night fishing lights

1986bassbuggy$@

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
89
I have a 20' bass buggy pontoon that we love but i wanted to place a 8" offroad light on a pole facing the rear for night fishing similar to the ones used on commercial fishing boats but the fog lights i mounted on the front for dock lights are very very dim even with the motor running, any ideas?
 

Silvertip

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
28,758
Re: night fishing lights

Not enough battery, not enough alternator, poor wiring, or all three. You did wire them in parallel and not series -- right?? If you wired them in series they would be half as bright and if you pulled the bulb from one or one of them burned out the other would go out as well..
 

MH Hawker

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
5,516
Re: night fishing lights

And the best lights for night fishing is a black light.
 

5150abf

Vice Admiral
Joined
Aug 12, 2007
Messages
5,808
Re: night fishing lights

Google LED lights and see what you can find a big 8'' PIAA is going to devour a battery pretty quick, you should be able to find some LEDs that will work and they just sip power.

Also, stop at a local sign shop and ask for a small peice of 3M reflective white vinyl, cut it inot small strips and put it around your poles, ti makes them really easy to see at night.
 

Nightfisher-

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Messages
129
Re: night fishing lights

How I did mine. 2 - 18LED foglamps from Amazon $40 Mounted to a home made base that attaches to where an anchor light would mount on the bimini. My anchor light is on a pole attached to the stern....
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I also mounted a 2ft strip of flex LEDs from the auto parts store to the bottom edge of my skirt on each side, right where fish are most commonly landed. Both the bimini and skirt lights are wired to switches on the console...
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Not the best pic of the flex LEDs, but you can see how they work along with the bimini lights being on. My anchor light is also LED. I just bought the appropriate bulb from Amazon for around $9 to convert it without the expense of replacing the whole fixture. Upgraded my docking lights to some Optronics LED fixtures as well but they were a bit more expensive at $104 for the pair. They only pull around .650 amps each though.
 

1986bassbuggy$@

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
89
Re: night fishing lights

I can't help but notice that you have a 120 plug on these lights, are they running to an inverter? or did you just use the cord for easy attachment?
 

OkieToon

Cadet
Joined
Jul 20, 2012
Messages
8
Re: night fishing lights

We went all the way around our pontoon with black lights. You can see every twitch of the lines. Rarley have to use any other light unless having trouble getting a hook out. Pontoon Blacklights.JPGLove them!
 

Nightfisher-

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Messages
129
Re: night fishing lights

I can't help but notice that you have a 120 plug on these lights, are they running to an inverter? or did you just use the cord for easy attachment?

Nope, 12v. I just used an old heavy duty outdoor extension cord for the run through the bimini. Gives me a nice secure, easy to hook up in the dark connection and heavy insulation inside the bimini instead of just two small wires. The whole mounting plate with the lights attached removes easily by just unplugging and undoing a single wing nut.
 
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