Underwater camera drag

[Bob Vanstone]

I bought a Aqua view camera last year and clipped it to my downrigger cable to watch fishHas anybody got any tricks figured out to fix the terrible drag back that happens when the underwater camera gets down past about 20 feet?

[walleyeal]

We have a catch cam camera and have been experiencing the same problem. With your aquaview, did you get the weight to attach to the fin? We have been thinking of getting weights like that to help keep it straight down. I'll be looking for answers from others that reply to your question also.

[Bob Vanstone]

Yeah, I got the weights but it didn't do much good.
I bought it just to troll with but , but now I realize it was a mistake.
I should have known better anyway.
I have a fish hawk 520 temperature probe, and I knew the cable on it also caused a lot of drag. The salesman who sold that camera to me told me that the aqua view was the one to get for trolling.
Maybe somebody else has it figured out. I'll just wait for other responses.

[James Morris]

Has anyone ever tried rigging one up behind a dipsey or jet diver to help take it down? Maybe use braided line an a short lead behind the dipsey to get it down quicker than your cranks and then try to position it so you can keep an eye on part of your spread?

Let me know if you try this, I'd like to know if it works (so in 10 years when I have a boat and camera I can forget what I told you and ask the same question)

Hope it works,

James

[Bill Johnson]

You can forget that idea of using a dipsey diver.
I have an aqua vu camera that we tried that with last spring.It was totally out of control.You can't see anything with it that way.While moving, the downrigger is the best solution, because it can hold heavy weights, but it's still not very handy.
The aqua vu is great when sitting still, ice fishing or anchored.
The problem when moving though is that the cable just has too much resistance.
The co-axial cable , combined with the downrigger cable pulls the whole rig too far back, no matter how much weight I use.
What is needed is a smaller co-axial cable.

[Good Guy]

the cord is the drag.

[Starfish]

Walker sells a system they call Strike-View that uses a special downrigger cable with their downriggers to send the camera signal, so you don't have the extra drag of a second cable. I'm interested to hear from any users to see how well it works and if anyone knows whether it can be added to an existing Walker downrigger, and whether it can be adapted to other units.

[Fishguy]

The fat cable is the problem. If your taking it down to 60 ft ya better clip it every 2-3 ft, or the cable is gonna go nuts. It's the only way , and don't expect to se miracles, If your relying on a camera to catch fish, your screwed.

[DPorter]

The unit Walker makes is called Strike Vision and can be seen at www.walkerdownriggers.com or www.strikevision.com
This unit has been on the market longer than aquavu, ovs, catch cam ,
Strike Vision system does solve most of the drag problem. Walker

designed a stainless steel downrigger cable that sends both power and video.(it has a tensile strength of 380 lbs.)
It is only .055" diameter. Compare that to sending down a .250 to.400" or larger coax cable "plus" another downrigger cable of about .034" to get other cameras down.
The drag is mostly caused by the extra surface area of these cables.
cable circumference of the strike vision cable is .055x pie(3.14)
equals.172 of an inch.
Even Aquavu's .250 cable x3.14 equals .785 added to anopther downrigger cable of .034 x 3.14 =.107 equals a total of .892 in the water.
.892 divided by .172 equals "5.18" so over 500% more drag for aqua vu than strike vision. A .40 coaxial cable setup would drag over 800% more.

[JellyBean]

I own a strike vision camera system.I agree drag from cables is the worst problems with most cameras, and that's why I bought that one,on recommendation from a charter skipper.
I looked at the other considerations too.
Like if you snag bottom it has a breakaway cable below the camera down to the ball. just like a fish hawk 840, so the camera isn't lost.(just the downrigger ball)although I've never lost one yet.
Also if you get a fish on, you just unplug the jack and flip the motor switch up.It brings the camera and cable up to the top and shuts itself off automaticly. I don't get cable all over the boat or get my lure and fish messed up in it.

[JellyBean]

Actually I got my Strike vision system new, but I know you can get it put on your Walker downrigger.I found that out after I had already bought mine.(I also already had Walker electrics)
They do a conversion at the walker service center in Michigan.
I'm not sure of that price, but I think it's around $500-600

[Dmorris]

Can it be installed on Big Jon electrics?

[AquaMan]

Hmmm, this is what I have been talking about in terms of revolutionalry differences in technology applications. The next logical big change in underwater cameras will be wireless. That will truely separate the men from the boys.


AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.·´¯° --- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[JellyBean]

Wireless sounds great, but how would you get the camera down 100 feet without a cable.
The .o55" dia. cable on Strike Vision is 380 lb. test and I probably wouldn't want my camera entrusted to a cable of less strength anyway.