Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Technology => Topic started by: Karsten on 15/06/2009 20:52:13
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You know, hook the fish, push a button, stun the fish, reel it in. I know, less challenging or enjoyable to the angler. Can it be done though?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrofishing
Dynamite and Cyanide are also used to catch fish, but are considered unsporting.
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I was more thinking along the lines of sending electricity down the fishing line to the individual fish once (and after) it has been hooked the traditional way. Still "sporting" but less struggle. I guess you would need some sort of conductive fishing line that is insulated from the water it is in.
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I was more thinking along the lines of sending electricity down the fishing line to the individual fish once (and after) it has been hooked the traditional way. Still "sporting" but less struggle. I guess you would need some sort of conductive fishing line that is insulated from the water it is in.
I accept and concur with you that less struggling would be preferable for the fish in the face of its inevitable capture. But an electric shock to an already stressed fish might kill it rather than just stun it. Sporting anglers do not kill fish, they release them back into the water.
Fishing line comes in various breaking strains and is translucent. Even a single thread of copper wire would increase the gauge of the lighter lines to what may be an unacceptable size and make them more obvious. I think there would be a few other issues which would make your idea, humanely honorable though it may be, impractical.
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I would fish to eat and once I know that the fish is big enough (visual contact? pull of fish?) I could kill the doomed animal immediately or at least get it landed fast and whack it over the head. If you practice catch and release there is not point in stunning the fish since part of the fun for the angler seems to be the struggle with the fish.
Regarding the fishing line: Isn't the last piece of line made from metal often to prevent the fish biting through the plastic line?
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If you are fishing for food, then that is a different matter.
I am no angler, but so far as I am aware, the line is made of nylon. I can't see how a metalic line spliced to the end could be achieved without preventing the line from being reeled in. Also it would defeat the object of the rest of the line being translucent.
If you were going to reel in the line to a point where you can see if the fish is worth killing for food, wouldn't that be so close to the end of the struggle to make it pointless to deliver a shock? If you wanted to employ such a method, you would be better off with an insulated lance to deliver the shock, when the fish is in sight for evaluation. The lance would not need to touch the fish, as water is a good conductor of electricity.
Some fish, such as the electric eel, use just such a shock to stun their prey.
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In the youtube video I linked to the fish seem to be attracted to the (ring) electrode ...
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If you are fishing for food, then that is a different matter.
I am no angler, but so far as I am aware, the line is made of nylon. I can't see how a metalic line spliced to the end could be achieved without preventing the line from being reeled in. Also it would defeat the object of the rest of the line being translucent.
If you were going to reel in the line to a point where you can see if the fish is worth killing for food, wouldn't that be so close to the end of the struggle to make it pointless to deliver a shock? If you wanted to employ such a method, you would be better off with an insulated lance to deliver the shock, when the fish is in sight for evaluation. The lance would not need to touch the fish, as water is a good conductor of electricity.
Some fish, such as the electric eel, use just such a shock to stun their prey.
Sorry, misunderstanding. I mentioned that the end of the line is made of metal anyways to show that it may be possible to make the whole line with a thin wire inside. I think they are called leader wires. It may depend on the fish you want to catch and the method.
This link: http://www.4fishin.com/Stainless%20Steel.htm shows that some fishing lines are made completely from steel.
I guess, some fish jump in the air. Maybe that is enough to tell the size. I would go with the amount of pull. Strong pull - big fish. Zap it dead, reel it in. Cook it, eat it.
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I have seen water bailiffs catching all the fish in a section of a river (the River Wye, aamof) for a survey. They passed a small current across the space between parallel wires. They netted them, scooped them up, counted and weighed them, then poured them back to recover (with a hangover,I expect).