About us
I am a 4th generation commercial fisherman, and have spent many years trolling for salmon on Canada's west coast. My first troller did not catch salmon very well. I did ok when I was off by myself, but when it came time to troll for sockeye in a tight knit fleet of boats, I suddenly became more of a spectator than a fisherman. There is nothing more frustrating than sitting in the cabin drinking coffee while watching the boats beside you catching fish after fish, especially when that
particular fishery was supposed to account for about half of your annual income.
particular fishery was supposed to account for about half of your annual income.
That winter, I did a lot of research on boat bonding, as well as the effects of positive voltage on fish. One of the first things that I learned, was of a university that was doing a study on the Columbia River in Oregon. The study was carried out by placing two large metal pipes in the river, charging one with a positive voltage, and the other with a negative voltage, and observing the effects on returning salmon. The results were such that the fish would readily travel through
the positive charged pipe, but none at all would go through the negative charged pipe. After that, my boats were always bonded and zinced properly, and I always caught my share of salmon. So, when I was fishing sockeye in a fleet, my boat was either giving off a negative signature, or the boats beside me had a stronger positive voltage signature, and the fish automatically gravitated to them.
the positive charged pipe, but none at all would go through the negative charged pipe. After that, my boats were always bonded and zinced properly, and I always caught my share of salmon. So, when I was fishing sockeye in a fleet, my boat was either giving off a negative signature, or the boats beside me had a stronger positive voltage signature, and the fish automatically gravitated to them.
For those that don't know, bonding is simply connecting (wiring) all of the underwater metals together, and having them centrally grounded to the engine block, and/or negative battery ground. Couple this with having the right proportion of zincs (anodes) attached to the exposed underwater metals, and this ensures that your boat will have a singular, positive signature in water, instead of multiple signatures. Absolutely every metal, or group of metals in water (electrolyte), will give off a voltage. Some of it might be good, but there is a good chance that some signatures will be bad, and repel fish. Most people think that voltage from a boat would not be felt for more than a few feet. This is a big mistake. Where I live, we often fish at depths of 200 to 300 feet of water. If a boat does not catch fish, it still does not catch fish even at those depths. That should give you an idea of how sensitive fish are. If you are one of those anglers with a non-fishy boat, you should already have some sense of this.
Since retiring from commercial fishing, I started developing a line of 'voltage tuned' fishing tackle (Lurecharge). Once I initially found the combination that worked, I could consistently make a 'tuned' lure catch 80% of the fish when trolled beside a 'non-tuned' lure. The lures used, were always identical, trolled side by side 14 to 16 ft apart, same distance from the boat, and same depth. The results were virtually identical on cutthroat trout in fresh water and on chinook salmon in salt water.
A galvanic corrosion cell is created by connecting 2 or more dissimilar metals and immersing them in an electrolyte. Electrolyte is our fishing water, which has varying levels of mineral content, or conductivity. Pure distilled water is a very poor conductor, you need mineral content. Sea water is very conductive. Fresh water can vary from low to almost as conductive as sea water.
I originally did some testing in a home made 30 ft trough. In fresh (tap) water, the lure voltages would drop about 30% for every 10 ft of separation. Later on, we had a boil water advisory due to silty runoff at the same lake that supplied our tap water. I tested the lure voltages alongside a dock there. The voltage reading out at 140 ft had only dropped by about 1/4 over the entire distance. This should give you an idea of how much the range can vary in fresh water. In a galvanic cell, metals will be classed as either anode or cathode. The cathode, or more proud
metals, are the ones that you want to protect. The anode will be the less proud metals, and will sacrifice (corrode) some of it's mass in order to protect the more proud metals. When connected together, the anode bombards the cathode with a surplus of electrons, which eliminates corrosion of the cathode. The unused electrons are expelled from the cathode, as a positive voltage. The amount of voltage created will depend upon the proportions of anode and cathode, their ratings on the galvanic scale, the mineral content of the water, and to some degree, the temperature. Warm water is more conductive than cold water.
As an example, if you connected an aluminum anode to a marine grade aluminum hull, you would have the potential to create about .4 volts (variable). If you also had some stainless steel components on your motor legs, those would have a potential of .8 volts (variable). Once combined, and depending upon the amounts of each metal and the mineral content of the water, there could be a balance of .5 or .6 volts. Don't overthink the amount of voltage. When I tested my tuned lures, I found that I would see good results on trout in fresh water as low as .18 volts. When testing on salmon in sea water, I tried to find where they would be spooked away with too much voltage. I got the voltage up as high as 1.2 volts, and the fish still preferred that side of the boat.
If you have a positive boat, you may still not catch fish if you use lures with negative voltage. Use the same principles as with boats. Do not overzinc with zinc plated or tinned hooks.