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Laser Pens

Pete Marshall

Pete Marshall

Senior Member
Just notice that a "well known club" has banned the use of Laser pens on its waters.

Anybody clue me in as to what purpose anybody used a laser pen for when they were fishing? Just can't think of one myself so am a bit in the dark.

Maybe I need to keep up a bit better, but when techniques get banned before I've even heard of them.....:)
 
I think they use them to scare the ducks away if I am not mistaken. There was a case recently where some anglers were crashed by police because they had information they had been targetting planes or some other rubbish.

Brian
 
Muppet Anglers use them to scare wildlife away from the baited areas. They shine them in the birds eye and it spooks them away. This gives "non" Anglers an idea of what fishing is all about. The wildlife has more right to be there than us.

Martin
 
if you sink your line and use backleads then there is no need to use em on lakes.
 
Hi Martin,

I'm not sure that they shine them into their eyes, at least not the ones i used to know when carp fishing, you just shine one at the water and it freaks them out and keeps them away from the baited area as has been said. If people are stupid enough to shine them into wildlife (or anything elses eyes) is probably why they have been banned!

regards,

Jeff
 
Jeff Edisbury said:
Hi Martin,

I'm not sure that they shine them into their eyes, at least not the ones i used to know when carp fishing, you just shine one at the water and it freaks them out and keeps them away from the baited area as has been said. If people are stupid enough to shine them into wildlife (or anything elses eyes) is probably why they have been banned!

regards,

Jeff
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Can't see how shining them on the water would do anything. I don't have one of these pens, but have used lasar sights when shooting and animals don't notice them at all (which is why they are useful) until it's too late, unless you point them on the eye. Pointing them in the eyes would certainly scare any animal and wouldn't do their eye sight much good either.

An ordinary torch will frighten most birds, can't see why any one would want to use these things and I would have thought using them in a birds eye would be a contravention of the WCA.
 
People talking out their arse here, shine a pen on a swans neck or body and watch it vacate swim faster than micheal barrimore leaving a pool party! Used 'em for years, no drama
 
I've not used them myself but have seen them used. Unless the user is a git, they don't shine them into eyes deliberately. Just waving them about in the general direction of waterfowl gets them moving fairly rapidly. As for the "they've got more right to be there" argument, I quite agree. However, what's better, a laser pen waved in their general direction or a hooked up coot or tufty? I've seen tufties get hooked up in over twenty feet of water. If you can't scare them away from a baited area then they run the risk of picking up a hookbait sooner or later.
 
I've seen carpers use them on one of my club waters, they don't shine it in their eyes, just a quick flash sends them scarpering.

I wouldn't use one, and am not particularly happy with their use but they certainly aren't supposed to be shined in their eyes, and think most carpers would realise this.
 
Chris Jones said:
I've not used them myself but have seen them used. Unless the user is a git, they don't shine them into eyes deliberately. Just waving them about in the general direction of waterfowl gets them moving fairly rapidly. As for the "they've got more right to be there" argument, I quite agree. However, what's better, a laser pen waved in their general direction or a hooked up coot or tufty? I've seen tufties get hooked up in over twenty feet of water. If you can't scare them away from a baited area then they run the risk of picking up a hookbait sooner or later.
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if you use dark baits, the coots cannot see em, or so i'm told...:p
 
Not that i would ...but can this be done to canoeists.....?????? or the polish or anyone you dont like,,

Thats a joke by the way
 
Chris Thomson said:
Deters swans from swimming into your lines at night, got to be better than tangling with 'em.
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Sorry mate, it's how angling is carried out in the eyes of the public that is a concern here, sure the lasers don't hurt them but that's not how it's looked apon in the eyes of the public. I used to fish for carp for many years on some of the top waters in the country and I haver felt the need for any deterent.

Martin
 
As Martin says in so many words, the resident swans and wildfowl should have priority. All you have to do is bring the lines in and wait. A lot of anglers who fish nights are asleep anyway and it is asking for trouble!
 
If you've ever tried to unhook an angry coot that has dived 10' or more to get your bait in the night then you will understand that a non lethal but highly effective deterrent can be an advantage.

Also, mine makes pretty patterns which is lovely :p
 
Ray Walton said:
All you have to do is bring the lines in and wait.
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An awful lot of stillwaters would be totally unfishable if you did this. It isn't generally nights where tufties are an issue, once they go to sleep or it gets too dark for them. Depth doesn't necessarily help either, tufties dive to in excess of twenty feet. I'm afraid that I can well understand why some choose to scare the birdlife off. Provided they aren't harmed or breeding interfered with, I don't really see a problem.
 
Dave Burr said:
If you've ever tried to unhook an angry coot that has dived 10' or more to get your bait in the night then you will understand that a non lethal but highly effective deterrent can be an advantage.

Also, mine makes pretty patterns which is lovely :p
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oh, yes, back on the canal days...:(
 
As somebody who has used the pens to deter the wildlife, i thought i would post on here.

When i use the pen i don't shine it in the eyes of the birds, i start it in the water close to me, then slowly raise the pen until it gets to the point of showing up on the body of one of the birds, it is over very fast and as they are normally used at dusk etc, you get the glow of the whole light, so you can see accurately where it is going.

I have had a tuftie and a golden eye whilst still water roach fishing, i got the pen after this and have never had another bird take the hook (i unhooked both birds and they went back safely).

There is only so much you can do, i have tried baiting up at night, but they still find the bait. The URBAN LEGEND about them not seeing dark baits is bull, the only way they would not see a bait is to have it the same colour as the bottom of the lake/river.
 
Why oh why do we get these ludicrous posts whenever a discussion involving other wildlife on fisheries pops up, such as 'They have more right to be there than you', and similar nonsense? Of course they have a 'right' to be there...I dare say the fish have a 'right' to spend their lives in peace without some fisherman constantly sticking great lumps of metal in their lips as well, but that doesn't stop us fishing, does it? :rolleyes:

As Chris so rightly said, it is often down to a simple choice. If we were able to ask a swan or a duck or whatever the question "Given the choice, which would you rather have (A) A harmless low power laser flashed at you, or (B) A damned great hook stuck in your tongue/mouth/throat?"....what do you do you think their answer would be? Doesn't take an Einstein to work it out, does it?

Anglers have been using this method to scare birds off of their bait for many years on certain problem lakes where the birds are so persistent it would otherwise be impossible to fish without hooking them. Further, despite these laser pens being used regularly for this purpose since they became available, I have yet to experience/hear of a swan/tuftie/mallard or whatever that was not very obviously still capable of spotting a single bait being put out from the other end of the lake! Am I to assume then that if there is any truth to the claims that these devices affect the birds sight....that it actually improves it? (joke people, joke) I might also add that on some of the lakes where these pens have been in use for an extended period, the birds have got used to them to the extent that they now completely ignore them....hardly sounds like something that is doing them a lot of harm, does it?

I really think some folk need to perform a reality check on themselves and their hobby before making silly claims on public forums.....

Cheers, Dave.
 
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