Checking them off the list

Every angler is looking for an edge, a technique or perhaps a secret lure sold on late-night television that fish simply can’t resist.

I’m still looking, but apparently I’ll have to check drones and remote-controlled boats off my list. Montana wildlife officials are considering rules that would prohibit fishing with both.

Not that drones or RC boats are sure-fire fish catchers. They’re just annoying. Both sound like a swarm of angry bees.

However, they do provide anglers with new ways to deliver bait or lures to those hard to reach honey-holes out of casting distance, and videos circulating on social media make catching fish with either one look like a lot of fun.

I’d probably crash the drone, though, and lose my little boat to an angry pike.

There are a lot of other ways to catch fish and most of them are legal. A guy I knew in Cooke City was a master at catching big trout, especially big brook trout. One of his favorite techniques was fishing at night with live mice. Vince would strap a mouse into a tiny harness attached to a pair of treble hooks, place the mouse on a wooden shingle and let the off-shore wind take the whole rig far out into the lake.

When the mouse was out as far as he wanted, Vince would close the bail on his reel and yank the little rodent off his raft. He’d reel in just enough to keep the mouse swimming toward shore, but few ever made it back to dry land before they were engulfed by a big brookie.

At the right time of year it was a deadly fish catcher. Vince had some huge mounted brook trout on the walls in his cabin.

A drone or RC boat would most likely have delivered the mouse in a bit more efficient manner, but it would have broken the silence. And fishing, especially night fishing, is all about the sound -- The waves lapping on shore, the soft plop of the mouse hitting the water. the splash of a fish hitting mouse.

Angry bees just don’t fit into that scenario.

But I doubt silence is much of a factor for this generation of techno-savvy anglers who are probably wearing virtual reality goggles and listening to hip-hop while piloting their fish-catching machines.

They’re just looking for an edge.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected].