High voltage fishing: Volts, not hooks bring in Ohio fish

By: Scott Wegener



CINCINNATI - It's just another day at the office for Ryan Argo and
John Spaeth.

These Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) aquatic
biologists get paid to go fishing with toys that the Reel and Creel
set would give their favorite spinners for.

Who needs hooks when you have a few hundred volts of electricity to
zap fish to the surface?

Argo fires up a gas powered generator mounted to the deck of his
ORSANCO Jon Boat, after lowering a spider-like brace of electrodes
into the water.

Electricity flowing from the metal hull of the boat through the water
to the electrodes paralyze the fish, and they float, belly up, into
Argo's waiting net.

"They recover in about 15 minutes," says Argo. "It allows us to net
the fish, (and) put them in our live well."

The 'live well' is nothing more than a trough of water on the deck.

Air bubbles into the trough through a plastic tube, keeping oxygen in
the water for the stunned residents.

Argo and Spaeth routinely go 'electro-fishing' to gauge the health of
the river.

"It's a little more cost effective to use fish as an indicator than it
is to take $500 a pop water samples all the time," says Argo.

Within an hour, he nets emerald shiners, long nosed gar, small mouthed
buffalo, a hybrid stripped bass, a long eared sunfish, a large mouthed
bass, and several varieties of red horse."

Today's catch isn't for research. The fish are being collected to go
on display for this year's Paddlefest.

"To kinda remind people that the Ohio River is not only a drinking
water resource, but a good recreational (resource)... and there's
other things living in the river."

Things that sometimes need a little love.

One stripped bass has a fisherman's hook in its mouth. Argo removes it
with a pair of pliers.

"We're surgeons as well as aquatic biologists," he says.

Organizers of the display hope the fish will bring a new awareness of
the river's importance.

"If people know the water quality in the Ohio River is so much better
than it used to be," says ORSANCO's Jeanne Ison. "Then they will work
towards that goal to keep it cleaner."

The display is part of the Paddlefest Kids Adventure Expo opening
tomorrow.

http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_n...oltage-fishing