# Got me a new rig



## Scruggspc

Ok so I finally got me a new aluminum boat for "me" fishing. The question now is who has experience with the off-road light bars???? I'm about to light shit up.
I've got a good good battery that I spent some change on that has 225 minutes at 23 amps. So I can get two light bars with 60 degree flood beams with 5500 lumens each drawing 4 amps a hour. From my math I figure I can get 6-7 hrs of light out of a charge? Is this about right? Also has anyone used the off-road bars for floundering yet?


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## Five Prongs Of Fury

Unless you can find some with extremely low color temps you may be disappointed at the water penetration. Most of the light bars are "extremely" white. It will suffice in gin clear water but anything less will give you problems. Have you thought about extra warm, 50 watt LED floods?


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## Night Shift

Hunter makes a good point to consider. I wasn't sure about light penetration couple of years ago, till I went on his boat. I changed the very next week. 
Good lookin boat. Good luck on the build. Paint looks awesome.


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## Scruggspc

Five Prongs Of Fury said:


> Unless you can find some with extremely low color temps you may be disappointed at the water penetration. Most of the light bars are "extremely" white. It will suffice in gin clear water but anything less will give you problems. Have you thought about extra warm, 50 watt LED floods?


No but that's exactly why I asked. So I need to look for a warm led flood light?


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## DMC

Yes warm white. THEY should be around 4200 to 4800 lumens if I remember right. Go to eBay type in 50 watt 12volt led. 
You can get a better price.


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## Scruggspc

Like this?


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## Scruggspc

Specs


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## johnboatjosh

That's them. I've been running 6 of them for the last few years. They're legit. I'm going to HPS though because of fishing 3-4 consecutive nights during busy season and I'm tired of having to stress over getting batteries charged back every day. For rec fishing though; can't beat them IMO.


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## johnboatjosh

Black Dog bow fishing is where I get mine.


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## DMC

That looks like them. PM me your number and will call.


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## Scruggspc

johnboatjosh said:


> Black Dog bow fishing is where I get mine.


Can't get his site to work.


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## k-p

Is that a 15' G3? Looks exactly like mine. Great little boat. Mine porposes if I don't have somebody up front but I think a stingray fin will fix that.


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## DMC

Sounds like you have the motor trimmed to high


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## Scruggspc

k-p said:


> Is that a 15' G3? Looks exactly like mine. Great little boat. Mine porposes if I don't have somebody up front but I think a stingray fin will fix that.


Yea it's a G3 1548 2015. Bought it yesterday from harts marine. I have not run the boat yet but it looks pretty quick lol.


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## GIggaMon

johnboatjosh said:


> That's them. I've been running 6 of them for the last few years. They're legit. I'm going to HPS though because of fishing 3-4 consecutive nights during busy season and I'm tired of having to stress over getting batteries charged back every day. For rec fishing though; can't beat them IMO.


Hey Josh this Frank over in Mobile, I have a quick question are your LED lights both 12 volt and or 120 volts I don't think they make them that way but someone a while back told me they make them that way Im looking to buy 4 50 watt warm white LEDS 120 volts thanks man.


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## Reelescape1

I just got these for ~ $63.00 ea. They look really good in the garage.

https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/100424/LEDF-F201047943.html


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## GIggaMon

Reelescape1 said:


> I just got these for ~ $63.00 ea. They look really good in the garage.
> 
> https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/100424/LEDF-F201047943.html


How did you get them for 63.00 bucks its showing $128.57 each on that site ??? thanks


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## flounderslayerman

The closer you can get to 3000k the better you will be in off colored water.


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## k-p

Yep, that's what I have. What do you have on it for power? Mine flies with a little suzuki 25 hp or least as fast as I want to go. I just use two of the starfire lights for floundering and it works great. simple and I can be loaded in 5 min. Not sure why there are so many elaborate light setups but maybe I need to go on one and see what they're like. Show us your rig when you get it complete! I think you'll like that little boat.


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## johnboatjosh

GIggaMon said:


> Hey Josh this Frank over in Mobile, I have a quick question are your LED lights both 12 volt and or 120 volts I don't think they make them that way but someone a while back told me they make them that way Im looking to buy 4 50 watt warm white LEDS 120 volts thanks man.


