Open water and underwater cameras

[GenzisGod]

Just curious if a lot of people use underwater cameras on the open water. If so, I was wondering how everyone uses them. Do you pull them a long under the water or do you only use them when you are drifting or stopped? If you are pulling them along, is this hard on the cable connections? Does anyone have any kind of rig made up for pulling these underwater? Will be buying camera for the opener and just looking for any useful information that I can receive. Thanks in advance for your answers.

[gunflint]

I use mine mostly for looking at structure and that type of thing. It's very difficult to fish in a moving boat with a camera.

[anchor man]

Many of the cameras are equiped to be pulled beneath a moving boat. They often come with fins to stabilize the camera while moving and weights to attach to the camera to keep it as vertical as possible while moving. I have the Aqua View Scout and the manual even mentions that bumping into rocks and logs on the bottom is not going to damage the camera. I've found that a slow trolling speed is about the fastest I can go before the camera starts to raise up off the bottom and becomes less effective.

have fun

[Deitz Dittrich]

I use my Aqua-vu more in the open water than I do in the frozen times of the year. They are great for seeing how fish are relating to structure, the species they are once you see them on the depthfinder.. and to see if there are fish mixed in with weeds. I have never even tried to fish while having the camera down.. but it has deffinatly helped me catch more fish. And bigger fish!

[GenzisGod]

Thanks for the input. My thoughts were to use the camera once I was on my spot to fine tune my location. If I were to buy the scout, is there any way to know which direction the camera is actually looking when you are down in the deeper depths?

[anchor man]

The scout doesn't have any direction showing features, but once you're on a spot, if you slowly move forward the camera will turn and always be facing forward, so you'll know which way it's looking. Also, you could drop down a larger sinking lure on one side of the boat and your camera on the other side of the boat. When you camera is viewing the lure, you'll know which way it's facing. Not a real scientific way, but it's better than guessing

[Deitz Dittrich]

As ancher dude said... If the boat is moving at all the camerar will be facing the direction that the boat is going. If you are anchored then no, there is not a way of knowing...

TIP:.. when viewing with an Aqua-Vu over the edge of the boat.. always have a bouy ready in one hand... When you see a decent school of fish throw the bouy... that way you know where they are and can then fine tune your presentation to catch them.

This is how I learned confidence in deep water bass fishing. I have a lot more confidnece catching a fish if I know its there, just a matter of me using a presentation to get them to bite....

Another story.. I was on Cass lake once trolling lindy rigs in an area with quite a few other boats.. marking fish like crazy on the finder.. getting distressed with no bites.. drop the Aqua-Vu down.. ALL Larger SU CKERS.. Another huge advatage of the VU!

[Crestliner-fever]

I have aqua-view & I have tried to use it for ice fishin also this spring for crappie beds & you just can't get a clear picture.--the only good thing was when we went to the big pond I used it on my 13 inch tv, to get really MAD(other words but they won't let them on ) watching the perch & white tips other wise there not worth a 2 cents

[Deitz Dittrich]

Crest-I'm really sorry you do not like your Vu- I can honestly say I have not had the problem you describe. My picture is quite clear!

[gunflint]

I had a problem with mine last winter. It would short out and blow the fuse every time I turned it on. I sent it back to the factory and they replaced everything but the monitor free of charge. I've always had a very good picture and I really like the temperature feature.

In fact I'm going out with it tomorrow to do a little scouting.

[LocalGuide]

I use my underwater camera more for open water than I do for ice fishing too. Even though I fish more in open water, but overall I bet its about the same.

I use my mainly for scouting. See what it looks like and if any fish are in the area.

I like to throw the camera out take a look, if its good I'll throw a marker or if its small enough I'll just make a mental note of it.

Mine works good, I like it. I have a MC2X 120' and this fall I hope to up-grade to a OVS 560, that would be nice.

[Mark Christianson]

I use mine a lot in open water.

The only thing is that if its windy, it stinks because you are bouncing up and down, so the camera below the water is bouncing up and down. Sure you can "buffer" the movement of the camera below by using your arms, but its still a pain.

[anchor man]

I had my aqua vu scout out for the first time in open water last weekend and even with the sun shade out, If was a bit tough to see the screen due to the glare. I had to almost try and position the screen facing towards the floor of the boat to avoid reflections from the sky. Do any other Scout owners have any tips to reduce the glare??