Underwater in the harbor

[Ornery Bob]

First time out with the FishEye Camera Jig from teamfishco.

Made some rookie mistakes that caused my bait to be mostly out of frame, but I know where I screwed up on that. Obviously, the water quality was murky and I didn't actually catch a fish on the rig, but I did get some nibbles and I learned a lot, which was the point of this first test. Looking forward to getting this all sorted out.

Some take-aways for me are that the 8 lb flurocarbon leader I was using is often very visible (especially in the raw footage) so I'll be trying both regular mono and even braid to see how they compare. I was also surprised at how little "action" the skirt on the lure has. Granted, this was a drop-shot setup with me mostly just drifting along in my float tube, but I thought the frilly skirt on the back of the tube bait would have more movement. Also, since the bait is just drifting, you wouldn't expect a reaction strike, but you can see they definitely give the bait a good look over and I suspect they are smelling it too before deciding to move on or have a nibble.

[shinbob]

Interesting video! Post more when you make them! I didn't know macs could be so selective, lol.

I've never heard of that mount before, I went to their website but can't figure out how it attaches to your line so that it points at the lure. I was toying with the idea of getting a water wolf, which seems to be more compatible with trolling, but I bet your rig would work better with dropshot and jig fishing for LMB.

[Bwood]

Cool video. Interesting how fish behave when checking out a lure. that floro seems to have bright spots, which seems strange, wonder if you had some mack slime or something else on the line which caused it to reflect light.

[TUNAVIC]

Pretty cool,I too am surprised 8lb flouro is that visible,keep the vids coming Bob.

Cya Tuna Vic

[Ornery Bob]

You can see there is a lot of stuff suspended in the water and I think the leader is picking up bits of that junk, whatever it may be.

As for the camera rig, the only difference between trolling and the drop-shot is where you point the camera. In trolling, the bait will be streaming backwards, so you point the camera backwards - for drop-shot the bait is down, so you point the camera down. Where you attach your line works kind of the same way - for drop-shot, you attache the line at the top so it all hangs straight, for trolling, you attach the line more at the top corner for better balance.

Top-tip - always check how your rig is performing before you send it out. If you're trolling, run the rig at trolling speed right next to you to make sure it's lining up how you want. Same idea for drop-shotting - let the rig hang a foot below the surface and check everything before you send it down (that's was my goof, I made an adjustment and didn't check it).

[hookdfisherman]

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gotta love this...


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[fishmounter]

Cool video! The mackeral are curious. But did you know that if you put on a mask and dive down 10 to 12 feet or so in a somewhat murky lake or bay and look at fluorocarbon line, it is very visible! Because it is a round line, it acts like a lens, gathering and reflecting light rather than letting it pass thru like a flat line will do. That's one of the reason I use mono and copolymer lines. Even braid is not as visible as fluorocarbon, but don't use a fluorocarbon leader. So many people use fluorocarbon line because they were told they are invisible underwater. Well they might be in very murky water or when fishing very deep water, but all lines tend to disappear in those conditions. Funny thing I have found is that when I use a highly visible fluorescent mono line tied directly to my bait or lure, I still catch fish. (I use this line because my eyesight is getting bad.) Seems like if the fish are hungry or just want to chase and kill something like bass seem to do, they zero in on that bait no matter how visible the line is. But then again, maybe the bright line does disappear below the surface of the water were the sun's rays cannot reach, like the manufacturers say it does. I'll have to dive down and check this out also, but have to wait for the water to warm up next spring/summer!

[Brent]

If you look, the reason the flouro becomes visible is the amount of algae and debris in the water floating by. As it hit and wraps or sticks, that is what you're seeing. Not the line.
If you look at flouro in the ocean or a clear water lake, it does disappear. I've done testing with my friend at Diamond Valley in crystal clear water with identical setups.
Drop shot 6 pound line mono vs flouro with MMIII Roboworms and the flouro out fished the mono 12 to 1. Been using it ever since.
I think any line you drop into that water will have the same issues.