UNDERWATER CAMERAS

[DMASSE]

Hello

 

Was thinking of getting a underwater camera, I seen tons of pics and was wondering if anyone use them, what do you think, and what brand...

 

I am lucky I can order at wholesale $$$ (perks of working at a fishing store lol)

 

I seen FISH TV, AQUA VIEW, others I cant remember

 

Any feed back would be appreciated

 

 

Dave

[Big Cliff]

Can't speak for any of the other brands but I have the Aqua-View Scout and love it. Up until now I haven't used it as much as I should have but this spring I am going to build a mount for it in my boat and will be using it much more often.

[sonny]

I also have the aqua view,,,and love it,,,not only to see if there is fish down there but also to see structure...and alot of fun,,,you just have to watch out ya don't start looking at the camera more then your fishing!

[duber]

I use the aqua-view scout with the infared lighting.It works great till it starts to get dark then you can't see crap.My buddies camera has the "spectral response lighting" and works much better at night or in low light conditions.

 

If I was to buy a new camera it would be the quad 360.The 360 eliminates the camera positioning problem and it has the good lighting system.

 

 

 

This said , any camera is better than no camera.

[myst]

Do these things really work well? A lot of the people I've talked to say you need good water clarity otherwise you can't see much.

[gekhunter]

Tried the Aqua-vu scout. Was great but a lot of glare outside so have to have face right up to machine, unlike sonar/vex, so it prevents you from fishing while you view which makes it a bit of a time waster.

 

However, it is lots of fun and really useful to see structure and fish.

 

Would recommend quad so don't have to spend time turning the camera.

 

Hopefully prices start coming down on these units.

[TJQ]

All of my videos are done using and OLD aqua view....

 

 

http://www.ontariofishingreels.com

[tbayboy]

I picked up the Fish TV when BPS had it on for $99 after Christmas figuring even if I only used it a few times it wasn't too much cash and I gotta say its a load of fun and it does help with the perch fishing on Simcoe. Being able to see the little buggers come in and get ready and know when your minnow is gone or when they've got it fully in their mouth definitely helps bring in a few more fish (though we're talking simcoe perch on the ice - not exactly rocket science to begin with). So far I've only used it on simcoe for perching but that was really all I was thinking of at the time but now I can't wait to try it in the summer and see how it handles other types of water.

 

Problem with the unit: The lighting on it is kinda iffy - I can see my wee perch jigs from about 6 feet away on average I'd say if that helps and trying to find your lure is a pain at times - you don't want the camera too close as the fish tend to wrap around the camera cable (learned that the hard way) so you end up walking over, spinning the camera til you see your bait then go back to your chair then realize it was still spinning a bit etc etc. A quad camera would certainly help but since its $500 US retail I can live with keeping $400 and spinning the cable every now and then (you can get a remote pod controller but its $150 US so again - more than the camera for cheap SOBs like me).

 

The only thing I wish the fishTV did that I would have spent an extra couple bucks on was the video capture - I'd have loved to have gotten film from last week when a pike slammed into the school of perch we were on - that was just dangg cool and paid for the unit right there.

 

Anyhow, hope that helps. If you ever want to see it in action drop me a line and we can hook up on Simcoe one of these days (or where ever)

 

Sean

[ccmtcanada]

Ohhh...video cameras....

 

I was going to tell you to ask Wayne...lots of his cameras are underwater right now!!!

[dsn]

I heard some you can record the footage under water. Don't know much about them but I have seen the Aqua View in operation last year in 70 feet of water. We were fishing with hanks Huts and they showed us the under water footage on 70 feet of water. It was extremely clear and dark til he turned on the lights then we seen things like water fleas and other bugs that reflected back the light into the camera. We also saw the muddy bottom but didn't see any fish altho they did swim by the area often. He said sometimes the light will even bring the fish in.

 

dsn

[fishermccann]

I also have a Quad aqua -view , got it for Christmas. Used twice ,once on Simcoe in 22ft. of water for perch and on Scugog in 12ft. for Craps and Pics. In simcoe we would look down the big hole and see nothing and look into the camera and see a couple hundred fish under us that we could not see from above. On Scugog the best thing about it was that we could see if we were fishing in the weeds and how thick they were . The Quad does help as you can see about a 8 ft. circle around the whole camera. The camera is square on the Quad360 and does not look like a fish. It did not scare the fish as they would come up to it and bump into it with thier noses or as my friends say "give you the fin ". The only problem with the Quad is that the battery only lasts 4 hrs. even less if you use the lights( which work very well and do not scare the fish by the way) . On simcoe we would watch perch that would pick up a minnow on a jig and spit it out without moving a very sensitive rod tip, without the camera you would not even know the fish was there. I am going out to deep water on Simcoe Fri. I will let you know how it works on those nasty whitefish that keep stealing my minnows.........

[Terry]

I have a scout with 100' of cable I use it a lot

I love it I also have the record, but I am having problems with it, so I bought a personal recorder/camera video camera as cheap as the recorder and it give you a second screen to watch that can be viewed in daylight

here is one of my recording

 

 

 

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name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[wallyboss]

I have a cheap Marcum it is great you will set the hook and won't even look at your rod tip any more. But consider getting one like the quad or the 360 from Marcum cause you will tire very quickly of readjusting.

[bigdaddydb]

I had the AA one from Cabelas last year and it sucked!...never saw a fish used it for 2mos in the spring and returned it. A lot of reservoirs down here in ohio are pretty murky and you could only see about 2 ft. I went out on a limb and bought an Aqua Vu ZT for $170 USD shipped off ebay. It's the older one with the 4" screen and the long plastic viewing shroud but it was brand new in box. Used it ice fishing down here and it worked great. The fish cam with the spectral lights is much better than the Cabelas one. Watched a bluegill sip in my ice jig after kissing the camera...COOLEST THING EVER!!!...out of curiosity...what kind of prices do you get...just trying to find out how bad I got ripped!

[fishermccann]

A new quad Aqua -view is 499 plus tax. Got mine 2 yrs. old for 200 what a deal!

[walleyeden]

aqua view works great, But if cable is longer than 50 feet, get the hand reel