# Drones for Surf Fishing



## MarkA70 (May 3, 2011)

Anyone have any experience with a Drone to take bait out, possible spot fish. They look like fun, however, reading the reviews of even the high end DJI's and others leaves one worried about customer service and QC. Do not think I have ever read as many poor reviews of Customer Service as on the drones. Anyone know or have one they use and like? Pros/Cons? Thanks


----------



## sometimesfisher (Oct 3, 2011)

MarkA70 said:


> Anyone have any experience with a Drone to take bait out, possible spot fish. They look like fun, however, reading the reviews of even the high end DJI's and others leaves one worried about customer service and QC. Do not think I have ever read as many poor reviews of Customer Service as on the drones. Anyone know or have one they use and like? Pros/Cons? Thanks


Pros: you can spot the fish using the camera and drop the bait right in the middle of the fish way far out past where you could ever hope to cast. My husband showed me a video of just this very set up the other day and, I admit, it was really kind of pretty very badass.

Cons: that kind of feels like cheating to me. I throw my bait from the shore or I walk/swim it out farther. I watch for birds and slicks and frenzied waves. I hope I get lucky. To me, that's fishing. But I'm kind of a purist, so your mileage may very vary.

I would say legit cons would be a.) cost, b.) licensing/registration hassle, c.) becoming a competent user of it. Pros are exactly what I said up there.


----------



## karstopo (Jun 29, 2009)

What sometimesfisher said. My son has a drone or two. I think if you had a biggish group it might be fun to mess around with. I usually fish solo or with one or two friends and we get too busy fishing to mess with flying or looking at drone video feeds. 

I really don't like much in the way of electronics when I fish. I like a depth finder on a boat for navigation and that's about it. But otherwise, I get enough of videos, computers, and the like at home and work. Fishing time is enjoying the breeze and the water. It's about getting away from all those things of modern life, except the rod, reel. 

Yes, the customer service sucks in my experience. My parents ordered a pretty high end one, can't remember the name, over $1,000, it never came after weeks and weeks, card got charged, finally got the charge taken care of, then a massively beat up box shows up with drone, might have been 3-4 months after placing the order. Sent it back unopened. This all went on for months. No one knew anything, no one responsible, can't find anyone responsible or that knows anything to talk to, pass the buck kind of experience.


----------



## bigdawg (May 23, 2004)

The thing with drones is that weight is a major factor. The new DJIs have about 20 minutes of flight time on a battery. The more weight you add the more you cut into that time. You'll be adding bait, leader and a surf weight that adds up quickly. Then you'll need to add some way to hold that weight and some way to remotely release it when you get to the drop spot. DJIs have small motors and very light rotors so maybe a bigger drone would be in order.


----------



## javajaws (May 1, 2016)

Drones (more properly called quadcopters) are like leaders...better when you build your own. They really aren't hard to put together from common parts - there's many sites out there that step you through the basics. You can build one in various different sizes. And you can put some monster motors on those things - lifting a pound or so is easily doable.

You'll need an extra channel on your radio as well as some sort of release mechanism that shouldn't be hard to devise that can be activated with a servo.


----------



## Its Catchy (Apr 10, 2014)

I have a potato gun that my buddy built years ago to launch mullet out past the third sandbar without getting wet.

It worked better than I thought it would. But using a quadcopter? I guess that takes "sight" fishing to a whole new level


----------



## sometimesfisher (Oct 3, 2011)

Its Catchy said:


> I have a potato gun that my buddy built years ago to launch mullet out past the third sandbar without getting wet.
> 
> It worked better than I thought it would. But using a quadcopter? I guess that takes "sight" fishing to a whole new level


I want that. How does it hold up to the salt?


----------



## jordanmills (Jan 8, 2009)

Using a quad with a good camera would probably be pretty good for getting a view of fish or features from higher up.


----------



## 535 (May 23, 2004)

I have always been skeptical when it came to potato guns, but the drones are really going to change things. Don't know that I have the coin or care to dump a $1000 drone in the surf at this time though


----------



## deatonic (Jul 15, 2014)

I bought a drone with my tax return money for the purpose of deploying bait out past the 3rd bar. I ran a few tests at the park near my house with a 10oz weight. Everything seemed good to go. When I got to the beach, I ran a couple of small runs and things looked promising. I loaded a bait and ran a line out 1243 ft. The dji app is very cool and you can get exact gps mappings of the flight. With all the line, the weight and the bait (half a sheepshead), I couldn't get the bait to release. All the downward drag was too much to release without pulling the drone down. The battery drains fairly quickly with the extra weight and wind. I had forgotten the battery charger so I didn't get a chance to make another flight. 

Here are a couple of thoughts regarding drone bait deployment: 
1. Extra batteries are a must. With the extra weight and wind the batteries drain fast. I would error on the side of caution. I would not want to land a drone in the water because of the battery.
2. Sight fishing is not realistic in much of the texas coast. The water is too dirty to see anything and with the shorter battery life there isn't much time to go exploring. I'm going to go down to PINS memorial weekend, hopefully the water will be clearer down there.
3. I haven't decided if a drone or a really nice kayak is better. This last Sharkathon we had a hard time getting bait out. If we did get out past the breakers the line had already washed down the beach. I think the drone will solve that problem, but it has other limitations.

I'll try to post videos from the memorial day trip. I'm happy to answer any questions if you are considering a drone.


----------



## JOHNNYREB (Apr 20, 2006)

Drones are illegal on pins as they should be, get off your lazy asses and fish like men! Using one during sharkathon will get you DQd....as it should!


----------

