Running A Gopro On A Downrigger

[Frank_NK28]

Anyone here ever run a gopro on their downrigger ball or cable? I see a few doing it on youtube videos but nobody is sharing ideas on how to mount it to be stable or indicating how deep they can send it before the waterproof cases leaks. Also curious how long the battery will last filming in the depths with a flow of cold water running over the camera.

[Coiloil37]

I’ve dropped mine to about 60 meters and never had a leak. On a downrigger ball I attach the split “yoke” on the bottom of the plastic gopro case to the brass eye coming off the back of my cannon ball. Simply tightening the knurled screw is enough tension to hold it straight. I’m not at home or I would take a picture for you.

The problem off a cannon ball is that it waves back and forth a bit and watching it will nearly give you a headache. I’ve also put them on a planer and they roll side to side as well. You need a troll housing thats symmetrical to minimise the shaking.

Battery life??? Enough but I don’t deal with cold water and I have three batteries and charge on the boat.

Something like a water wolf or the Asian knockoff for $100 would probably work better for trolling. Especially with your dirty water if you want to see fish interact with the hook but ymmv. I went a different direction so I can watch it in real time.

[Frank_NK28]

Originally Posted by Coiloil37

I’ve dropped mine to about 60 meters and never had a leak. On a downrigger ball I attach the split “yoke” on the bottom of the plastic gopro case to the brass eye coming off the back of my cannon ball. Simply tightening the knurled screw is enough tension to hold it straight. I’m not at home or I would take a picture for you.

The problem off a cannon ball is that it waves back and forth a bit and watching it will nearly give you a headache. I’ve also put them on a planer and they roll side to side as well. You need a troll housing thats symmetrical to minimise the shaking.

Battery life??? Enough but I don’t deal with cold water and I have three batteries and charge on the boat.

Something like a water wolf or the Asian knockoff for $100 would probably work better for trolling. Especially with your dirty water if you want to see fish interact with the hook but ymmv. I went a different direction so I can watch it in real time.

Did you go with the Fish-on camera?

[Coiloil37]

I just used an IP68 rated reverse camera with a 7” colour screen.

To give the camera the best chance I used sikaflex on the whole thing except the glass screen on the camera and for the most part I troll it ahead of my dredge and watch my spread. I didn’t use it this last season but I did the year before.

This is a screenshot taken from my phone of a video shot in full sunlight. When I’m watching it on the boat I can see lures working above it on the surface that are 20ish meters behind the camera and when a fish comes into the spread I see them a long ways away underwater. The dredge in this photo is 24” diameter. Prop wash on the left and chine wash on surface above and to the right.






That’s a completely different situation to what your doing though.


I have 40 meters of cable on this camera and have dropped it down to see things that interest me. No different to an aqua view like I used in Alberta.

[Frank_NK28]

That is some clear footage! Thanks for the info. Got me thinking how to rig my Marcum LX9-L to run with a downrigger...