Fish, But No Fun

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29931, 19 September 1962, Page 13

Fish, But No Fun

MANY people may well be wondering whether some of the simple pleasure is being taken out of angling by recent inventions. Two now coming on to the market are a transistor fish camera from Japan and a new device for automatic striking from Britain. Neither is described in the “Campleat Angler." and it is probable that Isaac Walton would have had nothing to do with them.

The Japanese transistor camera is aimed at taking away from an angler one of the factors that divides the experienced from the beginner—where to fish. It works on the principle that sound waves reach further and travel about five times faster in water than in air, and that when they hit a substance they travel back to their sources of origin. The camera records on graph paper the condition of sea bottoms and the presence of fish on the basis of the length of time consumed by sound waves travelling back and forth, together with the condition of their reflections. A look at the graph can tell an angler where to cast. Dry cells last for 40 hours—long enough for a week-end s sport. The new striking device works automatically the moment the fish takes the bait. It is a slim plastic tube with a spring inside to which is attached a plastic line, on which the trace and hook are tied. The line runs out at the bottom through a brass cylinder, with mechanism for cocking the device to make it safe and for selecting light or heavy settings. What with inventions to tell one where to fish books to explain how to fish, and devices for automatic striking, the fish might as well give themselves up. It s a far cry from a thick twig, a piece of string, a bent pin and a worm—and an excuse for 40 winks.