 
To my knowledge they have to be one or the other. Every place I've ever bought them from required you to choose AC or DC lights. I believe a different driver is required depending on which power method you choose. My lights are 12-30v DC. I run them on 24v.


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## johnboatjosh

Scruggspc said:


> Can't get his site to work.


May be down. His phone # is 607-216-7050. Chris Brewer is his name.


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## Scruggspc

johnboatjosh said:


> May be down. His phone # is 607-216-7050. Chris Brewer is his name.


Thanks. But I couldn't wait any longer, already ordered some from gigflounder.com


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## DMC

You will like the lights.


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## Scruggspc

DMC said:


> You will like the lights.


Thanks again


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## Reelescape1

GIggaMon said:


> How did you get them for 63.00 bucks its showing $128.57 each on that site ??? thanks


Wrong link, sorry. These are the ones I got for $63. We'll see how they do. This is my jump from battery to generator. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10W-50W-100...arden-Lighting-/301292436726?var=600315992940


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## Gnwdad

I installed a couple cree light bars of buddies truck, they were both 50" bars. The amp drawn was insane. If I recall they pulled 30 amps.


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## Gnwdad

johnboatjosh said:


> That's them. I've been running 6 of them for the last few years. They're legit. I'm going to HPS though because of fishing 3-4 consecutive nights during busy season and I'm tired of having to stress over getting batteries charged back every day. For rec fishing though; can't beat them IMO.



Have you considered running a converter or two for your batteries? If not are you interested in selling the lights you have now, I have 7 Seelite 50 watt 12-30 volt and need a few more. 


I'm running a Powermax 12 volt 55a and a Powermax 24 volt 30a converters. I'm using the 12 volt for my light and the 24 for my trolling motor. I ran everything for about three hours before having to fire up the EU2000, I was experiencing a noticable voltage loss on my trolling motor.


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## johnboatjosh

Gnwdad said:


> Have you considered running a converter or two for your batteries? If not are you interested in selling the lights you have now, I have 7 Seelite 50 watt 12-30 volt and need a few more.
> 
> 
> I'm running a Powermax 12 volt 55a and a Powermax 24 volt 30a converters. I'm using the 12 volt for my light and the 24 for my trolling motor. I ran everything for about three hours before having to fire up the EU2000, I was experiencing a noticable voltage loss on my trolling motor.


I gave it a lot of thought but ultimately decided to swap over to HPS. I decided that if I'm gonna listen to a Genny hum all night I may as well put out twice the light. Also, adding the convertors was just something else to potentially screw up and leave me without light. I think I'm gonna hold on to my LED's for now but if I sell any I'll definitely let you know.


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## Gnwdad

johnboatjosh said:


> Gnwdad said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you considered running a converter or two for your batteries? If not are you interested in selling the lights you have now, I have 7 Seelite 50 watt 12-30 volt and need a few more.
> 
> 
> I'm running a Powermax 12 volt 55a and a Powermax 24 volt 30a converters. I'm using the 12 volt for my light and the 24 for my trolling motor. I ran everything for about three hours before having to fire up the EU2000, I was experiencing a noticable voltage loss on my trolling motor.
> 
> 
> 
> I gave it a lot of thought but ultimately decided to swap over to HPS. I decided that if I'm gonna listen to a Genny hum all night I may as well put out twice the light. Also, adding the convertors was just something else to potentially screw up and leave me without light. I think I'm gonna hold on to my LED's for now but if I sell any I'll definitely let you know.
Click to expand...

I just sold/traded my HPS lights, I'm going to try the LED lights, I've only had it on the water once, so far I'm not impressed with them.


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## Scruggspc

Gnwdad said:


> I just sold/traded my HPS lights, I'm going to try the LED lights, I've only had it on the water once, so far I'm not impressed with them.


What less did you get? Post the specs for the lights and water conditions please.


