underwater cameras

[abbatoys]

Anyone use a underwater camera for ice fishing? I am interested in one, but the cabelas brand hasnt got very good reviews, and I have read a bit about people putting together their own combos with color monitors. Any recommendations.?Thanks, Scott

[lovtofish]

Had mine for three seasons and love it!!!

[combsey]

i have the cabelas 360 camera   the good; works good in clear water and is good when looking to see how the fish will react to different things  the bad; if the water is murky you are not going to see a thing  you have to keep out of the sunlight because of the glare   all in all i like it and use it on the dead sea and lake george in ny and it keeps us entertained when the fish aren't bitting

[stephensonswille]

just got a cabelas for xmas i love it its fun to watch the fish even if theyre not biting

[esox_magnum]

Had an Aqua Vu, gave it away after byuing a Marcum 820, IMO best cameras out there say Marcum on them.

[bigmike7272]

i got a cabela's i love it once you figure out how to fine tune it you can see in just about any kind of water.

[BlueDuck]

The last time I was out I talked to another guy who had one.  He let me look at it and I was impressed.  He had a Fish TV.  What I liked about it beside seeing fish was that you got a good look at the bottom.  You can see whatever structure is there.   I could find a  spot in my shelter for one of those.

[DRR324]

I got the cabelas 7" ice combo for xmas, and really enjoy it.  I can tell the mood of the fish by watching reactions to my bait movements, etc.  It has made my fishing more enjoyable, and the kids just love watching it.

[hnd]

i watched some footage of underwater marcum cameras and i must say they seem to be the best.

[geothefisher]

I love my FishTV!  I use it all year.  It works side by side with flasher.  The flasher shows the fish, but the camera shows you what kind and how they are reacting to my presentation.

[The Slabnator]

I love cameras and use them more then flashers in many situations. I've been very happy with the Aqua-Vu systems I've owned and heard they are now under new ownership and will be coming out with new products next season. I will be interested to see what come out with.

Slab

[PikeSticker]

With respect to COLOR, save your money if you get a camera. Water, as everyone knows, absorbs the colors of the spectrum as you go deeper. Reds are the first to go very shallow, yellows make it down 15 feet and by 30 feet the only thing reaching that depth and beyond is the blue spectrum. So color is pretty useless. Murky cloudy water will also kill the colors. B&W monitors are very sharp and show great detail. Stay away from LCD (pixel) type monitor/camera systems. You have much better resolution with a CRT.

I run the original Aqua Vu Scout with 50 feet of cable....a limitation when I want to fish lake trout at 100 feet so you might keep that in mind. (I've got an industrial cam good for 250 feet for lakers and halibut.) Most entry levels start with 50-60 feet of cable. Better models have longer reach for more $$. The very nice thing about my Aqua Vu system is the monitor has a "video out" RCA jack to connect my video camera and record everything going on. It also has a "video in" RCA jack that allows me to playback video from my camcorder on the monitor screen. Really a well thought out design. Many other brands don't have the ability for you to record your UW camera signal so if you want to do Youtube stuff be sure to check whether you can record to a camcorder.   Coincidently I just spoke with Kelly today at Nature Vision while ordering a spare part and asked about any plans for color. She said its not on the front burner at this time since the lack of colors underwater becomes a disappointment to those who expect something like a National Geographic UW special.   

[walleye tattoo]

Question I bought a Cabelas seven inch and my question is are there supposed to be lights on if so how do you turn them on .
Thanks Bob.

[PikeSticker]

Question I bought a Cabelas seven inch and my question is are there supposed to be lights on if so how do you turn them on .
Thanks Bob.

I looked over the pics of the Cabelas 7" and on your monitor you have a dial adjustment called DIMMER. That is the brightness/intensity control for the Infrared lights built into the camera housing. I don't see an ON/OFF switch for them like the Aqua Vu so perhaps turning the Dimmer dial all the way to the left will turn off the lights so you don't burn extra battery power when not needed. InfraRed lights are invisible to the human eye so you won't "see" them directly. Power up your camera in the house, turn off the lights in the room and rotate the dimmer control while pointing the camera at a white wall. You will see a "spotlight" on the monitor. The effective range is very limited so their value is too.  Most of the time you won't need the lights as these cameras are extremely Low Light capable. But I've seen night videos on Youtube of catfish, walleye and sturgeon whose eyes will reflect the light back to the camera so you can see them, like a deer or dog's eyes in the headlights of your car. I guess with those species the light, while fishing at night, might be helpful.

[stephensonswille]

i have the cabelas 5.5 theres a button that says led that the on off switch for infared and the dimmer adjusts the intensity and distance for the infared.

[flukeman]

I have a FishTV and love it. It will never replace my Vex, but its a great tool.

[BlueDuck]

I love my FishTV!  I use it all year.  It works side by side with flasher.  The flasher shows the fish, but the camera shows you what kind and how they are reacting to my presentation.

For use in other than a shanty how do you keep the screen dark enough to see whats on it?  Seems like you would need a hood or something.   Inquiring minds want to know...

[smitty0312]

For use in other than a shanty how do you keep the screen dark enough to see whats on it?  Seems like you would need a hood or something.   Inquiring minds want to know...

I made this.

[iceburg911]

fish tv works like a champ pike love the fish look alike also had one try to eat it