WHAT AN INCREDIBLE LEARNING CURVE

I waited all year to float Alberta’s world famous Bow River with legendary guide Barry White. Barry is one of the pioneers of fly fishing the Bow and knows the river and its trout like no other. Floating the Bow with Barry White should be on every fly anglers bucket list.

This sunny calm September day started with me checking the total dissolved solids (TDS) of the Bow’s water showing a count 152 parts per million (PPM). I was stoked, a TDS of 150 ppm is perfect for the Fresh Water 1 Low TDS Electron Fish Attractor. Anywhere we have used the attractors in this range the results were fish after fish.

This was not the case today. The day started off with a nice 16 inch Rainbow Trout then a half dozen smaller fish and that was it. The three inch streamer fly’s I tied might have been too long as the trout were short striking it (just pulling the tail of the fly making it hard to set a hook).

There was clearly something wrong. Those trout should have pounded those flies, but that was not the case. Barry said it was a hopper day and if we were tossing hoppers it would have been a fish after fish day.

The TDS was the problem. After researching the chemical makeup of the Bow’s water it became evident that along with calcium, sodium, carbon and other micro elements the water has levels of cobalt, cadmium and thorium dissolved in the water. These three elements are slightly radioactive and although the TDS is relatively low the presence of three radioactive elements would increase the ambient electric field or the Casimir Effect and alter the Electrons ability to create the perfect electric field to attract fish.

Right now it is a head scratcher but since I live in Calgary now I’ll have time to work on it. I’ll figure it out, I always do. Watch for a new product next year, the Electron – B, for Bow River.

Rick Crozier

Fly fisherman have been using electric fields and electroreception to catch fish for decades.

Metal components used in fly tying like lead, copper, brass, tungsten, chrome, nickel and stainless steel all produce electricity and a corresponding electric field when contacting dissimilar metals like tempered or stainless steel hooks.

This process is called ionization or galvanization, the disbursement of positive and negative ions stimulated by oxygen in the water. Some metals are more reactive than others producing too many negative ions that do a great job of repelling fish.

This is the result after 6 hours

A single brass bead on a high carbon hook in salt water gives you from 10 to 30 minutes of fishing where you might be attracting fish. After that they either get too hot or produce too many negative ions and repel fish.

The only thing that changes in fresh water is the length of time you have to attract fish before the same thing happens. This will be determined by the TDS present in the water. Low TDS will give you hours of fish attraction with just a single brass bead on a steel hook. The higher the TDS the less time you have to attract fish.

Metals that generate high negative ions like lead and copper lower your fish attraction time and should always be insulated from the hook with thread and head cement.

Here is an experiment for you to try

Using a TDS meter and a distilled water sample, adjust the TDS level by adding sea salt, a few grains at a time and bring the TDS up to 500 PPM or as close as possible.

Here the TDS is testing at 475 ppm, I added a few more grains of sea salt and it tested at 521 ppm. This is the very top of the upper range for the Electron Fish Attractor.

Next add one drop of Hydrogen Peroxide 2% per ounce of water to add oxygen to the sample and gently stir.

Place your fly into a container and pour the water over it deep enough to let bubbles float over it. If hydrogen bubbles start accumulating on the surface of the fly there is proof of electric generation.

To record this remove the fly from the water sample and test it with a volt meter that displays millivolts. The voltage won’t be constant reducing rapidly once measured.
Try negative to the brass bead and positive to hook.

I found that a #8 tempered steel hook with a small brass bead would generate .01 mV at 500 PPM TDS for 1 hour.
After 2 hours the charge had increased to .03 mV, and to .08 mV in three hours.

This is after 1 hour

Left: Electron Fish Attractors - Fresh Water 1 low TDS.
In 1 hour hydrogen bubbles starting to form due to electric generation.

Middle: Bead head blood worms. Brass bead and tempered steel hooks showing signs of hydrogen bubbles showing electric generation.

Right: Bead head dragonfly nymph and bead head pheasant tail nymph also showing hydrogen bubble forming proving electric generation.

After 3 hours

 Left: After 3 hours you can see the Electron Fish Attractors generating lots of smaller hydrogen bubbles as it generates an electric charge.

Middle: Hydrogen bubbles are more visible, electric generation is inducing premature corrosion of hook. Iron oxide is leaching out into the water showing a rusty stain.

Right: Hydrogen bubbles are also visible. Iron oxide leaching is just starting due to premature rusting.

Summary:

The brass bead and tempered hook flies are generating an electric charge and field.
The iron oxide indicates a high generation of negative ions that repel fish.

Although the electric field is much less than the Electron Fish Attractor the high generation of negative ions will start to repel fish within 3 hours.

If the TDS was cut in half to 250 ppm the fish attracting time would be 6 hours,
at 750 ppm it would be 2 hours and at 1000 ppm TDS only 1 hour.

At 6 hours the results are conclusive (see the picture at the top) the Electron Fish Attractors are completely covered in hydrogen.  It would be questionable if it still attracts fish as 500 ppm is the max for the Fresh Water 1 Low TDS Attractors.

The brass bead flies are clearly covered in hydrogen and iron oxide and have lost their fish-ability long ago.

The same experiment done in salt water with a TDS of 30,000 PPM  and a #8 stainless steel hook and a small brass bead produced 1.0 mV in 10 minutes, 18 mV in 1 hour and 64 mV in 3 hours. The fish attraction of this combo is about 30-90 minutes.

All this technology was not worth a dam when it came to convince fly shops to carry the Electron Fish Attractor line. They mostly argued that their clients are hard core purists that would never use electric fields to catch fish in any way. They did not believe they already were, nor would they investigate any further.

That attitude is the height of ignorance
that all game changing technology faces.

We can't win

Two purchasers agreed to try the Salt Water 2 for Bonefish. One was headed to Belize the other to Little Cayman. They both said that the Bonefish wanted a crab pattern attractor and would go right to it from a distance.

The guy that went to Cayman ordered for himself but didn’t think they would sell in his store so he declined. The other guy said he caught Bonefish and Permit all day long on day one of his three day stay but never used it on day two and three.

When asked why he said it took all the fun out of the chase and that frustration is part of the game. “It’s not just about catching fish” he said. Then went on about how using the Attractors was cheating and could not support us.

I had no response to that other than to each his own. Personally I like catching fish and I like watching other people catch fish, especially those new to the sport.

In my lifetime I have known fly tyers, rod builders, tackle crafters, carvers, collectors, artists and writers all with a burning passion for the sport and their niche but never or seldom fish. True to form I guess, there are those that revel in the chase and the cast and catching a fish might be an inconvenience.

It’s a head scratcher!

Rick Crozier

Finally! Proof of Magneto-reception in Fish. Cells containing Magnetite found in Rainbow Trout.

Scientists have accepted the theory that migratory species of birds, fish, turtles and mammals are sensitive to the earth’s magnetic field, but this is the first time the precise cell with Magneto-Sensitivity has been located.

A research team at Munich’s Ludwig Max Millions University studied cells from the Olfactory Gland of a Rainbow Trout under a microscope.

A magnet rotated under the microscope stage revealed several cells that were moving with the magnet. These cells were individually studied and found to contain Magnetite, the most magnetic substance on earth.

This is great proof for us and reinforces what we have been theorizing for decades. I can’t see this discovery just involving Rainbow Trout, one could speculate that all members of the trout, char and salmon families of fish could have Magnetite present in their olfactory tissue as well.

This could also hold true for other related species with an adipose fin like Catfish, Piranha, Golden Dorado, Pacu, Tiger fish, White Fish and Grayling. We know these fish are extremely Electroreceptive by of their response to the Electron Fish Attractor Fresh Water 1 low or high TDS.

This discovery in trout could explain how salmon find their way back to their maternal streams from thousands of miles away. To do this they must be able to sense north and south as well as longitude, kind of like a built in GPS.

I won’t be surprised if some day they find magnetite in all fish to some degree. I say this because of fish behaviour I noticed while observing bait fish (Great Lake Shiners) held captive in a stainless steel and glass tank awaiting sale at a bait wholesaler.

Thousands of fish were evenly dispersed in the tank but when a magnet was placed on the steel to hold an order form all the fish reacted instantly by balling up in the opposite end of the tank.  Was this reaction due to the magnetic force or the negative ions created by it, or both? Maybe someday we will find the answer.

Rick Crozier