FishSpy Underwater Camera

A twitch on the bobbin, a single bleep from the alarm, we’ve all wondered (had sleepless nights even) at what has caused these occurrences. Have I been done? Is my rig sat okay? Have the fish cleaned me out? Am I even fishing the right spot? Spend any amount of time fishing for carp and these niggling questions of doubt will eventually creep into mind at some point. Fortunately for your angling sanity at least, any element of the ‘unknown’ or ‘myth’ is generally exposed by science or tech in the end, which is exactly what’s happened with this latest gadget-like piece of kit to hit the tackle shops: The FishSpy Underwater Camera

Above water, it’ll stream live footage to your smartphone/tablet…

The big questions

I’ve heard about FishSpy, but what the hell is it?
To look at, FishSpy is similar in appearance to a marker float: aerodynamic with a camo green body and a brightly finned interchangeable top (orange, yellow or black) for sight at range and/or varying light conditions. But it’s the gubbins housed within the body that are the really special part, namely the professional quality camera that can transmit live underwater footage back to your smartphone or tablet.

Wow. That sounds amazeballs, but let me guess, I’ll need a top-end iPhone and a good signal to use it?
The great answer to that is no, you needn’t worry about either. FishSpy generates its own WiFi signal that will transmit to any Android or iOS phone or tablet. All you need to do is download the free FishSpy app and enable the WiFi on your phone/tablet device, so there’s no need to worry about phone signal, internet connection or charges.
The app also gives you a stack of recording and playback options, such as marking key moments and sharing your footage.

…Below, where the WiFi won’t work, it’ll simply record it for you

Hang on: I didn’t think WiFi could work underwater…
Well, you’re right, it doesn’t, which you’d think would be a major drawback for the FishSpy once submerged, but it’s a problem overcome by the fact that FishSpy continues to record when the WiFi signal is broken. It then transmits saved footage once it resurfaces and reconnects automatically. Although ordinarily you’ll be streaming live footage with the FishSpy at the surface with the perfect camera view of everything that lies beneath, including moving fish. The need to use the FishSpy submerged in the lower levels or at the bottom only really comes when deep or murky water is encountered.

As we’ve said, it’s not an issue as the camera keeps recording, in fact, an internal hard disc allows you to record up to 7hrs of footage. Even the battery is pretty impressive – providing up to four hours use and only taking three hours to charge from any USB connection including small, mobile power packs, the type of which you’d use to charge your phone on the bank.

Dave Lane is a huge fan of the FishSpy

All sounds very good, but can it really help my fishing?
Absolutely! Location, perhaps the most important aspect of your approach, is made so much easier, simply because you can see exactly what is on the lakebed.

Holes in the weed, silt spots and the type of spots that would just go unnoticed if you couldn’t actually see them. What’s more, when you do cast to the float you can see exactly how your rig and hookbait are actually positioned – all
the guesswork is removed.

Well, I often wonder about my rig and sometimes struggle to find spots in weed so this does sounds good. Anything else I should know?
Just a few things. Firstly, when you purchase your FishSpy you will also find some other items included in the box: a USB cable, a foamy ring that adds buoyancy helping the float hit the surface at distance or in weed and a FishSpy boom used to set-up the float on a running line just like a standard marker float. FishSpy then also strongly recommends using 50lb braided main line in conjunction with the boom provided.

So is it actually possible to film the fish?
FishSpy’s tag line is: “See What You’re Missing” and this truly sums up the possibilities and vision of the product. If you checkout the FishSpy website, you’ll find some really mind-opening videos, as well as tutorials. Some of the footage is quite simply amazing – clearly showing just how much extra information can be gathered, including footage of fish feeding below the float.

“GIMME”: £129.95; fishspy.com