According to archaeological evidence, humans have been catching fish for somewhere around 40,000 years now, and in that time, the tools we use have gotten pretty damn sophisticated. These days we’ve got so much angling tech — high-modulus graphite rods, ridiculously lifelike lures, boats with built-in sonar — that fish don’t stand a chance anymore. And as if the odds weren’t stacked against them badly enough already, somebody went ahead and built a quadcopter drone designed specifically for fishermen.
The AguaDrone, as its called, is basically an RC quadcopter that makes spotting fish and casting your lure easier than ever. The drone’s waterproof hull features a unique accessory bay, allowing you to equip the quad with a variety of different attachments on its underbelly.
It’s still just a prototype at this point, but for the initial rollout, the AguaDrone’s creators are offering three interchangeable “pods” for the system. There’s the AguaDrone Pod (which is basically a waterproof camera), the Fish Scout Pod (a sonar-based fish finder system), and the Line Flyer Pod. The sonar and camera pods both connect wirelessly to your smartphone or tablet, and will beam back data from distances of up to 300 feet. The Line Flyer, on the other hand, is essentially a payload delivery system that allows you to fly your hook out to where the fish are.
Armed with this kind of tech, fishermen would no longer be forced to cast blindly and hope for a bite. Instead, they could basically fly a spy cam out over the water, scope out where the fish are hanging out, and then drop the bait right in front of their mouths. The only thing this rig doesn’t do for you is set the hook and reel in the fish — although I’m sure that the inventors are working on an attachment for that as we speak.
AguaDrone isn’t quite ready for primetime quite yet, but the creators have opened up pre-orders on their website. The drone itself will set you back about $700, and the individual pods cost between $90 and $418 apiece. The complete package (with all three pods included) can be had for $1,100. If all goes according to plan, the first production units are expected to ship out sometime in November.