Fishing and drones

[slim6y]

Hi there,

I am new to this and I probably don't know any of the jargon or tech speak and I apologise in advance if this annoys you.

I am a keen trout fisherman (and salmon) currently in New Zealand. Over recent months the water levels in my local river have been dropping (a combination of hydro electrical storage and irrigation schemes). The water level will rise again soon, but currently fishing in any decent water is getting difficult. I was thinking of ways to get lures and flies further out into the main channels without buying a kayak or using a boat.

My first thoughts are drones. Unfortunately I wouldn't know what to look for, so here are some ideas I'd like and if you could let me know if these exist and how to find a copter that would do such.

1) The copter would need to be able to fly a few grams (we're talking light weight flies and lures, no more than 8 grams) about 60 - 100m and then drop the lure into the water. The lure is still attached to the fishing rod so once the lure is released from the copter, retrieval can occur by using the fishing reel.

2) The copter would need to find its own way home and be ready to go back out again. As soon as the lure is dropped and after an initial small sinking period, the retrieve begins. Therefore trying to return a copter and fishing at the same time would be difficult.

Noise is not a huge problem, but it would be good if the copter could fly high enough as to not disturb the water any great amount. That will be trial and error.

The copter should also be able to withstand strong breezes (if possible), as some of the rivers and open water channels experience relatively high winds. If a copter couldn't fly under 7 - 20knot winds then I'd just fly on windless days.

Of course the copter should be easy to fly, drop the lure, and return to base. I am also interested in aerial photography, so that would be a bonus if a copter could do that.

Am I asking for too much?

Thanks in advance for firstly taking time to read this and secondly for giving advice.

Regards

Paul

 

[Bartman]

Paul,

Been thinking about doing the same thing but for Striped Bass along the Jersey Shore. I'm not so sure how you'd fly and fish, wouldn't you want to be in the water for the retrieval?

Winds will definitely be an issue for most any of the less expensive options out there and auto land won't be nearly as reliable if the winds are blowing. Not to say it can't be done but you're looking at a steep learning curve. Are you looking to write a (big) check for something that is ready to go or are you looking for a new hobby to take fishing with you? If that's the case then I'll refer you to the Group Build thread where we went through the process of spec'ing out and building a first quad

http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?14280-Group-Build-DJI-NAZA-F450-Quadcopter!

Welcome to the site!
Bart

 

[slim6y]

Hi Bart,

Thanks for the welcome.

I have thought of ways around this issue of the copter coming back. Take my daughter fishing - she can fly the helicopter and I'll do the fishing So it's a hobby, more for fun and to prove it is possible!

I'd look at spending say $300 maybe and take it out first thing in the morning before any winds picked up. What is the catch and release function that I can have for the copter? I'll look at that forum site you linked to above too. Building my own could be a fun holiday job.

Fishing for trout in my area can be done from the banks of the river or lake, there's no need to stand in the water in most cases. However, I do that now to get closer to the main channels with casting.

 

[W. Reimer]

for $300 you'll have a tough time buying something with a level of autonomy adequate to get it back without you interacting with it. A couple hundred dollars more would get you into a DJI Phantom with a Naza M V2 which can operate semi autonomously using an iPad or an Android device for mission planning. Building your own will certainly give you many more options for the same money though...if you're completely new to multi's, you'll be absolutely astounded at what they can do. They are VERY sophisticated little machines. Your line drop issue wouldn't be difficult to address in a number of ways, controlled by your transmitter. It's going to take you some time to get up to speed on various systems, capabilities, and build techniques, but that's part of the fun! Good luck, I'd be interested to see what you come up with

 

[Bartman]

to release the line you can just have a short length of wire under the helicopter to hold a twist of fishing line. when you are over the spot you want to drop at just give a quick tilt forward and up to slide the line off the wire.....it may take a bit of trial and error to perfect it but it shouldn't be much harder than that.

not sure what you'll get for $300 but it might help you to decide if it's even possible. good luck with it.
bart

 

[slim6y]

Thanks for that. TBH I'd be surprised if this hasn't been done before. It seems like a really easy option. For $300 would I get a copter that will fly out 100m and drop a line? That's the basics of it. Looking at the building options, that might be well out of my league. I am really good with the physics of electronics but absolutely terrible with soldering and putting electronics together (no matter how easy you say it could be).

Do you know of any ready-to-fly copters that would do the line drop if someone else flew it?

 

[Bartman]

not really for $300. at 100m any small heli's will look like a dot and so will need GPS guidance to get back reliably. more experienced pilots could probably do what your'e talking about but the budget you have set for yourself isn't going to bring you to the end goal, IMHO. a budget radio system alone will be in the vicinity of $200+...add batteries, a charger, frame, motors, props, etc and you're usually looking at $1000 minimum. there's always the DJI Phantom but even that's in the $800 range if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[W. Reimer]

I would think almost any of them large enough to be flown outdoors...certainly any 300-330 size (the Phantom I mentioned fits in here). As Bart said, and I agree completely, there are lots of ways to drop the line from the very effective and very simple method Bart outlined, to something much more complex, elegant and expensive that could be triggered from your transmitter...you're absolutely right, I'd be VERY surprised if there isn't a virtual "off the shelf" set up to do what you want. Multi's are hugely popular worldwide these days, so there are all manner of things being developed as accessories; why not a fishing lure carrying mechanism?

 

[JoeBob]

You hooked my interest...

Solo operation: Many flight controllers have a 'Go home and land' GPS function for loss of radio signal. You could drop your line, activate the failsafe, and play the lure while the copter came home by itself and landed at the home point that you programmed it for. You would need to re-program 'home' each time you changed location, but that's not hard. And test your failsafe over dry land first!

MultiRotor Size: 100 meters of line in and of itself is not too heavy. But when you extend that line 100 meters and factor in the vector pull that a slight breeze will apply to the airborne line, and you'll have more force pulling your MR back than just lifting the weight. A DJI 450 would probably have that much pull.

You'll probably want to use a fishing reel type that the line feeds from without having to turn the spindle.

Line drop: With an extra channel on your radio you could use a servo to drop the line on command.
http://www.rcplanet.com/Hitec_HS_55_Micro_Servo_p/hrc31055s.htm
Put a longer arm (popsicle stick?) on one of these, slot it for your hook, and for $10 you can rotate the arm down with the flip of a switch.

Landing gear: I'd attach the line releasing rig as far below the rotors as possible to avoid getting fishing line swirled up into the rotors.

Fish on!

 

[soler]

And you gain an added advantage that on the way out your are unlikely to get a fly away, at least if you do you can always real it in and say you caught a whopper!!

 

[Uncle Meat]

You don't need a drone... Buy some large bottle rockets and tie your line/lure to one, then just fire & fish! :frog:

U.M.