How to Use Your Underwater Fishing Camera to Catch More Fish Strategically

Like most technology, the underwater fishing camera was once regarded as a thing of the future. An exciting thing about living in such a technologically rich society is how technological progress affects not only our professional worlds, but also how it changes our recreation. The underwater fishing camera is an excellent illustration of how a very simple, very traditional sport is bound to undergo a remarkable shift in practice. Granted, it won't instantly make you a better fisherman, but it certainly can help your odds!  It's a simple enough device, but it does demand a bit of explanation. 

The system is comprised of 3 parts:

-Camera: responsible for, well, 'looking' underwater.

-Cable: the medium through which the video signal from the camera travels

-Monitor: displays what's under the water! It's what shows you all the creatures. 

Whether you're thinking about buying one, or you've just picked on up, keep in mind that your underwater fishing camera gives you an enormous advantage over other fishermen for a variety of reasons, and allows you to approach your day on the lake with a tremendous edge that goes beyond just looking underwater, catching what's down there, and showing off your fancy new gadget . The strategic advantages now at your disposal will not only help you catch more fish with greater speed and efficiency, but will also provide you valuable information allowing you to fish more strategically in ways that mere sonar can't illustrate!

Assume that you've procured one of these new underwater cameras, and you're at the lake eager to try it out, but want to maximize your time fishing. When you're out on the water or dock or pier, observe and make a note of the following:

-Time of day

-Time of year

-Temperature

-Direction of sunlight

-Number of other anglers in the area (if any)

-Wind velocity and direction

Once you've made note of these things, keep it in mind once you collect a bit more information. Integrating the above details with a few more data will paint quite a picture of how fish behave, when, and why. 

Minding the instruction manual and operating it according to manufacturer suggestion, drop the camera and begin monitoring underwater activity. When you come across a school of fish that you may be interested in catching, observe the following:

-Are they actively pursuing prey? Or are they lethargic?

-What are they feeding on? How does the prey behave?

-Is the water murky or clear?

-Where, in relation to the surface, are they? Deep water? Shallow water

-Are they easily spooked by movement?

-What kind of fish are you observing?

-What are the fish using for cover? Weeds, tree branches, rock piles?

Collecting this kind of information and integrating it with the environmental factors mentioned above will give you helpful insight into how the fish will respond in given environments. Once you identify what the fish are feeding on and how it behaves, you can then easily make an informed decision as to what to use to generate strikes. It's worth a bit of experimentation to rule out which of your lures don't work, assuming you can configure your camera in a way that allows you to monitor fish response once your bait is deployed. 

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how such a simple device can become such an asset. And even though most purists will scoff at the application of an underwater camera to act as a fishing aid, remember that once you learn a few basics about fish behavior and tendency, it's possible to put those principles into practice without relying on technology.