Aqua view

I was curious if anyone could give me their opinion on which model would be the best for checking out underwater structure in the river here in the La Crosse area. I have used an aqua view on clear lakes during the winter, but never on stained water like the Mississippi. Will I be able to see very far with it in stained water? Will the low end aqua view do the job? Thanks.

I leave my AV home, when I’m on the river.

M son has an aqua view; hasn’t used it for over a year. It just doesn’t work that well on rivers.

ditto

What the others said!

On a river they will work the best in fall and winter when the water is the cleanest. Rivers are usually dirtier than lakes so don’t work as well there. If you buy one make sure you get one with the infared lights to see better in darker conditions. But still the viewing range is limited.
Thanks, Bill

I dont know anything about Aqua view but i have a Marcum that i used a few times last spring and summer in the river an it worked great.

Thanks for the info guys.

DanWi,
Do you know what model your Marcum is? I checked out their website and their prices seem fairly reasonable.

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I dont know anything about Aqua view but i have a Marcum that i used a few times last spring and summer in the river an it worked great.

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Hey Dan, what model Marcum do you have? I have the VS 400 model but haven’t used it on the river yet. My youngest son Nate and I went in together and bought a Aqua View a few years back but he has it and hasn’t offered to let me use it. So I bought the Marcum when Scott Steal had a bunch of new ones to sell for Marcum around a year or two ago.
Thanks, Bill

I have an aqua vu….MC2, I believe it’s called. Quite a few years old. Works awesome on the river…in the WINTER, with low flow. No barges, algae and no runoff clears things up tremendously! Give it a try!

Bill
Thats the model i have. I also bought it from Scott the same time.

Thanks Dan. Thats good news to hear.
Thanks, Bill

I’ve used my Aqua View on Pool 4 a couple times in February when the water was at its clearest and was amazed at how well I could see and at how many fish I saw. I never kept it down there for very long, though. It’s hard to look at all those fish for very long without picking up a rod and trying to catch them. I’m coordinated enough to jig with two rods but I can’t handle the camera and fish at the same time.

PaulV,
Which model do you have?

I purchased a scout last year and used it in the backwaters around LaCrosse. Overall it did O.K.. You just need to stay out of the current and if you go more than 20ft things start to get pretty hazy. The time it took to setup the camera and find my bait was a little more than I wanted so I went out and bought a vexilar for this season.

Matt

I just have a basic model – I think it’s called the Z-series. It has the infra-red lights, which come in handy on darker days or in darker/deeper water. I’ve had it for about 3 or 4 years. I don’t use it a great deal on open water, but it’s fun and informative to drop it down and take a look around from time to time and see what’s down there. It’s also pretty neat for ice-fishing, but I would definitely choose a Vexilar if I could only have one or the other.