Cams - IR or LED

[Knife2sharp]

I have a Marcum VS485c camera w/LED lighting. It's been a great camera, but considering one of the HD 1080P ones w/HDMI video output.

I noticed, while the light is on, fish are spooked and plankton are drawn to it, like a magnet. Are the IR lights on Aqua Vus any better?

I was also thinking of putting a red filter over the lights. I have red translucent wrapping paper, that's like a mylar. I took a piece, folded over a few times and tested it out in the house. It barely defuses the light, but they're red when you look at it.

[Gunflint]

My AquaVu has infrared but I never use them. When it gets too dark to see with the camera w/o lights I put it away. I don't think the light scare the fish but you have a hard time seeing anything beyond the plankton.

I heard that there is a high-intensity infrared light coming out for the AquaVu that will hang 2 feet below the camera. That should be better.

[Knife2sharp]

Maybe its certain species.  I wasn't using it too late into the night, but after the sun went down, while I could still see, I turned the light on while a walleye was nearby and he quickly turned and swam away.  I had left the light on for a while to see if it would come back, or if any others may show up and they didn't.  I also thought the light might attract fish after being on for a while, and maybe there was fish in the vicinity and I just couldn't see them.  What was odd, is, I was seeing walleyes around, morning through dusk, expecting them to bite after dark, but never had one bite.  A few times, one would come in to investigate, or gently mouth or kiss my minnow.  I ended up pulling the camera out after dark, but was curious if IR was a less distracting light, especially for walleye.  But before I drop any coin, I think I'm going to try the red filter hack on my current cam next year. 

[bearnoob]

My buddy has an aqua vu that we played around with last year a lot when it was new. The IR did not seem to spook the fish we found after dark. However, you could barely see the fish for the plankton. It was tough to tell just how far we could see, but I would guess roughly 6 inches in front of the camera. Not sure how that compares to the distance you get with the LED, but hope that helps.

[Doeslayer]

Walleyes eyes are very sensitive to light.... You essentially turned a flashlight on in his face

[Gunflint]

My buddy has an aqua vu that we played around with last year a lot when it was new. The IR did not seem to spook the fish we found after dark. However, you could barely see the fish for the plankton. It was tough to tell just how far we could see, but I would guess roughly 6 inches in front of the camera. Not sure how that compares to the distance you get with the LED, but hope that helps.

X2

[ice dawg]

IR.

[prospector]

https://youtu.be/RkMAQJrWr44

[aquarium234]

stick a led light stick down a hole out side of your shack, it will provide enough light to allow you to see with your camera at night with out having the plankton cloud. you want to fish on the edge of the light anyway, fish come in to eat the plankton but bite on the edge of the light zone.

[sra61]

We've been using green lights with good results for crappie at night, but when we use a white light it seems like they stay away. I have a couple of Marcum cameras but they have the white light. So I got a AV 5.0 Micro to see if that IR will show them at night. They are big slabs and I would really like to see what they look like on the camera.