Boat and fishing lights

[agelesssone]

Dropped the daughter off at pre K, went with the wife to the gym, then came home nd started playing boat/fishing stuff.

Started making a submersible green LED light for night fishing. Went to Home Depot and got a couple of fluorescent tube cover/protectors and a can of plastic dip.

Cut the four footer down to two feet, capped one end with the wires hanging out. Stuffed four feet of LED strip lights (about 90 lights) into the tube then dipped the wired end (which was taped to the protector) into the plastic dip. Did this three times, letting it set up for the night.

Tomorrow I'll put a one lb lead ingot inside it, cap it and dip that a few times to seal it up good. Then I'll connect the wires to a length of trailer wiring that I had left over from an earlier project and hook those into a male cigarette lighter assembly, tie a parachute cord to the light, tape it down good and be ready to fish it.

I then took the leftover LED's, green, (28 ft.) and ran them all over the inside of my bass boat and wired them to a switch on the bow. Ready to night fish come this summer.

I'm also planning on getting some more lights for the outside of the boat to make it stand out so I, hopefully, won't get run over at night by some of the crazies on Old Hickory and Percy Priest in the summertime.

Oh, and I made four marker buoys by cutting pieces of foam from an old archery target I no longer use. They are gray, 1 inch thick and not really noticeable from a distance. I'm just trying to keep from advertising any spot I'm fishing.

[nofish]

Originally Posted by agelesssone

Dropped the daughter off at pre K, went with the wife to the gym, then came home nd started playing boat/fishing stuff.

Started making a submersible green LED light for night fishing. Went to Home Depot and got a couple of fluorescent tube cover/protectors and a can of plastic dip.

Cut the four footer down to two feet, capped one end with the wires hanging out. Stuffed four feet of LED strip lights (about 90 lights) into the tube then dipped the wired end (which was taped to the protector) into the plastic dip. Did this three times, letting it set up for the night.

Tomorrow I'll put a one lb lead ingot inside it, cap it and dip that a few times to seal it up good. Then I'll connect the wires to a length of trailer wiring that I had left over from an earlier project and hook those into a male cigarette lighter assembly, tie a parachute cord to the light, tape it down good and be ready to fish it.

I then took the leftover LED's, green, (28 ft.) and ran them all over the inside of my bass boat and wired them to a switch on the bow. Ready to night fish come this summer.

I'm also planning on getting some more lights for the outside of the boat to make it stand out so I, hopefully, won't get run over at night by some of the crazies on Old Hickory and Percy Priest in the summertime.

Oh, and I made four marker buoys by cutting pieces of foam from an old archery target I no longer use. They are gray, 1 inch thick and not really noticeable from a distance. I'm just trying to keep from advertising any spot I'm fishing.

looks good! very creative.

[MNfisher]

Saaahweeeeet!

[Travis C.]

Looks great!

Could you attach a glowstick to the marker bouy's so you can mark and stay on offshore structure at night?

[Fish Whisperer]

Good job... I'm hoping to have my boat lit up before spring.

[jad2t]

Your boat is like a nightclub haha. Looks good man!

[Jim]

I love the LED boat lights! My boat is also lit up to the max and it is fun at night.

One thing to think about, those green lights that are super good at attracting fish are also super good at attracting bugs. When I first added green lights to my boat I had them in the boat but aimed down toward the water. The first time I turned them on within about 1 minute the whole inside of the boat was covered with Mayflies. That included almost every bit of my body. Needless to say, the green lights were moved to outside the boat.

My experience on Old Hickory in the summer is that the only color that doesn't attract a lot of bugs is red. White is horrible. I can't have it on for more than about 10 seconds before there are a bunch of bugs in my face. Yellow is ok, and blue and UV (purple) are moderate for attracting bugs.

Even with all the changes I have made to different color and position LED lights in the boat, it is common not to be able to turn any interior lights on while fishing. As long as the lights don't aim inside the boat the bugs seem to stay in a huge cloud just outside of the boat.

My two new fixes for this year are:
1. adding a dimmer to the system so I can adjust the light intensity inside the boat.
2. Adding a RGB light strip inside the boat so I can change the color and brightness with a remote control. When the bugs are not bad, hopefully I can use a brighter color and then turn it red when I have to.

The waterproof RGB 5 meter strips with controllers are getting super cheap. the last one I bought was $17 off ebay and it works great. It is not on the boat yet, but will be by spring.

At any rate, I like your lights and any LED lights are better than no lights at all. It definitely makes the boat visible and keeps drunk/crazy boaters away from you at night.

Nice work,
Jim

[agelesssone]

Thanks for all the positive comments, and especially about the bugs. I'll rethink the green lights and maybe replace them with red lights. I just ordered red, white and blue lights to put on both sides of the boat on the outside. So, if you see some red/white/blue lights bobbing around the Gallatin Steam Plant, Old Hickory or Percy Priest lake at night, just wave and say "HEY" or stop by for a chat.

[frank23]

LED lights on boats looks superb and amazing. Other than decoration it is quite helpful at nighs to drive boats. But use of red lights is not recomended as other color like green and yellow are better.

