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In-Fisherman article on electrical fields
#1
Has anyone out there read the article in In-Fisherman about electricity bleeding out of your boat. It was on the last page. I think it was this months issue.
Supposedly, this salmon guide in Oregon has been studying electrical fields around boats for years and has come to the conclusion that improperly grounded boats scare fish.
That got me wondering if my boat is scaring fish in shallow water.I've had trouble catching eyes at Utah Lake for the last six months or so, ever since I put two more batteries in the bow. All my batteries have remote cables going out to posts, mounted through the fiberglass for easy charging and quick hook up for spotlights, pumps, whatever.
When I read that article, it got me wondering, so, yesterday I took all my cables off and put neoprene washers behind the terminals. Hey, I'll try anything once, if there's even a slight chance its hurting my catch rates.
Anyone have an opinion whether this is voodoo fishcraft or something that is worth checking into?

walleyebob
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#2
[cool]Sounds like something worth paying attention to. Many species of fish, and especially sharks, have sensory organs that are super-sensitive to minute changes in electrical fields. This enables predators to find prey that is hiding in mud or otherwise invisible.

I have also read studies about experimental combinations of dissimilar types of metals being combined on lures...to produce a rudimentary form of galvanic battery...sending electrical discharges into the water. Don't recall any outcomes, but there are numerous instances where certain frequencies of sound and electrical radiation are attractors...and others repel fish.

Anyone who has invested time in reading about the sensitivity of lateral lines, and their role in aiding fish to avoid danger and to find prey, cannot totally discount the possibility that electrical anomalies could be just as much a factor as sound vibrations in fish behavior. We know that electroshocking stuns fish and brings them to the surface, during DWR fish studies. Who's to say that mild electrical current might not produce an instinctive reaction to vacate the vacinity.

I'm guessing that if you noticed a negative change after altering your setup, there might be something unseen that adversely affects the fish...especially in the shallow, heavily mineralized waters around Lincoln Beach. I gave up trying to apply pseudo-science to the art of fishing a long time ago. But, I try to be aware enough of changes...positive and negative...that I can capitalize on the good stuff, and go backwards if the outcomes aren't better.

Just wondering if there is some kind of sensitive meter that could measure differences in electrical fields in the water. It would make an interesting study. Otherwise, we fishermen need all the excuses we can get. Heck, blaming a blank day on your "leaking lectrical" sounds just technical enough to impress the amateurs.
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#3
Same theory as positive ion control on things like electric operation downriggers. Positivley charged ions attract fish and negative ones repel them.

Thats the big hoopla anyways. If you look at the power riggers they advertise the ion control The In-Fisherman has done several articles on it in the past.

Your boat is glass and I didnt think glass would conduct electricity so unless you have a metal cable or some other means of transfering the current into the water I wouldnt assume this is a problem but what do I know?

Let me know what you find out.
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#4
[font "Technical"][#0000a0][size 3]I haven't read the In fisherman article, but I have read quite a bit about it on the internet. Scotty sells a thing called a blackbox that lets you dial up a certain voltage on your downrigger line. Apparently the right voltage will attract fish and no voltage or too much voltage will leave a trail of charged particles in the water behind your rigger that repels fish. Kokanee are especially succeptible to .6 volts run down the cable. Here is a site that describes it a little better. [/size][/#0000a0][/font]

[url "http://www.fish307.com/fish/blackbox.htm"]http://www.fish307.com/fish/blackbox.htm[/url]

[font "Technical"][#0000a0][size 3]I had another site bookmarked that described a method for testing and fixing a poorly grounded boat, but I couldn't find it. Another thing to note, if you have an electric autostop downrigger you may have a charged downrigger line. Some autostop electric downriggers run a current down the line with water completing the circuit, when it is pulled out of water it disconects the current and stops the retrieve. I don't know if it is voodoo fishcraft or not, but it is worth looking into.[/size][/#0000a0][/font]
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#5
[blue][size 2]That "black box" is the same thing Predator is talking about--emitting positive ions. I've got that feature on my Cannon downriggers and my opinion is it's hype. There's even a dial to really crank up them-thar ions on slow days. Yea. Of all the variables I can control to increase my odds of catching a fish, positive ion control has to be on the bottom of the list.[/size][/blue]

[blue][size 2]Bob, what do your sacrificial anodes look like? Sure, you're in a glass boat, but you've got a big motor hooked up to battery power and it's in the water.[/size][/blue]

[blue][size 2]Another factor that can sometimes scare fish in shallow water is your fish finder. Today's sonars crank out some serious power, and I've read reports of them scaring shallow fish.[/size][/blue]
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#6
Geez Dennis, I know we've fished together a couple times, but do you think its proper to be asking about my annodes at this stage of our relationship?
Actually they look good. I'm a big believer in those things. I worked oilfield for a while and we welded sacrificial annodes to the gas lines and burried them at every road crossing. I also drilled some deep holes for annodes along the new power lines when IPP was first put on line. They are important and do an amazing job of static charge removal.
Anywho, I know fiberglass isn't a good conductor but,,,guess what? I did some tests. I have continuity between my - battery post and the fiberglass patch on the bottom of my boat. Just barely. I have agood tester. And it says there is some continuity. Whether its enough to scare a fishy,,,hard to say,,,but it is there. I didn't get any continuity on the gell coat, just where fiber is exposed.
I've ruled out the sonar hurting things by not running it and by using side planers. But electrical fields can travel out and as fast as I go. Leaving a trace that might even momentarily freak out fish. Who knows, but this weekend my batteries are more isolated than they have ever been. If I do better than the last few weekends. I might put some more effort into isolating all my elctrical gadgets. Anything is worth a try. We still don't know too much about what makes fish turn on and off. If we did, we could just fish when the fishing is great and never get skunked again.
Hey Dennis, Deer Creek soon?

see ya'll on the water

walleyebob
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