# finally on the water...



## jhamilton226 (Oct 1, 2010)

here it is, got on the water last night for the first time with the HPS setup...only stuck 1 sadly and not really picture worthy, but the winds were bad and the water was a little rougher than I'd care to pole in...mixed feelings about the lights as of now...definitely provide a wider field of view from the old 12v in-water lights and can cover ground much faster with the lights above water...did not like the glare however, and seems worse in choppy water...however, I can see down up to 5ft. + so I can tell the benefits from that will start to show itself the more trips I take with better water conditions...I might need to work on the angle they point into the water a little more, also looking at building a hand rail to hang them from to get the lights higher off the water and projecting more light into the water as opposed to skipping off the top as it seems to be doing as of right now...took a few pics last night on the water but that was with the camera so these pics are of the lights running in the driveway...any suggestions are welcome, and thanks for all the advice to get me to this point! :thumbup:


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## flounderslayerman (Jun 3, 2011)

Nice setup but you need to angle them down a bit more.


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## jhamilton226 (Oct 1, 2010)

I pitched them down when I was on the water last night...thought I might get a hard time for that in these pics  how far down would you say to pitch em down cause I still felt like I was losing a lot of light reflecting off the surface, or is that normal for the HPS's?


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## flounderslayerman (Jun 3, 2011)

The ripple will affect how well they work. Causes shadows and glare. With that wind the ripple had to be bad last night.


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## jhamilton226 (Oct 1, 2010)

yeah it wasn't pleasant to say the least...probably 1-2ft. rollers in Pensacola bay, ENE wind is tough to hide from around here...I can see where they will perform a lot better in flatter seas and less wind ripples tho...next weekend is looking promising


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## flounderslayerman (Jun 3, 2011)

Anything with east is hard to deal with over there.


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## bamafan611 (Mar 1, 2010)

Like FSM said you will have to angle down. Can't imagine the ripple last night and i don't have any glare problems compared to metal halide or halogen. Get conditions right and then compare. They look good, just need to be angled down.


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## jhamilton226 (Oct 1, 2010)

proof I had em angled down when we were fishing :thumbsup: killin' me these winds are kicking up so hard, I see the potential if I can just get on my usual beaches! Come on next weekend!!!


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## bamafan611 (Mar 1, 2010)

Looking pretty rough rest of this week and into next week. Any wind but east. Very nice spread and should be a killing machine.


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## jhamilton226 (Oct 1, 2010)

yeah the forecast doesn't look very friendly until maybe friday or saturday, and even then probably going to be fighting some north winds it looks like right now...figures, it's been great conditions for the past month or so...turns to junk once I get my rig finished, figures! Thanks for the positive response Bama, hoping to post a successful report in the next week or so!!!


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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

jhamilton226 said:


> yeah the forecast doesn't look very friendly until maybe friday or saturday, and even then probably going to be fighting some north winds it looks like right now...figures, it's been great conditions for the past month or so...turns to junk once I get my rig finished, figures! Thanks for the positive response Bama, hoping to post a successful report in the next week or so!!!


Lights look good.:thumbup:

As far as conditons they've sucked all year between dirty water and lot of wind it's just been a Crappy Year.


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## jhamilton226 (Oct 1, 2010)

Friday 11/9 NE at 13mph, Saturday 11/10 E at 11mph, Sunday 11/12 NNE at 9mph...ugh...well, I'm still going to try dangit! Thanks for the nod Flounder, now if I can only find the fish like you usually do.....  man I got the fever now!!! hahaha


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## kmerr80 (Oct 28, 2013)

Damn nice setup there. Gonna take my chances Saturday night in the pass at panama city and make the best of it regardless of weather. BTW I like your classic cars better!!


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## dsar592 (Oct 12, 2007)

I think you did a good job. Just do some trial and error and get it the way you want it and you will be happy with it. Now lets all get off this computer and go sticken!!!!!


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## jhamilton226 (Oct 1, 2010)

kmerr80 said:


> Damn nice setup there. Gonna take my chances Saturday night in the pass at panama city and make the best of it regardless of weather. BTW I like your classic cars better!!


I'm with you kmerr, going to give it a try regardless of conditions...well, as long as its not victory at sea that is! 

Thanks for the compliments on the setup, and on the toybox in the background too! Its funny I didn't really pay attention when I took the pics or even after I posted them that the garage door was open...too focused on fishing to think about much else!!! haha...guess I better not give out my address


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## Cosson-Gigs (Dec 12, 2012)

I have only three HPS lights and love them, the best coverage I have ever had ! 150s on either side and a 250 in the front, I shine my lights almost straight down and still get plenty of coverage. I also am testing a 100 watt HPS light directly in the water, maybe this Sat. to see how it does compared to the HPS above water ???


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