Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

[kellerqx]

I have a 14ft. Smokercraft ProMag, beside the required navigational lights (bow and stern), what lights (spotlight,blacklight,etc.) should I have to ensure productive trip and safe return to the dock? Any pictures showing setup would be appreciated.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

I have a 14ft. Smokercraft ProMag, beside the required navigational lights (bow and stern), what lights (spotlight,blacklight,etc.) should I have to ensure productive trip and safe return to the dock? Any pictures showing setup would be appreciated.

I always carry a Q-beam. My latest one is cigarette lighter plug in with a battery back up. 1 million candlepower. I also keep a pair of the "shake and light" flashlights. One on board, the other in my carry on tool kit. I ensure that my console and deck lights work each time I am on the boat, whether I use them or not. Also, does your boat not have an anchor (white) light for the stern?

 

[capt sam]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

we've started using colored lights at night, red/blues, they tend to not disrupt your night vision as much. Also when using a q-beam don't hit other boaters with it, it seriously blinds them, I know it happens here alot, I just quickly hit the markers with it.

 

[rtpassini]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

im going to be wrapping the inside of my boat with an led strip mounted to a switch to provide light at night.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

I'm installing red LED rope lights up under the gunnels of my new project. The red LED rope lights I got are kind of dim and provide enough light to see, but not enough for 100% visibility (IE: tying knots, unhooking fish, etc). They are great for night vision though. I'm also installing white incandescent rope lights inside the gunnels (they were cheap) for 100% visibility,,, turn on the white lights for a minute or 2 then back to the red LED's.

What ever you do you should have some type of switchable interior courtesy lights. On my old 16' SeaSwirl boat I had 3 incandescent lights that were individually switched. They worked OK,,, but could blind you as they were mounted on the sides of interior panels, light shining directly into your eyes.

While bait fishing at night I use fluorescent drop lights set about 3-4' below the surface (check your state laws, heard it's illegal in some places) to draw in shad. I've had them so thick around the boat that it looked like a halo of shad around the boat,,, and the depth finder was reading 5' deep while we were anchored in 60' of water.

As mentioned earlier a Qbeam spot light and flash light are good to have on board.

One thing to remember, things will look different once the sun goes down, reflections can look like shore and you might not be able to pick out the shore line easily,,, log floating down the river, have to be very cautious.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

i installed a little 4 bulb blue led at each fishing station, provides plenty of light to see what you are doing, and does not blind you. also used them as courtsey lights. but switched separately. look at this. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=282649&highlight=led+lights

 

[5150abf]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

I rarely day fish, usually go out about 2-3 hours before sunset so I have run hundreds of hours in the dark.

Good nav lights that can easilly be seen are essential and keep your head on a swivel for other boats, alot of them are kids on dads boat that have had a little too much to drink, keep the spotlight handy to flash them and make sure they see you.

You will want to use the spot only to identify possible objects in the water, not to run all the time, you will find it is alot easier to "read" the water without a light, it actually makes it harder to see and limits your distance vision.

Maybe a lantern to see your rods, you don't say what you fish for, and a good Mag light and extra batteries is really all you need.

If you can swing a gps unit they are really helpful at night as they give you a good idea where you need to go, can be had on Ebay for as little as $30, Magellan 3 series is a good one, alittle old tech but they work beautiful.

I made my rod lights from LEDs I got at work, 4 lights, the whole bar swivels and each light swivels independently, don't know where you can find them but they throw alot of light and don't use any battery.

My only other tip is GO SLOW, I won't run more than 10 mph at night-15 in sections I know well, any faster than that and you are asking for trouble.

I am in a river and I catfish.

 

[mthieme]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

My running light is 360 degrees and fairly bright...been meaning to add an interior light of some nature.
I used to have a spotlight, but never really used it.
Bottom line, I don;t use any type of auxiliary lighting at night.

 

[rtpassini]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

i just ordered my led strips today.

We use the same ones at work for some of our products we do so i know they will be decent.

mine are waterproof with a black backing. 1/4 inch wide and 2/8th thick.
they use a 12 volt system so no resistors are needed.

you should look into these. MUCH better and smaller than rope lights.
im going to be using 4 feet on both sides and 2 feet on each side by the bow.

 

[kandil]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

I used the led head light when I fish at night the kind that you strap to your head and I find it great to see what I am doing

 

[PGFISHER]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

Went out for first night fishing on my pontoon boat. No courtesy lights; so I took a few l.e.d. lightes from my fromt yard; the kind with solar panels and are staked in the ground. I stuck them in some of my pole holders, and when it got dark, nice soft glows. They lasted all night and recharged themselves all day. QUICK FIX BUT IT WORKS GREAT!!!

 

[dingbat]

Re: Lights for night fishing, what should I have?

I have White and Red LED in the cockpit, 2 courtesy floor lights and two flood lights on the hardtop to light up the back deck.

Don't use any of them when fishing. The all round anchor light up top provides more than enough light to fish.