I'm sorry - but this is WRONG!!

[Dave Bagwill]

I weep for you, western civilization:

http://www.tackobox.com/

[John Link]

I don't know what you mean by "WRONG" Dave, but to me this rod verges on being beside the point.

I no longer fish, but did for several decades, including for catfish. I could tell that a fish was "biting" simply by looking at the rod. Even better, feeling the line would tell so that even a novice would know what was going on: the "bite" gives a rat-a-tat-tat feeling if it is an aggressive fish, a gradual pull by a one less aggressive. The latter "bite" does not look like it would be detected by this "high tech" rod and only very aggressive fish would stand a chance of triggering the alarm. Looking at any fairly sensitive rod, or feeling the line, detects both types of "bites". To facilitate looking, the rod is set so that it is not perfectly lined up with the direction of the line, causing its tip to move if there is activity at the other end. It will either flip back and forth, or move gradually, depending. So, if your goal is to make life miserable for more fish, don't rely on the "high tech" rod to tell you when to attempt setting the hook. You will miss some opportunities. Use your eyes, use your fingers.

As far as the video of the "low tech" rod being pulled into the water and supposedly lost, that appears to be staged. I never had a rod pulled into the water, nor did I know anyone who did. It is a matter of setup that prevents this. The rod in the video was deliberately, I presume, set up to make it easy to pull into the water and I suspect it was a human off camera doing the pulling, not a fish. Even then, the brake on the reel would need to have been set absurdly high or the line tangled.

CatDaddy seems like just another salesman, though he obviously does catch fish. But he does not have an unsporting advantage with his rod because it offers nothing that a normal rod cannot be set up to provide, and creates a false sense that one need not really fish, to catch fish. Given his catch, I am confident he really fishes.

The advertising reminds me of "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing".

Rant, rant.

[Dave Bagwill]

Just plain wrong, John :-) - my statement was a gut reaction, not based on Kant's categorical imperative nor on revealed religion - just, dangit, that ain't fishin'.!!!

A good friend of mine tells me he has been using the 'analog' version of that device for 30 years - it's a little brass bell that attaches to the end of the rod, which gives off a pleasant tinkle when there is a bite, or just a bump from a curious fish - just enough noise to wake up a napping or - perish the thought - a passed-out fisherman. :-)

[ken cierp]

Impressive solution to a non existing problem.

Not exactly the stuff we did not know we needed -- like the inventions of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and of course "Al Gore's internet"

[Jim Ebert]

Hummmm. As hard as I try, and I am always trying to figure out how to use different things for building instruments, I just can't see how this life changing advancement in fishing could be used. Although as a child fishing off of the Malibu pier, I did have a pole go over the side. Think my older brothers threw it over just to harass me and make my life miserable. My dad had a pole ripped from his sleeping hands when we were out on the Leaking Lena. As fast as it left the boat, I don't think that this new fangled contraption would have made any difference. Sometimes the fish just win.
Jim.

[Dave Bagwill]

Jim - yeah, I lost a rod to a striped bass once- I was napping on the shore, in some shade, and was too groggy to get to the pole.

Gotta be a story behind the name "Leaking Lena" ?

[ken cierp]

On one of the lakes I fished often there were folks that took rather long orange colored bamboo rods hooked on a big chub tossed it the middle of the lake in the evening. In the morning they'd cruise the lake looking for the orange rods --- when found often a large Pike was dragging it around -- ice fishing with no ice? Now that is hi tech!