't; I can responsibly tell everyone that this is just an illusion!
From the moment the fish bites, there are countless details that need careful handling, and any mishap can render previous efforts useless!
If you don't have a companion or acquaintance to help, and you unexpectedly hook a big fish by yourself, my top recommendation is to find a way to attach a safety line to the rod.
In case of inadequate control, if the fish pulls the rod out of the control range, you can let go to prevent breaking the line, and once the charging force is over, you can slowly reel in and regain control of the fish! This greatly increases the success rate of landing the big fish!
At this point, some of you might want to know exactly what the complete set of fish-handling techniques and details I've been talking about are!
Just as young Meng is handling the fish, let me briefly chat with you all!
First point, handling fish is a form of strategic control rather than a competition of strength between the person and the fish!
To give a straightforward example, a seven or eight-year-old child can easily lead a cow by holding a rope, whereas a grown cow is strong enough to plow fields!
Putting aside the cow's active cooperation due to training, the nose ring on the cow's nose is a very important factor!
Fishing is the same; with the hook in the fish's mouth, the angler only needs to guide and control the fish's swimming direction, sapping its strength, instead of engaging in a brute force contest of pulling and dragging!
To elaborate further, how can one reasonably control the fish?
This involves an issue of force angles from high school physics!
If the angle of force applied by the fishing rod is 180 degrees from the fish's escape angle, meaning completely opposite, the fishing gear bears the highest tension, which is all the strength the fish can muster!
And if the rod's force angle is 90 degrees to the fish's nose direction?
The force of the fish's escape transmitted to the rod is just a small part!
This means the angler can balance the fish's power with relatively small effort, thereby controlling the fish's head direction!
The essence of handling fish lies here, by constantly adjusting the direction of force on the rod to maintain as close to a 90-degree angle as possible to the fish's swimming direction.
Like a cow being led, the fish cannot exert most of its strength and can only swim within a limited area as per the person's guidance!
Currently, the method young Meng uses in handling the fish is what I'm talking about!
I call it the figure-eight fish-handling technique! By guiding the fish's head to constantly change direction, the swimming trajectory during the handling process resembles the shape of the Arabic number 8.
As long as you don't intentionally spook the big fish and keep it relatively calm, handling the fish is half the battle won!"
At this moment, while Zhang Yang is explaining, the big fish with Meng Fan makes a rush forward at a very fitting time.
Seeing this, Meng Fan reflexively swings the rod sharply to the left, forming a perfect ninety-degree angle with the direction of the big fish's rush.
The big fish's power is reduced, and after less than three seconds of stalemate, it obediently turns around and swims in the direction guided by the rod.
"See, everyone? This is what I just mentioned about guiding the fish to adjust its swimming direction!
There's not much to say here; you need to be quick, decisive, and act immediately once you've found the right direction. If the rod is pulled flat, using this trick again greatly increases the failure probability of controlling the fish!
Having briefly covered the technical principles of controlling fish, let's move on to the second detail!