We were walking an off-the-beaten path trail at Lake Johnson when we came upon the … devices. They were laying along the bank, and appeared to have been carefully placed there. They were identical, each consisting of two one-liter plastic pop bottles painted gray and linked with about six inches of pvc pipe. Another piece of pvc, about two feet long and wrapped in lime green water noodle foam, was attached at the midpoint, forming a T.
Marcy took a whimsical approach to its purpose. “It looks like a weapon of not-so-massive destruction,” she speculated. Could be: the hollow water bottles smarting some on impact, the cushy water noodle providing protection from the rigid pvc. To me, it looked like some kind of … kayak docking device? (Hey, I was flummoxed.) They appeared to be new, thought-out, well-constructed and, again, not haphazardly placed. We pondered their presence a few minutes more, took some iPhone pictures, then continued our walk.
A couple hours later I’m still perplexed: What the heck are these things?
Got a guess? Take a stab. No prize, just the public acclaim that accompanies knowing a good DYI project when you see one.
Can you post a larger picture?
Reposted, with a slightly larger photo.
First thing that comes to mind is a mentos bottle rocket… but not very optimized for that due to weight… maybe a buoy-marker-thing for some underwater scientific device? O.o
looks like a fancy catfish jug-line rig to me. missing the tackle
I like the jig line theory. At the end of the PVC pipe was metal threading, to attach something.
I’d have to go with the catfish jug-line. It looks like it could be a combination of jug-line and “tip-up”, where the noodle-covered “arm” would float with only bait suspended beneath it, but would be pulled downward with a hooked fish pulling against it. Seeing the “arm” submerged is the fisherman’s signal to paddle out and grab the rig and pull it in.
Foy