under water fishing camra

[fearfish]

I bought a under water fishing camera from Cabelas and used it once at porky pine and I couldn't see much and I'm wondering if I mabey a mistake dos any one think that water will clear up during ice seasons I havent tryed it any where eles but I was hopein that it mite work better in winter thinkin that water is a littler clearer
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[GEEZER]

Water clarity REALLY affects the capability of those cameras. And, yes, the water does usually clear up some once the ice forms.
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[RonPaulFan]

You just won't see far into the distance like we clearly see to the horizon above water, so that difference might come as a surprise for first time experiences with underwater cameras. I grew up with scuba diving, so I knew what to expect.

With the wide angle view of underwater cameras, anything very far away would be so tiny it is effectively out of range anyway even where water is extraordinarily clear.

Last season, while ice fishing, I did enjoy examining structure and submerged trees with good water clarity. Fish in the distance appear very small. I set up the camera in one hole and fish another hole only four feet away using my MarCum LX-9.

I suspect greater under ice clarity with wind shielded by ice to greatly limit currents and the cold water with less oxygen has the fish that stir up silt from the bottom being less active, too.
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[CoyoteSpinner]

If it's like mine - the cheap one with the B&W CRT - I've found it's pretty worthless in the sun. Only used it ice-fishing, and mostly to drop right to the bottom, rarely anything but just a bit up.
My first attempt - I did find fiddling with the gain/light/brightness helped sharpen up a better picture.

But visibility is not far, as Ron attests.

Haven't tried using it from the boat, though there are some spots where I've wanted to drop one down, see what's showing on the finder, yet ignoring me!

[Kent]

The water does clear up substantially during the winter. I can see about a 2' now at Strawberry, but during the winter I can see about 8'.
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[ChubbyChaser]

I had the cabelas cam and ended up selling it. It wasn't nearly as cool as I had hoped, any sunlight made it impossible to see, you never knew which direction the camera was pointing, and it was heavy and cumbersome and not worth fidgeting with while fishing. I did take it to fishlake once and was able to watch a few splake swim by but it still wasnt worth the hassle. I still say a good sonar unit is much more worth the money.
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[OCF]

I have the Marcum LX-8 (??) with the panner. You can tell which direction the camera is pointing & you can rotate 360 degrees. I think you can see at least 15 feet off into the distance in clear water & on a sunny day. It is a lot of fun and your catch rate will increase - there are a lot of bites that you never feel.

Here is a link to a video we took a couple of years back at Starvation and the water was very cloudy. I think you can see 5 to 6 feet off into the distance.

http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...78;#711078
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[Laroo]

I also have a Cabelas black and white camera, I bought it with a gift card from work on a screaming good deal. Like others have said it doesn't work well in sunlight and can be a pain to get pointed in the right direction. I solved that problem by getting a camera compass ( I think Marcum sells them) then I just drop a white rope down the hole so that I can see it as I rotate the camera. It does work well enough that it convinced me to spend the money on a top shelf model. I now also have the Vexilar double vision, the camera and my flasher in one unit. It is color and tells the direction,depth and temp on the screen. I used to think a camera was just a novelty, but after using it in conjunction with a flasher it can make a huge difference. Not to mention it's just plain entertaining.
And yes water clarity will make a big difference, and most waters do clean up a bit in the winter.
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[fearfish]

I the pro hunt I think it has a 7 in screen it has a colored screen on it it also hase 5 foot increments on it I was worried about the the fish bein to heavy and direction of the fish so I was thinkin of spider wire tied to the tail of it to beable to point it up and down to and hopen to turn it 360 degrees
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