Are metal booms the answer?

[Dadwood]

Hi all, I fished the early evening tide yesterday alongside the new Sheppey bridge. I caught one flounder and two small sole. But the chap a little way along the bank caught seven good sized sole! And he had a lot of bites that he missed! I went over to chat and noticed his rig had two metal booms with snoods about 8 inches long. He told me that metal booms react with salt water and produce a very small electric current which attracts sole (only sole) for some reason. I'm not sure he wasn't taking the mick, but has anyone else heard this tale? Kind regards to all.

[scottish_and_mental]

thats quite possibly the funniest thing ive ever heard on here !
wire booms are made of stainless steel or galvanised but are basically made of metal ... the same as ermm..
your hooks ( and swivels) , ( and lead clips ) ..
I sat for 7 hours in the pi$$ing rain trying to snag a sole last night and not even a lightning bolt was gonna get one to take my lovely ragworms. and fresh lug,squid,mackerel..
I would suggest the bites he missed were either because his hooks were to big or he just didnt give the bite time to develop - a must when sole fishing as its only tiny knocks !
Steve

[MRG2000]

The man who told you that was either having a laugh ,or had just escaped from the local assylum..... He had a bit more luck on his side than you did ,plain and simple,as Steve suggests scale your hooks down a bit ..

[eddie]

Originally Posted by Dadwood

Hi all, I fished the early evening tide yesterday alongside the new Sheppey bridge. I caught one flounder and two small sole. But the chap a little way along the bank caught seven good sized sole! And he had a lot of bites that he missed! I went over to chat and noticed his rig had two metal booms with snoods about 8 inches long. He told me that metal booms react with salt water and produce a very small electric current which attracts sole (only sole) for some reason. I'm not sure he wasn't taking the mick, but has anyone else heard this tale? Kind regards to all.

in theory it might be possible as salt water is an electrolyte solution,if he had two wire booms not too far apart then it could be possible that + and - ions will have built up on the booms thus causing the ions to migrate to the opposite boom electrical opposites attract,+ charged ions will move to - charged boom and vice versa closing the "switch" creating a very small electrical charge,although it may need two different types of metal to do this.......wether it attracts sole is another matter.
the only way to find out is fish two rods at the same distance with identical bait,1 with booms and 1 without,that ought to give you a result one way or the other as to which attracts the most attention....zinc (galv)is a very good conductor for any electrolyte solution.

p.s. i left school 32 years ago and the old memory is'nt what it used to be,so don't be too hasty to shoot me down in flames if the above is a bit....wonky

[gullyworm]

[eddie]

an after thought.......i recall watching something about hammer head sharks,they hunt by picking up electrical pulse's from their prey which consist's mainly of fish of the kind that bury themselves in sand,the shark will circle the buried fish in decreasing circles homeing in on the preys electrical signature until finally it strikes

as far as i'm aware (not a flattie angler me!) sole find food by smell and touch,the bait has to be on the sea bed not off it....even an inch would cause the sole to miss the bait,my guess is the wire booms with short snoods kept the bait hard on the bottom....similar to putting an ssg shot an inch from the hook,which would explain why the angler with the booms got more fish compared to the angler who did'nt have booms.
plaice,flounder,and dab hunt by sight and smell and will go for any movement.

[geejayy]

might it not be just that the wire booms and short snoods are held tight on the bottom by the weight of the booms

[eddie]

Originally Posted by geejayy

might it not be just that the wire booms and short snoods are held tight on the bottom by the weight of the booms

lol,just edited my post to that fact,before reading yours,but yes i do think you're right.

dadwood...next time you go after sole,stick an ssg size split shout an inch above your hook,that should keep the lugworm on the bottom.

[LittleFish]

Well funnily enough I have heard this theory/old wives tale before I suppose we'll be entering into the WD40 debate next

[Andy Avs]

I just passed this on to a few former International angers who both sat in the pub laughing, both did however say red snoods would possibly increase the number of bites (from flatties), smaller hooks will help you conect with them.