Realizing the risk, Zhang Yang didn't continue using the rod's leverage to force the fish to surface but instead slightly eased off to give the fish a chance to dive back into the water.
What followed was another long round of reeling in the fish.
A man and a fish, locked in a combat of tacit understanding, taking turns controlling the rhythm. The back-and-forth figure-eight reeling technique had been used countless times, and finally, the fish was successfully brought to the surface.
This time, the big fish wasn't forcefully yanked out of the water by the rod's torque; it surfaced belly-up, exhausted from the fight.
Experienced anglers know a common fact: when a fish turns belly-up in the water, it's essentially a sign that it's completely exhausted, with no struggle left to escape.
Think about it, if it doesn't even have the strength to maintain a normal swimming posture in the water, what else can it do?
