I talked briefly to a guy who had a short fishing rod with an orange
slingshot on top of it to shoot the bait out over the water instead of
casting it with the traditional overhand rod motion.

The orange slingshot looked like the part of a stirrup that goes on the
heel of a boot.

He pushed a little lever with his thumb to release the slingshot.

I had never seen one before, so I remarked that using it seemed like
cheating, it required very little skill, just point and shoot.

He claimed it was a new rod he was developing but the parts all looked
too finished to be a prototype.

I think he was lying about what it was. He had a strange attitude and
said he had no fishing license, which was why he was playing with the
rod in a public park instead of at the nearby lake.

Who makes those rods? Where can I buy one?