You can fish with the Mavic Mini. You can use your Mavic Mini to fly out over the water and scout for schools of feeding fish. You can use it to take your lure farther than you can cast it. You can even attach a line to your Mavic Mini and hook a fish to your drone, BUT there are a lot of reasons to not fish with your Mavic Mini.
There are several reasons the Mavic Mini is a good drone for fishing and there are many reasons to choose another drone to fish with. Let’s take a look at both in turn.
Why the Mavic Mini is Good for Fishing
Easy to Transport
The Mavic Mini bundle comes with the lightweight drone that folds into a palm-sized package. the bundle also includes 3 batteries, an SD card, a couple of chargers, the remote controller, and a carrying case. The case is about 10 inches, by 6 inches by 3 inches, and everything you need to fly fits nicely into the case. It truly is “Grab and Go.”
“Grab and Go” is important when you are also burdened with everything you need to fish and spend a day near the water. The last thing you want to add is a large, cumbersome drone.
(Compared to a sheet of paper)
Easy to Fly
I am continuously impressed at how simple to fly and intuitive the controls are on the Mavic Mini. When I first started flying remote control planes, and copters (even some of my first drones), There was usually a pretty steep learning curve and quite often some downtime due to the crash repairs.
The Mavic Mini, however, can practically be flown out of the box with ease. Before you hook a line to your drone and fly it out over water, I would suggest some backyard practice to get to know the controls.
Good Camera
The Mavic Mini is a great drone to send on reconnaissance missions out over the water. The camera on this drone is mounted on a gimble which allows for a very stable 2.7k live video of your prey. The biggest problem I have with the camera on the Mini, is that there is no zoom. So, to get an up-close view of something, you have to actually get the drone up close, which can be dangerous with a sensitive drone flying over waves on a windy day.
Long Battery Life
According to DJI, the maker of the Mavic Mini, the drone can fly on a single charge for 30 minutes. This can be extended by having extra batteries with you, but you will have to bring it back to switch the batteries out.
A half-hour doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but it is close to double the average flight time of other drones.
Price
You can buy less expensive drones than the Mavic Mini, but you get what you pay for. For the price, the mini has the best performance, camera, and flight time. Check the current price for the Mavic Mini on Amazon HERE
Compared to other DJI drones it comes in at half to one quarter the price.
You can check the prices of a 3 popular DJI drones below
DJI Mavic Mini
DJI Mavic Air 2
DJI Phantom 4 Pro
Why You Might Want to Choose Another Drone for Fishing
There are 3 very compelling reasons to NOT use your Mavic Mini for fishing.
Very Light
The Mavic Mini was created to weigh 249 grams. This excludes it from the required registration with the FAA. The cutoff for this requirement is 250 grams. (so you can only add one single gram to the weight before you are over the limit).
In order to tow line out to the fish, you will need to add a hook or some other device that will hold the fishing line until you release it. This addition to the drone will undoubtedly add that extra gram. So, technically you would have to register your drone with the FAA.
Even if you turn a blind eye to the registration requirement, your drone is still light, and winds are often heavy, especially in coastal regions. A drone fly-away is a real possibility if the wind is too strong for your Mavic Mini to return.
Not Waterproof
Obviously you will be around water when drone fishing and the Mavic Mini is not waterproof. If it goes in the drink, it is kaput. There are waterproof drones out there, but we will get to those in just a bit.
Even if you are super careful, one of the main concerns when dragging a fishing line out a long way is getting that line tangled in the props of your drone. This is exactly how I lost my first Mini. The only good thing that came of that was a pretty good “FAIL” video.
Price
Wait a second! wasn’t price one of the reasons that the Mavic Mini is good for fishing? Well, Sorta. But, while it is one of the least expensive of the DJI drones, it still costs several hundred dollars that you most certainly do not want to see crashing into the water.
What Drone is the Best For Fishing?
If you are are serious about fishing with a drone, and I mean serious, like you want to get your bait to precise locations and not worry if the drone hits the water, then you have to go with a Swellpro Drone.
Swellpro is the maker of the “Splash” and the “Spry.” These two amazing drones can hit the water at speed. completely submerge AND take back off from the water. Worried about crashing your drone into the ocean? Don’t. The Swellpro Drones are built to take it. Check the price on Amazon below.
Note only is the Swellpro Splash waterproof, but it is also equipped with a remote controlled line release device.
Final Thoughts
While it is possible to fish with the Mavic Mini, It may not be the best drone for that purpose. If you are serious about drone fishing, then I would suggest taking a hard look at the waterproof Swellpro Drones, because accidents will happen.
Finally, if you do choose to fish with your Mavic Mini take a look at this remote control release device. It makes delivering a lure much easier.
Still looking for more information? Try these 2 posts…
“How to Drone Fish”
“Cool Release Clip for Drone Fishing”