The Fish Watcher presents studies and video recordings of fresh water game fish approaching lures below the surface.  For this purpose I use underwater video cameras to view their actions and behaviors. 

As a fisherman, I often wonder about what is going on with my lures underwater.  Are there fish down there looking, but turning off before striking?  Or if a good one has gotten hooked but is lost before coming up, what was it?  Usually fishermen never get the answers to these questions.  But what if we could get a look at what is happening below?

To provide this kind of information, I designed and fabricated a series of underwater housings for GoPro video cameras.  Some housings were made to act as trolling cameras – whereby the camera would face back toward a trailing lure to record video of fish following or striking the lures.  Others were made to contain cameras sunk to the bottom in places that game fish might inhabit.  Over the past couple of years, I have used these housings on regional lakes to generate videos, snapshots, and behavioral data on several game fish species - with an emphasis on muskellunge.  More details of the methods and the results of these efforts can be seen on the pages and galleries of the website.