Y'all I think we need a catfishermans anonymise, or maybe it's just me...

So I've been putting together a plan to start producing video content on the boat again. I have been studying and studying how to make this work. For those of you that do it, I have a great deal of respect for you. You make it look easy and it's not. I confess that I am doubly cursed as I am a catfisherman and an engineer by trade. So I approach things like this from a decidedly technical perspective. I work in a field where I have been refining an automation process for almost 40 years now and when I think about how I want this to work, for me I want to focus on fishing. I want the video capture process to be automated and run in the background without any intervention from me. I don't want to miss things because batteries need changed or SD cards are full. And, more importantly, I don't want my focus on fishing to be compromised by having to fuss with the cameras.

What to do, what to do...

Well, as usual, I jumped in with both feet... To start with I studied cameras. I would like to have the new GOPro 10s or 11s or 25s, lol, whatever the newest one is. They seem to advance faster than iPhones. However, I am not in the realm yet where I think I need $900 cameras. Maybe when the content gets better I will upgrade but for now, I have a GoPro wanna be that seems to do what I want it to. I also have a small handycam for my other one and a DSLR for my B roll footage. My phone also does a good job for my B roll stuff.

Now just having those has proven to me how difficult this can be. I have missed more takedowns and good catches than I have caught. The batteries do not last. Especially in the handy cam. It will barely run 20 minutes on a full charge and I have just 2 batteries so, you do the math and you can see where that leaves me. The action cam does better on battery life but after a couple or three hours I am dead in the water, literally.

I also have struggled mightily with view angles and camera placement. I can see all the rods and get a takedown but then I jump up on the back deck and all you can see is my big behind. Not something anyone wants to look at. So my research continued. I needed a way to power the cameras for an extended period of time, and more data storage capacity. In addition to that, I needed a way to mount the cameras so I could see better what's going on when I'm up on the deck and when I'm not. Plus the view needed to be able to see over the gunnells to capture the netting process.

Add to all this that in my opinion, audio makes or breaks a video. Audio not only has to be good clear and intelligible, but it needs to maintain a constant level. Are you starting to understand why I say I am doubly cursed? Let's continue...

Issue number one: Battery life...

I now have a single 12 volt, 12 Amp Hour deep cycle battery, sometimes called a kayak battery to run the cameras. I have the battery in an ammo box with a connector plate on the side that has USB outputs and a battery level indicator. I also rigged a maintainer on the battery so when I pull it, I can plug it in and charge it for the next use. From the USB ports on the can, I have two 15 foot charger cords. One with a micro USB for the action cam and one with a USB 2.0 for the handy cam. The box is designed to fit in the gunnel storage compartment on the boat. The charger cords will route up through the bimini posts to the locations of the cameras. By my calculations, the battery should give me in excess of 10 hours of run time on both cameras without any need to service them. I am sure that I will need to address thermal shutdowns in the summer but, we'll cross that bridge when we get there... So now we have power fixed.

Next is storage. I continue to be impressed with the density of storage technology. In my work world I deal with video management systems that have pico bytes of storage. For those of you that don't know what that is, you have kilobytes (hundreds of thousands) megabytes (hundreds of millions) Gigabytes (hundreds of billions) terabytes (hundreds of trillions) then picobytes (hundreds of quadrillions). So before I get even further off topic, I'll just say that I have two new cards one SD and one micro SD. They are both 256 GB chips. So I have a half a terabyte of storage between the two cameras. I should not get even close to using all that in a single trip even if I'm out for eight or ten hours. Stunning to me that not too long ago that would have sunk my boat, but I'm a geek so...

Right, that's power and storage capacity, check!

Camera position and views. There is a device called a YOLO stick. It is designed to plug into the stern light socket and it gives you power from the cranking battery on the boat (I am not a fan. I don't want to just hear a click when it's time to head in because I was running too many accessories off of the cranking battery all day. Plus the YOLO stick seems to me to be better suited to bass fishing where the target view is at the front of the boat. I considered one of these and installing a new receptacle somewhere up the gunnel but I thought better of it. It just doesn't seem like a good fit for catfishing to me. I looked a lots of other options. I watched lots of videos paying particular attention to where and how guys were mounting their cameras. What I decided on were two eleven inch magic mount arms. They have a jaw clamp at one end and a camera post at the other end which is just a 1/4 - 20 threaded post. But in the middle it articulates so you can adjust it infinitely. They are really solid mounts and they stay where you put them. I plan to mount them on the outside of the bimini posts. This should give me the takedown and the fight and the netting/boating. I am hopeful they will give the results I'm looking for. If not, it will be back to the drawing board.

Lastly, audio. I have a wireless mic that I plan to wear. With the life vest, the trolling motor remote and a lot of clothes on this time of year, I don't know if I am going to get a lot of scratch from things hitting the mic. If I do, I think plan B is a shotgun mic on a hot shoe mount. Stay tuned for that. What I want is a good level of fidelity at a constant level so you don't turn up the sound and then get your ears blasted.