[Reel Tune]

Looks great agelessone, and great tips Jim. I've been looking into the LED lights for the kayak, I currently run just one white LED that sits a few feet above me to warn other boaters, and have a red/blue LED headlamp for when I'm looking for something around the watercraft. For the past year I have been researching submersible, and interior LED lights for fishing and really like these companies http://www.wildcatlighting.com/kayakscanoes.html (Wildcat Lighting), and http://www.supernovafishinglights.com/kayak-lights (Supernova Fishing Lights). I'll be setting some kayaks up hopefully this spring. Keep the ideas and tips coming, they are great.

Jeremy

[Jim]

Originally Posted by MidTNKayakAngler

Looks great agelessone, and great tips Jim. I've been looking into the LED lights for the kayak, I currently run just one white LED that sits a few feet above me to warn other boaters, and have a red/blue LED headlamp for when I'm looking for something around the watercraft. For the past year I have been researching submersible, and interior LED lights for fishing and really like these companies http://www.wildcatlighting.com/kayakscanoes.html (Wildcat Lighting), and http://www.supernovafishinglights.com/kayak-lights (Supernova Fishing Lights). I'll be setting some kayaks up hopefully this spring. Keep the ideas and tips coming, they are great.

Jeremy

Cool sites, I haven't seen these before. You can "do-it-yourself" easily for cheap these day it you want to experiment.

Bug control is discussed by wildcatlighting http://www.wildcatlighting.com/mosquito-control.html and I agree with what they are doing. Try to keep the attracting colors outside of the boat and use the "lesser attracting colors" inside the boat.

Red is the least attracting color, but it doesn't give much light to see by. It is hard to tie knots or do much under red light. It is good for seeing the floor so when you walk around in the boat you don't step on things. I also have Yellow/amber inside the boat that I can turn on for seeing better. It works OK, but I still need white light sometimes to see small things. I have that on my headlamp. Yellow does attract more bugs than red so I don't leave it on all the time.

Green, blue, UV, and white are outside the boat. UV is great for seeing fishing lines and totally worth adding to your lights. Blue lights up the bank so you can shoreline bass fish like it is daytime, but it is not super bright to "spook" fish and will not kill your night vision. Green is great for sitting still and attracting bait and fish to the boat. It is very bright to your eyes at night.

My headlights are white LED driving lights. They are very bright and are only used when running or docking.

Frank23 said "LED lights on boats looks superb and amazing. Other than decoration it is quite helpful at nighs to drive boats. But use of red lights is not recomended as other color like green and yellow are better."

I kind of disagree with this. None of the LED strip lights are useful for driving the boat. They don't give off enough light to see when running and they do limit your night vision so I turn off all interior lights when running. Outside LED strip lights don't help with seeing, but do help with being seen. Some nights, especially nights with any fog, the outside lights limit your vision, as the light reflects off the fog and makes it hard to see out in the distance. These are all comments are about the LED strip lights, my headlights work like any headlights and can be used as needed when driving the boat.

Recommending red, green or yellow is only application specific. All do somethings well and others poorly. My experience is bugs at night during the summer can drive you crazy if you use lights. It is so bad sometimes all the lights stay off. Just as a note, the last time I was fishing the steam plant a few weeks ago, I turned on all the lights after dark while striper fishing. Even at night in the winter, some bugs were attracted to the boat. That was surprising. Of course, it was not enough to worry about so the lights stayed on. In the summer, it is a million times worse.

One other thing. Be careful when using red or green when under power. These colors are used for boat direction signals and it makes it hard for other boater to tell which way you are going. It may be illegal, I am not sure, but it can be dangerous. Blue and UV are not "direction signal" colors so I am less concerned about them. The big plus of blue and UV is other boaters see you easily and thus stay far away from you. And you still have your red/green front and white back direction lights on so they can tell which way you are going.

For you kayak guys, the use of green on both sides of the boat when paddling may confuse other boaters which way you are heading at night. Be careful with that. Also, your kayak will look like a "big boat" when all you can see is the bank of lights from a distance. So other boaters may not give you as much consideration for size. Again, I don't know what is legal, but do consider what other boater see when looking at your lights.

Again, LED lights are awesome for night fishing. They draw almost no power, don't get hot, are fully waterproof, are getting cheap, and come in all colors so you can experiment and find the best setup for your boat. I fully recommend trying them out if you like night fishing. They do work well, but still on some nights, no lights are better.

Jim

[Travis C.]

Originally Posted by Jim

One other thing. Be careful when using red or green when under power. These colors are used for boat direction signals and it makes it hard for other boater to tell which way you are going. It may be illegal, I am not sure, but it can be dangerous. Blue and UV are not "direction signal" colors so I am less concerned about them.

Jim

It's illegal to have "blue or red flashing" lights. The red/green lights have to be directional markers on facing opposite end of your white light for most all bass boat configurations. Yellow is actually used on barges or other commercial traffic instead of the rear white light.

[MPD816]

Merv,

Did I ever show you how I set mine up? All uv's except for bow. I have white for docking lights.

[agelesssone]

MPD, where did you get your docking lights? What is the name of the company that sells them, I like those and need to get me a set.

Catching any fish lately? When are we going fishing again?

Say hi to the Missus for me.

[MPD816]

Merv,

I got them from Superbrightled's. They are marine grade. I put them in the rub rail myself.

I took my sister out fishing today on JPP. Day started slow, but really picked up around 1 o'clock. We really got into the yellow bass back in Stewart's creek. She caught 21 and I caught 5. She's not like Elizabeth, hell I had to keep taking them off her hook. I'm ready to go fishing anytime you want, my treat.