In this guide, we rank the best fishing drones on the market today. We’ll include both budget and professional options and cover all the important specs so that you can easily find the right one for you.
Before that, though, let’s take a closer look at underwater drone fishing and the features that can fishing drones make them a valuable piece of equipment.
What are Fishing Drones?
When most people think of drones, they typically think of the standard flying drones used for aerial photography. However, that’s not the only type of drone available. There are now more and more drones that can be used for a variety of applications, including drone fishing.
But how do you find the best drone for fishing?
There are two types of drones that fall under the category of “fishing drones”:
The first is aerial drones — which are compatible with bait dropping mechanisms. You can attach the bait dropper to the drone and drop the bait into fishing spots, and you can also film your fishing adventures from the sky. You’ll need to buy the aerial drone and bait dropping mechanism separately in most cases.
The second type is underwater drones — which can be used to scout marine habitats and find fish. Some underwater drones can also be used to drop bait. Whereas aerial drones use propellers to fly, underwater drones use motors and depth compression technology to be able to move underwater, essentially like a mini submarine.
Fishing Drone Uses and Benefits
The best fishing drones have a variety of features that can make them an incredibly valuable tool for improving your fishing performance, whether you’re using them for leisure or commercial purposes.
There are two main advantages to drone fishing: for scouting underwater habitats, and for releasing bait. For scouting for fish, you can use an underwater fishing drone to view marine locations in real-time and locate fish. Some even have night vision cameras so you can use them in the dark!
They can also provide much better and more efficient information on the temperature and topography of submarine environments than alternative methods. You can use the best fishing drones in both freshwater and saltwater, and most are built to withstand cold temperatures, so you can even use them for ice fishing.
Some underwater drone camera fishing machines also allow you to drop bait once you’ve found a suitable fishing location. You can drop bait at any location and depth you desire, offering a much more accurate and efficient bait dispersal system than other methods.
How to Choose the Best Fishing Drone for You
All fishing drones have different functionalities and features, so you need to consider these to ensure you choose the right drone for you.
For starters, for underwater drones, you want to check fundamental features like depth and battery life. The depth of an underwater fishing drone can range from 30m to over 100m, so this is really important to check, particularly if you’re sea fishing. You’ll also want to make sure the drone has a long enough battery life for the applications you’re using it for.
If you’re choosing an aerial drone with an add-on bait dropping mechanism, you want to check how easy the installation is and the weight the mechanism can carry. Most bait droppers are built specifically for use with particular drones, so you should also factor this in.
The camera quality is also vital when it comes to underwater drone fishing. This not only determines how clearly you can explore underwater but also the quality of the fishing videos you can capture. You should also check for things like night vision capability.
Another important factor is how easy the drone is to use and the features available in the companion app. For example, GPS functionality enables advanced navigational features which make fishing drones easier to use. We cover all these features and more in the following reviews, so you’ll have all the info you need to pick out a suitable drone.
Best Aerial Bait Dropping Fishing Drones
Firstly, let’s take a look at the best aerial drones that you can use to capture fishing photography and drop bait with a compatible add-on.
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DJI Mavic Mini 2 with HXY Drop Device – Excellent Mini Drone Capable of Carrying 77g of Bait
- Drone price: $599.00 — Available on Amazon here
- Airdropper price: $33 — Available on Amazon here
DJI is the world’s leading producer of high-end drones, and while it’s not cheap, the Mavic Mini 2 is one of its more affordable models that can be used for fishing with the HYX dropping device.
The Mavic Mini is a very small and compact drone that weighs less than 250g, so you can fly it without FAA registration. It has a fantastic 12MP camera that can capture 4K video, a 3-axis gimbal for increased stability, and 4x zoom. You can fly it for 31 minutes per charge within a 10km range.
You can carry up to 77g of bait at a time with the HYX drone fishing dropping device. As well as dropping bait, you can also use it for drone casting fishing as it can drop your lines and drone fishing rig.
The dropping device is really easy to use. You simply clip it onto your drone and then release the bait with a single click of the remote control that comes with it. The device has a control range of 1km, and it’s very sensitive, so it’ll drop your bait as soon as you click the button.
The HXY bait dropping device is compatible with both the Mavic Mini 2 and the cheaper Mavic Mini, which you can pick up for just $399.
DJI Mavic 2 Pro with O’woda Airdropper Clip – Top Quality Drone that Can Carry 500g
- Drone price: $1,599.00 — Available on Amazon here
- Airdropper price: $37 — Available on Amazon here
If you’re looking for a top-quality aerial drone and a drone fishing release mechanism, the DJI Mavic 2 Pro and O’woda Airdropper Clip combination is one of the most popular among fishers.
The Mavic 2 Pro is an exceptional drone that’s one of DJI’s flagship models. It has a Hasselblad 20c camera with a 20MP CMOS sensor, so you can capture genuinely stunning footage of your fishing adventures.
It has a max speed of 44mph and has a range of up to 18km, so you can quickly reach fishing spots. The battery lasts up to 31 minutes, and the drone is incredibly easy to control with either the remote controller of the DJI GO app.
The O’woda Airdropper Clip can carry up to 500g of bait for drone fishing and is super easy to use, as you can drop bait with just one click of the remote control. The remote range is the same as the drone’s range – 18km.
