news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

author | return

editor | ji ran

former u.s. president hoover wrote in the book "the joy of fishing" that "everyone is equal before the fish." this is an important reason why countless men at home and abroad go crazy for fishing in ancient and modern times.

middle-aged men who are crazy about fishing have caused the number of people online in the live broadcast room to increase from less than double digits to over ten million in july this year due to the accidental entry of a fishing boy. countless netizens just want to know whether this guy is in the air force and how many fish he can catch.

it has also allowed @天元丁gang, who is called the “ceiling of the fishing world” by netizens, to have 36.49 million fans. the top videos of the boss of heikeng reservoir and the giant fish that caught more than 100 kilograms have two to three million likes on their videos. on the douyin platform, the views of the #fishing, #fishingskills, and #fishingknowledge topics reached 271.3 billion, 40 billion, and 10 billion views respectively.

middle-aged men not only like "cloud fishing", but also like to throw two poles in their free time. on the first day of the national day holiday, while others were still stuck on the highway, a group of fishing enthusiasts had already started looking for fishing spots at four or five o'clock in the morning, preparing to open the fishing rod and blast the protection. then, the mood of the day started to go up and down.

source: provided by interviewee

in fact, some fish pond owners also made a lot of money during the national day holiday. liu biao, a fish pond owner from fuyang city, anhui province, said that based on previous years' experience, the number of visitors to the fish pond during the national day will increase from the usual few or a dozen people to 50 or 60 people. based on this, he cleaned the fish ponds in advance in september. a fishing competition will be held directly on national day this year. participants will be charged 200 yuan per person. the person with the highest fishing weight will receive a gold pixiu bracelet. the sub-site will be charged 88 yuan per person. in addition to ticket revenue, the estimated daily income from cigarettes, instant noodles, soft drinks, fishing bait, fishing lines and other products sold in the fish pond may be 10,000 yuan.

source: provided by interviewee

you don’t have to talk about love, but you have to catch fish

"fishing is just one word: fun! if you want more fun, then catch more and bigger fish." 35-year-old luo hao told us.

luo hao went on to say that he fell in love with fishing in the first half of this year due to the dual pressure brought by family and career, and has been out of control since then. as a novice, what you need is not to use a good fishing rod, but to learn how to observe the sky at night, how to find the right position according to the water source and wind direction, how to fish while walking alone, and how to bait. , adjust drift, observe drift phase, how to use fishing rods, etc.

for example, when fishing crucian carp in small rivers, streams, gates, or wild ponds, short poles of 3.6m or 3.9m are usually used. if you encounter large rivers and reservoirs, use a 6.3m or 7.2m long pole. if the water depth and fish conditions are unknown, use a 5.4m mid-pole.

in order to accumulate more fishing experience, he is either fishing or on the way to fishing. high temperatures, heavy rain, strong winds, mosquito bites and other severe weather conditions, as well as mosquito bites caused by wild night fishing, still did not change his interest in fishing. outsiders may not understand this pleasure.

early in the morning, people started coming to the fishing ground to fish. source: provided by interviewee

unlike luo hao, liu wei, who has 10 years of fishing experience, is very knowledgeable when it comes to fishing. he can also tell a great truth about fishing: traditional chinese medicine emphasizes the use of medicines in the four seasons, and the assistance of the emperor and ministers. fishing also emphasizes "fishing at the four seasons." taking the current autumn as an example, cooling in autumn is the norm. the difference in air pressure and wind resistance brought about by cooling directly affects the way fish eat at the bottom. according to his experience, fish are usually relatively fished the day before, on the day of, and on the fourth day after the temperature drops, and the air force rate is low. on the contrary, the second and third days after the temperature drops are when the fish conditions are at their worst, and the air force rate is extremely high, which is a relatively test of technology.

based on this, you must learn to adjust flexibly when fishing. if it is difficult to drop the fish on the second or third day of cooling down, the activity of the fish is low, so you must learn to strictly control the nest making, and you can even use the nest directly. the first choice of bait is earthworms, followed by fishy bait with higher protein content. if you encounter small fish that don't make trouble, you can even add shrimp powder.

in addition to weather problems, there are seven "metaphysical events" in the fishing circle that i still cannot explain. that is to say: it is difficult to catch the last fish; if you fish seriously and don’t open your mouth, you will turn around and pull it away; you must never let go of the first fish you catch; you can often catch big fish if you don’t copy the net, and vice versa; you cannot protect first when fishing; when you want to give up during the process, the fish will give you hope; novice fishing can always catch big fish, but it is normal to equip the party's air force.

