Roland must have been thinking about his check or other business opportunities he might have after this commercial. Otherwise, I don't know how he kept a straight face. It was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen. It reminds me of the fishing magazine ad where some guy is touting a jointed bass crank bait of some kind. It states at the top of the ad that "Catch rates from it may be too high for bass tournaments"………ya right. I can see it now……someone with Roland Martin's "gun" rod and this jointed lure knocking off Kevin V D to win the B.A.S.S. championship Mega Bucks Tournament!
Muskegon has a 9-year-old kid that can beat Roland Martin.
9-year-old inventor is fishing for success
<url url="[Permission to view this media is denied]
coll=8"><link_text text="[Permission to view this media is denied] … xml&coll=8">[Permission to view this media is denied]
coll=8
01/12/07 By Robert C. Burns CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
Dotted with fine golf courses and rivers, streams and lakes large and small, West Michigan presents a tough recreational choice: fishing or golf?
If you enjoy both, why not do both?
Sherman Poppen of Norton Shores decades ago combined skiing and surfing to create the "Snurfer," which evolved into the modern snowboard. And now, 9-year-old Jason Gardner, the son of Jay and Cori Gardner of 681 Wilson, Spring Lake, has discovered a way to hit balls and catch fish at the same time.
The creative Jason came up with the idea for his "Jayrod" — a golf club with a spincast reel attached near the grip — while playing around with dad's golf clubs and fishing stuff last July.
"I got mad and threw the first one away," Jay Gardner said. "But then I felt bad and let him make another one. I thought it was a neat idea, so I told him I was sorry and said I'd help him build some more. It made his day."
Jason is a good student at Lake Hills Elementary in Ferrysburg and a natural tinkerer, his father says. Once, when his portable CD player stopped working, he got it running with an external motor from a building kit, so now you can see it working outside of its case.
"He's always trying to come up with some new idea around the house."
The "Jayrod" has one or more guides taped to the shaft. The line is threaded through the guides and tied to a swivel drilled into a golf ball. A length of fishing line connects the ball to a baited hook or lure. Jay said that last idea came from a buddy, Scott Arvey.
The technique of golf-fishing is simple — so simple you probably wouldn't even have to take lessons do to it. Just set the ball on the ground, press the reel's release button and hit the ball in the direction of the nearest body of water. Then either retrieve the lure or sit back and wait for a bite.
The sight of a bright orange golf ball moving enticingly through the water attracts fish, Gardner says, if only because they've never seen such a crazy thing before.
No need to walk or carry anything in this kind of golf, except when heading home with whatever fish you have caught. And no need to shag balls, either: Just reel 'em in.
Although the Jayrod's action is a bit on the stiff side, Gardner says it can send a lure a lot farther than any fishing rod. Presumably, longer casts would be made with longer clubs, with the driver delivering maximum distance, and a pitching wedge being used to deliver the bait more precisely amid a grouping of lily pads, say, or just inches from a submerged log.
Recently, out on the south breakwater at Pere Marquette Park in Muskegon, father and son attracted a lot of curious onlookers while testing their invention.
"We had a lot of people standing around taking turns whacking it," Gardner said. "It caught a lot of people's attention."
Jason and his dad have obtained a preliminary patent on the things, and put them on eBay, hoping to attract even more attention.
As they wait for success to come knocking at their door, they have purchased new clubs and reels, and have gone into production.
It's hard to say at this point whether fishing clubs, or golf rods, will enjoy the same success as Poppen's "Snurfer."
"Maybe we'll make money, maybe not. But we're going to keep building them regardless." Gardner said.
57
5
1 Guest(s)