The Next Generation of Underwater Viewing

New Aqua-Vu owner Kolt Ringer talks business, underwater cameras, and the future of youth fishing


Crosslake, MN (December 19, 2019) – For as long as Kolt Ringer can remember, two passions have fueled his family’s existence: business and fishing. “I grew up casting for crappies and anything that would bite from the docks around Lake Minnetonka,” recalls Ringer, an ex-fishing guide and current director of competitive youth fishing in Minnesota. “In all those years, I’ve never lost that hunger for fishing, or that intense curiosity to know what’s happening below the surface.”

Recently, the easygoing angler-businessman took the next step toward bringing his two passions together, acquiring Crosslake, Minnesota based Aqua-Vu Underwater Viewing Systems. “An Aqua-Vu is the one fish-finding tool that anglers of any age or skill level can immediately use and understand. Nothing keeps my kids interested in fishing like an Aqua-Vu in the boat or our ice fishing shelter. My family and I couldn’t be more excited to be the owners of this legacy fishing company, and to continue to cultivate and grow the Aqua-Vu brand.”


New Aqua-Vu owner Kolt Ringer and daughter Ella share a love of fishing, along with Ringer’s two sons, TJ and Jake.


Now in its fourth generation, the Ringer family business began in 1926. “My great grandfather started a modest saw sharpening business and grew it into a highly successful multifaceted company. “Over the years, I’ve pretty much worked in every capacity, from sales and customer service to employee training, marketing and the mail room,” Ringer chuckles. For the past decade, he has served on the board of directors for Foley Belsaw, based in Wayzata, MN.

Ringer cites Aqua-Vu’s recent growth in the bass fishing market and its continued leadership in ice fishing as primary reasons for the acquisition. He also notes that Aqua-Vu headquarters will remain at their present location in Crosslake, MN, with all company personal retaining their current positions. Aqua-Vu president and previous co-owner Ben Gibbs will move into a consulting role.


Aqua-Vu’s popular, handheld camera, the micro™ Stealth 4.3 provides endless underwater entertainment.

“Since the company’s inception over twenty years ago, Aqua-Vu has always been known for innovation— the people who invented the underwater viewing category,” Ringer said. “Aqua-Vu’s reputation stands alone as the category leader, known for engineering inventive, top-quality underwater viewing products and technologies. They’ve always excelled at standing behind their products by assuring a high-level customer experience. That certainly won’t change.

“Aqua-Vu has built its business by becoming a leader in the burgeoning ice fishing market,” adds Ringer. “But we’ve also seen major growth opportunities in the bass, saltwater and kayak arenas. Every season, we’re seeing more and more tournament bass anglers relying on Aqua-Vu cameras to find fish during prefishing. We’re exploring ways to creatively serve other outdoors adventurers, too, such as recreational boaters and gold prospectors in Alaska.”



As a former fishing guide and President of the Student Angler Tournament Trail of Minnesota, Ringer is anxious to expand on the obvious connection between young anglers and underwater viewing. “Kids today have been brought up in the ‘screen generation,’” he says. “There’s no better learning tool for a young angler than an underwater camera. A depthfinder can only show you so much, but put an Aqua-Vu in front of a kid and watch them light up. It’s pure enjoyment, but also a great way to help these future anglers learn fish behaviors and how they react to lures.”

In the coming months, Ringer says Aqua-Vu will be working to develop new programs for youth fishing. “Ultimately, we’d love to see an Aqua-Vu in the boat of every boat captain, starting right here in Minnesota. In the meantime, it’s business as usual at Aqua-Vu. It’s shaping up to be an awesome ice fishing season. People we talk to every day are excited, energized to get out there and watch what the fish do next.”

Very interesting and I fully understand how/why this product has grown. I do a lot more salt water fishing and would love to see these products developed specifically for that market. Larger screens, the ability to integrate with Garmin, Raymarine, Simrad displays, the ability to drop to depths of 300+ feet for grouper, snapper etc. would be phenomenal.

I was thinking about getting one last year when I fish Fayette and Bastrop. But after talking to a person who did some scuba diving on Fayette, they stated that visibility was really bad with about 0 visibility below 5 feet. I was disappointed to here that because I think it would be a cool tool to identify the species of fish.

I own one I use it when I can visibility is this products Achilles heel . The camera does not gather light as good as the human eye so some lakes you just cant use it unless you have at least 1 foot of visibility I just this as a rule of thumb if i can see my bait at least 1 foot down clearly not just barley make it out then it can be of some use. When the water is clear it is very useful and cool to use but still dont expect your video to
look as good as you see in the pics those are under perfect condtion with someone adding some extra light. With that being said I am not disappointed in my purchase and would recommend it to anyone with the understanding you need clear water and most east texas lakes that is hit and miss.