Pylons

[Phil Hackett 2]

Carbon Rick, is one of the best conductors of electricity, hence carbon ignition leads for cars. Wood (Cain) and to a lesser degree glassfibre are poor conductors.

Carbon rods are like a magnet to high voltage electricity cables as carried by Pylons, and can arc considerable distance under the condition Baz mentions.

There was a very good match angler (can?t remember his name) for Stockport Fed who was electrocuted and badly burned (50 of his body) through arcing to his pole on a canal match about 20 years ago.

I seem to recall he died a couple of years ago.

Cakey, whilst the height of the pylons are as you point out, the cable sags in the middle by half the height according to my brother who used to work for Norweb on high voltage live jointing. Yes I did say LIVE jointing! He assures me with the right equipment, you can work on these things SAFELY??????
Then proceeds to tell me about all the accidents he?s seen happen.
Always been a bit strange and cavalier with his life my brother!

The funniest one I?ll share with you.
Brother was the live jointer in a team of three - jointer and two hole diggers/gofors down the Pylons.
One day they get a callout to a HV cable from a substation 100K plus volt running through it. One of the guys is a big Irishman, Who brother describes as a Gentleman in ever sense. Two diggers start on the hole, Brother dozing in the van until they uncover the cable in the hole for him to joint. Apparently said gentleman could dig a hole faster than an earth digger.
There?s one almighty bang, and as Brother looks in the mirror on the van, there?s the big fella flying through the air, all 20 stone of him. Brother?s out of the van thinking oh shit its killed him. As he passes the hole his wellies are smoking! The big fella picks himself up off the ground shakes his head, dusts himself down and before brother can ask him ?are you alright!? jumps back into the hole, right into his smoking wellies.

Brother totally gobsmacked, after a few seconds then asks him ?are you OK?? Big fella says It?s blown the F*** out of me best spade that I?ve had for 25 years! Bosses at the depot won?t be please when I ask for a new?en!

 

[Cakey]

What Im saying is if I fish with a 12' rod under a pylon or lines Im safe ,if I use a 70 metre pole I aint ................anyway around here lengths of rivers etc a shut of if they think its dangerous.........blimey you only have to look round !


one of my stories now.....
working at a football club putting up new projector
carpet men there glued up all the floor ready to lay carpet
along comes Cakey and no power for projector
decides to get it out of the main fuse box
need to take it out the side through one of the knock outs
tried to knock it out from indide and wont go
big boss man gives me hammer and screwdriver and said knock it inwards
I said I cant do that
he said just f*ck*ng hit it
so I did
next thing the whole place went black apart from a white glowing screwdriver dripping on the floor !

 

[Graham Whatmore]

All a bit too shocking for me I'm afraid. Why take the risk just to catch a fish? If conditions and bank allow why don't you just trot a float down to the tree from a safe distance, problem solved, I think.

 

[Mark Hodson]

At Blythe Waters in Solihull, British Waterways owned and run) Home pool has pylons running over it and you can't fish directly underneath(area is roped off) but you can fish either side, the adjacent swims being 10 yds away. Being BW owned you would think they would have risk assessed the situation (?) so you should be alright on your swim. Its been like that for well over 10 years and theres been no accidents, (yet).

 

[swordsy]

I wouldnt want to spend too much time in close proximity to one as the EM field would play hacoc with my internals, too much EM is not a good thing for your innards!

All that buzzing maks me nervous!

 

[Bob Roberts]

I took a stroll down my local river on Sunday evening and saw two things I'd never seen before.

The first was the sight of 6 inch dace leaping at the weir like tiny salmon. They fair flew out of the white water covering a couple of feet and perhaps a foot high. Half the time they fell on the concrete apron to the side of the water and flip-flopped their way back into the river but seeing as the weir drops about 6 feet through a chute I can't see why they were leaping.

The second was some new no-fishing signs covering the best 80 yards on the entire river because of overhead wires. These wires have been there for at least 25 years and they're miles above this 10 yard wide river. The river lies at the foot of stepped flood banks, each a good 4 yards deep and the wires are way, way up in the sky.

No-one pole fishes here, it's stick or bomb in a max 2.5 feet deep run. This is the nanny state gone mad. It's free fishing down there and I'll gamble the signs have gone by June 17th.

Are the signs enforceable in law or are the advisory to prevent potential claims against the Electricity company? Who enforces this warning, the EA or the Electricity Co.? What powers do they have?

 

[Milo]

Hmmm... I can't believe I'm reading this thread about fishing near to pylons and overhead cables! You should be setting an example to the younger members of anglings society and staying well away!

It only takes the once... you won't get a second chance!

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Bob, if an authority puts up a sign saying no fishing then, yes, I should think its enforceable by law, if they advise caution when fishing then thats up to the individual. I don't profess to know the law on this but it seems the sensible conclusion.

 

[Cakey]

Swordsy emf is the one to worry about and back emf even worse

Milo ..Im talking about lines 200 foot up ! the one that are only a few feet up is another matter

no one ever fishes the pylon swim at farlows or fox or heron then ....yeah right

 

[Paul Clarke 2]

You should also be very wary of the base of these pylons. The inductive field produced by the overhead voltage can kill you aswell. A lot of base areas have been cordoned off to prevent cattle and sheep from being fried , which has happened !!!

 

[Cakey]

yeah yeah right

 

[Cakey]

jackanory

 

[Baz]

Some people will never learn.

 

[Laurie Harper]

Cane rods, as already mentioned, are a help, but watch out for the inductive field, which can spread out quite a bit from the wires - distance depends on atmospheric conditions, so best to err very much on the side of caution. Talking of pylons, has anyone visited the pylon website? I joke not. Some people are pylon spotters, in the way that others are bus or train spotters. The site's a hoot - there are pretty coloured pylons, weird shaped ones, in fact, hours of amusement for all the family...

 

[Ric Elwin]

Milo

If these things were never questioned where would it all end? Should we not fish within 10 yards of pylons, 50 yards, 50 miles? sounds ridiculous of course, but unless there are different viewpoints and reasoned argument, ridiculous it could be.

Quite frankly, this is a site frequented predominanlty by mature, experienced anglers. As such, we can and should be able to discuss what we resonably want to. I can cope with their being speed humps along most roads, but the nanny state can go too far.

 

[Bully]

I'm lost now. Was it a mirror or a common ?

 

[Cakey]

people live next door to pylons and under cables and Ive never heard of people frying in bed at night

 

[Cakey]

love it Bully !

 

[swordsy]

still not fishing near pylons, emf not good for little swordsy and by the sounds of it back emf would shrink him to under a foot!

 

[Milo]

I shall continue to fish away from pylons and overhead cables... do what you like, just don't coming running to me crying... hehe

Quick question, is it safe to play on train tracks when there's a strike on???