Tracy&James | Wednesday, 1 April 2026
Last week I mentioned the interesting feature of our hire car's entertainment system in that it shows music videos on the screen in the middle of the centre console whilst I'm driving – I'm pretty sure that would be illegal back in the UK, driving without due care and attention and all that. I've also been struggling with another supposedly simple bit of technology this week – the action camera. It's Tracy's idea that we both wear these, mainly because we tend to separate when we're on the flats and therefore have no record for prosperity of some of the catches we made (or perhaps she didn't believe my stories of the monster bonefish that I'd caught and wanted proof!).
I was, at first, very reluctant to wear a camera – every year I will have instances of breaking off on fish because of a failure to clear the line error. When a bonefish bolts at high speed the line behind the stripping hand can fly up and occasionally shit happens and it wraps around something. I once broke off a fish after the line got trapped behind a button on my shirt sleeve that was there to hold the sleeve in place once you'd rolled it up. The more likely culprit is the line going round the back of the rod's fight butt – this hasn't happened to either of us yet on this trip, but it will at some point I'm sure. Anyway, my thoughts was that an action camera would offer the line another target to tangle with, but maybe that's the price to pay. I just hope when it does happen, because I think it will, it's not on a fish of a lifetime.
So once I got over the inherent risk in using one, the next issue was mounting it somewhere that gives a good view. We toyed with chest mounts but didn't want the straps etc. that goes with this – it's hot enough in the tropics already without having something akin to bondage gear holding our shirts tight against our bodies. As such, we settled for mounting them on the shoulder straps of our roll-up back packs. We found something that looked ideal on the internet that incorporated a gimbal mounting for the camera and a stiff base that could be attached to the shoulder straps with Velcro.
I really wanted to capture the whole experience of catching a bonefish on film, so whereas Tracy is tending to switch her camera on once she's hooked a fish, I'm trying to switch mine on as soon as I spot one in order to film the stalking process also. On the first day I wore it I absolutely nailed this task – I spotted a really good sized bonefish off in the distance and immediately switched the camera on (hearing the start-up 'jingle') and started the recording – a 'beep'. I spent a minute or so positioning myself for a shot and then made a perfect back-hand delivery. The fish moved to the fly immediately, I gave one strip and the big old boney accelerated and pinned my fly to the bottom with a big wag of its tail above the surface. A controlled strip strike was met with the typical 'boom', like someone dropping a brick in the water from a substantial height, as the fish went from near zero to top speed in the blink of an eye. Off peeled a lot of backing – down to the vivid green stuff that doesn't see daylight very often (only on exceptional fish). At this point I was feeling particularly pleased with myself, even if I didn't land it I'd have the stalk, the take and the blistering run on film. I did actually land the fish so I was even more keen to see the results of my film making that evening.
So how did it look in 4k brilliance – well I captured nothing, and I mean nothing – there wasn't even a file to be downloaded! That evening I tried to repeat my incompetence regarding even starting the filming process and with Tracy's help I got to the bottom of what happened. If you hold the 'start filming' button for a fraction of a second too long instead of filming it brings up a menu, FFS!!
In my head I have a vision of one of the final development meetings for this product going something like this:
Chief Developer (CD) – “Right so we're ready to go into production with our great, but simple action camera. This button on the side switches it on, and the two on the top will either start filming or take a photo”
Software Developer (SD) - “but how do you get to the menu that I programmed?”
CD – “We don't need menus, nobody uses them anyway, we just need the button to start filming and one to take photos”
SD - “but I've been programming the menu for months and want it included”
CD - “OK, I can't really see the point because no one will use it, they just want to film or take photos, but we'll put it in if you insist. How should the user access it?”
SD - “How about this button here?”
CD - “But that's the button to start filming, that's the main one for the product!”
SD - “Yeah, I know, but the menu is important too. How about I program it to do both?”
CD - “Can you do that?”
SD - “Yeah, sure. I'll make it that if you push it for 50 milliseconds the camera will record, however if you hold it for 100 milliseconds you'll get the menu. See I can prioritise filming as the main function”
CD - “Are you sure our customers will be able to differentiate between these two inputs?”
SD - “Of course, they're going to be young, hip dudes of the PS5 generation”
CD - “What about some middle-aged fisherman, on the flats being buffeted by a 30kph wind and wearing polarised glasses so he can't see the display”
SD - “Fuck 'em”
CD - “Yeah, fuck 'em”
Hopefully my film making will improve this week. Hope you're having a good one.
James.