The fish cam- proof of concept

[adobe wall]

It's late and I've been fotzing with the video feed from the camera most of this evening. No fast forward playback on the downloaded file really sucks.

P-ride and I ran the camera for 2 hours today. We clearly saw two fish, one of which was briefly hooked, during that span. During the playback on my computer monitor I've counted 10 fish so far. One hit the lure 4 times without removing a single kernel of corn.

I can't edit the video or do much with it yet except watch it in real time on my computer (can't even reverse it, which really stinks. I took a couple of still pics off the video. These came out fairly well. We were fishing for pikeminnows but every fish that came in was clearly a kokanee. 30 feet down, 4 feet behind the boat. Same gear I fish with.

Should make for some interesting videos later this summer when I figure out some means of working with the .avf file. In the meantime, here's a teaser. The lure is the bright spot above and to the right of the fish. As you can see it's got about 8 or 9 kernels of corn on the two hooks!

The fish cams are mainly designed for ice fishing so using it while trolling has really involved some creative problem solving. Should be fun if we get clear water in the Columbia this fall.

regards, aw


http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/P5290324.jpg

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/P5290325.jpg

[JustCallMeDave]

If you need help with that video file, let me know.

[Splash]

By all means AW, take Dave up on his offer. I would love to see some of your footage.

[FallRiverGuy]

Nice pictures. I am glad to see you got it working.

[wanafish]

Would be very interested in seeing footage of how they bite. Several times in the clear water at Crescent I've had kokanee 10-15' down slashing at my jig numerous times before finally getting the hooks. Holding the jig still they would start to swim off then start jigging again they would come back and take turns hitting it till one got hooked. Fun stuff.

[adobe wall]

I haven't given up on the .asf file but watching 2 hrs of a spinner waiting for that hit is tough! It'll be a learning tool along with a pretty cool toy.

I'll post stuff as I make progress with it. I've put too much thought and work into it to stop now.

Also, thanks for the offer of help JCMD...I've got one more thing to try today and if that doesn't work I'll send you a pm. The laptop with Vista needs codec 11 to run the file and evidently codec 11 ain't available anymore. The Win XP machine runs the file, but only at real time speed with a pause option. No backing up, no fast forward, no editing. I've tried some programs that convert .asf to .avi or .wmv files but in both cases they give me an error for not selecting some parameters and I'm not smart enough to figure out what params need to be selected. I think Aqua-Vu should be using a file format that is supported by current technology.

regards, aw

[fishnvic]

u should look into a codec pak named k-lite i think its free , it comes with windows media player classic that should fix ur problem i haven't found a media file that it couldnt play. thats for xp vic

[Chesapeake]

Dont leave us hanging. Get that video working and post it up.:meme:

[adobe wall]

It's kicking my butt. I'm downloaded about a dozen programs plus a few codecs and simply can't get any improvement.

I did set up a webcam and record off the computer screen. The quality is degraded but it does show what the cam can do. I'll do what I can to get some video happening.

I'm still completely stunned that none of the 10 individual fish filmed over the 2 hours were pikeminnows.

Looks like Sundays bottomfishing trip got cancelled due to the forecast so I'll be back at Merwin, getting some more video.

regards, aw

[davidlee]

What kind of camera setup do you have?

Would be interesting to try it in the clear water of Diamond lake. :)

[adobe wall]

Aqua-Vu Scout w/80 foot camera cable and DVR option. It works but it's safe to say that there are very few things about it that I think were properly designed. It's been a series of battles addressing various issues with it. The software side is something that I haven't been able to resolve.

With the price of flat panels, having a big honking CRT monitor in the boat is silly. The company makes a camera w/flat panel monitor- for a couple thousand dollars!

regards, aw

[Gizmo Man]

Glad to see someone else is trying the u/w video stuff.

I built an u/w camera in 1990 and have used it off and on.

If you want to talk about some of your issues, let me know.

I may be able to help as I have some experience and am game to playing with cameras while fishing.

I have some great u/w turtle videos from Maui that I took last Oct.

Giz....

[domo-kun]

Walker has a product called "Strike Vision", it's basically a downrigger weight with a camera. I've seen some videos of it used with salmon on the great lakes, it was very cool watching a chinook trail the dodger for about 5 minutes before striking. Only problem is, it costs a small fortune. Here's the website http://www.strikevision.com/

[adobe wall]

That Strike Vision cam is awesome. $1250 is a lot of cash but if you figure you get an electric downrigger in the deal it's not so bad. I've got $350 in my Aqua-vu and while it works, it isn't what I'd like it to be. The Walker unit is what I had in mind while sketching out a "this is how it oughta be" camera system.

If I really get into what I'm doing I may spring for it. Next year.

regards, aw