Outdoor recreation has been my passion down through the years. Not only do I enjoy fishing and hunting, but I also enjoy watching wildlife. Most of the time when I”m out on Clear Lake I”ll put down my rod and reel and just watch the abundant bird life.
The one thing that has been missing in that time is the ability to observe fish in the lake. Sure, I have seen bass on their spawning beds in the spring and even the occasional fish beneath a dock. Most of the times it”s just a quick glimpse or two before the fish swims away, but that all changed last week when the underwater video camera I purchased arrived. It opened up a whole new world for me and the best part is it only cost $100. A good fishing rod costs more than that.
Underwater cameras have been around for years, however, until recently they provided a poor picture of objects unless the water was crystal clear. New technology has changed that considerably. The new cameras are equipped with infrared, which allows much better clarity.
I first took my camera to the Indian Beach Resort in Glenhaven on Saturday. I knew that the docks at the resort held a good number of bass, crappie and bluegill and I felt it was the ideal location to try out my new toy. Tony Benevento and Ken Taddie own the resort and are good friends of mine. They told me the fishing had been poor recently and, in fact, their guests hadn”t caught a fish from the docks in at least two days. I lowered the camera and lo and behold there were bass swimming around. One bass swam right up to the camera and nosed it. A moment later five bass could be seen swimming near the camera. What was even more surprising is that we even saw some crappie. A crappie hasn”t been caught off the docks in more than two months.
Taddie put a live minnow on a hook and lowered it right down to the bass. They just ignored it. Within moments the resort”s guests came out on the dock and I soon had a small crowd around me. They were astounded that bass were swimming around the camera yet they couldn”t catch them. Benevento said he was going to order one of the cameras immediately so that his guests could view the fish.
The other advantage of using the camera is you get to see all the rocks, plants and other things that are on the bottom of the lake. You will be amazed what is down there. Beer cans, lawn chairs and shopping carts are only a few of the items that have been dumped into the lake down through the years. In fact, I lowered the camera off a dock at Library Park and there was a sandbag resting on the bottom with three fishing lures stuck into the burlap.
Most of the modern bass boats are equipped with the latest in electronics and they include fish finders costing as much as $3,000. The $100 underwater camera is not meant to replace the fish finder, but while I like the fish finders they only show a blip for a fish, not the actual creature itself. The camera allows you to see the fish and even identify it.
Of course, the downside of using the camera is you will forget to fish and will just watch the bass and other species, but that”s the fun about being out on the lake. I did some experimenting and found I could see about 6 feet horizontally, which will cover most of the docks. It is also ideal for checking out rockpiles and ledges. The unit comes with a 12-volt rechargeable battery and weighs about 15 pounds. There is a 50-foot coaxial cable that links the camera to the monitor, which means you can lower the camera to the bottom at just about any location on Clear Lake. The monitor”s screen is only 5 inches, which is a bit small but still large enough to clearly see the fish.
There are two lakes in the county where I want to try out the camera and they are Upper Blue Lake and Indian valley Reservoir. Both are very clear, which should make for ideal conditions to view the bass.
