Acristickid
Well-known member
Oh brother.
By John Hayes / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The fish are chasing minnows in a cluster 50 yards from shore. You can’t cast that far and without a boat there’s no way to get closer.
Getting bait to the fish is easy. Attach your line to the snap release clip on the underside of your fishing drone, locate the fish on the drone’s live-streaming video camera, drop the bait directly into the fish cluster and pilot the drone to drag the bait back and forth through the mass of fish. When you set the hook, the line pops out of the snap release clip as it would if attached to a downrigger.
Maybe you’d rather become the captain of a miniature remote-controlled fishing boat. Motor out behind the fish, drop the line via a button on your hand-held control panel and either reel back through the schooling fish or let them find it on the bottom or under a bobber. Throughout this, the fishing boat stays put or follows GPS coordinates to return to your side.
Those 21st century fishing techniques are legal in Pennsylvania. Capt. Thomas Crist, southwest region manager for the state Fish and Boat Commission, said it’s hard to keep up with all new developments in fishing technology, but it’s rare for a single product to influence a change in laws and regulations.
“When a new product comes out, most of the time what occurs is an angler calls in with a question about it,” he said. “A lot of times the questions come from headquarters to us -- there’s a new product on the Internet. Can you check it out?”
Drone fishing is growing in acceptance on the east and west coast shorelines, and its popularity is slowly moving inland. The drone is considered a “casting enhancer” -- it doesn’t set the hook or bring in the fish. That’s the angler’s job.
“Personally, I would consider this a casting aid no different than remote-controlled boat fishing,” said Christ.
“A fishing device shall be deemed to be under the immediate control of the person using it if, when the terminal device (hook, bait or lure) is taken by a fish, the person using the device has direct control over it and it is not connected at that point to a casting or depth placement aid such as a casting boat or downrigger,” he said, citing state law. “Casting or depth placement aids such as downriggers or small remote controlled boats are not prohibited.”
“So, if the drone is configured so that the line detaches from it when a fish takes the hook, bait or lure, its use would be legal,” he said. “If the drone is configured so that the line remains attached when a fish takes the hook, bait or lure, it’s use would not be legal.”
Changing a law governing fishing requires legislative action, which can take forever. Changing a fishing regulation is easier and quicker, but still it takes is a majority vote among the board of Fish and Boat commissioners.
“The question has never been, “Can we make this [new product] legal?,’“ said Crist. “The question is ‘Does this product fit into our laws and regulations?’ “
There’s a backdoor entrance for new products, but it’s extremely narrow. The door opens a crack when a law is changed for a specific function, but its wording unintentionally permits the use of another product.
Until a few years ago it was illegal in Pennsylvania to use multiple rods and more than one hook per line (double and treble hooks were legal). When legislators lightened up on their hooks-per-line prohibition, it opened the door to the long-banned use of trotlines. Well, sort of.
“Current regulations allow for a maximum of three rods and an unlimited number of hooks per line, which in theory would permit the use of a trotline,” said Crist. “However, the traditional deployment of a trotline involves tying it in place and leaving it for an extended period of time to maximize catch potential. Because the regulations requiring any rod [or] line to be under the immediate control of the angler are still in place, this would prohibit the use of a true trotline, but would allow its use as a handline.”
Tech questions abound anglers on Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only waters.
“The regulation states that [the fly, spinner or spoon) needs to be made of wood, metal, rubber, plastic or … natural or synthetic materials. It does not address the scent or if it is soaked in salt or another liquid,” said Crist. “Rubber or plastic worms, etc., that are scented are still artificial lures and legal in these areas.”
How about the new effervescent chum pills? Just chuck one out where you want to fish. As it dissolves it releases tiny bits of chum that rise up through the water on the tiny popping bubbles, allegedly attracting small bait fish which in turn attract the big bruisers.
Fish and Boat’s central office has not ruled on the new chum pills.
“Chumming is legal,” said Crist, “and so long as the product dissolves and is not deleterious to fish, it would be considered legal to use.”
At the state Game Commission, if a product type is not specifically listed as approved, it is considered not approved and therefore illegal. Crist says Fish and Boat is a little more tolerant of anglers who go off book.
“If we’re not sure, we’re not going to issue a citation,” he said. “We’d err on the side of the person using it. If there’s a question about it -- whatever it is -- we would probably stop the action [use of the product] until we could determine if it’s legal.”
