Chapter 405: Chapter 244: Rod Explosion_2
"Damn, it really was a line-bumping bite! How did you know it was a bump, boss? That move just now seemed pretty deceptive!"
Han Qiang looked like a curious little kid, eyes full of question marks.
Zhang Yang grinned: "When a big fish takes the hook, the bobber has a pattern! For example, the sliding bobber move just now had no small movements beforehand, very sudden.
Also, when the bobber sank, it had a certain tilt angle, clearly a bump. I could see it a bit clearer with the live stream’s high-definition camera than with the naked eye!
I was afraid that if you lifted the rod too soon, you’d spook the fish and ruin the spot, so I reminded you! When fishing for big fish, don’t lift the rod too quickly; after the bobber goes black, counting to three won’t be too late!"
"Oh, so that’s what it was!" Han Qiang scratched his head, indicating he understood.
As the two were engaging in their banter, they saw the bobber return to normal, then suddenly, it went black at lightning speed.
Han Qiang, a bit distracted by the conversation, failed to keep track of the bobber and rubbed his eyes in disbelief when he realized it was out of sight.
At this moment, he heard Zhang Yang say: "The bobber is down, strike!"
The state of the fish was like a command, and Han Qiang decisively lifted the rod to set the hook!
Whirrr...
The sound of the long rod being lifted echoed in the live stream room, as Han Qiang’s fishing rod raised to about a seventy-degree angle, the front half forming a large bent bow from the force.
"Got it! The fish is on!"
Han Qiang excitedly shouted, crouching down while holding the rod with both hands.
The benefit of leaving some slack in the line showed; the rod bent perfectly, its curve flawless.
"This one should be a big one! The fish is moving smoothly without much force!"
Han Qiang’s muscles tensed for a few seconds, but he realized he was overreacting. The fish underwater was quite calm.
Zhang Yang smirked: "Calm fish isn’t necessarily a good sign; the bigger they are, the steadier they tend to be when hooked.
Stay alert when controlling the fish, so you don’t spook it! Otherwise, maybe attach a slip line; it’ll be more secure!"
After hearing this, Han Qiang got a bit emotional and boasted: "I’ve got a 16+12 line setup; you want me to use a slip line? That’s insulting to this heavy setup!"
"Haha, then go ahead and yank it! But I’ll say this first, if the rod breaks because there’s no slip line, you’ll get a punishment!"
Zhang Yang continued to dig pits for Han Qiang.
"Fine, could there really be a getaway with such a steady bite? I want to try it!"
With that, Han Qiang stood up, took a sturdy stance, and began to tussle with the fish.
The first two rounds after hooking the fish were relatively smooth; the fish underwater didn’t escape wildly, moved slowly, almost like an old cow leisurely grazing, not much of a disturbance.
But this calm lasted for less than three minutes before things changed.
When Han Qiang was directing the fish to turn back, he hesitated a beat; the fish didn’t turn as expected but darted towards a slightly deeper area on the left.
Then came the scene that left Han Qiang in despair!
The rod, which had been controlling the fish with an eighty-five-degree bend, was being pulled lower by the fish’s immense force, threatening to turn into a flat tug-of-war.
With a flat pull, the line strength drastically reduces due to the angle; Han Qiang wasn’t going to sit idly by and tried a save-the-rod back push maneuver.
The usually foolproof saving move surprisingly failed this time.
Even when he plunged the rod underwater, avoiding the flat-rod risk, the fish still didn’t turn back.
It seemed the back push shocked the fish, as it sped up its escape, the fishing rod in Han Qiang’s hand taking an L shape, even the grip visibly bending.
"Let go! The rod will break if you don’t!" Zhang Yang spoke up again, sensing trouble.
"I can’t believe it! Come back here!" Han Qiang growled, pouring more strength into his arms.
Crack!
With a crisp sound, the grip in Han Qiang’s hand snapped into three pieces.
The fish wasn’t brought back, and the rod broke.
For a moment, Han Qiang felt a buzz in his head, completely blank.
Despite years of fishing, both wild and in ponds, Han Qiang had broken rods before, but those were due to damaged rods or excessive maneuvering, just breaking a tip or two at most.
But today’s incident, breaking an eight-meter big fish rod’s grip directly, was the first in his life!
If losing a fish is a mistake, breaking the rod in a live stream is a broadcast accident.
"Hahaha! I told you to let go, but you didn’t listen, and now the rod is broken! Oh ho!"
Just as Han Qiang was dumbfounded, Zhang Yang’s gleeful laughter came to his ears.
[Hahaha, the rod broke!]
[Oh ho!]
[Oh ho x2]
[Oh ho x3]
...
[Oh ho x735]
[Brother Qiang here is sharp and doesn’t talk much, breaks a rod during a live stream—not just tough, but Brother Qiang-level tough!]
Seeing Han Qiang burst his rod into three pieces, the public chat friends got excited again.
With over seven hundred repetitions of ’Oh ho,’ the viewers were entertained!
As he heard Zhang Yang interact with him, Han Qiang touched his head, still slightly delayed, then looked at his slightly numb hand from the burst rod.
"Damn! This big fish rod ain’t as strong as I thought!" Han Qiang said, a bit sheepishly.
Zhang Yang grinned again: "There’s a spare rod in the room. Let’s patch up the spot first! We’ll deal with the punishment once we’re done, don’t ruin the spot!"
"Okay!" Han Qiang responded, turning to head to the shack, soon finding another same-sized spare rod in the case.
Hurriedly re-tying a new heavy line and getting everything adjusted again took ten minutes.
The viewers were still talking non-stop about the rod-breaking incident before, and Zhang Yang didn’t tease or criticize, just cheerfully interacting with the viewers.
After getting everything ready and patching the spot, Zhang Yang spoke again, slightly delayed: "Do you know why the rod broke just now?"
Han Qiang shook his head; up to now, he didn’t realize what went wrong. Though a bit calmer, thinking of the instant the rod snapped made his mind blank.
Zhang Yang again addressed the live stream audience: "Do you guys want to know why the rod broke?"
If the likes hit half a million, subscribe and share, and in a minute, I’ll talk about rod breaking and bursting!"
The viewers were already very interested in Zhang Yang’s live content, so hearing this, the public chat got busy again.
A minute passed quickly, and Zhang Yang looked satisfied with the likes and continued: "Thank you all for your support. Now, let’s talk about rod breaking and bursting while we’re on the topic of the snapped rod just now.
The more common rod break is usually a tip or a couple of sections, mainly because of an excessive rod angle.
The saying goes, ’Don’t raise the rod past shoulder height; past the shoulder, it breaks easily!’
An angle too large creates a dead angle at the rod’s core strength area, breaking once it exceeds the tip’s strength limit!
The solution is to lean forward while controlling the fish with a bent rod. If you want to lift the fish out of the water, it’s best to step back a few steps instead of going against the angle!
Aside, breaking a rod with a negative angle isn’t about the rod’s quality; it’s purely human error.
High-carbon rods are less durable and more prone to breaking. Lower-carbon or fiberglass rods, or those made with epoxy cloth, are less likely to break.
Now about rod bursting! Just now, Brother Qiang gave everyone a live demonstration.
When a tip breaks, it’s local uneven force, but a rod burst means the overall force exceeded the rod’s limit!
If a rod bursts on flat ground, barely any sections survive; it’s normal to break many pieces!
Brother Qiang’s handle section burst during the back push; besides nearing the rod’s overall strength limit, it was also due to improper handling!
Where was the mishandling?
He held the rod too low with his left hand! The grip’s elasticity wasn’t utilized, and the front force was too great, leading to the burst rod!"