I have what I consider a decent mid level video editing software package that I have gotten reasonably proficient at using. So, in the next couple weeks, when I'm not out of town, I hope to get this implemented and start making some content to post up on my YouTube channel with links here on the TFF.

And, as my addiction knows no bounds, I have also put a cellular hot spot out at the marina so I can put up a couple security cameras and... a weather station. Help me y'all, I'm sick.

Video production can get expensive. As for me, I just love to fish!



Side Note: I do love watching fishing videos, especially the ones produced my our members.

Well, sorry dude, your beyond that what you called help. Now I could be one that shows up and helps you install hang and dry out stuff at some point lol. Long as you don't feed me to the fish at the point you want rid of me lol.

All kidding aside another process you could video that I think would be awesome and if like me and my boat is the catching of your bait with the cast net, I throw mine from the bow. That may require another camera or 10 lol... After all it's just money...

I think back when a guy put a cast net in my hands the first time and said now you saw me throw it, your turn... You video recording and mainly the audio part would need some censorship if you had been shooting me then lol, serious censorship I might add lol.

You know as I type this and think about your goals here, what you need is that setup that GM uses with their 360 degree view on their trucks. They just don't do audio on those lol. Sure that setup would be cheap lol. This all sounds like your on top of the hard stuff to me already CT.

What I can't figure is how you tacked up all this thought probing thread here and not one single pic, that is just so wrong. I like the addition of the security cams and weather info station as well. This all sounds really good to me

I’d be happy to give you advice on this subject as I’ve been videoing and live-streaming every trip for several years now. It’s not easy. I’m an angler and not a video tech guy so learning this stuff has been a huge challenge.

Now I’m no expert but I do have a fair amount of experience videoing our fishing adventures with over 180 videos and livestreams under my belt. The first year was a total beating trying to figure all this out on my own. I nearly gave up on it several times but I knew I wanted to capture the amazing moments I was experiencing with my son on the boat. 2 yrs in and I’ve been able to capture my son breaking record after record this past few months and capture the amazing memories on video to memorialize these priceless moments. Through all the frustration it has finally paid off big time. I started our YouTube channel El Gato Azul TV to memorialize the good times had with family and friends and quickly found that I enjoy sharing our adventures and knowledge with other likeminded folks. We are a small channel that grew from 200 subscribers last year to over 1k this year. Our little channel has been nominated for best live fishing show on YouTube at this years Catcon in Louisville Kentucky. My son Action Jaxon was also nominated for best fish fight on YouTube for his epic fish fight we captured where he battled his 55 lb Jr Lake Record in which the rod went overboard and I was able to recover it and Jaxon got the fish in. Epic!! The memories we’re capturing are priceless and now we will always have those to look at and reminisce about the good times shared.

As far as cameras go and wanting to record continuously you’ll want at least a GoPro 9. I have the 10. I would also recommend getting a clamp mount so you can easily move the camera around the boat capturing different angles. I thought the YoloTech was a good idea but over time I quit using it because of the limitations it created by being locked in 1 position. Makes for much better quality and interesting videos when you can move your camera around the boat. I like to clamp my GoPro in a position that see the rods getting hammered. Then I move it so that I can capture whoever is reeling in the fish. Then I move it to capture the release. You can’t do that with a YoloTech. When dealing with power you DO NOT want to be dealing with batteries all day. For continue power and to record all day you need remote power like a jump box or some type of remote power station. You remove the battery from the GoPro and run the power from you power station all day. Micro SD cards can pack enough memory to record continuously all day. The main issue with that is you have 5-7 hours of video to sift through when editing and that is a beating. These new GoPros have what’s called Hind site which backs up 30 seconds when you hit record so you can capture the takedowns and not have 6 hours of footage to go through( more like 2). You gotta think that when you’re editing you’ll be watching each clip 3-5 times and that is very time consuming to edit that much footage. One way to combat that is to continuously record and after something good happens hit stop and then start recording again. It took me a long time to get comfortable videoing but it was worth all the difficulty.

Feel free to call or text me Tim and I can tell you what equipment you’ll need to do all this. This past year I’ve had a ton of help from experienced YouTubers on what equipment to use and how to capture b-roll footage to make you videos complete.

The most epic fish fight I’ve ever been a part of caught on video and up for Best Fish Fight on YouTube!
https://youtu.be/TbUVRKR0Bfg

Chris, when I said I have a great deal of respect for those that do it and make it look easy I was referring to you and others like you. Y'all if you've never fished with Chris, he is the hardest working man on the boat. He is always moving, always working or always trying to wrangle a Texas Tornado! Thanks for the offer buddy. I will be reaching out to you for advice I'm sure. One thing I'm looking forward to is getting this up and running and having my grandson Jerry as my camera man. I am planning on him running the B roll footage with my cell phone or the handy cam.

