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Anybody use or know much about these? Been thinking of the possiblities after reading a rencet article in Crappie mag. I think it would eliminate alot of undproductive water and also help understand the graph with leaps and bounds. Wife was asking the other day about Christmas gift ideas, considering this!
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They work pretty good in clear water and if its a little stained the worst thing is seeing them and them not wonting to bite :mad:I use mine around boat docks to see whats there before i fish them.Good luck.
cant see in bright sun took it back
I have one, but I quit using it after I got my SI unit. They can be very helpful if you make time to really work with them. It is fun to watch yourself catch a fish. It can also help you learn to use a jig, at least in vertical mode, kinda like teasing a cat one more time that is bored with the game.
Is the picture clear enough to see and identify structure? Will I be able to see actual fish, and if so, how far from the camera will I be able to see? I have lots of spots I would like to drop a buoy, and see just whats down there.
I use my camera to mostly locate brush or other things that I get hung up on:o While dropping down through the water you will think it is not working but once you are on bottom you will start seeing thing. They say you can see around 20' but it's more like 8' :) I thought I would be able to pull up to brush and see what was using it but you can't, you have to work the camera around the brush or tree tops. I don't use it while fishing now, just for scouting.
I'll let you be teh judge.Quote:
Originally Posted by Locator79
YouTube - Ice fishing underwater camera
Not my video.
I have used an underwater camera for a few years now and I found that any monitor is very hard to see so I started hooking up to the video input on my sony handycam and found the viewfinder much better.
Like what was already said you have to be creative in stained water. Anything more than 20 feet and you again have visibility problems…the camera light will not extend very far.
I have a number of underwater videos on youtube….search videos by siscoken. I would put the links here but I keep forgetting how to do that and I am busy getting ready to go moose hunting.
Also I found that when you have a camera in the boat you don’t seem to do much fishing.
Ken
I saw this article too and was wondering how well it would work in the stained waters of the south. Generally speaking in my area you can only see about 3 feet down in the water in most cases. I think it would be a pretty interesting piece of gear if usable in this kinda water as it would be nice to get another perspective and see a little more detail than what the depth finder is showing me.
Thats very cool, exactly what I wanted to know. Looks like I need to add that to my arsenal. Would be good to take a day and spend checking out spots on the lake. The water I fish is pretty murky, usually can only see a couple feet down, thats my only concern! Thanks to all for the advice!Quote:
Originally Posted by siscoken
I just don't think it would work good in some of the black water in the south. CFQuote:
Originally Posted by LunaticFringeInc
TrueQuote:
Originally Posted by crappiefarmer
Stained water cuts the visability distance WAY down. I use mine to check out specific FF hits to see what the structure is... I have to drop it right in on top of it to see. One lake I fish has near gin clear water and I get about 16ft viewable distance.
Here is a video I made on Bay Springs Lake in Mississippi. We can see ok as long as the water is pretty clear. In this water I could see my jig down 4 foot deep.
Using Aqua-Vu | www.***************
I use it on Lake Michigan for lake perch, when I'm over a school put it down to the bottom to see if they are perch or gobies.
Do your homework and read the reviews and all the info you can on all the underwater cameras before you buy one. You get what you pay for. The cheep ones are not good.
I like the temp read out mine has. Put it down one time into a 30' brush pile with 92 degree surface temp. It was 65 degrees at the brush pile and loaded with crappie. Hard to see in bright sunshine.
Do you guys have the Aqua view, or other models. I have been looking at them all, Fish Tv makes a cheaper one, and Cabelas makes one as well. I guess its the same ol' "you get what you pay for"?
I have an Agua View, and it is a nice camera, IF you have the right color of water, hard to see much if the water is stained or has a lot of algie in it.
I have the Aqua View also. You might think the lake is clear but when you drop the camera down 15 or 20' the water is stained and you don't see far. It's a good tool to check out your brush and other places that you may be catching crappie at just to see what is holding the crappie.
I use an Aqua-Vu MC. Mainly as i stated earlier to ID structure and for the temp at depth.
I have the Aqua-Vu and they are nice to have but you don't see as much as you would think. Hard to tell what direction the camera is pointing and be carefull around structure. Hooked mine onto a submerged bridge and had to tie off to the cleat to break it. I would save the money that you were gonna spend on it and put it towards a SI unit.
I lucked into mine for $80....Quote:
Originally Posted by labsnslabs
I drop mine lens down and can see the structure coming up..... I use it as a spot camera always down so I know exactly where it's pointing.
That is what I would love to have, but a little (or a lot) out of the price range!Quote:
Originally Posted by labsnslabs
I have an Aqua view, I always had a fear of losing it in a snag, but if you pay attention you can usually keep the camera out of trouble. It is cool to see some "structure" suddenly appear out of the gloom and coming rushing up to you on the screen.
It is a tool and will help you understand your deepmeter better.