Underwater fishing cameras and drones give anglers a glimpse into the underwater world and can be incredibly valuable tools not only to find fish but to also see what underwater structure, vegetation, or bait is in the area.
Using these underwater cameras will give you an edge and, more importantly, help you understand the water you are fishing by giving you important details to work with. They are also great for ice fishing.
The Wizard has an amazing high-quality camera featuring a fully integrated 4K UHD camera that can also take 12MP Still Photos and a burst mode that shoots up to 5 frames per second.
The GoFish lets you film your lure presentation at any depth. Whether casting or trolling, you can record all videos of any fishing following or eating your bait.
Aqua-Vu has been one of the pioneers in terms of underwater cameras in the fishing industry and the first name that comes to mind of the company that really started it all.
In this article, we are going to look at three different types of underwater cameras on the market, how each type works, their pros and cons, and what features you see in the best underwater fishing camera models.
- Eyoyo Underwater Fishing Video Camera with Carry Case
- Marcum RC5P Recon 5 Plus Underwater Camera Viewing System
- Aqua-Vu AV715c Underwater Camera 7-Inch Color LCD Screen
- Lucky FL180PR Underwater Camera
- Eco Popper Underwater Camera
- GoFish Cam Wireless Underwater Fishing Camera
- Spydro Underwater Fishing Camera
- Olymbros Fishing Camera
- PowerVision Powerray Wizard Underwater Drone
Best Underwater Fishing Camera: Top Models Reviewed
Best Underwater Fishing Camera (With Monitor)
Underwater fishing cameras that feature monitors are great in many fishing situations where you want to see what’s going on below the surface.
Ice fishing is a prime example of where these types of cameras really shine, allowing you to drop it directly down a drilled hole to see exactly what is down there; this aids greatly in finding the exact edge of a weedline, or rockpile, finding baitfish, or simply looking for the target species you’re trying to catch.
Underwater cameras of this style are also great when used from a boat or kayak as well for the same purposes as one would use them while ice fishing.
This underwater fishing camera features a very large screen compared to other models, with a full 9-inch TFT color monitor with a sun hood/visor to reduce glare when used in bright and sunny conditions.
The camera also features 12 infrared LED lights to give the angler optimum viewing of the area in deep or dark water conditions.
The video camera setup also comes with an 8GB card for storing your recordings to save cool underwater moments.
One of the biggest pros to this underwater video camera is the battery life; this camera will run for a total of 6 to 8 hours, giving you a full day of use on the water, the battery is a 4500mAh high-capacity rechargeable battery, and the cell box included.
- Large screen
- Good memory storage
- Long battery life
The Eyoyo underwater camera is a great video camera for anglers on a tight budget.
One of the big perks of the Marcum Recon underwater fishing camera is that it’s small and very portable, great for use in ice fishing, where it has become extremely popular with anglers, but like with most cameras in this category, it can also be used in a boat or kayak as well.
The camera comes with a 5-inch widescreen flat LCD panel with a 16:9 aspect ratio that has a high resolution and great color attributes.
The video camera also features LED lighting and infrared lighting for use in dark water conditions and a CMOS sensor.
The Recon has a great battery life of 6 hours, giving you almost a full continuous day of use, and a 50-foot cable, which should be more than enough for the average angler on the water.
The Recon has a full range of adjustment options to change things like different display adjustments, contrast, and brightness changes, while the on-screen display can show information such as battery levels.
The camera offers three different angle settings, allowing you to set the camera to face straight down, horizontal, or straight up; depending on your needs, you can leave it to sit on the bottom facing up, to see your bait and fish that are suspending from the bottom, the standard horizontal position which is the most common, allowing you to spin the camera 360 degrees, or straight down if your fishing directly on the bottom.
And the last great feature about this great camera system is its color-kill setting, this works wonders in stained water conditions or dark water conditions where lights are not used and kill the color feed to ultra-crisp black and white video to filter out color washing due to water clarity and light conditions.
- Stained water settings
- CMOS sensors
- Multiple different screen adjustment options
Aqua-Vu has been one of the pioneers in terms of underwater cameras in the fishing industry and the first name that comes to mind of the company that really started it all.
This video camera has some of the best features available while being one of the most affordable cameras, giving you an absolute bang for your buck.
The camera comes with 7-inch sunlight-viewable LCD screen with video-out capabilities, the screen is also IP67 rated for waterproof performance, and even though the LCD screen is viewable in sunlight, it still comes with an integrated hood and screen protector.
The video camera also has a fully adjustable LED lighting system, Colored CMOS camera optics, all of which are housed in an anti-spook camera housing. The camera comes with 50 feet of camera cable, giving the angler plenty of cables to fish deep, and a 12-volt 7-amp rechargeable battery with charger.
