Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations DIY Electroshock Boat

Has anyone built their own Electro Shock boat? Does electro shocking cause any permanent damage to your fish population? I think it would be useful to periodically use this to check on your fish population for growth patterns etc.

Any ideas what it would take to do this??

Pinetar,

You should find info on this in the archives as it's been discussed before,however, I'll take a shot at your question.

First of all what you need is a special unit which regulates the voltage, a gas powered generator to provide power, and a boom that hangs in the water to transmit the electrial charge to the water. Additionally a deadman's switch in the form of a foot pedal in case the netter goes overboard or something else happens (The idea is the netter keeps his foot on the pedal at all times and if for some reason he goes overboard or something else happens his foot comes off the pedal and breaks the circuit. From what I've been told there is enough charge in the water to kill a person if they fall in. Also a fiberglass handled net to keep the netter from receiving the electrical charge in the water. A good addition to a boat used for electroshocking would be a guard rail in the front for obvious reasons. And since electroshocking is done mainly at night a lighting system is also needed.

The units are very expensive brand new as in about 10 grand for a new DC unit, although I have a used one I purchased from Todd Overton for $800.00. He was nice enough to provide me with pics on how to build a boom etc., and although I have everything I need to put it all together, I'm ashamed to say I have not found the time to do so yet. I also need to make some repairs to the boat I want to use.

That said effectiveness depends on the conductivity of the water which can vary tremendously from region to region and body of water to body of water. I believe Bruce Condello said they are ineffective in his water chemistry. Bruce? Also if you don't have your setting right you can permanently damage a fish i.e. severe bruising, break vertebraes etc. It's not recommended for trout as they are more fragile than other fish.

One thing that is said by those here that use them for surveys, is they don't bring up as much of fish population as some think. Personally I believe in a pond angling is just as good or better over the long term to see what your fish are doing. There is also a possibility that fish in a pond will learn to move away from the boat as quickly as possible if one is used it too much. It could be come less effective over time.

Cecil:

If you need a lake to test it in, I know of one close to my house that has a bunch of carp in it.....

Pinetar IMO it takes a lot of water to need a shock boat. We have about 45 acres of water in several ponds and we are a long way from justifying a shock boat. Plus they are work to keep up and you have to know how to use them not to mention they can be dangerous to run. They are a good tool but with limits. They are an awesome fishing tool under the right situation with trained operators and fun to go on.

I may take you up on that if I ever get it set up. It's not public water is it?

Because I am uneducated, I really thought this was a set-up for a bad redneck joke. Obviously, now I understand this is a legit tool but you gotta admit... metal boat, water, electricity...


Jeff-

Yes it is, but if that's a no-no, then I offer my pond. It's 2 miles away from the lake. Not huge, but more than an acre, less than 2.

Yeah the INDNR kind of frowns on electroshocking public waters!

The anglers do too!

Did you know they also frown on tagging fish in public waters?

They also frown on private stocking of public waters but that doesn't seem to have stopped people from putting gizzard shad & white bass in the lake!

But the e-boat might cause a stir......

I wonder how much muskies run.........??

not to mention cost, http://www.smith-root.com/boats/electrofishing-boats/
14 foot model $62,000. Shaun Banks buids a better for about $20k depending on options but come one why would any private owner own one unless they had 100's of acres?

Last year when I spent the day with Bob we met a client that had 250 acres of water. We talked about them getting their own shock boat to be able to control the bass population. I am not sure if they ended up getting one or not though.

Well, when you own 250 acres of water, chances are money isn't a problem... Must be nice!

One summer when I was a biologist aid we watched one come out of the water like a stick of dynamite and jump out out of the electrical field.

I want one to harvest some fish quickly if I need to for my live and frozen fish sales. It would have come in handy when I needed to move some fish a few weeks ago due to a problem with the dike. Fortunately I was able to get the water low enough to expose all the big fish and just scoop them up. The bottom of my pond is firm enough to walk around on.

I think I'll only have about $1500.00 in my set up when I finally get moving on it. All I need now is a generator. Everything is homemade except for the control box, deadman's foot pedal apparatus, and of course the generator.

Yeah a guy with an electroshocker boat sticks out like a cockroach on a weddng cake vs. someone that slips in a few fish.

Cecil:

How big a generator do you need?

That lake has a huge population of gizzard shad (and carp), 40 years ago it was able to sustain a pretty good pike fishery, although very few are caught now. I think the DNR did a gill net survey a few years back and the GS was over 50% of the biomass.