Rowdy, I was sitting at my desk this morning writing this, with all the pieces and parts sitting here in various stages of assembly. All I need is a little time on the boat. I still want to do a full walk through on the new boat and Now hopefully I'll be able to include the video set up with it...

I just wish I was smart enough to post my IPhone videos from my trips . I post them on my Facebook page, just not sure how to get them on here.

Heck I am already to seeing some of these you shoot. Looking quite forward to these CT!!! Then that video of action Jaxon, that is crazy cool. My dad never handle things as cool as you did, we he dropped the rod in the lake. Freaking fish was big as Jaxon and the boat dawg together. lol

Tim, you got it bad, real bad.

Only two ways to move forward.

This, take the blue pill.



Or this, take the red pill, but there is no going back my friend…

Tim, you got it BAD and I love it! My dad used to say "if anything's worth doing, it's worth overdoing". I'm pretty sure that's a classic engineer's mind set! My dad wasn't an engineer but definitely should've been.

I'm looking forward to you getting all of this figured out and the rest of us getting to enjoy the very valuable content that you'll be putting out there. Keep in mind that you'll be influencing complete strangers forever. I want to give credit to you and El Gato for the influence you guys had on me! I can't forget to leave out Blue Cat Bob either! He was my "misery loves company" forum buddy! We were both learning at the same time and his always honest "skunk" posts helped keep me going through many of my own lol!

El Gato Azul (Chris Gammill) is probably more responsible for my blue cat addiction than any other person with Catfish Tim Smith coming in a VERY close second. I was trolling TFF one day when I came across one of El Gato's posts. After watching one of his videos I knew I had to try my hand at blue cattin. I had no clue just how much time, money and effort would go into it. Or how rewarding it would be. I was a newby and didn't have a clue what I was doing, but with the help of Chris, Catfish Tim and a few others on TFF and YT, I started figuring it out. Catfish Tim was the one that gave me my first hands-on experience with planer boards. Well actually, Blue Cat Bob was the first one that I fished with that used planer boards. Bob was more my speed and only used 2 boards, but it was Tim who took me out and taught me how to fish with 4 boards and 2 long lines simultaneously. I also had the honor of fishing with Chris on the War Machine and learning from him, but I figured out pretty quickly that he was on a whole other level and until I got some experience under my belt, I just needed to stay out of the way and enjoy the ride! I think we were fishing with 6 boards and 2 long lines but it may have been more. I'm pretty sure we had fished for two hours before I even knew what the guy looked like. I thought my vision was blurred until the fishing slowed down a little and he took a breather!

Knowing what I know now, my hat's off to these guys for changing my life! I owe each of them a debt of gratitude!

So, Tim, like I said, you'll be responsible for someone else's addiction (and happiness!) without ever even knowing it. Can't wait for it brother and if you ever need help with any of it, I'll always be available. I've got a GoPro 9 and I'll be glad to come help film from a harness and give some different angles and perspectives that you can implement in your vids. You know, KillerBee did that a few times with Chris and it was always cool to see the same catch from a different perspective. The only drawback to that is possibly having my ugly mug in one of them!

One thing I enjoy when out fishing is the fantastic panorama's and skies we see on our lakes and rivers when fishing. Early mornings are especially cool and all you guys capturing our fishing on video, don't forget to include the nature shots that often make the trips really special.

Thanks guys. Fishing is my passion like a lot if y’all and I enjoy sharing our journey along the way and passing what I’ve learned on to my 7 yr old son. Finally being able to capture some of these moments on video is really cool!! It’s going to be a great experience one day when I’m old to sit down with my son and watch him reel in his lake records. To me that is the whole reason I started YouTube. I’ve enjoyed the ride and youtube has evolved into a brotherhood of anglers that follow and support us and it is always a feather in my cap when one of the guys I’ve helped gets things figured out. I also enjoy teaching young anglers the importance of Big Fish conservation and responsible harvest. I love seeing kids get excited about fishing. Once you get the fever it tends to be a life long passion and the younger you get em started the better in my mind. I was fortunate enough to catch the big cat fever when I was 14 and it’s been a life long obsession ever since. Even though I’m now 48 yrs old and I’ve been chasing these fish just about every week for almost 35 yrs, I still get excited for every big fish just like I did when I caught my first Flathead at the Lewisville flood gate back in 1988. I’ve been fortunate that some of my best friends dads growing up were guides and hardcore catfish anglers. It was their openness and willingness to teach me that inspired me to want to pay that knowledge foreword. The game has dramatically changed since those days and it continues to evolve every year . I love how fishing is a lifelong lesson and the learning never ends. I’ve had a chance to fish with quite a few guys from this forum on my boat over the years I don’t believe I’ve ever said no someone that asked me to take them fishing.

Bob, some of those pics are amazing. Great camera work and great timing on a couple of them!