All this comes with a Custom Storage Bag System, which fits perfectly into a 5-gallon bucket, again a great feature for Ice fishermen to easily stow in a bucket while they pull their sled out to their favorite fishing spots.
- Large screen
- Custom storage system
- Waterproof screen
The Lucky FL180PR is a neat and compact fishing camera with a screen unit that is no larger than the size of a large smartphone.
This smaller setup makes it great for anyone who wants to stay mobile while fishing from shore or on the ice and is great for diving as well.
The Camera can take still shots, video, and video playback, and the ability to scroll through and view all photos taken without the need for a computer. It also features a 4.3-inch full-color, high-resolution LCD screen with IR lighting.
You get 66 feet of cable, allowing it to be used far from the user or in very deep water, and it works for 4 hours when fully charged.
The camera also has 4 LED lights with infrared capabilities to keep from spooking fish.
- Small and compact
- Long cable
- Video and still-shot playback
Best Castable Underwater Fishing Cameras
Castable wireless cameras can be used in a variety of methods. When used on the surface, the camera can stream directly to your smartphone or other devices.
While underwater streaming isn’t an option, in these cases, you can record the footage from the camera to be viewed afterward.
These cameras can be cast with your lure and excel when used for trolling, allowing you to see fish come up and strike your lure or bait.
Some cameras can also relay data such as water temperatures, salinity, and more.
The Eco Popper is a camera that is a topwater lure in disguise, which is a pretty wild concept.
It’s completely wireless and has its own WiFi access point, which you can connect to via your smartphone to stream live video and access other information from its other sensors, the phone app is free and can be downloaded straight from your phone's app store.
The Eco Popper has 70 minutes of battery life to record when you actively cast it for fish and is obviously rechargeable for continuous use.
The Eco popper is also incredibly easy to operate, there are no SD cards, Switches, or caps, simply place the lure in the water, and it will automatically turn on the wifi signal or push a small button.
The sensors detect water temperature as well as salinity for the saltwater fishermen out there.
- It’s literally a lure/camera
- WiFi access
- Very simple to use
- Max depth of 500 feet
- Multiple video rendering options
- 1000 lb tension limit makes it extremely durable
The Gofish is an inline rigged-style camera.
How this underwater fishing camera method works is simple, you tie the end of your line to the rear line tying point, and another extension of line “essentially a leader” with your lure, is tied to the other end of the camera in the direction of the actual camera lens.
This allows you to film your lure presentation at any depth and can be used for casting but this setup is ideal for trolling, allowing you to constantly record all videos of any fishing following or eating your bait.
The stabilized design of the GoFish camera keeps the camera from spinning or rocking, giving you a stable video recording of the activities below the surface.
The camera has high-quality video rendering at 1080P at 60 Fps and 30 Fps and 720P at 60 Fps.
The camera can also be used in a top-down fashion with the Gofish cam float accessory, essentially working like a bobber while filming straight down to your lure presentation.
The battery life on the GoFish is 1.5 hours of constant filming time, and it has an SD memory card compatibility of up to 64 GB, night-vision green LED lights for dark water conditions support up to 1000 pounds of tension, and can reach a max depth of up to 500 feet.
The Spydro has the same rigging characteristics as the Gofish cam mentioned above, but it also has many other very cool and unique features.
Like other cameras, the Spydro has sensors to give you critical information on the water, such as temperature, salinity, bite detection, and speed. The camera can be set up normally to run continuously, or it can be set up to turn on when a fish strikes it via the motion sensor.
The camera can be controlled and viewed directly through an Android or iOS app on your smartphone or tablet. Apart from those features, one of the features that set the Spydro apart is the fish logging features, every time a fish is caught on the Spydro, it marks a waypoint and stores the information during the time of the catch, allowing you to trace your route, learn from the moment and conditions via video and sensor data, and view each corresponding video.
The Spydro has over 3.5 hours worth of battery life, a built-in SD card, Night Vision, and a WiFi range of up to 240 feet. The Spydro is also very compact and can fit right into your front pocket.
- Compact
- Long battery life
- Excellent sensors
The Olymbros fishing camera is a bullet-shaped camera that is rigged directly to your fishing lines, like the Spydro and GoFish cameras. The Camera Features Yellow Lamp LED lighting for dark water conditions and 720p video resolution.
One of the nice features of this camera is the AVI 3-minute cycle recording function; this setting activates after a fish strikes your lure and records for 3 minutes before going back to ready mode, waiting for the next strike.
The Camera runs MicroSD memory with 32 GB of maximum storage. The camera is waterproof up to 65 feet of depth, has a battery life of 4+ hours under ideal conditions, and also has a USB 2.0 port for direct uploading.
