Quote:
Originally Posted by RiverShoes
What about lights at night, I mean submersible fishing lights. Do they pan out, are they legal?
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I have a bunch of different lights I just added to the boat and have used many different ones in the past. Submersible lights work well in some situations. I currently have two green lights to attract fish when anchored. This works well when you know the fish are in a small area like around boat docks or brush piles. Sometimes if you anchor on the end of a point roaming schools of fish will find you. Basically, the light attracts bugs and small fish and then the bigger fish. On Old Hickory you get lots of fish fry right now and some huge shad schools under the light. Crappie are usually my main target although many other species can be caught. This method works great anywhere the fish are concentrated. But like any method, it is hit or miss. You need to stay in one spot for a while for it to work and if you pick the wrong spot it can be very slow. I like to do this while catfishing so if the crappie don't bite I usually find some action on the cats.
There are two other types of lights I use. First, red and amber lights in the boat for safety. I leave the red on all the time and it doesn't hurt your night vision. I turn the amber on when I need to rig up. The red lights just give enough light to see the floor of the boat so you don't trip, fall or step on something. Neither of these colors attract bugs. It is amazing to see a million bugs in the other lights and have none in the boat. I rarely have to use bug spray. If I turn on my white light headlamp in the boat, I am covered in bugs in about 10 seconds.
The second type are blue and UV lights. The blue (called moonlight by some companies) is used to light up the shoreline when casting. It provides enough light to see the shore and casting targets. it kind of looks like you are in a light fog or bright moon as nothing is very clear, but you can see the main features. It is also very visible to other boaters so I think it is a safety feature and have them on all sides of the boat. The UV lights make your fishing line glow if you use fluorescent mono. It makes if much easier to see strikes and follow your cast. I use two UV spot lights off the side I am fishing. The UV light is kind of purple, but does not give off much light to see by, but it really helps for seeing your line. Both blue and UV will attract bugs so they need to be aimed out of the boat. The blue light will make your line glow a little like the UV so the combo is really great.
I just got the full color LED set (red, amber, blue, and UV) on my boat. I ordered all the LED lights online and wired everything myself for about the same price a single UV night light at Bass Pro. It is really something to see and fishing with the lights is almost as easy as daytime fishing. I can easily cast to shoreline cover with very good accuracy and you can see following fish as they get close to the boat. I have no doubt it will spook some fish, but I have had several bass follow the bait right to the boat and strike when clearly in the lights so it doesn't scare them all.
Now that I have all the lights, I need to get out and learn the night fishing patterns on Old Hickory. That is what the rest of the summer is for
Jim
PS - As far as I know, they are all legal to use for fishing.