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Next, let's tackle the commonly held belief that a heavy rod will kill a fresh-water game fish more quickly than a light flexible rod. Often, the contrary is true, the light rod, properly handled, can bring the trophy fish to creel even faster than the stiff, heavy rod, and by heavy I mean one that is fully twice as heavy. In exhausting the great fish it is not the strength of the pull on the fish that does it, it's the action the fish is forced to make that wear him down, the long runs, the side jarring leaps, the theshings, this, plus the constant tension brought to bear on him during these runs. This the light flight flexible rod can manage much better than the stiff heavy one. Should the great fish elect to go to the bottom and hang on, recouping his strength as he does so, give him no quarter. Make him fight. Should he not respond to the tapping of the rod on a tautly held line, throw in a couple handfuls of gravel. That'll stir him. In keeping the fish fighting, don't underestimate the power of your light rod and spinning line. Test them out before you go fishing and find out for yourself what a difficult job it is the break the line on your rod, and yet that rod is capable of holding a powerful swimmer! See Figure 20.
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