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Thanks to the generosity of Jack at teamfishco, I was given one of their new FishEye camera jigs to try and so I gave it a go last weekend for the first time and got some interesting results.
Obviously, I have a lot to learn about videography in general and shooting underwater footage in particular, but I’m dedicated and I won’t be satisfied until I get the whole deal figured out and get some decent footage.
The jig itself is high quality, very simple, and intuitive to understand and use, but it takes some finesse to get it right and like any new equipment, the more you use it, the better you get at using it. So I’m happy to be climbing the learning curve.
When I was in college, I had an art professor who became a true mentor and he used to say, "You're not here to make art; you're here to learn how to make art - they're not the same thing. Quit focusing on the results and focus on the process. Once you fully understand and master the process, then you can purposefully create anything you can imagine. Otherwise, your pieces aren't art, they're 'happenings'."
So for a while, I'm going to focus on learning the process in the knowledge that the results I'm hoping for will flow from that understanding and experience. It can only get better!
I plan on adding underwater footage to my own videos to make them more interesting and I hope I can get some good footage to share with teamfishco to help them promote the FishEye camera jig.
I have an Ion underwater camera on the way but for this first test, I tried it with my GoPro knockoff and I quickly discovered that the camera in the housing was only just slightly negative, so I had to add some weights and I didn't notice that they tilted the camera and screwed up my “aim” towards the bait. I was working it drop-shot style.
Rookie mistake.
The water was murky so I used about an 18 in leader – obviously, a longer leader will make it easier to keep the bait in frame, but it will move the action further away and there will be less detail. Better water conditions will help a lot.
I think I understand how and why this video sucks, but I’m very encouraged that I got any results at all on my first try and didn’t end up losing the whole setup!
I learned a couple of things from this video as a fisherman and one is that the “skirt” on the bait barely moves at all, which I found surprising. The other is that my 8 lb fluorocarbon leader isn’t exactly as “invisible” underwater as one would hope. In the raw footage, it's quite visible. I’m going to use plain mono next time to compare.
I also believe if nothing else, this video shows that fish often check out your bait carefully before deciding to give it a nibble, and using a product like Hot Sauce gives them something to smell when they're considering to bite or not. I believe the reasoning behind the idea of why you should use these products is valid. Especially true of a sleeper rod drop-shot pretty much just sitting there. The fact that I didn't actually catch a fish on this bait doesn't mean the idea is flawed. I caught 8 mackerel that day, two small halibut, and 4 barred sand bass, all on Hot Sauced baits.
So here’s my first try…
Mackerel, lizard fish, and a few fleeting and shadowy characters difficult to identify.
Obviously, I have a lot to learn about videography in general and shooting underwater footage in particular, but I’m dedicated and I won’t be satisfied until I get the whole deal figured out and get some decent footage.
The jig itself is high quality, very simple, and intuitive to understand and use, but it takes some finesse to get it right and like any new equipment, the more you use it, the better you get at using it. So I’m happy to be climbing the learning curve.
When I was in college, I had an art professor who became a true mentor and he used to say, "You're not here to make art; you're here to learn how to make art - they're not the same thing. Quit focusing on the results and focus on the process. Once you fully understand and master the process, then you can purposefully create anything you can imagine. Otherwise, your pieces aren't art, they're 'happenings'."
So for a while, I'm going to focus on learning the process in the knowledge that the results I'm hoping for will flow from that understanding and experience. It can only get better!
I plan on adding underwater footage to my own videos to make them more interesting and I hope I can get some good footage to share with teamfishco to help them promote the FishEye camera jig.
I have an Ion underwater camera on the way but for this first test, I tried it with my GoPro knockoff and I quickly discovered that the camera in the housing was only just slightly negative, so I had to add some weights and I didn't notice that they tilted the camera and screwed up my “aim” towards the bait. I was working it drop-shot style.
Rookie mistake.
The water was murky so I used about an 18 in leader – obviously, a longer leader will make it easier to keep the bait in frame, but it will move the action further away and there will be less detail. Better water conditions will help a lot.
I think I understand how and why this video sucks, but I’m very encouraged that I got any results at all on my first try and didn’t end up losing the whole setup!
I learned a couple of things from this video as a fisherman and one is that the “skirt” on the bait barely moves at all, which I found surprising. The other is that my 8 lb fluorocarbon leader isn’t exactly as “invisible” underwater as one would hope. In the raw footage, it's quite visible. I’m going to use plain mono next time to compare.
I also believe if nothing else, this video shows that fish often check out your bait carefully before deciding to give it a nibble, and using a product like Hot Sauce gives them something to smell when they're considering to bite or not. I believe the reasoning behind the idea of why you should use these products is valid. Especially true of a sleeper rod drop-shot pretty much just sitting there. The fact that I didn't actually catch a fish on this bait doesn't mean the idea is flawed. I caught 8 mackerel that day, two small halibut, and 4 barred sand bass, all on Hot Sauced baits.
So here’s my first try…
Mackerel, lizard fish, and a few fleeting and shadowy characters difficult to identify.
