Underwater Cameras

[bobby b.]

There was a short segment on underwater cameras today on MFL fishing.  It got me thinking about this again as I was fishing up the James around Piney last week.  I had marked fish near the bottom at 20 fow in a stand of trees but they would not bite, and I tried a variety of baits.  I even tried nightcrawlers.  I did get one nice Spot and a channel cat.  I stayed there for an hour thinking that a favorable solar lunar period at 11 am or so might improve things but nope.  I would have liked to have known what those fish were.  I remember Bill B.  talk about Pete W.  using a camera noting gizzard shad.  I looked back at some old post here as well.

So the question - What is your experience with these cameras, if any?  I would like to buy a cheaper one of these - not really wanting to spend too much as I already have lots invested in boat electronics. Can you tell species at 20 fow particularly in the clearer water of the White?

I was looking at the Aqua - Vu AV715C. - $350 on Amazon.  Any experience with that unit?

Thanks

Bobby

[Quillback]

I've heard that visibility is a problem, especially deeper.  

[vernon]

I've got an older Aqua-Vu - not sure what model but probably ten years old or so.  I haven't used it in quite awhile but it worked great when I did.

Was on a secondary point in Big Indian one boring afternoon and dropped the camera down in about twenty feet of water among the stickups.  Drifted around for a few minutes and saw a nice Kentucky just off the bottom.  Dropped a centipede straight down the camera cable and watched her inhale it.  

Set the hook and brought her to the boat!  

Most importantly I never felt a thing and the line was tight and vertical.

Also used it to find crappie in brush piles off and on.

It has infrared lights on the camera which work great in deeper water.  In fact most of the time in clear water with decent light the monitor picture is in color.

The downside is the wires and cables are a bit of a nuisance and the batteries are heavy and attached to the monitor and kind of a pain to maneuver around the boat.  Then every time you decide to move you have to wind all that crap back up and stash it away until you start over again.

But they're pretty cool if you don't mind the hassle and I would imagine the newer models have addressed some of those issues.

Might have to see if I can find mine since there's not much else to do in the dreaded month of September!

[Dutch]

I bought an Aqua view a few years ago.  It cost over $600 which I thought would make it a nice piece of equipment.  All it did was frustrate me.  I gave it to the kids to use on their boat dock at CP.

[Bill Babler]

Had a client drop a Falcon spinning rod with a Shimano Stella overboard off point 1. I immediately hit my gps and marked the location.  

With the help of a good friend and a free diver we found it within an hour using the Aqua Vu camera. It was hung in a tree  27 feet deep over about 40’. We could see it on the tree with the camera clear as a bell, but it took the diver quite a few tries to locate it. Water was super clear. 

That camera saved the client a cool grand as the diver would not have found it hung in that tree. 

 

[bobby b.]

 

1 hour ago, Bill Babler said:

Aqua Vu camera.

Bill. Do you know what model that was?

[Bill Babler]

Bobby, it was an older unit. I also borrowed it one time to look at fish under our dock. 

I’ve told this story before. There were 2 big walleye and a bunch of spots. We would drop live crawlers and they would just swim away from them. I think we dropped an entire 24 box and the crawlers were squirming around in the bottom and not a single fish touched them. 

We also dropped several crayfish but they would swim out of view so I don’t know if they were eaten or not. 
 

 

[bobby b.]

I bought and received today the Aqua Vu Revolution 5.0 (not the Pro version) from Aqua Vu, refurbished with a 1 year warranty for $200.  I took it to my dock today in North Indian (pretty clear water) and dropped it in 18 fow - I could clearly see the fish species, so I am pleased with this purchase - it may help me understand fishing some particularly when the Garmin shows lots of fish but the bite is slow.  

[m&m]

Bobby, it will be interesting to see if the process of seeing fish on the electronics, confirming they are bass with the camera converts to an increased catch rate with your lure. 
good luck,

Mike

[bfishn]

Yeah, and realizing that school of bass you couldn't buy a bite in was really big gizzard shad is helpful too.