FISHERMEN may be thrown a line by Frank and Pearl Sams, who are developing a gadget to indicate when they have a catch.

The husband and wife from Broadstairs work as Top Flight Products and have won a Smart Award from the Department of Trade and Industry's small business service that encourages innovation.

The Sams believe their idea will have anglers hooked. The Intelligent Fish Bite Indicator is an alarm and LED light indicator for detecting fish when they take the bait.

Mr Sams said: "The product is intended to be used by anglers in both moving and still water and will be able to differentiate between the bite of a fish and false

alarm caused by tide, weather conditions, or other movement ofthe rod.

"From the mid 1970s to 1999 I was managing director of a company that made bite indicators for slack lines used in fishing in non tidal lakes and reservoirs.

"There was nothing on the market for taut line anglers so we decided to create a prototype. We were given a feasibility study grant for the project and this was followed by the Smart Award, without which it would not have been possible to carry out the high-tech research and development to get the idea off the ground

"The next step is design and make the equipment and hopefully we will go into full production next year."

* Since Smart was introduced in 1988, more than 3,000 businesses and inventors have shared more than £300 million in support from the scheme, which is funded by the Small Business Service in England.