- Long battery life
- Fish strike sensing video cycles
- MicroSD
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Best Underwater Drone with Camera
While cameras and fish finders can give a good sense of what lies beneath the surface, underwater drones are the ultimate way to explore the underwater realms. Power and controlled with remote controls and a tablet or better yet, using VR.
Underwater drones have very responsive propeller systems and diving mechanics, they typically feature very long cables allowing the user to go very far and deep, and very high-quality cameras offering up to 4k video quality, and in low light conditions, feature very bright flood lights to illuminate the underwater world.
What a time we live in. The Wizard is a personal underwater drone that can go anywhere you want to send it within the cable length provided, which is quite a distance as the Wizard comes with 230 feet of cable, and the drone can dive to a maximum of 98 feet deep.
That amount of range is incredible and would surely aid any angler in exploring the world around their fishing spots. I can think of so many ways this would aid me in my fishing situations.
The Wizard also has an amazing high-quality camera featuring a fully integrated 4K UHD camera that can also take 12MP Still Photos and a burst mode that shoots up to 5 frames per second.
The memory comes equipped with a 64 GB SD card, and you can run this thing with VR or a tablet while using a video game-style controller. Not only does this thing have an amazing camera, but it also has sonar to give you a great map of the depth and bottom structure you’re exploring.
Oh, did I mention the magnetic release mechanism? You can cruise this thing like the sub from Red October to the exact spot you want, find schools of bass, crappie, or walleye, and use the magnetic release to drop your bait or lure precisely in the spot you chose; how awesome is that?
This thing also has great controlling characteristics with 2 propellers in the forward and reverse roles and one top and bottom for depth control. You can also get this in a briefcase-style carrying case or a wheeled case.
The Wizard also has 2 large floodlights with full user brightness controls and really penetrates far in dark water situations, and to top it all off, this thing has 4 hours of battery life, depending on the conditions.
- Insanely long cables for maximum exploration
- 4K ultra high-quality camera lens
- Floodlights with full range adjustment
What to Look For in an Underwater Fishing Camera
Durability
Underwater cameras – particularly those used in ice fishing – have to operate in a range of hostile conditions. They have to deal with mud, weed, cold water, ice, and rocks – so they need to be waterproof, sealed, and able to withstand some bumps and shocks.
The better the protection provided via the camera’s case and the quality of the waterproofing seals, the longer the camera is likely to last.
Best Ice Fishing Camera
Underwater cameras are a great option for ice fishing – without them, you have really got no idea what sort of substrate you are fishing over. Drop your ice fishing camera down, and you’ll soon work out if you are near a weed bed, sandy bottom, or rocks and fallen trees. The high clarity of the water in iced-over lakes and rivers mean you will get a good, clear picture of the conditions via your ice fishing camera.
Waterproofing
If you are going to be using the camera in deep water, check the depth rating. Water pressure is proportional to depth, so you need to make sure the camera can withstand the pressure at your chosen depth. The better the quality of the camera, the better the seals and other waterproofing measures are likely to be.
Screen Resolution and Viewing Angle
You are dealing with a couple of challenges when using an underwater fishing camera – there are the water conditions sub-surface and the light conditions above the surface.
Subsurface, if the water is a bit murky, then a model that has LED lights fitted helps cut through the gloom.
Above the surface, particularly when ice fishing, you are going to be dealing with a lot of light. And if you are wearing polarized sunglasses, the screen can be tricky to see. Higher-rate screens have a wider range of viewing angles, and many models have visors or shields to help you view the screen in any condition.
Storage
A camera with MicroHD cards is a good option. This allows you to store a large volume of video files and upload them to YouTube or another video-sharing platform or just view them at home.
Cable Length and Depth
Make sure that the underwater fishing camera that you buy has a cable that will extend down to the levels it needs to reach. It’s not go fishing a 50 feet depth when the cable is only 25 feet long if all the fish are hugging the bottom!
Battery life
Battery life may be the most important variable to consider when buying an underwater fishing camera. Having 5 to 10 hours of battery life in even the coldest of conditions (such as ice fishing) is what a camera really needs to have to be attractive to us.
Conclusion
We live in very interesting times, and the technology available to the average angler – such as fish finders and the best underwater fishing cameras – is completely unimaginable compared to what was on the market 25 years ago.
There are several different styles of cameras you can choose from on this list, and all work for different situations or needs.
Some are tailored to static fishing like ice fishing, some are tailored to catching the action of fish striking lures or reactions to them while monitoring current water conditions, and some are exploration powerhouses that reveal all that the underwater world has to offer.
There is something on this list that will suit all anglers’ needs, so think of what your priorities are when on the water and how a camera can help you get out on the water!
