Model rocket launches when fish bites the hook

Mayor Mike says:

This week, I outfitted my ice fishing sledge with a rattle-reel, a super-sketchy homebrew detonator (the trigger involves a guitar pick) and a launch pad. Now, I know when a fish bites because a rocket launches.
No one lost a hand today, but we did lose 2 rockets.

My Rocket-Wielding Blast-Off Ice Fishing Tip-Up

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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RyanH

I can’t be the only one disappointed that the rocket isn’t actually connected to the fishing line.
Unmutual

I was expecting the fish to . . . oh, looks like I’m not the only one.

Seriously though, who WASN’T expecting this? It’s like saying “I rigged a shotgun to my front doorbell.

No it’s not what you think, I wanted to make it really loud!”
Anonymous

What kind of wire would you need as a leader, though, to deal with the heat of the rocket engine? And how long would it need to be?

Assuming you could attach it to the end of each fin and make a self-guiding harness which could withstand the heat a few cm away from the plume, I see no reason why you couldn’t launch a small perch at least a few feet in the air. Though if the fish spits the hook, you have a rocket with no directional stability and a fish hook tied to the back of it flying around…
- The Hamster King
  
  “What kind of wire would you need as a leader, though, to deal with the heat of the rocket engine? And how long would it need to be?”
  
  If you keep the wire short, the fish ends the trip already cooked.
DeWynken

No one uses white rockets after Labor Day.
ill lich

Ice fishing? You can make that stuff in your freezer, you don’t need to go fish for it!
irksome

Hand, schmand. Did you land the damn fish?
snakedart

Doesn’t removing the masochism from ice fishing render it meaningless?
Chris Tucker

It’s been done!

Doc Savage did this in the 1930s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSfuzuwDkXk

Starts at the 2:21 mark.

Hooks the fish, pulls it out of the water and sounds an alarm to let you know you caught a fish.
- holtt
  
  LOL thanks for posting that Chris Tucker – I didn’t know anyone had done a Doc Savage vid before.
  
  And in general? One can never have too much gratuitous rocketry.
pjcamp

So basically y’all don’t like to fish.
Stefan Jones

The rocket is of a minimal design infamous for being easily lost. There’s not parachute or streamer; the model pops its engine and tumbles down. Or, at least it’s supposed to work that way. Often they go ballistic and end up with the nose cone stuck in the earth. In this case, it’s likely the model would be buried in the snow and invisible.
The Hamster King

With a larger rocket attached directly to the line, he wouldn’t even have to reel the fish in … .
- fr4nk
  
  This thread is done in one. Thanks The Hamster King!
autark

I was SO expecting a video of the rocket launching, and pulling the fish up out of the water, then floating back down to earth via a gentle, if somewhat flip/flopping parachute.
- Lobster
  
  It’d be SO much better if it did that. Hey fish, you wanted an easy meal? SURPRISE, now you’re 10,000 feet in the air. Now what, fish? NOW WHAT?
  - i_prefer_yeti
    
    Fish in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!
  - Spikeles
    
    I believe it would go something like this
- Tim
  
  That was my hope, too.
gravytop

If your goal is to sour a lot of fish on the wholesome hobby of model rocketry, you have succeeded brilliantly my friend.