the reason why fishing can become one of the three treasures of middle-aged men is that fishing brings a moment of tranquility to middle-aged men, and allows middle-aged men who are living under various pressures to temporarily put aside the trivial matters of life and find the most instinctive and pure happiness. a spiritual healing. it has something to do with the fact that middle-aged men find the long-lost passion and the courage to challenge themselves through fishing.

more importantly, firstly, hunting is the primitive instinct of human beings, and fishing can bring people a desire to conquer. at the same time, whether it is a fish pond or a different water body, the excitement and adventure brought by a strange environment often prompts the secretion of dopamine that makes people feel excited. this is similar to how people like to set off and enjoy fireworks during major festivals.

zhang shuai, a 24-year-old boy from shenqiu county, henan province, is obsessed with fishing to the extent that "you don't need to talk about love, but you must catch fish." after all, the fun brought by fishing is more comfortable than falling in love. even among their youth circles, it is gradually spread that "starting fishing in your early 20s will save you decades of detours." moreover, my 10-year-old nephew is usually very naughty, but after he went fishing with me, he sat there very quiet all day long. he even shouted at me to take him fishing during the national day holiday.

there are many people like zhang shuai. according to data from jd.com's "2023 fishing consumption trends", the number of new lure users will increase by more than 50% in 2023, and the number of domestic fishing enthusiasts under the age of 26 has increased fourfold in the past three years. incomplete statistics from the china fishing association show that among the 140 million people in the country, people aged under 18, 18 to 24, and 25 to 44 account for 12%, 10%, and 46% respectively. in other words, young people and even teenagers are becoming the new main force in fishing.

crazy fishing guy: buys rvs and yachts for fishing

while the fishing population continues to expand, the domestic fishing gear industry is also expanding rapidly. public data shows that there are more than 785,000 fishing gear-related companies in the country, and more than 245,000 new companies were registered in the first half of 2023, an increase of 109.8% compared with the same period in 2022. they are responsible for producing 80% of the world's fishing gear products.

behind the rapid growth in the number of enterprises is the fact that fishermen are spending more and more on fishing. luo hao said that you don’t need to buy water worth 2 yuan or clothes worth several hundred yuan, but you must buy parasols, fishing boxes, fishing chairs, sun protection clothing, fishing rods, bait, and fishing lines that are essential for fishing.

when i first started fishing, i just bought a few fishing rods of different lengths from handing, and the total investment was less than a thousand yuan. but as he became more and more addicted to fishing, he successively purchased various equipment including fishing tanks, nets, and bait pans.

what's more, showing off trophies is rife in fishing circles. especially after catching a big fish, i want to let everyone around me know. in order to satisfy this mentality, some fishermen also buy various "artifacts" from a certain treasure. through comparison, it appears that the fish they caught are very big. after purchasing various equipment and fish pond tickets, luo hao had spent tens of thousands of yuan on fishing in a few months.

the amount luo hao spent in a certain period. source: provided by interviewee (rough estimate only)

the one who spent more than luo hao was liu wei. he has spent more than 100,000 yuan on fishing in the past ten years. in addition to buying more than 20 lure fishing rods that cost nearly 2,000 yuan each, i have traveled to many places such as xinjiang, guangxi, and northeast china by car for fishing. at that time, when new energy vehicles were not yet popular, the high-speed tolls cost a lot of gas. the total fees are at least thirty to forty thousand. if coupled with the need to save fishing expenses, the cost of replacing a fuel vehicle with a new energy vehicle may be even higher.

when purchasing new energy vehicles, liu wei focuses on the battery life and configuration of the new energy vehicle brand. in terms of battery life, fishing friends often go to places or reservoirs or rural ponds or beside rivers. however, due to the imperfect foundation of charging piles in these areas, once the battery life is insufficient, the towing cost alone is a large expense. in terms of configuration, the new energy vehicle brand space should not only be large, but also convenient for storing various fishing supplies and caught fish. and it is best to provide a rest area in the cockpit. after all, sometimes after resting in the car for a few hours after night fishing, you still need to go to work at the company.

although i spend a lot of money on fishing, i don’t pay much attention to eating.each person spends the day with a pack of cigarettes, a bucket of instant noodles and a bottle of red bull. there is no fish for the whole day.as long as there is no air force on that day, the fish caught can be directly cooked on site or sold for food money.

