Purpose:
Tired of fishing when it’s hot? Tired of the sun beating down on your neck while fishing? There’s a solution and it’s just as fun (maybe even more fun). Try night fishing. But the difference with night fishing is that you have the opportunity of maximizing your ability to catch fish by creating favorable conditions for them and for their food source. And that method is to use night fishing lights.
Game fish usually are in the area in which their food is most concentrated. For bait fish, shrimp, and even insects, all of which are food for game fish, it’s been known that they are attracted to light at night. So, if you can attract the bait, the game fish will likely come. This is purpose of night fishing lights.
The perfect fishing light needs to be bright. The brighter, the better. It needs to be submersible and portable as well. It should be able to be powered by a decent sized battery for maximize “on” time or able to be plugged into an outlet. Finally, it should emit a light that attracts fish and that means it should emit a certain color.
Check it out in the YouTube video below:
Color:
Fish and their food are sensitive to blue and green lights. The color of the light is not absolutely essential, but it is desired to attract them. Even white light will attract fish and insects if it is intense enough. There is some consensus that green and white lights work best in freshwater and blue light works best in saltwater.
Light Intensity:
The intensity of visible light (or brightness) is measured in a unit called lumens. The more lumens something has, the brighter it will be. To give you some sense of scale, a typical 100 Watt incandescent light bulb has about 1500 lumens. A heavy duty flashlight can have up around 5000 lumens.
Power Source:
This will be a battery that your lights will be connected to. Picking a battery for your application may be tricky but fear not. Let’s go through some basics.
– The battery pack voltage must be equal or a little higher than your light’s needs. The light spec should have a voltage rating so just make sure the battery pack rating is at least as large as that.
– Battery capacity is dependent on how long you need to run your device (hours) which can be calculated by this equation: Amp Hours (Ah) = Light Wattage (W) x time to run (hours) / Battery voltage (V)
For example, for 12 V battery pack
Environment and Target Species:
Night fishing lights can be used in saltwater and in freshwater. Most commonly, the night lights are used on a dock or pier or attached to a boat. It needs to be connected to a power source so the placement of the lights is limited.
Typical fish targeted include crappie, catfish, bass, snook, tarpon, redfish and more.
How To Use:
So simple. There’s basically no skill involved at all. Connect your light to a power source and drop it in the water. Try not to electrocute yourself. It may take some time (up to 30 minutes) to start attracting fish.
Pro Tips:
1) Competition with the moon: If you are going to fish around a full moon in a sky without any clouds, you may want to get to the dock or start fishing in the boat before it gets dark. Set up the lights well before it gets dark so that all members of the fish food chain have ample time to congregate and get attracted to the light BEFORE the moonlight starts competing with your light. The idea is that the moonlight casts a wider net of light and disperses the bait fish, insects, and plankton and as a result, the fish are less concentrated.
2) Floating lights: If you are fishing in a lake and have multiple night fishing lights, you may not want to just rig them all on your boat. Some fishermen have rigged up a floating device with a battery in it that hangs a light in the water. They leave this device at a specific location and come back to fish it when they’ve finished fishing other locations.
3) Legality: Generally, night fishing lights are legal where night time fishing is allowed. You may want to contact the local agency or governing body to make sure.
4) Weighted lights: Many submersible lights are designed to sink when they are put in the water. If yours does not, just add a 2-4 oz weight
Night Fishing Light Comparisons:
Green Blob Underwater Dock Light: This LED light is requires AC power so it basically needs to be plugged into a dock outlet. It is submersible with 15000 lumens of brightness which is awesome. It comes with a 3 prong water proof adapter so all you need to do is plug it in.
Green Blob Underwater Fishing Light: This is the portable analog to the Green Blob Dock light and connects to a battery source. It has the same 15000 lumens of brightness and comes with a long line ending with two alligator clips for the battery. It is weighted so you don’t need to add any sinkers to it and works great with a 12 V battery.
Apollointech Green Deep Drop LED: This light is a more inexpensive model and only outputs 5000 lumens of green brightness. It is submersible up to 20 ft and great for use in salt and fresh water. It is also weighted and the durable, connected wire is approximately 30 ft long.
Firewatermarine LED Submersible Night Fishing Light: This one outputs 10000 lumens of green brightness with a durable cord that is 15 feet long. This one is also works well and has been designed for saltwater applications.
All of these night fishing lights work with a 12 V battery pack
| Metric |   Green Blob Underwater Dock Light |
  Green Blob Underwater Fishing Light |
  Apollointech Green Deep Drop LED |
  Firewatermarine LED Submersible Night Fishing Light |
| Brightness per $ | ~79 lumens/$ | ~115 lumens/$ | ~125 lumens/$ | ~200 lumens/$ |
| Cord length per $ | ~0.16 ft/$ | ~0.23 ft/$ | ~0.75 ft/$ | ~0.30 ft/$ |
| Max Time of Operation with a 12 V 9Ah Battery |
N/A (This light plugs into AC power.) | 2.0 hrs | 3.0 hrs | 2.2 hrs |
| Pros | If plugged in, this will run indefinitely. | This is the brightest light on the market in absolute terms. | A good-performing, inexpensive light with great per-dollar metrics. | A reliable, inexpensive light with the best brightness-to-cost metric and lasts a decent amount of time. |
| Cons | Must be plugged in so portability is limited. | A bit pricy. | Reviews on this item seem to show some units are not completely water tight contributing to poor reliability. | Shortest cord length among all the analyzed lights. |
By the analysis above, the light for getting the best bang for your buck is the Firewatermarine LED Submersible Night Fishing Light
Don’t forget to check out the Pro Fishing Rigs store for more cool stuff!