Are electronic lures legal? Have any of you tried them or know someone who has? Any recommendations on where to buy them or how to make them?
I remember when I was a teenager I saw ads for some battery operated lure that would blink and vibrate/move around in the water all by itself. Supposedly it worked really well, but I just used my dad's stuff, and he wouldn't pay more than a few bucks for something that might get snagged by kids.
Years later now I've been looking for it and can't find it, though I found some others that appear interesting on ebay and some electronicfishinglures website. a Couple of the ones I found on ebay seem interesting, but I thought I'd ask some of you what you thought first.
Are they even legal? I don't remember anything in the laws that would specifically make it illegal, but I read an article from USU once that said the researchers would send electric shocks into the river to attract fish and then scoop them up for tagging, etc. They said in the article that using electricity to attract fish is illegal...so I suppose this could fall under that.
Assuming they are legal, I'd be interested in TRYING one out. Does anyone have any suggestions for where to get one, or how to make a small one myself (ex. some SMALL waterproof parts to buy to attach to a hook that would make it light up, vibrate, emit sound), etc?
If anyone has some, has used some, or gets around to using some, will you report on your experience?
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Harassment of protected wildlife is strictly prohibited under state statutes. All fish (this includes non-game protected and endangered fish), except nongame fish (e.i. some carp, except glass carp) are protected wildlife. Any activity that involves the harassment of protected wildlife by any way, shape, or form is deemed illegal. An electronic lure, moving and flashing by itself under the supervision of the "operator" is harassment of wildlife. Therefore, these electronic lures would be considered a harassment to wildlife. You can use artificial light to fish, except for underwater spearfishing. For example, flashlights are legal to aid in equipment set up, not spotlighting fish. Only coyotes, red foxes, racoons, and a couple more species are allowed to be spotlighted. A permit is needed to legally do this.
Furthermore, every angler must be in control and in withing 100 feet of his equipment. An electroninc lure, moving, and flashing, and vibrating, would be considered out of the control of the angler, so it would be illegal. One more thing, an angler may not use a net, gill net, or other means of attracting or capturing protected fish. Your electronic lure would also fall under this catagory. It would be an illegal device for attracting and capturing protected fish.
These electronic lures do not work very well either. Most of them, in the states that they are legal, end up in the water, leaking their toxic battery contents into the water. They can potentially even injure a fish severly, so if you plan to release, if it were legal to fish with one, you would not be able to. Some legal ones have E-chips that supposedly work. However, no E-chip emits electricity in the same way and pattern as a living thing. It would catch anymore fish than a good old styled lure. It is just marketing, designed to catch you, not fish. Like fishing video games, and virtuall fishing games they are coming out with. Just distracting from the real sport of angling. I wouldn't waste my time and money on them.
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Thanks for the response. I didn't want to waste money on them only to later find out I can't actually use them.
I would think the auto vibrating lures would be effective to some degree since many lures are specially designed to do so while you real...with an autovibrating lure, a fisherman could put a bobber on the line and let the thing vibrate a bit midway in the watter by itself...so in that way it would be REALLY effective so I can understand why it's illegal.
I did recently buy a bobber at Walmart that uses a small battery to dimly light up for use in knowing where my line is at while night fishing and see if the bobber is actually moving, etc. I assume those lighted bobbers wouldn't fall under the "Spotlighting" laws or they probably wouldn't be sold locally.
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The bobber is just fine, you can even use lures that glow and make their own light, but thats about it. Anything else, and you may have a hard time explaining your intentions to a Wildlife Officer or in some states State Trooper. The laws can be very unclear and intimidating, but I try to keep in mind that they are there to preserve wildlife and fisheries. My response may have sounded mean, but I just used some sentences from the rules to clarify things.
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I'm not too sure you've got the facts straight on the illegality of electronic lures. It's only been a couple of years since I was down at Redmond lake late one evening when I- ran into a guy fishing for catfish with a rubber frog that floated and every so often would kinda vibrate and let out a peep just like a frog. He said he'd gotten them from a catalog but that's all he'd tell me. A C.O came by & was talking to us when this guy nailed a good size channel cat. The C.O. was kinda interested in the frog & the fact channels would take it off the surface but sure didn't have the slightest problem with it. Put that together with the guys that are now using radio controlled toy boats to fish with & it makes one wonder.
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Quote:but I just used some sentences from the rules to clarify things.
Huh? Where would these sentences be? You didn't even get the control rule right. It's only a 100 ft sight rule, not a control rule. See page 26 of the Proclamation.
You got any support for this harassment thing? The word only appears once in the Guide, page 53, and it doesn't anywhere near support your lengthy interpretation.
Your response seems very unusual. My apologies if I'm missing something.
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You need to re-read and don't clarify for what you want it to mean...
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[cool][#0000ff]Sorry Bro, you are WAAAAAAY out there on your interpretation of Utah regulations. There ARE NO RESTRICTIONS on the use of battery operated or lighted lures. The only restrictions applied to lures is "no more than 3 sets of treble hooks." That's it. Period.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Where do you bring in the "harrassment" issue? And how do you apply the 100 foot rule?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You have been snorting too much smelly jelly.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In short, the lures would be legal but WHY WOULD ANYBODY FALL FOR THAT STUFF? Most of those things are made to catch fishermen, not fish. You can do much better with the tried and true stuff...for a lot less money.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I always put the radar on when these wild and wacky NEW AND WONDERFUL lures advertised "illegal in 75 states"...or banned from tournaments. Just more balderdash to get goober anglers excited about parting with the cash.[/#0000ff]
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You would not believe to what length some people will go to illegal collect fish. Last year on the Gorge, people used illegal means to catch their limit of lake trout. They were two of them, with 16 fish total. It turns out they use the skin of mature and old lake trout to make leather wallets, etc. Call up the DWR officer, not the reps they have to answer questions. These self-sufficient and functioning electronic lures are considred harassment of protected wildlife.
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All I want to know are my Banjo Minnows still legal? Never mind I traded them a few years back.
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Please All, you need to keep in mind that the guide book 2008 Utah Fishing proclamation is only a GUIDE. For specific and whole rules, you need to read the UTAH WILDLIFE CODE. Yes, there is alot of legal jargon and such, but for some things the proclamation is not sufficient. I don't want anybody to get in trouble for something that was completely avoidable.
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This frog is not the original type of electronic lure tidejwe was talking about. This type is perfectly legal.
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Quote:For specific and whole rules, you need to read the UTAH WILDLIFE CODE
Since you purport to know the law so well, why don't you post a code section? It's not that hard. Here, I'll even give you a hand in the right direction: [url "http://le.utah.gov/.../TITLE23/TITLE23.htm"]http://le.utah.gov/.../TITLE23/TITLE23.htm[/url]. A quick read of the subtopics showed nothing pertaining to your opinion.
You've already misinterpreted the proclamation with regards to the Control issue, so your credibility is suspect.
You're giving out bad advice with no substantiation.
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You need to learn how to read and what the words mean...
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[cool][#0000ff]Rest in Peace.[/#0000ff]
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