It was strange, but just trying to control the fish to turn back had a much better effect than expected, and the fish underwater actually turned around.
The force diminished, and Lin Yang tried to reel in the line, at least he could move it now, unlike at the beginning when he was so passive.
"Is the fish big, host? How deep did you catch it? It seemed to pull out more line than the Zong Fish earlier."
"Could it be hooked on the tail?"
"It doesn’t seem like a snag, it should be a proper bite, Master Lin got the fish to turn back when he positioned the rod."
As he reeled in the line, Lin Yang said, "This cast was in water about two and a half meters deep, the bite was very sudden, I estimate it’s bigger than the ones we caught before.
There are no other fish around, so the likelihood of encountering a big one alone is much higher, give me a few more rounds, I’ll try to get it up...."
Before he could finish his sentence, he felt the tip of the rod accelerate downward. The big fish underwater was powering up again.
It was another round of power surges, the big fish, after a short rest, didn’t diminish its force at all and just bore down in a spurt of acceleration.
However, after the first round, Lin Yang had a basic sense of the big fish’s power range and was calmly handling it, using the line stored in the spool and the reel’s drag system to fight the fish.
After several rounds of impact, line-pulling, and strength-wearing, the pull of the big fish underwater finally weakened a bit.
"Phew, the fish is much calmer now...." After successfully pulling the fish back once more, Lin Yang breathed a sigh of relief. By now, the fish’s energy was almost spent, and he could clearly feel it through the reeling.
Soon, the line was reeled in again, and the blurry shape of a big fish surfaced.
In the camera shot, everyone saw just a greyish-green shadow. Before it could fully surface, the big fish flicked its tail and dove back down, crazily pulling out line again.
Faced with the fish’s final struggle, Lin Yang was extra cautious, easing off the pressure, letting it flee. After running about twenty meters, the fish’s strength was utterly exhausted, and it slowly floated back up.
The camera zoomed in from a distance for a close-up, revealing the appearance of the big fish to the live audience.
"Wow, what kind of fish is this? It’s almost a meter long, isn’t it?"
"It’s got a greyish-green body with black spots all over, this fish looks pretty beautiful."
"This fish has a pair of short barbels on its lower jaw, could it be a carp? But carps don’t have this color."
After watching the barrage for a while, Lin Yang realized that no one could immediately identify the fish, so he said, "Someone in the barrage was half right just now. This fish belongs to the carp family of the Cypriniformes order. It’s a Jinsha Carp. In our country, there are three types of Jinsha Carp, Flower Carp, and Back Luli. Jinsha Carp is distributed in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and its tributaries; Flower Carp in Fuxian Lake; Back Luli in the Lancang River system. Adult Jinsha Carps can grow over 60 centimeters, and this one is about 80 centimeters...."
Hearing that the big fish was a Jinsha Carp, Xiao Li, who was steering the boat, became visibly excited, stood up from the boat, and looked out, hands resting on the edge of the boat.
"Hey, young man, be careful. Getting up suddenly in a small boat can easily make you lose balance." Lin Yang quietly warned him, considering that it was not just the two of them on the boat; Yue’er and Li Xiaopeng were also there.
"Hehe, sorry, I got a little excited when I heard ’Jinsha Carp’. When we just arrived, we collected a lot of data on the fish species in this lake area. Although Jinsha Carps are recorded, it’s been many years since anyone has caught one. I didn’t expect that on your first outing, you’d catch one...."
"Don’t rush, let’s get it onto the boat, then we can take a closer look later."
Lin Yang took out the fish control device and hung it on his left hand, quickly pulled the fish to the side of the boat, still squatting by the boat side, he swiftly clamped the device on the fish’s lower lip, locked it, and with a core power lift from his waist and abdomen, he easily hoisted the fish onboard.
Lin Yang’s eye measurement was not far off the actual length, looking to be about 80 centimeters, the fish was plump, well-proportioned and elongated, its body mainly a greyish-green color with black spots just like a sea bass, with its ventral fins a golden-yellow, looking very beautiful.
"Jinsha Carp is a second-class national protected fish species, we need to take this one back too, Master Lin, your fishing skills are amazing, you’ve just arrived and already caught two rare species not seen for many years." Xiao Li excitedly helped fetch the live fish bucket while speaking.
"Since it’s useful to you guys, let’s take it back, but we can’t make Suan Cai Yu out of this fish." Lin Yang also jokingly said.
As Xiao Li mentioned before, Jinsha Carp is currently a second-class protected species, obviously, not to be eaten casually.
Like sea bass, Jinsha Carp is swift and a ferocious fish, preying specifically on small fish.
Decades ago, Jinsha Carp was also one of the large commercial fish species in the upper Yangtze River and produced significant amounts, with the largest individuals weighing over 15 kilograms.
However, habitat destruction due to excessive construction of hydraulic projects and the proliferation of illegal fishing methods have led to a sharp decrease in the Jinsha Carp population in the upper Yangtze River, and within just a few decades, its endangered status has reached critically endangered. As of 2013, it has become a key protected aquatic wild animal in several provinces and cities.
This Jinsha Carp weighs about 15 jin (7.5 kilograms), which is quite large already.