Keeping it reel: Aussie angler literally goes fly fishing with massive homemade drone (VIDEO)

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Give a man a powerful drone and he'll fly around, drinking beer and fishing all day to impress his mates. But one Aussie may be facing a hefty fine for his literal fly fishing jaunt.

Footage posted online this week shows Sam Foreman, a keen fisherman from Kyneton, Victoria, take to the skies in a lawn chair, a bottle of VB and a dream, courtesy of his AUS$20,000 (US$13,460), homemade 12-propeller drone.

The video shows Foreman engaging in some extreme fishing several meters above the waters of the Upper Coliban Reservoir, north west of Mount Macedon. 

In the clip, the angler is met with cheers from his mates as he nonchalantly returns to shore with freshly-caught fish, beer in hand, all while sitting comfortably in his deck chair.

The drone was reportedly made by Tim French, an electrician in Sunbury, who spent his weekends developing the drone over two years. It uses 12 motors, 25 batteries and multiple 27″ propellers to take flight.

However, the lads’ levity may be short lived as Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority has launched an investigation into the fly fishing incident. If found in breach of the law, the fishing fanatics could face more than AUS$10,000 in fines or have to appear in court.

“This is a first for Australia, to have a large homemade drone being used to lift someone off the ground,” CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said.

“It's really not a sensible thing to do in any way, shape or form; there's lots of things that could have gone wrong, someone could have been seriously injured.”

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