ABOUT
My Story
How a Harbor Cruise Sparked a
Fish-Attractor Invention
In 2017, while on a harbor cruise in Cape Town, South Africa, I heard a young narrator point to three boats and say, “Those boats catch fish with air.”
That one sentence stayed with me.
Months later, I wondered: if air bubbles could attract fish there, could the same idea work in a lak
How a Harbor Cruise Sparked a
Fish-Attractor Invention
In 2017, while on a harbor cruise in Cape Town, South Africa, I heard a young narrator point to three boats and say, “Those boats catch fish with air.”
That one sentence stayed with me.
Months later, I wondered: if air bubbles could attract fish there, could the same idea work in a lake, pond, or reservoir?
I started experimenting with compressors, tubing, manifolds, and air patterns in my bathtub, then tested prototypes across New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas. Some tests failed.
Some were disappointing. But I kept improving the design.
Then came the breakthrough.
At Elephant Butte Reservoir, fish came in from all sides. At Corpus Christi Bay, a guide watched a blank fish-finder screen light up within minutes and said he had never seen anything like it.
At Sam Rayburn Reservoir, fish moved off a 60-foot bottom — something the guide said he had never seen before.
After thousands of miles, many failed attempts, and countless design changes, the concept proved itself: controlled air and surface disturbance could attract fish.
What began as a passing comment on a South African harbor cruise became a working fish-attraction system — built through curiosity, persistence, and “failing forward.”
Sincerely,
Ed Tomlinson