Better Fishing Through Technology?

[sqerl]

The links are below for anyone to read, but here's the deal...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060205/ap_on_bi_ge/fool_a_fish
http://www.foolafish.com/

Some guy in Spokane WA creates a spray to apply to your favorite fishing lure. The spray is Titanium Dioxide.. yes, the same stuff in white paint and toothpaste... anyway, the trick here is that the spray helps reflect ultraviolet light which makes your lure look like a beacon floating in the water.

I've done some limited research on Titanium Dioxide and there's quite a bit here in the stuff:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_dioxide

So instead of being a spray-on "smell" attractant, its a spray-on "visual" attractant - in the ultraviolet range...

Anyone see anything else like this?

 

[Scott]

OK not fly fishing but fishing technology - Shimano (I think) has developed an electronically controlled bait casting reel - absolutely no backlash ever, no matter how much you suck at casting them. Even casting into the wind. You really have to work to make it backlash, like making a hard whipping cast directly into the gound. Even then it's not so bad you can't recover from it.

At $500 they're selling like crazy. It takes all the skill out of casting a baitcasting reel. I've heard of people pitching with this reel out 60 feet or more. Rumour has it they're coming out with a low profile baitcaster this year, the gods only know how much that one will cost.

 

[Steve M]

Interesting topic

I think one of the reasons many of us choose to fly fish is to make things more challenging, and yet this idea of gaining some kind of advantage through new technology is always appealing at some level. The trick is where you draw the line.

For instance; in saltwater fishing many fly rodders are switching to 2-handed rods for more distance in the surf, but they still want to be considered fly-rodders so they don't just go straight to the spinning rod, which solves the distance problem much more efficiently.

The clouser blurrs the line between fly and lure (jig), but it is an essential fly for certain types of fly fishing; smallmouth, stripers.

So what's considered crossing the line?

My own opinion on 2-handed rods is that I would rather just go to the spin rod in the surf if conditions prevent effective fishing with a "standard" fly rod. But I rarely do it.

Fishing for trout with anything but a fly rod is for children under the age of 14. :judge:

The clouser is one of the most effective and innovative flies ever developed for salt or fresh.

I'm OK with adding tiny rattles to flies, although I haven't done it yet myself.

As far as a spray to enhance color? I don't really see any differnce between this and any other synthetic material to add color or flash to a fly or lure. It might help, or it might hurt.

Scent is a completely different story, and in my opinion, crosses the line between artificial and bait, especially if it contains any organic ingredients like fish meal or something. :judge:

OK, thats my .02