Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson has been using underwater cameras for several years to aid in pre-fishing, general scouting, learning, and good old fun. He walks through his slick mounting system and how to deploy the camera for fast on-the-fly inventorying of the bottom for fish and other insights that help him establish patterns.
CAMERA SETUP AND GEAR
- UNDERWATER CAMERA – Aqua-Vu HD7i-125 Gen2 Underwater Camera
- MONITOR MOUNT – T-H Marine KVD KONG Mini Extreme Electronics Mount, 5” Model No. SKLK-LAST-DP
- POLE ADAPTER – Aqua-Vu XD Series Telescopic Pole Adaptor
While today’s advanced sonar technologies teach us a whole lot, there’s nothing quite like seeing with the naked eye. One of the key benefits for Gussy is species identification — you’ll be surprised how often the fish you see on sonar isn’t the target species. Pack up and move on. Likewise, seeing the “right species” and what they’re relating to allows you to associate to your fish finder — this, in turn, can help establish patterns others are missing.
And then there’s just the play fun of exploring. You learn a lot by observing fish, and it’s a ton of fun too. Many a guide days have been salvaged by kids taking to the camera and exploring the aquarium below from boats, docks, and shorelines alike. Convenient portable camera carrying cases and pole adapters let you quickly mount the camera to a pole to check out what lurks under the dock or in the laydown or brush pile.