if liu wei buys a new energy vehicle because of fishing, someone even crazier than liu wei is a fishing guy who bought a rv. after 60-year-old uncle zhang hang handed over his business to his son when he was 55 years old, he started to like fishing to pass the time after retirement. at first, his wife did not support his fishing at all and often said to himself, "you have time to fish, so why not "go to the factory to guide your son on how to run and manage the company"; "can you stop going fishing? now even the pet dog at home is unwilling to drink fish soup and cannot give it to relatives and friends. everyone is scared of you. ".

but after taking my lover to fish a few times, my lover gradually fell in love with fishing. later, the two simply bought an rv and went fishing in different places across the country. "some people buy rvs to travel across the country to make videos and become travel bloggers, but we just like fishing and enjoy our retirement life through fishing." this is uncle zhang hang's attitude.

when ordinary fishing cannot satisfy the interests of anglers, some anglers have focused on sea fishing and purchased yachts at their own expense, and are willing to bear the overall higher cost.

according to relevant media reports, the cost of the yacht purchased by mr. wang from qingdao for a 100-mile voyage is estimated to be 10,000 yuan. the cost of parking the yacht for a year is about 70,000 to 80,000 yuan, and the maintenance cost is 3,000 to 4,000 yuan. if the loss and depreciation of the yacht are also taken into account the cost is estimated to be higher. mr. wang doesn’t make money by fishing at sea, he just goes out for fishing. when it comes to fishing, fishing guys don’t spend the most money, they just spend more.

the fish pond owner born in 2000 began to live a "retirement life"

some people go fishing or buy new energy vehicles, rvs, or yachts, while others start a fish pond business because they like fishing.

lu wei, a fish pond owner from taikang county, henan province, loved fishing when he was young, so he later returned to his hometown to start a fish pond business. the cost of fish pond investment includes land cost, fry cost, fish pond cleaning cost, etc. the bulk of it is land cost, and a lot of land in henan province is planned as a cultivated land protection zone, so it is difficult to expand the size of fish ponds compared with the south. but even if a small-scale fish pond is located in a rural area, the initial investment when adding up various costs is still hundreds of thousands.

when business was good in the past few years, it would take more than a year to recover the capital. however, although the number of fishing people has increased in the past two years, many people prefer wild fishing, which has affected the passenger flow. on the other hand, the number of local black fish ponds has increased significantly, and there is a fierce price war between black fish ponds. you can offer 4 hours of fishing for 50 yuan, but someone can offer a full-day activity for 80 yuan.

lu wei is not afraid of the price war caused by the increase in black pits. on the one hand, i have other businesses in the county and do not rely on fish ponds to make a living. i do fish pond business purely as a hobby, and i can make more like-minded friends through fish ponds. on the other hand, the operating costs of fish ponds are relatively low. now the daily operation of fish ponds is helped by my father, who is in his sixties. when i have nothing to do, i still take videos of fish ponds and post them on douyin. after all, douyin’s high penetration and spread in the county can bring more business to fish ponds.

the low-cost operation of fish ponds has also allowed some post-2000s in the county to retire early. liu yang, a fish pond owner born in the 2000s from funan county, anhui province, told us that because he loved fishing during college and his parents had fully paid for a rv for him, after graduating from college he didn’t want to go fishing with his peers in high-tier cities, so he simply when i returned home, i started a fish pond business.

you can make less money, but you can't accept it, and i don't have any pressure to repay the capital. therefore, we simply do not accept customers who come to our fishing garden to show off their tricks. if i meet a fishing friend i can chat with, i'll give him free bait and beer. it's not a big deal anyway. if there is a large flow of people on saturdays, sundays or national day, the main thing is to serve these fishing friends well, and then let the fishing friends help guide fishing friends, so as to continuously increase the passenger flow of the fishing park. if it's the off-season and there's not much traffic, i'll just throw a few poles and fish by myself. the main thing is being casual.

the greatest joy that fishing, including running a fishing park business, brings to me is that it makes me feel calmer. even in the process of communicating with fishing friends of different ages, my views on many things no longer have the paranoia of my youth. this has attracted many people to come here. my fishing friends don’t feel that i don’t look like a post-00s generation, but more like a middle-aged man.

some people like fishing not because they like eating fish, but more because they want to talk about the various satisfactions that fishing brings. some people are looking for a certain life in the uncertain fishing game.

everyone has his own white moonlight in his heart, and fishing may be the "white moonlight" in the hearts of countless middle-aged men.