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iPhone Dropped in River. . .Turned into Fishing Lures

blog.makezine.com — FTA - Last week I dropped my new iphone 3G in the Farmington River. It's become a very expensive paperweight so tonight I figured I'd get some use out of it. Seeing it was the river that took it from me, it's gonna at least catch me some fish.

Who dugg this? Made popular Sep 26, 2008

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  • Awspire, on 09/26/2008, -0/+37Fish and microChips.
  • bjs3171, on 09/25/2008, -4/+34congratulations?
  • aereaus, on 09/26/2008, -2/+29iPhish? Therefore iAm.
  • WiseWeasel, on 09/26/2008, -0/+20Nothing like a little brominated flame-retardant in my dinner... Don't try this at home, kids.

    I wonder if this guy tried vacuuming, gentle heating (like a very low temp oven) or the rice bowl drying procedure before disassembling...
    http://www.wikihow.com/Save-a-Wet-Cell-Phone
    http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/20/how-to-clean-up ...
    http://www.symbiano-tek.com/2008/06/next-time-when ...

    Remember that you'll need to recharge your phone before it'll work again, as the water contact will probably have drained the battery. Just make absolutely sure the phone is completely dry before trying to charge it again.
  • sillygato, on 09/25/2008, -1/+17I guess it's a great way to catch Blinky, the 3-eyed fish from The Simpsons....
  • SifuMoKung, on 09/26/2008, -4/+18Now the fish will become annoying Apple fans and refer to "Medium" as "Grande" and sport gay little goatees.
  • ieyeaye, on 09/26/2008, -1/+14iRiver

    oh shi
  • nlke182, on 09/26/2008, -1/+11Nothing like throwing toxic electronics into a river then bragging about it on the internet.
  • pauls88, on 09/26/2008, -1/+10what a load of carp
  • jmkiii, on 09/25/2008, -3/+11This is a terrible plan... very dangerous.
    Fish don't need Iphones
  • mattlphoto, on 09/26/2008, -0/+8too bad the iphone is not designed so you can remove the battery.
  • denser, on 09/26/2008, -1/+7If google phone were dropped in a river then it could have been used to catch whales
  • inactive, on 09/26/2008, -0/+6don't be stupid.
  • darwinwins, on 09/26/2008, -0/+5what's a geek doing fishing? that requires outdoors ... and touching things.
  • rectifier, on 09/26/2008, -0/+4How much +fishing does that lure give?
  • aussieNickuss, on 09/26/2008, -0/+4F-A-I-L
  • chadpyle, on 09/26/2008, -0/+4Hmm, I dropped my Blackberry in the toilet last week. It spent about 60 seconds in there while I worked up the courage to stick my hand in (I had already flushed, but...). I removed the battery, SD card, and SIM chip, threw it all in a bag of rice, and stuck it under a heated blanket for 24 hours. Anyway, works fine now... still no calls though. 8(
  • DanielShinall, on 09/26/2008, -1/+4Survivorman-style! Nice.
  • DubiousDrewski, on 09/27/2008, -0/+3A bag of rice, eh? Works like those little silica gel pellets, I assume. Neato. I'll remember that.
  • troon, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3This part of the Campaign Against Verbs?
  • ninjaturtles1, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3This submission to the App Store will be rejected for sure!
    You should drop the Google phone in some water and redevelop it!
  • dwightyork, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3toxic bait!
  • sandaboy, on 09/26/2008, -0/+3You certainly think on the bright side.
  • stoanhart, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2Should have took that thing home, completely dismantled it, soaked all of the circuit boards in rubbing alcohol and dried them, and dried out the LCD and battery as best you could from 12+ hours.
  • Awspire, on 09/26/2008, -1/+3Better than trying to pawn it off on Ebay.
  • manbearpig1, on 09/26/2008, -2/+4The iPhone, 4 devices in one. It's a phone, internet device, iPod, and now fishing lure.
  • cyssero, on 04/18/2009, -0/+2I'm just going to put this out there, but if the guy was able to disassemble an iPhone and intricately turn it into a fishing lure, I'll wager a bet that he knew the methods you've mentioned to salvage it.

    Problem with the iPhone is that you can't take the battery out straight away (like you should). That's probably what killed it.
  • kitsua, on 09/26/2008, -2/+4Wow, ***** comments.
  • MtheoryX, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2The WHOLE iPhone?
  • denser, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2true that...had a lot of potential
  • FlyingPhotog, on 09/26/2008, -0/+2OM NOM NOM NOM!

    I've gotta respect a guy who can tie his own lures. Clever indeed,
  • kishosingh, on 09/26/2008, -1/+2It is lost now. Never will be repaired.
  • synchronize, on 12/31/2008, -0/+1Nice lure, but did it actually catch any fish?

    http://fishingfriend.org
  • SamirGupta, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1Believe it or not, most electronics that gets dunked in water can be revived with a little effort- they use water to wash PC boards in the manufacturing process, so most parts are OK if they get wet. The thing to do if something gets dunked into questionable water like a river, lake, rain, or toilet is to remove the battery and flush the device out with distilled water. You need to wash out the ionic stuff that goes along with dirty water. After flushing it out, dry it slowly and thoroughly. Reconnect power and your formerly wet device *might* just come back to life.
  • noPCtoday, on 09/26/2008, -1/+2This is actually a geek's master plan to seduce little mermaid.
  • matt2m, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1One that worked well for me is I intimately took out of the water removed the battery. Shook the hell out of it dumped it in rubbing alcohol. Took it out shook the hell out of it. Hit it with a dryer on cold for 20 min. Then let it sit for 15. Put in a spare battery and i was making calls. Rubbing alcohol has saved my phone an old ipod and a friends phone. It is pretty much because rubbing alcohol is friendly to electronics pushes all the water out then it quickly dries. Dont think it would work with an iphone though.
  • Nikobert, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1Aoowww! My heart is bleeding! :'(
  • DigxDug, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1Haha, perfect....
  • inactive, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1That is actually a very cool idea and surprisingly inventive lure, i'd love to get a follow up on how well it works.
  • RyomaNagare, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1I've already bided 299 on e-bay for this thing, HAH
  • MacParrot, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1NOW how much would you pay!
  • Shugii, on 09/26/2008, -3/+4Should have used it as a paperweight like it was originally intended.
  • doooris, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1when a treo was dropped in a river we were told to stick it in a bowl of rice because rice would suck out all of the moisture. To this day that phone is still working :D
  • add1802, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1An optimist...

    i guess i'd be that forward thinking if i could afford it
  • Novalight, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1Many fishing lures are made of lead. Buckshot is made of lead. How much more toxic can an iPhone be?
  • wheelfoot, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1its an iNymph
  • dubious, on 09/26/2008, -0/+1He's obviously into fly fhishing. Dugg!

    Looks like a Spratley Hatch http://flytyer.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/docspra ...
  • beatjuggler, on 09/26/2008, -0/+0iLure - Cleaning and gutting not included.
  • dablufox, on 06/11/2009, -0/+0Wow, great story. I'm glad someone finally found a good use for the iPhone. I would ring Macland and see if they are willing to market the idea.
    http://freshwaterlures.blogspot.com
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