News:

"The phone is a remarkably complex, simple device,
and very rarely ever needs repairs, once you fix them." - Dan/Panther

Main Menu

Worm Harvester

Started by NorthernElectric, September 16, 2015, 06:40:56 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

NorthernElectric

Quote from: unbeldi on September 16, 2015, 05:51:03 PM

I spotted this in an ad posted by unbeldi in another topic.  Has anyone on the board ever tried using a magneto to harvest worms?

Cliff

G-Man

Worm harvesting and fish-stunning (illegal) are very well known uses for old telephone magnetos. At one time these uses were very popular.

19and41

I tried it with a Leich desk set magneto.  I imagine the soil was too dry.  No harvest.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

G-Man

I'm not sure why one would even try while the soil is dry. When was the last time you saw earthworms leaving dry earth on their own? Also, there is a certain technique involved, such as not cranking too long. One could probably find plenty of instructions by performing a Google search. Here are a couple of results regarding stunning fish:

       
  • Back in the days when they printed arrests in the paper, I once saw the name & address of a guy I went to school with... The charge was Telephoning Fish... Sounded kinda funny, as if he were placing a call to Charlie the Tuna... LOL

       
  • about 50 years ago my neighbor used a old crank telephone magneto, as I remember you ran one wire to a three foot bright chain that would drag on the bottom of the river, that being the Ohio about 20 downstream from Evansville, Indiana. The other electrode from the magneto was attached to about 8 foot of bare wire and thrown over the side of a wooden boat. The boat was allowed to float downstream with the five horsepower motor idleing, one man running the motor and the other cranking the magneto, with a dipnet vere close by, When the smoth fish, would not work on scale fish, came on top of the river, they would move very fast on the surface, sometimes they would even go several feet on to a sandbar. I have seen 100 pounds of catfish being caught like this in ten minutes, end of fish story..
 

       
  • According to my Dad, you replace the piece of barbed wire with screen wire for scaly fish.

19and41

I was 6 years old at the time.  I had seen such an ad in one of the old DIY magazines and thought I'd try it.  The guess about the dry soil was made by the 59 year old me.   :)
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
— Arthur C. Clarke

NorthernElectric

I probably won't be going fishing  until next spring for brook trout after the snow melts.  The ground should be good and moist then so maybe I'll see if I can't get some worms with my N300K.   That will give me plenty of time to search for info on what to use for electrodes, how far apart, etc.  :)
Cliff

Jack Ryan

So this is not about Dune then...

Jack