Pylons

[Bob Roberts]

Milo

I work in the proximity of 25KVA cables on a regular basis. We are trained not to go within 9 feet of them, or allow anything we may be carrying go nearer, irrespective of weather conditions. It's still 9 feet in torrential rain.

Signs that appear on rivers after 25 years without a single problem are clearly their to protect the backside of someone who sits in an office miles away, not to protect the angler on the bank.

I defy anyone to fish beneath these wires and get anywhere near them with conventional fishing tackle. It might, and I stress might, be possible to deliberately cast a lure over them with a bit of effort but to do it accidentally would be impossible.

But if casting over them with a nylon fishing line constitutes a risk why are there no signs suggesting that kite flying nearby is equally dangerous and therefore banned?

I agree that fishing should be restricted in the vicinity of dangerous wires but wires that are 100 feet above the river do not constitute a danger in my book. Errecting signs willy-nilly will encourage vandalism and anglers will flount the rule anyway. The real danger is that the practise will spread and all signs will be ignored. Even those where wires do constitute a risk.

Common sense is vital, otherwise we need to see twin rows of 'no kite flying' signs spaced 20 yards apart beneath every overhead wire in the UK.

And that is madness.

 

[Milo]

Bob, points taken

But, at what height do power lines not constitute a danger to anglers? Speaking for myself, I have to say that I doubt I'd be able to, with reasonable accuracy anyway, estimate the height of a cable overhead, and I'd expect there are many in the same boat...

 

[Bob Roberts]

Don't know, but I'd suggest that 9 feet includes a huge margin of safety in my case but the distance would surely depend greatly on voltage.

When lines are 60 feet plus high if you're directly beneath them and the angler sits 20 yards upstream there's a distance of nearly 30 yards to the wires if he casts parallel with the near bank, further if casting to the far bank. That's a hell of a long pole for a venue only 10 yards wide.

If electricity can jump 20 yards then we're all in big trouble.

I'm all for sensible precautions but sometimes the jobsworths go overboard. This is a prime example.

 

[Baz]

The other thing we have to remember is that while we as adults, or some of us can differenciate between safe and unsafe pylons, the younger generation can't.
And they will copy what they see us doing.
Set a good example and keep away from them.

 

[Cakey]

that would render half the lakes i fish as no go.....ill carry on ta

 

[Bob Roberts]

Baz

Then the lecky folk should identify the ones that genuinely present a risk. By all means erect a warning sign to advise all and sundry that certain 'telephone' wires are in fact live electricity cables but angling should only be rstricted where it is appropriate.

If no restriction has been neccessary for 25 years but suddenly some ar5e coverer decides it's suddenly a problem then I suggest that the elecricity folk should bury the cables or re-route them.

To suddenly impose a ban unilaterally is no way to carry on.

 

[Baz]

I think slowly but surely Bob they are begining to bury the cables, they are taking their time about it though.

Cakey,
out of interest are half the lakes that you mention day ticket waters or club owned?

 

[Baz]

I wonder if the water owners insurance premiums go up if he has pylons on his land?

 

[Cakey]

farlows is day ticket others are club owned

 

[Ric Elwin]

Right so power can go through wires that are lower than those huge pylons. I thought that might be the case but wasn't sure.

What I'd like to know is has any angler ever received a shock from the 100-200 feet high wires. What body might record these things? No pun intended...

 

[Cakey]

you could sit on those wires ....just like the birds do ....its when you make the connection to earth that problems start ,the amount of water (or beer )in our bodies make us very good conductors so getting on the wires and getting of again is when you would be in trouble

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

I used to like Monty Pylons Flying Circus ......

 

[The Monk]

I believe 25kV AC, fluctuating at 50Hz is used on overhead cantinery systems on railways, the wires dont appear to be very high from the platform level in some places, I wonder what effect this would have on a passenger say carrying carbon fibre skis, or something over his shoulder?Every 1kV, or 1,000V of ‘electricity’ can jump across a gap of about 3/8”, so 25kV can jump approximately ten inches (25cm).

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

Surely it must depend on the atmospheric conditions too

We (Graham, Myself and a couple of others)used to fish a lake in Shropshire where there were power lines running across the bottom end and on some of those warm damp 'muggy' evenings the wires used to crackle and hum -and there was almost a glow coming from them.......it was quite frightening at times

 

[Wolfman Woody]

"If electricity can jump 20 yards then we're all in big trouble."

Let me introduce you to a little phenomena called "Lightening". That doesn't jump 20 yards. That can jump 2 miles!!!

If some daft ar5e wants to prove Faraday wrong then be my guest and fish. It'll make a good chuckle in the Angling Times.

We have a fishery now Ed, where to access it you have to walk under enormous pylons. They crackle all the time, but especially so when it's damp. When the site was a tip the had like a Faraday cage underneath it for when trucks passed, but since the tip has been capped the cage has been removed. Scare the sh-1-t out of me and the rods are in the holdall.

 

[Les Clark]

Russian Roulette anybody ?

 

[Cakey]

its not the electricity that kills it the burn

pylons are as safe as trains and planes and Wol in a car

 

[Bob Roberts]

Woody,

I think you ought to keep quiet about that lightning stuff. The anti's won't have to ban it if Tony Blair gets to hear of something that jumps 2 miles. He'll simply ban everyone from going outside except to vote and bang goes angling - in a flash!

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Right then, if some electrical/goverment authority told you it was safe to fish near pylons (say ten yards for arguments sake)would you do so, or would you doubt their word?

I only ask this because there must be a set safety distance laid down by health and safety regulations. I have a neighbour about 100 yards down the road who has a dirty great pylon slap bang in the middle of his garden, We do have big gardens admittedly but it must be safe otherwise the local authorities wouldn't have allowed to house to be built there in the first place.

 

[Alan Tyler]

...except that the safety margins are worked out for people doing things that were routine in the sixties - not wielding 30 and 40-foot poles of highly-conductive carbon!
If there are trees growing between your rod-top and the cables, and they haven't been zapped, then neither will you be, unless your rod is more conductive than a tree, which glass and cane are not.