# First night with the hps lights.



## bbb (Jun 18, 2008)

The lights had no glare and the fish showed up good. We gigged fish from 6 inches to 6 feet. The water we were in was clearer but I was still impressed with the "flood" of these lights as compared to my halogen work light. The halogens had more of a concentrated beam. I was able to see the shoreline up to 100 yards away and when we were next to the shoreline it was like it was daylight.

So far I'm satisfied with the money I spent to upgrade the lights.

Here's my report.

Jay came from Omega, Ga and met me in Tallahassee around 7. I had only met Jay one other time at the Wildwood Bash 2007. He stopped for a few minutes on his way to the beach with his family. We hit the road and got to the ramp around 8. Always wanting to try new areas, we made a 6 mile run to the first spot. There was a little daylight left so we picked up the rods and fished for a few minutes. Had a few topwater bites but the only fish to make it to the boat was a ladyfish and bluefish. We hit the shoreline and turned on the lights. The first stretch produced a mullet and a couple flounder. Worked another spot and picked up 4-5 more flounder. Around midnight we started working out way back towards the ramp and hit a spot that had 4 flounder. 1 ran on us, 1 was short and 2 went in the cooler. Last spot of the night was our big producer. Most fish came from 5 foot of water here. Picked up 5 flounder and a pile of sheepshead. Jay gigged one flounder that was sitting on a rocky bottom and the jolt from the gig hitting the rock knocked his watch off in 5-6 feet of water. Luckily the water was clear and we were able to retrieve it with the gig. We had 3 legal flounder run on us as we were lowering the gig on them. 3 of the fish we gigged tried to run at the last minute making for a few body shots. Getting late(early) and running out of room in the cooler, we headed back to the ramp and hit Tally around 5am.

Totals for the night include:

11 flounder, biggest being 2 pounds 12 ounces
14 sheephead, biggest being 3 pounds 13 ounces and had a couple more over 3#.
1 mullet
1 watch retrieved from 5 feet of water, still works
1 flashlight retrieved from 5 feet of water, still works
Saw around 30 short flounder.
Saw 3 gators, having a close encounter with one of them(8ft) that was on dry land about 30 feet from us. Another one(8ft) that was 300 yards from any shoreline.
Numerous shrimp, at least a dozen slot reds, a couple trout and a bunch of sheephead that we didn't gig.

Short flounder









This guy had a couple 1" shrimp crawling on his back.









Another pic of him









This guy went home wore out with a cooler full of fish.


----------



## freespool50 (Sep 29, 2007)

wow, what a night. great report and nice pics. thanks for the preview!!


----------



## 2112 (May 4, 2008)

HPS, for those who know.

Excellent report.

I am going to guess that because of the gators, there are not very many wade giggers in Florida ???

If that is true then Florida must be a great place to gig because around Galveston, waders out number boat giggers an easy 20 to 1 and lets face. Not every body can afford a boat. If we only had a bunch of gators to keep the hordes back from the shorelines at night I can only imagine what it might be like.


----------



## RiVerRaT (Dec 14, 2007)

Nice report and awesome pics. :letsdrink


----------



## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

That's Great.  Super Pixs.


----------



## Death From Above (Sep 28, 2007)

Nice fish and pics!! :clap


----------



## Midnight Rider (Sep 30, 2007)

> *2112 (7/26/2008)*HPS, for those who know.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


We see gators several times a year while out gigging. Just for kicks you could post some "BEWARE OF GATORS" signs alond the shoreline.:moon


----------



## Triple Threat (Nov 23, 2007)

Looks like the lights and capacitors are working great, thanks for the pics


----------



## GONU (Oct 3, 2007)

Great pics! and Great report! thanks.


----------



## wareagle22 (Oct 3, 2007)

BBB, how many amps were the lights drawing after you installed the capacitors? Mine will be here tomorrow, and with all the rain we had here over the weekend, I look forward to trying the HPS in some DINGY water.


----------



## bbb (Jun 18, 2008)

I'm embarrassed to say I don't know. I don't havea tool to measure the amps.

All I know is I plugged in 3 lights at one time, let them warm for 1 minute and then plugged the other 3 in. Generator never surged like it did before I installed the caps.

Before I installed the caps, I plugged the lights in one at a time, a minute apart,and on the 5th light the Honda 2000 tripped.


----------