Its lightweight and compact size make it very easy to install onto the drone. Its ease and efficiency has earned a 5-star rating on Amazon, so it’s clearly loved by fishermen. The O’woda Airdropper Clips is also compatible with the slightly cheaper DJI Mavic 2 Zoom.
Best Underwater Fishing Drones Ranked
Now, here are the best underwater fishing drones that can be used for scoping marine habitats, finding fish, and dispersing bait.
Chasing Innovation F1 Fish Finder – Most Affordable Best Drone for Fishing
- Price: $699 — Available on Amazon here
Underwater fishing drones don’t come cheap, but Chasing Innovation’s F1 Fish Finder is one of the most affordable on the market.
Manufactured by drone fishing industry leaders, the F1 Fish Finder is perfect for recreational and competition fishers looking to get started with a drone.
It has some really impressive features to help you explore underwater environments and locate good fishing spots. These include a detection depth of 28m, enabling you to record the depth, temperature, and bottom topography of waters. You can view this information directly on your mobile with the intuitive Chasing 2GO app, which is super handy.
You can also use the app to control this budget fishing drone horizontally and omnidirectionally. Another great feature is the GPS functionality which supports multi-fishing point recording, automatic cruising between fishing points, and one key return to make controlling the drone even easier.
This waterproof fishing drone also has a high-quality 1080HD camera, allowing you to clearly navigate underwater and playback video in real-time. It has an infrared camera function, so it’s also suitable for night fishing. You can share your pictures and videos on social media with just one click when using the Chasing 2GO app.
The F1 Fish Finder also has a really impressive battery life of up to six hours thanks to the 4800mAh lithium battery.
For more options, we also have a ranking of the best underwater drones
PowerVision PRW10 PowerRay Wizard – Best Drone for Fishing Under $1,000
- Price: $999 — Available on Amazon here
The PowerVision PowerRay Wizard is an impressive freshwater and saltwater fishing drone with a variety of useful features.
The highlight is undoubtedly the PowerSeeker fish finder sonar device which provides an advanced way to locate fish underwater. You can also use this tool to drop bait underwater at your desired position.
This fishing drone with a camera shoots 12MP photos and 4K videos, so it offers stunning quality. We also really like the burst mode that shoots up to five frames per second for capturing cinematic scenes of marine environments. It even comes with a pair of ZEISS VR One goggles so that you can explore underwater with an enhanced perspective.
The PowerRay Wizard can dive up to 80m deep, has powerful headlamps for nighttime exploration, and has a 100m long waterproof tether. This gives you great range to watch fish behavior in real-time.
Finally, this drone is really intuitive and easy to control, so it’s perfect for both beginners and more experienced drone fishers.
Chasing Innovation Gladius Mini – Best Mini Fishing Drone
- Price: $1,199 — Available on Amazon here
Another entry from Chasing Innovation, the Gladius Mini is a very small and compact yet high-quality drone for drone fishing.
Thanks to its small size of 8.9 x 15 inches and weight of less than 5.5lbs, this waterproof fishing drone is one of the most portable on the market.
Despite its small size, it’s a very powerful fish drone with a max speed of 2m/s capable of reaching up to 100m – three times as deep as the F1 Fish Finder and PowerRay Wizard. It has a really useful depth lock mode that makes the drone hover at a certain depth, so you can focus on other tasks.
This is just one of the intuitive control features that make the Gladius Mini easy to use when drone fishing. You can also easily change the speed and brightness of the two 1200 LED headlights using the remote controller of the Gladius app. There are also advanced functions like tilt lock which angles the drone at ±45° so you can get wider views underwater.
Thanks to the 4K UHD camera with an F3.0 lens, you can capture stunning 12MP images and 1080P video. You can live stream footage online and share it with your friends, and you can also view it in virtual reality with the compatible VR headset.
QYSEA FIFISH V6s – Best Drone for Fishing Professionals
- Price: $3,199 — Available on Amazon here
If you’re looking for an extremely high-quality underwater drone that has everything you need for commercial drone fishing, you can’t go wrong with the QYSEA FIFISH V6s.
This drone has a super impressive maximum depth of 100m, so it’s ideal for fishing both in deep lakes and the sea. With a max speed of 2m/s, you can explore much faster than with other fishing drones.
It has an excellent 166-degree, ultra-wide-angle UHD camera, so you can capture genuinely stunning underwater footage. We love the built-in intelligent smart color reproduction technology that helps repair the distortion caused by filming underwater, so images and videos come out really clean. This drone also has 4000lm headlights for clear submarine viewing.
This fish drone is incredibly durable, with an anti-rust and anti-corrosion 316 watertight connector that has been tested over 1,000 times to ensure it offers a very long working life.
You can control this fishing drone with the FIFISH app and the included remote controller. It’s super simple to use, and you can lock at different depths and tilt the drone ±45°. You can even connect your phone to the remote controller to get a fullscreen view through the drone’s camera as you use it.
As well as fishing, this drone can also be used for boat inspection, commercial diving aquaculture, law enforcement, and even underwater rescue missions. A nice extra is that the QYSEA FIFISH V6 comes with VR goggles for a genuinely immersive underwater fishing experience.
