Mako Mania Helicoptor?

[mrfritz44]

We weren't in the tournament, but a small gray helo was checking out boats and taking pictures Saturday evening just outside Manasquan Inlet. We thought it might be related to Mako Mania, but we don't see any aerial pictures posted on their site.

Does anyone know who operated this helo and where we might be able to see or buy the pictures they took?

Fred

[Duffman]

Boatpix helo? they cruise everywhere...nice shots...check the price

[captainsteve25]

Saw them Sunday in Raritan bay snapping pics of us. My kids felt like rock stars. Really cool

[makosnax]

I was on the beach Saturday late afternoon, it was Boatpix.com. Did you happen to see the school of dolphin feeding at the mouth of the inlet? They were actually checking out the guys scuba diving at the end of the jetty.

[fin_s_guy]

What's the deal with those guys? Send them money without seeing a sample pic and they mail you copies for $250 each...and you have 10 days to send them back or they bill you for the full amount of all the pics.

Shady bro...

[Sharkyispy]

Didn't see them heading out early Saturday...usually check out the pics of the crew as we depart...Fin S yeah a bit shady I guess...never bought them but some great shots...gotta pay for that fuel somehow....;)

[fin_s_guy]

Just wonder why they don't have watermarked preview shots on the site? Offer pics at reasonable prices or the rights to the prints for a bit more.

Deal in volume instead of exclusivity.

[Gerry Zagorski]

They used to do just that, put the photos up on the site with watermarks. Way too easy now a days to clip the photo from the site and photoshop out the watermark I guess.

[dakota560]

Was at the weigh in at Chrystal Point Saturday and the last boat in around 7:00 pm before weighing in launched one of those drone type gadgets which has a GoPro attached. It was funny, the boat was about fifty feet from the dock, one guy in back was holding up the device waiting I assume for someone else with the controls to activate it. The weigh master was getting pissed off because it was the last boat to weigh in and I guess the rules are if you clear the inlet by 7:00 pm you can weigh in but I would think there's some consideration for how long it takes to actually make it to the docks. Either way, the fact that these guys were trying to launch their toy as opposed to coming over to the dock to weigh their fish didn't sit well with the tournament guys. The tournament guy on the dock yelled out "Do you guys have a fish you plan on weighing in" to which the boat responded yes. Then the guy on the dock said we'll you have exactly two minutes to get that boat over to this dock or your not weighing in anything! The way the crew was acting it seemed like they had a potential tournament winning fish on board.....ended up being a little over 200 lbs. Well they finally launched the drone or whatever it's called and I'll tell you it's a very cool device. The things flew over the rt. 70 bridge, went as high as I would say at least two football fields and then came back to the dock and hovered motionless right above the dock presumably videoing the entire weigh in for these guys. Very very cool. Don't know how much these things cost but it was very cool and would be a great way to have aerial footage of a fishing trip. I'm not sure what the price of these gadgets are, I've heard they are not as expensive as you'd think, but definitely going to look into it for future fishing trips. I could actually see using this off shore to hover behind your boat while trolling a spread and actually be able to see what's coming up under the spread or over a pod of whales or porpoise. I'm sure there's a way of hooking the GoPro up to a screen of some sort to view the footage real time. That footage would be insane. I'll post a pick later if I can of the device I'm talking about if I can but it sounds to me this would probably be in the long run a more cost effective means of having aerial footage of your fishing trips and boat shots as opposed to what the helicopter guys charge for a few shots.

Dakota

[dakota560]

Attached is a pic of the for lack of better description drone that I assume was using a GoPro to video the weigh in of one of the boats at Chrystal Point on Saturday day one of the Mako Mania tournament. Pretty cool how high this went initially before it was brought back and hovered about fifteen feet in the air right above the dock. You can see there's a black bird in the pic which found the flying gadget of interest and for a moment I thought he was going to fly right into it but fortunately made a turn just before entering it's restricted air space. The applications for something like this are endless and the videos you can take must be pretty wild. Anyhow just wanted to post it for everyone's entertainment and depending on how much it costs it might be a worthwhile investment certainly when you consider the amount of money the helicopter picture guys charge for a few shots during tournaments.

[tombanjo]

Can they be armed? Good way of discouraging those slick crashers.

[giantfan]

What's the deal with those guys? Send them money without seeing a sample pic and they mail you copies for $250 each...and you have 10 days to send them back or they bill you for the full amount of all the pics.

Shady bro...

I have purchased pictures from them..... didn't feel like it was shady at all. Like Gerry said they are just trying to protect their investment. I'm sure it costs a few bucks to fly that thing around all day.

My profile pic is from them.