On a recent trip to a very regular fishing spot, a very unexpected thing happened. When your brook trout fishing for small 8” fish on a 7 foot 3 wt rod, your expecting to catch 8” fish all day. However, you never really know what you may catch, thats always part of the fun with fishing right? When you spot and hook a 25” wild brown trout, the ride is on and the adrenaline starts flowing. I was excited to hold up my trophy for a pic, and then quickly realized that pic may not be happening. I submerged my Sony A6500 in the water with a brand new Sigma 16mm f1.4 lens. I was optimistic and thought everything was going to be okay. But after I released the fish, I realized how wet and ruined the camera really was. Thankfully I got a few good pics from the Catch Cam Net, witch is always reliable, hence the reason I came up with this setup in the first place.

If you've ever had an experience like this, or you just had a complete terrible moment and dropped your camera in the water or you have gotten caught in a rain storm, it doesn't have to be an end to your expensive camera equipment. The Old Rice trick works like magic. Tho I was skeptical at first as well, I did a little research and asked a few friends I knew have tried it. So here is how I did it. Nothing real special but Ill break it down to you. 

I turned the camera off immediately. If there is power while the camera is wet, that is what could fry your camera. Take the battery, card, Lens cover, flash cover, and anything else attached to your camera off. Wipe all the water off that you can. I then stopped at the very first grocery store I could find on our way back. Bought the biggest bag of rice I could find, Just to be safe, definitely over kill. I got the camera on rice just until I got home then transferred it all into a more  specific setup, with rice completely surrounding it. I kept the glass part of the lens pointed down the whole time so no more of the water that was trapped behind the glass would run back into the lens itself.  I then put the camera body on rice in a plastic container. I opened the battery door and the USB door. Be very carful not to get any rice or rice dust on the sensors. A few days later I was heading back out for another trip, not sure if my camera gear was going to work. I loaded them up anyways. I read online leaving the rice/camera setup in a hot car was actually really good. It helped pull the moisture out. Sure enough 5 days after the accident, I was ready to try it out. I put the card and battery in, and it came on but kept saying card error. So I hurried and turned it off and put it back on rice for another 4 days in the hot car as I was traveling. I said a quick prayer and tried the camera again, this time it worked like new. I was super surprised but so thankful at the same time. So for now on, I will always travel with a bag of rice in my camera gear box. You just never know when that bad karma is going to strike.  This rice trick can work on cell phones and action cameras too. I left the card door open on a GoPro session one time and got it wet. After a few days on rice it worked again. I hope this can help someone save their gear. Email with any questions. Beau@catchcamnets. If you want to take pictures of your fish and have a reliable setup you do not have to worry about, then check out our Catch Cam Nets with an action camera attached. Tight Lines as always !