Guest Column: Technology and Fishing

This continues a new category of posts: Guest columns where friends and readers share how technology is reshaping their hobby – basket weaving, rugby, running – whatever.

This time it is Mike Prosceno who runs blogger relations for SAP and spends much of his free time (he wished he had a lot more) fishing up and down the Eastern Seaboard. I guarantee after you finish reading this, you will no longer think of fishing as just a lazy, Saturday afternoon boondoggle.

“I started fishing when I was just a kid and that bug bit me pretty hard and it has been a joy – and major budget item – ever since. Both spike with the technology innovation cycle which seems to happen every 10 years or so and affects all aspects of fishing - the rods, reels, lines and increasingly the electronics.

This time around, there is a wave of “miniaturization” happening – everything is getting lighter and smaller, but also sturdier.

But let me drill into each area:

Rods

When I started fishing my first rod was given to me by my uncle; granted he didn’t give me his nicest rod but, it was a representative sample of the technology of the day. A fiberglass rod with a cork grip and stainless steel line guides. While fiberglass is still in use today many of the newer rods are hi-modulus graphite and at least one company is integrating graphite & titanium into rods. The biggest gain is in the weight reduction – now a pleasant day of fishing does not require a few extra days of recovery from a sore shoulder.

The rods are also engineered to varying degrees of stiffness to match your quarry or the conditions from the shallowest flats out to the deepest drop offs of the offshore canyons and everything in between. Even the line guides are now high-tech ceramics that reduce weight and the friction associated with how the line comes on and off the reel which improves casting distance, accuracy and longevity.

Reels

Today many are precision machined from billet 6061-T6 aluminum stock by computer numerical controlled (CNC) machines with exceptionally tight tolerances. As a result, today’s reels are also getting smaller, lighter and stronger to match the advances in rod building.

The drag system, the system that helps you stop and turn a “running” fish used to be the sole domain of cork or oiled felt washers. Today’s manufacturers are using ceramics and stainless steel & carbon fiber drag disks which actually perform at their best when they heat up. Because of the efficiency gains a smaller drag will not only stop a big fish but also fit in a smaller reel and last a lot longer.

Fishing Line

Most people take fishing line for granted – I don’t -- as it’s the only thing that actually connects you to the fish! Back when I started you had only one choice: Nylon monofilament. While it still works fine, today technology has brought to market a host of new lines that change the way you fish. The advances are all around abrasion resistance, tensile strength and toward smaller diameters. Today’s line choices include: Nylon monofilament, Nylon co-filament (which uses an inner and an outer wrap of nylon), Fluorocarbon which is made from polymer of fluorine bonded to carbon (Fluorocarbon has a refractive index similar to that of water so it’s virtually invisible when under water) and the newest kid on the block, braided Spectra Fiber (it’s the stuff they use to make bullet proof vests) exceptionally strong and very thin. Each line has its place but the point is; where once you didn’t have choice – technology has opened up entire new categories of products and types of fishing that previous technologies weren’t capable of supporting.

Electronics

I fish from the surf, a jetty, or a boat depending on the weather and the conditions.

But I prefer to fish on a boat because of the mobility and access it provides. It used to be that you read the local paper’s weather report and a tide table and based on that you would determine if you’d go out or not. It got a bit better with the Weather Channel. Today, even the smallest of boats (like mine) can employ more technology than most people have in their homes.

I have a GPS Chart plotter that tracks my whereabouts to within a meter or two, I have digital nautical charts for the entire US, Canada and the Caribbean loaded on a single SD card, it even shows tide tables and Sun and Moon phases. I have sonar that can read the contour of the bottom in amazing detail in as much as 2000 feet of water and it will even show me if fish are under my boat because the sonar is powerful enough to register the fishes’ air bladders and show them as distinct marks on the screen.

My electronics even integrate with radar allowing me to navigate through bad weather, fog and even spot a flock of birds working bait a couple of miles away. And for those long hours on the water, it will even integrate with Satellite Radio.

Some of the best fishing takes place at night, it’s also the time I’m least comfortable on the boat for obvious reasons. But once I get my hand on one of these Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) systems, that tune will change in a hurry.

Last but not least, even Fishing has gone all “Web 2.0” on me. Blogs, Wikis, Twitter and the dozens if not hundreds of online communities dedicated to sport fishing. The community I am a member of has a little more than 21,000 members that come together online and provide a place to discuss and share thoughts and experiences on products, techniques, reports from the day’s trip, potential legislative issues affecting sport fishing, etc. Everything and anything is discussed and I learn not only new ways of doing old things but entirely new ways of being more productive on the water.”

Comments

[Bulletproof Jackets]

Man, that night vision camera is awsome!!! I would like to add that to my home's security system. Where can I purchase?

[Mike Prosceno]

You can call 1-877-773-3547 or go to www.flir.com They'll help you.