Tackle as a health risk

[rusty]

I looked at a Shakespeare Trion fly reel and I was surprised that it had health warnings including the fact that it could lead to me having a deformed baby!!

Shakespeare and Daiwa rods have stickers refering to avoiding electrical storms and elecric pylons.

I am told all this is driven by the American market, which is paranoid regarding safety risks.

Which all seems odd since the last American rod I bought (Sage) had no warning on it at all!!

rusty

[doonicus]

Hi Rusy,
I remember that when carbon fibre rods were introduced, most rods had the lightening flash on it, a warning about electricity pylons, lightening etc. There were quite a few deaths caused by fishers touching overhead cables etc. There were also warnings on the tv about it as well.
I haven't heard of any fatalities from this sort of accident for a long while.
You know the Americans are rather fond of suing anybody and everybody, for any imagined harm, slight, or whatever. It is surprising that Sage do not carry these warnings.
doonicus

[The Famous Grouse]

I'm a bit dubious of claims that there were "quite a few deaths" from people touching overhead power lines with fishing rods, Doonicus. Can you provide at least one documented example?

I've never seen a power line so low that one could touch it with even a 15 foot double hander.

Obviously, electrical storms are a hazard, but if you're out in a boat in the middle of a lightning storm, the fact that you're holding a rod makes little difference. Rod or not, you're the tallest thing out there and you're going to take the hit if a lightening shot comes down anywhere close.

I've never seen a warning on a rod here, regardless of brand and certainly not on a reel. The only warning I've ever seen on American fishing products is on tackle containing lead. By law, any product that contains lead must carry a standardized warning, so my little packets of lead split shot all have orange warning stickers on them.

Grouse

[Charlie]

Grouse, You're an American so you probably have not seen a carbon pole - mine is 16m, that's about 50 ft and it is very easy to touch overhead lines here with one, especially as there are some low down ones running along canals.

Electricity can also arc across a gap in damp weather so you don't have to actually touch the power line.

Tragically, the 10 year old son of a team mate of mine died in just this fashion about five years ago.

Charlie

[The Famous Grouse]

OK, I'm with you on the danger there, Charlie. Rusty's original post only mentions fly-fishing equipment so that's what I was commenting on in my post.

Of course you're right, a 16 meter carp pole poses a significant risk and I'd agree there should be warnings on that type of equipment no matter where you live. Very sorry to hear of you team member's son. A terrible tragedy, but sharing the story here does everyone a great service.

Grouse

[Damo]

Hi,

There were a few severe injuries a few years ago, which were pretty heavily featured in coarse fishing magazines in the Uk ( along with some pretty gruesome photos).
Most of these were caused to people using long poles ( up to 16 metres long for our American friends) under high voltage cables. They were normally injured when the electricity arced several yards , without the pole actually touching the wire...
Even when using short fly rods I´m very wary when fishing nrear cables - maybe the current could arc to the fly line if it got close enough?

Damian F

[Duncan]

Many years ago, whilst fishing on the Lancaster canal, I watched an angler pulling his pole back through a hedge behind him, what he didn't realise was that there was an electric fence on the other side of the hedge, and sure enough every time he put it through the hedge he got a wallop! took just a couple of fish before he realised.

[rrw35]

Loomis rods had a warning on the rod handles.

"This rod contains chemicals which may cause cancer".

I find the third arm that i've grown helps when playing fish.

[peter]

When I used to do a lot of coarse fishing, the mags. at the time seem to carry loads of stories of anglers touching power cables with their fishing tackle, especially on the canals when using long carbon poles, of ten meters or more. A friend of mine got nasty burns from just touching cables. On a lot of canals there is warnings or even bans on fishing stretches were there is power lines.

[ENB]

Grouse,
My Club (River Wharfe) has several lines crossing the river. It is a requirement that we prohibit angling within 50 metres of them, and post signs to this effect.

The problem with power lines showed up when roach poles were developed using carbon fibre. They were long enough to reach some of the power lines, many of which run parallel to canals, or across still waters.

Unfortunately, there have been several cases of fatalities and serious injuries, usually due to poles; although an angler was struck by lightning at Rutland Water (fly fishing in a boat) some years ago.

I agree some of the warnings are far-fetched, but the 'electricity flash' is there for a purpose as Carbon fibre is an excellent conductor (although I wouldn't go near with any material).

The 50 meter exclusion zone I mentioned earlier includes fly fishing, as we don't discriminate between methods, and that way there are no arguments.

Regards,

ENB

[stylie]

What about tackle as a health risk when you come home saying "honey, look at my new sage", she asks to look at it all innocently then Wallop, new unbreakable sage tube across the head

[Primarycolours]

I can imagine a commercial lawyer briefing the manufacturer on the wisdom of regular risk assessments and of the virtues of protecting the company against negative legal action.

The risks associated with certain materials used in the tackle trade would encourage any manfucaturer to lable their products accordingly.

From a legal point of view of just makes good sense. Not so much from our point of view though.

To make the point - Navigational compasses that have illuminated digits on them are now classifed as radioactive by the MOD and have to be stored in the appropriately marked environments. Albeit incredibly low-risk it is still a risk...

There is no end to the moribund red tape in the world!!

[newbi]

stylie said:

What about tackle as a health risk when you come home saying "honey, look at my new sage", she asks to look at it all innocently then Wallop, new unbreakable sage tube across the head

been there ouch