'Smart' Fishing Rods

The other day as I was sitting on the shore looking at beautiful Lake Marion near Summerton, S.C., and a lightbulb went off. I had come up with a brilliant idea - a 'smart' fishing pole. A quick search of the Internet, however, found that someone else had beat me to the punch.

Apparently, Kansas-based inventor Ed Hope has already developed and is selling the computerized Tackobox Poletap Smartrod - see Tackobox.com. Basically, the SmartRod contains an accelerometer that detects the telltale jerk of a fish taking the lure. Using a single-button control, users can switch between high, medium and low sensitivity settings depending on fishing conditions.

When a fish strike is detected, the SmartRod responds with either an auditory alarm or a flashing red LED light. Once the user starts reeling the line in, the fish-detecting microprocessor temporarily shuts down. This keeps the rod from flashing, shrieking and generally carrying on while you land your fish. The SmartRod requires a lithium cell battery that is said to be good for at least one full season.

After reading about the SmartRod, I realized it represented the 1^st generation of 'smart' fishing poles. Looking ahead, I can just see the many new enhancements people are going to come up with in the coming years. For example -

• What if the SmartPole sent you a text message or called you on your phone while you were back in your home getting a drink or watching the big game?
• What if the the SmartPole told you the weight of the fish on your line?
• What if your SmartPole had a small camera that sent you a picture of the fish on the end of your line?
• What if the SmartPole started to reel in your fish automatically? What if it let out more line if it sensed your line was about to break?
• What if...

The possibilities are almost endless once you start thinking about everything future generations of a SmartPole could potentially do for you. Maybe you could add a current to the line and it would cook it while it was being reeled in?

By now it should be obvious I'm not a fisherman. But for those who are, think about what you would want your Smart Pole to do for you and share your thoughts with our readers.

For more information, watch the SmartRod YouTube Video.

* You might also want to read the latest on Smart Kayaks