Valdez, Alaska…..If you like to fish and find that there are far less to bring home, you are not alone. From everyday anglers to giant commercial fishing fleets, they face the same problem. The solution may just be in a new way to bring fish from far away by making them mad at you.

Just ask Captain Bob Swift, a six boat charter operator in Valdez, Alaska. He was skeptical until only one of his customers caught giant fish with a “beta version” of something called “SONARLURE” while the others on the boat did not. No pipe dream, creating fishy aggression by sending sub-surface signals to encourage aggressive behavior somehow seems to attract hungry “denizens of the deep” to the hook or net. Results of tests on Prince William Sound (Alaska) and off the Shetland Islands (Scotland), both areas where fishing has seen a major decline, has created a worldwide “buzz”, prompting a flood of demands from charter and commercial operators whose livelihood depends upon bringing in a bigger “catch”. When a Miami Herald article mentioned the research firm would trade free lures for local “anglers” research reports, It brought requests from so many weekend fishermen to get one (11,282 in the first hour) that it destroyed the mail server.
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No fish story, with over $250,000 in research already on the table for the commercial product which uses groups of the devices, “SONARLURE” (http://www.sonarlure.com) thought it could simply shorten the development process and cut data collection costs for a consumer version by involving those who fish for fun. “We reasoned it might encourage a few fishermen to help (us) collect more information on Florida fishing results. We learned the hard way what a tenacious and angry lot some weekend fishermen are against going home “empty”, explained Director of Research Michael Shulman. The demands were not limited to those from the US. “Gee, we managed to antagonize fishermen from Tasmania (resulting from a story in a trailer boating magazine there), from the U.K., Poland, China, South Africa and elsewhere who think we are now the “bad guys” keeping them from successful fishing”, he bemoaned.  The first 100 got lures. The rest got a “thank You”,  prompting a torrent of nasty replies demanding a recount. “Hey, it’s Florida in an election year”, Shulman mused.

   

“SONARLURE” is a variation of a once “hush-hush” Government idea to signal Dolphin to deliver explosives under enemy shipping; supposedly ended when the finny creatures forgot to leave afterwards. No longer electronic, it uses a patented design to apply the science of Fluid Dynamics to send out signals. When pulled through the water (what fishermen call “trolling”), carefully crafted external “lobes” vibrate at repetitive frequencies from the friction which seem to act like a “dinner bell”. The fish attack a lure dangling behind the sending device thinking they are about to eat a smaller fish that got there first. The same patented design is incorporated into seven lures, 4 for salt water, and 3 for fresh water fishing using hooks but no bait whatsoever. The sending device for trolling is aptly called the “A-TRAC-TER”.

They are going to give it another try. “We are going to try involving local fishermen once again, but this time throughout the world”, Shulman said.  “We have rented a giant mail server to handle requests, this time from one of the largest Internet firms Go Daddy.Com  This time we will pick some to receive free lures from places where they complain about poor fishing, fish regularly, and can promise to give us success reports. For those that we don’t pick, we will make “beta” samples available if they agree to fish at least 3 times and let us know the weather conditions, the depth they fished at, and what they caught. All they have to do to apply is Email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ”.

Making a product for everyday fishermen was never in the business plan. Intended only as an aide for deep water Tuna, Cod, and Halibut commercial fishing, where groups of 48 dangle from a graphite rack more than a mile below the boat, the signals act as a beacon to bring in schools of fish, often to more than 2,000 waiting hooks.  Each commercial “SONARLURE” rack and lures costs $5,000 (US). The consumer version generates signals using only the friction of the water when “trolled” and will cost about $20.  “You know the old adage which starts …Make a better mousetrap?... Every fisherman has the same problem, big or small. Commercial people need more fish. The charter boat Captain needs to be sure he can satisfy those who spend money for the fishing trip and hope to bring in a trophy. The weekend fishermen are happy to get something on their hook at all to impress their friends, keep their wife happy they let them go, or put food on the table. We think we can do something good for the fishing industry and for the general fishing public but we can only “fine tune” it quickly with their help. We are not selling a product. We are simply researching the better “fish-trap”.

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