This is the moment a fisherman struggles to hang onto his fishing rod after a large fish he had hooked pulled him into the water.

The incident occurred in the city of Zhengzhou, in Henan Province, China on July 1.

The hilarious video shows the fisherman already in the water as he desperately battles the large fish, with witnesses laughing and filming as his head disappears under the water when he refuses to give up.

The angler is no match for the fish but this does not stop him from desperately trying to reel it in despite most of his rod being underwater.

The fisherman, named only as Mr Yan in local media reports, was seen in a video catching the large fish in a fish pond.

Despite the fish being too big, the man held onto his fishing rod tightly, engaging in a tug-of-war with the fish as the footage ends.

Mr Yan later revealed that the prize catch had escaped, saying that it felt like the roles had suddenly become reversed.

He added: 'It felt like I wasn't fishing, but the fish was playing with me.

'The fish felt like it had a lot of momentum once it dragged me into the water. I played tug-of-war in the water with it because I was so excited.'

Following this, Mr Yan swam back to the shore and used the shower room at the fishing ground to clean up. The owner of the fishing ground provided him with fresh clothes to change into.

The man continued then fishing and successfully caught a 20lb black carp as a consolation, according to local media reports.