# Can't Decide On Lights????



## Stewart (Dec 25, 2016)

Want to put some new lights on the front and sides of my flounder gigging boat.Would the LED light bars light it up enough or what do ya'll recommend..


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## Tail Chaser (Jun 22, 2008)

yes it will light them up enough but its all bout preference and budget
look this up by doing a search this is a very popular question plus you get new ideas from previous posts as well but IMHO the HPS are the way to go and the newer generators do not make much noise at all I am a convert to the HPS and used this forum to help me engineer my setup good luck


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## floorman1 (Jan 10, 2012)

Let's see it Tailchaser


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## Tail Chaser (Jun 22, 2008)

my set ups I made my bros led my hps my led then the handheld led I made from old leds


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## floorman1 (Jan 10, 2012)

Nice. That's pretty cool you can scan with that handheld.


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## Tail Chaser (Jun 22, 2008)

yup on a lazy day thats all I will use for a light I remove my lights depending on what Im up to its all in what you want to do Just do it


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## OHenry (Apr 28, 2011)

Nice share Tail Chaser' how is the stability on the front of that V-bottom? I just rigged a 14' boat and put it on our pond... seemed a little spooky at first. Haven't' had it on the bay yet, finished it too late. I think I may need a leaning post or rail.


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## GIggaMon (Sep 29, 2010)

I started out with 10, 100 watt LEDS and found out quick they were not the ones for me so I cut them lose and installed 4, 400 watt High Pressure Sodium's (HPS) I can run all 4 or I can turn the side I'm not using off to save gas on my Honda 2000 watt generator.


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## Tail Chaser (Jun 22, 2008)

ohenry
my boat is a 17 54 despite its front look it is a flat bottom boat it does have a rail up front and it is handy but its not when it comes to throwing my net over it I do it but it does get to be a pain
my brothers boat is a 12 foot flat bottom and it is stable it holds me up there and Im 6'2" 300 lbs we did put a wood deck across the front for more of a work platform up front and changed his stern mount trolling motor into a bow mount
at first he wanted a rail up front I told him you do most your floundering in such shallow water a rail would just take up room and not really be worth it but I have went over a couple times in my own boat thankfully it was in summer and in less than a foot of water once again try what you want do what you can afford and just get out there n enjoy it its fun and the sights are spectacular


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## Tail Chaser (Jun 22, 2008)

nice boat and pics gigga


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## D3cept1on (Apr 23, 2010)

personally i dont like out of water lights. they blind all the other gigging boats out there. but i guess it depends on where you are gigging anyways just my 2 cents


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## OHenry (Apr 28, 2011)

Tail Chaser said:


> ohenry
> my boat is a 17 54 despite its front look it is a flat bottom boat it does have a rail up front and it is handy but its not when it comes to throwing my net over it I do it but it does get to be a pain
> my brothers boat is a 12 foot flat bottom and it is stable it holds me up there and Im 6'2" 300 lbs we did put a wood deck across the front for more of a work platform up front and changed his stern mount trolling motor into a bow mount
> at first he wanted a rail up front I told him you do most your floundering in such shallow water a rail would just take up room and not really be worth it but I have went over a couple times in my own boat thankfully it was in summer and in less than a foot of water once again try what you want do what you can afford and just get out there n enjoy it its fun and the sights are spectacular


Thanks for the info TC. Gonna give it a whirl in the spring.


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## Stewart (Dec 25, 2016)

What did you not like about the 100 watt LED's?I thought about going with 150 watt...11000 lumens....


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## GIggaMon (Sep 29, 2010)

*100 watt 3000K lights*

The led lights are super bright I could plug them in in my yard and light up my yard and there neighbors yards but when you get in the water they were not that bright they wouldn't penetrate to water I went 3 times we did get a few flounder but I thought I was losing my eye sight I could not see in the water not much at all, now of you gig in really clear water they may work for you I gig in dirty muddy water most of the time, not by my choice just my location lol HPS seem to work the best for me:thumbup:


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## tide9967 (Jul 6, 2016)

Franks Right. I don't care how many lumens you throw out there, in stained water it's all about the type of light you throw. HPS all the way.


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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

HPS are old technology. Everyone should switch to Bright White LEDs they put out plenty of light and you can use batteries and don't have to listen to that loud generator running all night.


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## floorman1 (Jan 10, 2012)

Any close ups of your set up Flounder9 I'm working on one too.


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## tide9967 (Jul 6, 2016)

Marc, see what you started. LOL


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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

Here's a few to look at. Remember the search button is your friend 

http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f32/wide-boat-removable-lights-652658/


"What you talkin bout Terry"


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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

I found another good one.

http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f32/my-new-flounder-boat-50376/index8/


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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

D3cept1on said:


> personally i dont like out of water lights. they blind all the other gigging boats out there. but i guess it depends on where you are gigging anyways just my 2 cents


 
That's the whole idea. If the other guys can't see then you have a better chance to gig more fish. 

BTW If they are that close to you then they deserve to be blinded


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## Magnolia Outdoors Guy (Apr 19, 2014)

I just completed a thru-the-hull installation of 10 - 40W Jerry's LEDs in 2000K. This is the first installation of that new offering. I can either run directly from my 12V bank or use a bunk convertor from my 24V bank. The switching for the 3 zones is at the bow. This color temperature in LED should provide much of the benefit of HPS lighting without the bulk & noise. Hopefully I'll have some video on the water before the end of the month.


