Pierspotting a potbellied seahorse
At the pier in Mornington, Victoria, I approached a couple of people who were staring down a harbor wall. They had spotted a potbelly or bigbelly seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis), which clung itself around some seaweed. This is the largest seahorse species in Australia. They can grow up to an impressive 35 cm. By dangling a waterwolf camera in some proximity of it with a handline and placing the camera on some pebbles I managed to get a nice shot of it.
Shark bay
At a rocky headland along the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales, I baited and deployed the drsnapper underwater camera trap (which is pretty much a BRUV – Baited Remote Underwater Video station with a mechanical trigger function). A wobbegong shark (Orectolobus spp., a species of carpet shark) seemed to show some interest in the bait odour (chopped mackerel) or at least it stayed about for a little while. I picked a pretty choppy day for it with a southerly blowing, so the drsnapper PVC frame contraption equipped with an underwater action camera (modified as prototype camera III) got moved around a fair bit. Although the bite of a wobbegong shark can be pretty nasty, it felt more like a pudel dog was circling around my legs than a shark.
Inside an ancient fish trap
On the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, I went for a snorkel inside an ancient fish trap and spotted some yellowfin bream (Acanthopagrus australis) and Stripeys (Microcanthus australis), amongst other fish.
Irish soaktime revisited
The camera trial in Ireland (see post “Irish soaktime”, August 2018) finished before it started with prototype II soaking up some brine. It got pickled at depth on the first deployment. Something I had expected though, given the water pressure at the weak spot (where the trigger cables run through the epoxy coat of the housing) that it would leak some water. To compensate for the loss, I got given some footage to feature here. These are underwater images from a GoPro showing the escape of some fish through a 300 mm, squaremesh netting panel inside an otter trawl. A little bit unrelated to promoting drsnapper’s hook-less fishing concept, but at least some decent underwater footage of fish. The fate of at least one escapee was not very lucky being munched upon by a vessel-following harbour seal. Image courtesy: Martin Oliver, Galway, Ireland.
Vegan fishing in Mundaka
Took the spydro for a spin to stunning Mundaka. Was pretty busy during the day, so spontaneously watered the camera at night. Scanning the footage reminds me of these postcards at the cornershop - pitchblack picture with a title “Fishing - at night - Greetings from Blankenberge”. Similar thing here, just belief me the mullet actually ate the bread ball, they just shied away as soon as I turned the lights on. In any case, vegan fishing works - we (and the mullet) had a ball!
Corfu's delights
During a summer holiday, I visited Corfu - a lush Greek island in the Ionian Sea. The idea was to test two commercial underwater fishing camera's in direct comparison. Have not yet processed all the video, so watch this space.
Off to the Emerald Isle
This week prototype I and II went for a hitch across the ditch to Galway, Ireland to ring in a field trial. More on it soon.
Trout spotting in Lapland
In August 2017, I paid a visit to a fish farm in Northern Sweden. I was hoping that rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) would like to nibble on PhishPic's tasty bait ball. This time I rigged it with the Hugyfot Arius 1500 Divelight to turn on the spotlight. Check out the video below.
Turned out that rainbow trout were really camera shy. The bait ball filled to the brim with gooey pellet dough could not entice them at all. I know the whole rig still looks more like a BRUV (baited remote underwater video), but at least you can deploy it with a fishing rod. Liasing currently with a couple of talented engineers to realise my new, less bulky idea. So, watch this space in 2018. Happy New Idea!
Mingling with fish-mad minds
First small "market study" a.k.a. spending a day with a good mate onboard a North Sea fishing charter - pretending to talk serious game. But our disguise got caught out quickly, when I pulled out that bulky white PVC frame with a camera mounted on top of it.
Field testing - prototype 1
Splashing about in some of the cleanest quarry ponds around. The trigger worked a treat and snapped some pics of a rare four-legged, goggle-eyed aquatic animal.
