We’re going to talk about lights, I promise, but no conversation on lights should start until you can answer a few questions.
1. What is the clarity of water you typically plan to fish in?
2. How much weight can your boat safely hold?
3. Are you planning to run a generator, or do you want the option to run silently?
The answers to these questions will help you dictate which lighting option may best suit your needs. Of course there can be overlap between systems where one is nearly as good as another, but in some cases one option may be unnecess-arily expensive.
I’ll describe a few of the popular lighting options. Then we’ll look at a couple of different scenarios based on the top 3 questions.
Carry extra bulbs at all times in preparation for a light that may quit at any time. Care must be taken to keep the bulb clean when installing them, meaning that even the oils in your fingerprints can shorten the life of these bulbs. Halogens also run very hot, showing that a lot of energy put into the bulb is not necessarily producing light.
These lights only produce 16-19 Lumens per watt, but for less than $20 per light fixture, it’s hard to beat the start-up costs with Halogens. Remember that it’s necessary to employ a generator large enough to handle the load these lights will impose.
For a quieter, yet still fairly inexpensive option, the use of handheld spotlights can be employed. Hooking a 12V, high-candlepower light to a deep cycle car battery will allow for long use. This tactic often requires two shooters though, one to use the light while the other shoots when a target is spotted.
Shooters walking the banks at night could even get away with using a rechargeable tactical light mounted to the bow that has a high lumen value, like the AMS Special Ops Light.
The use of spotlights is responsible for some very big fish. Some of which you’ve read about earlier in this magazine. The Wisconsin state record Bigmouth Buffalo was taken under a spotlight, as was the Wisconsin state record Common Carp. Additionally, spotlights are often employed when trying to sight fish for light sensitive species like the Bighead Carp on major river systems.
LEDs
LED (Light Emitting Diode) floodlights have made a splash in bowfishing in recent years. The price of 27W LEDs have dropped precipitously as the technology is now wide-spread.
These low amp draw lights can be strung together on small and large boats alike and
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14
May, 2015
OWN THE NIGHT
LIGHTING THE WAY TO BOWFISHING SUCCESS
By: Pete Gregoire
Inexpensive
For anyone getting into the sport on a limited budget, or for the occa-sional fisherman, the use of halogen lights comes to mind immediately. Halogen shop lights sold in big box stores like Home Depot or Menards come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but wattage options are typi-cally 300W or 500W. The bulbs produce a warm (yellow) light that many fishermen prefer.
Halogens are relatively brittle. In my first 2 years with halogen lights (6 lights, running 300W bulbs), I replaced nearly all of the bulbs at one point or another. The jostling of the boat as you trailer to different lakes takes its toll on this style of light.
Top: Halogen Work Light
Bottom: 12 V handheld spotlight
SeeLite LEDs offers high powered LED floodlights in 50W, 80W and now 100W configurations: (80W model pictured)