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## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

I was disapointed..... When you said " thru the hull" I figured they would be underwater.

Needs 2 more on each side, like the one you have on the side.

It's amazing how fast you can get up on one and extra light down the side really helps + You'll do a Lot of bank running.


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## Magnolia Outdoors Guy (Apr 19, 2014)

LOL! Sorry to disappoint! While the lights are submersible and I'm confident that the faces of the lights are indeed sealed against the hull, the degree of angle of my hull beneath the waterline would have these lights facing nearly straight down. Besides, the bracing and anchor box would be in the way of accessing that area of the hull.

You may end up being right about the sides but that will be easy enough to rectify if necessary. My reasoning was that we actually gig from the extreme front of the boat. Sitting on the palma type seats actually puts us over the water as the pictures below show.


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## Magnolia Outdoors Guy (Apr 19, 2014)

But in the meantime, if I do run into that problem, I do have 5 green floods mounted on the rails of both sides that will do in a pinch.


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## Flounder9.75 (Sep 28, 2007)

Todd 
Does those things have seat belts because I'm afraid my fat ass would fall off if hung that far over the front of my boat.


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## GIggaMon (Sep 29, 2010)

No Doubt, not to mention I would probably cut my foot off with my trolling motor lol but I do see Todds boat is set up different than mine .


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## Magnolia Outdoors Guy (Apr 19, 2014)

I promise it's not as precarious a perch as it looks in those pictures. You're straddling that seat and you're feet are firmly planted on the bow. The posts are adjustable so I suppose you could drop it all the way down and possibly dip your toes in the water. That barge does a pretty good job of handling a couple of big ol' boys at the front.

I need to get my air troller finished so I can do away with the trolling motor!


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## GIggaMon (Sep 29, 2010)

Air Troller is that a Fan to push the Boat and I was going to tell you Robert built my boat to but I changed out the leds to HPS I thought I had a pic on my computer but I guess I dont


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## Magnolia Outdoors Guy (Apr 19, 2014)

You got it. Air troller, push fan, trolling fan, etc. Robert makes a great boat, doesn't he?


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## GIggaMon (Sep 29, 2010)

Yes he does, I haven't had it out but 5 times so far but its been great so far and pretty tough, I seen he had made your boat a good while back by just going back through Long Beach Aluminum Boats Face Book Page so I seen the post early morning about your boat had came unanchored at the Islands and was missing then I seen a post where it was caught on the rocks I texted or messaged ( cant remember lol ) Robert and told him that's when he got a crew together to get it off and tow it back and get it checked out that seems pretty cool to me . That's good customer service !!!


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## Slayerdog (Jul 14, 2012)

I am rigging up my new to me boat for floundering. Going with the same set up as before just all new led's. My setup will be putting out 20,400 lumen. Just installed the lights last night. Still have to install the fuse block, switch panel and wiring.










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## Magnolia Outdoors Guy (Apr 19, 2014)

Enjoy! I love working on my boat. My wife wishes I liked working in the yard like that!


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## Slayerdog (Jul 14, 2012)

Took me a few days but she is ready to go stick some flounder. Now the waiting for them to move back in begins. LoL. 7 - 36 watt led pods putting out 3,400 lumen each drawing 3 amps a piece. Thats 23,800 lumen at 252 watts drawing 21 amps. I ran everything nice and tidy. Installed switch panel, fuse panel and even ran a extension cord to the trolling motor battery box where I put an onboard charger. Ran the other end concealed to the stern where I will run a 1,000 watt Honda generator if needed.










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## Magnolia Outdoors Guy (Apr 19, 2014)

Finally got my new 2000K lights from Jerry Storz on the water. I was extremely pleased. As much as I liked the previous two sets of his lights in 3000K, I much prefer these. The poster who told me I needed an additional light on each side was right. The one side light did pretty well but I could see where on occasion I might miss having that additional coverage. Also, though we gigged for seven hours I never had to start my generator. We ran 400 watts of lights on just batteries without issue. Knowing that I'm very comfortable moving adding those two lights to total 480 watts.

If you recognize Robert Thomas of Long Beach Aluminum Boats, he let his hair down some and joined us for 40lbs of crawfish, a little sumtin to wash 'em down with, and a night of early season gigging! If you ever decide to have a custom rig fabricated, this is the guy to talk to! :notworthy:

Also, you'll have to excuse my brother. He apparently has an involuntary "set the hook" response after a lifetime of bass fishing that we are going to have to break for gigging.


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## OHenry (Apr 28, 2011)

Nice video. What was the final count?


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## Magnolia Outdoors Guy (Apr 19, 2014)

OHenry said:


> Nice video. What was the final count?


Four boated out of seven seen but I'm sure you can see why! Still trying to teach that boy to pin, hold, & sweep! He'll be all right. We're going again next weekend. :thumbup:


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## -WiRtH- (Feb 24, 2009)

I use one single dc light bulb kept water tight by Vaseline. I have tried many other ways myself and with friends, but have found that my granddaddy's method always comes through to locate more than enough flounder, mullet, sheepshead, black drum, etc.

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## steve the brain (Sep 28, 2016)

wow lots of nicely rigged lighting.

I used to use a car headlight incased in styrowfoam, now have LED light stripes.

STB


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