These guys attached a GoPro to a fish and this is what it filmed

So cameras have been attached to the backs of wild dolphins recently in the name of science. Well these guys thought it would be interesting to try attaching a GoPro to the back of a large fish in the name of, well, I’m not sure what. Certainly not science anyway.

If you’ve got 12 minutes of your life that you can spare (you’ll never get that time back FYI) then check out this video from Monster Mike Fishing where they show you a fish’s eye view of the world.

So the guys were apparently inspired by seeing a video of a GoPro being strapped to the back of a turtle. Being fishing fanatics, naturally, they thought it would be interesting to see if they could try it out with a fish. But it would have to be a big fish.

They are using a GoPro 7 with a head strap cinched to its tightest setting. This they hope, will be small enough to attach securely to the fish. Now it’s time to catch the fish.

I must admit that I know little about fishing. However, the use of white bread as bait was a new one for me. It does appear effective as the next thing we see is one of the men reeling in a very large carp from the river. Amateur dramatics ensue to emphasize the fact that this is indeed a very large fish. I’m so impressed.

Next, we see the poor fish gasping for air (or should that be water?) on the grass as the GoPro is attached as planned. It fits! Now at least the guys had the foresight to attach a fishing line to the GoPro so that they can recover it. We then see the footage from the fish as it goes all Spielberg and swims around the river.

At this point, I’m very unclear about what the point of the exercise is. The footage is basically what you’d expect: the underwater view of a murky river. We do see a few other fish and some pond weed before the fish manages to break free of its cameraman activities.

Are we looking for behavioral characteristics in the swimming patterns of the fish? Are we trying to discover unchartered territories that would be impossible to capture without a fish-cam? Are we filming unique and exciting footage? Of course, the answer to these questions is a resounding nope.

There is no real point to doing this, and the footage is largely underwhelming. The only reason then: because they can. Personally, I don’t think that’s a great reason to be disturbing wildlife. It’s a bit interesting, sure, but maybe don’t try this at home.