By John Hayes / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The fish are chasing minnows in a cluster 50 yards from shore. You can’t cast that far and without a boat there’s no way to get closer.
Getting bait to the fish is easy. Attach your line to the snap release clip on the underside of your fishing drone, locate the fish on the drone’s live-streaming video camera, drop the bait directly into the fish cluster and pilot the drone to drag the bait back and forth through the mass of fish. When you set the hook, the line pops out of the snap release clip as it would if attached to a downrigger.
Maybe you’d rather become the captain of a miniature remote-controlled fishing boat. Motor out behind the fish, drop the line via a button on your hand-held control panel and either reel back through the schooling fish or let them find it on the bottom or under a bobber. Throughout this, the fishing boat stays put or follows GPS coordinates to return to your side.
Those 21st century fishing techniques are legal in Pennsylvania. Capt. Thomas Crist, southwest region manager for the state Fish and Boat Commission, said it’s hard to keep up with all new developments in fishing technology, but it’s rare for a single product to influence a change in laws and regulations.
“When a new product comes out, most of the time what occurs is an angler calls in with a question about it,” he said. “A lot of times the questions come from headquarters to us -- there’s a new product on the Internet. Can you check it out?”
Drone fishing is growing in acceptance on the east and west coast shorelines, and its popularity is slowly moving inland. The drone is considered a “casting enhancer” -- it doesn’t set the hook or bring in the fish. That’s the angler’s job.
“Personally, I would consider this a casting aid no different than remote-controlled boat fishing,” said Christ.
“A fishing device shall be deemed to be under the immediate control of the person using it if, when the terminal device (hook, bait or lure) is taken by a fish, the person using the device has direct control over it and it is not connected at that point to a casting or depth placement aid such as a casting boat or downrigger,” he said, citing state law. “Casting or depth placement aids such as downriggers or small remote controlled boats are not prohibited.”
“So, if the drone is configured so that the line detaches from it when a fish takes the hook, bait or lure, its use would be legal,” he said. “If the drone is configured so that the line remains attached when a fish takes the hook, bait or lure, it’s use would not be legal.”
Changing a law governing fishing requires legislative action, which can take forever. Changing a fishing regulation is easier and quicker, but still it takes is a majority vote among the board of Fish and Boat commissioners.
“The question has never been, “Can we make this [new product] legal?,’“ said Crist. “The question is ‘Does this product fit into our laws and regulations?’ “
There’s a backdoor entrance for new products, but it’s extremely narrow. The door opens a crack when a law is changed for a specific function, but its wording unintentionally permits the use of another product.
Until a few years ago it was illegal in Pennsylvania to use multiple rods and more than one hook per line (double and treble hooks were legal). When legislators lightened up on their hooks-per-line prohibition, it opened the door to the long-banned use of trotlines. Well, sort of.
“Current regulations allow for a maximum of three rods and an unlimited number of hooks per line, which in theory would permit the use of a trotline,” said Crist. “However, the traditional deployment of a trotline involves tying it in place and leaving it for an extended period of time to maximize catch potential. Because the regulations requiring any rod [or] line to be under the immediate control of the angler are still in place, this would prohibit the use of a true trotline, but would allow its use as a handline.”
Tech questions abound anglers on Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only waters.
“The regulation states that [the fly, spinner or spoon) needs to be made of wood, metal, rubber, plastic or … natural or synthetic materials. It does not address the scent or if it is soaked in salt or another liquid,” said Crist. “Rubber or plastic worms, etc., that are scented are still artificial lures and legal in these areas.”
How about the new effervescent chum pills? Just chuck one out where you want to fish. As it dissolves it releases tiny bits of chum that rise up through the water on the tiny popping bubbles, allegedly attracting small bait fish which in turn attract the big bruisers.
Fish and Boat’s central office has not ruled on the new chum pills.
“Chumming is legal,” said Crist, “and so long as the product dissolves and is not deleterious to fish, it would be considered legal to use.”
At the state Game Commission, if a product type is not specifically listed as approved, it is considered not approved and therefore illegal. Crist says Fish and Boat is a little more tolerant of anglers who go off book.
“If we’re not sure, we’re not going to issue a citation,” he said. “We’d err on the side of the person using it. If there’s a question about it -- whatever it is -- we would probably stop the action [use of the product] until we could determine if it’s legal.”