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## Five Prongs Of Fury

Gonna be hard to get used to half the light. I'm not knocking the LEDs if your intention is to stick with a DC setup. I believe they are the best option available right now. However, if your gonna run a generator my opinion is that HPS is your best option. At best the LED floods put out 4500-5000 lumens each where as a single 150 watt HPS bulb puts out 14,500-15,800 lumens of light. While only drawing about 1.2-1.4 amps.


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## drifterfisher

I ran in to jonboatjosh one night in shalimar and I have to say I was not impressed with the LEDs he runs. To my eyes my old halogens were alot brighter and lit up a larger area. I now have HPS to mount on the ol rig, and I have been on a boat with 4 on it. In muddy water they are hands down better than halogens. I also used to run the starfire underwater lights years ago. They do ok for a small area. I had three on the boat and to make it all night I ended up having 8 or so batteries for the lights, trolling motor and engine/house battery. WAY to much weight in a 14' boat. Now I run 4 batteries, one small one for the engine, one small one for the house and two medium ones for the trolling motor. And the genny for the lights and battery charger. Hell the genny weighs less than a battery does. Any way you go if you don't ever ride on an HPS rig you will be alright, but if you ever do you will want to change over to the yellow lights that everyone talks about.


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## johnboatjosh

drifterfisher said:


> I ran in to jonboatjosh one night in shalimar and I have to say I was not impressed with the LEDs he runs. To my eyes my old halogens were alot brighter and lit up a larger area. I now have HPS to mount on the ol rig, and I have been on a boat with 4 on it. In muddy water they are hands down better than halogens. I also used to run the starfire underwater lights years ago. They do ok for a small area. I had three on the boat and to make it all night I ended up having 8 or so batteries for the lights, trolling motor and engine/house battery. WAY to much weight in a 14' boat. Now I run 4 batteries, one small one for the engine, one small one for the house and two medium ones for the trolling motor. And the genny for the lights and battery charger. Hell the genny weighs less than a battery does. Any way you go if you don't ever ride on an HPS rig you will be alright, but if you ever do you will want to change over to the yellow lights that everyone talks about.


While I've never seen a halogen light that seemed noticeably brighter than 50 watt LED floods; perception is reality and every person's perception is different. 

As best I recall; halogen bulbs produce around 15 lumens of light per watt so a 300 watt halogen bulb should produce about 4,500 lumens. (around the same thing a 50 watt LED does) 

Whether it's HPS, LED, Halogen, or MH, above water, below water, AC or DC; I've always found that the person standing behind the lights is much more crucial to the success of the trip than the type of light.


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## castnet

Well, I agree with all of you. I've had LED's under @27 watt 2100 Lumen, I've had them above the water with same lights and the larger LED's @4500 Lumen and now I've just ordered 3 400 Watt HPS lights that I've never used and I can say it's all about what you like on your boat. Terry [ Bamafan611 ] has sold me on the HPS ones over the last two years and I'm going to finally try them out now. I will say that I ran into one gentleman last year with 4 150 Watt HPS lights and I was thoroughly impressed with how much clearer everything seemed to be. Will post on how the new lights work after I try them. Terry, if you read this, will you please pm me the gauge wire I need to use going to generator? Thank Terry for all the help and to all you others for your advise in the past as well. Mike


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## drifterfisher

Just to clarify I ran 6 500 watt halogens, off a Honda EU3000is. Now I have 6 150 watt HPS running a Honda EU2000


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## jtrump

drifterfisher said:


> Just to clarify I ran 6 500 watt halogens, off a Honda EU3000is. Now I have 6 150 watt HPS running a Honda EU2000




twice as quiet and twice as bright ehh?? . I'm getting my hps setup going, had to find someone to fab and weld brackets to my boat.


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## Gnwdad

The only reason I switched from the HPS to the Led lights were because the new boat I bought had the platform engineered to the LED’s that were on it. I traded my HPS to prevent me from switching them out before giving the LED’s a chance. My LED’s are Seelite 5000K 12/24v, I’ve only had it on the water at night once and I’m not sure they can even compete with the original Halogen’s I started with many years ago. If they don’t perform I will have new 150 watt HPS lights in their place.


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## Gnwdad

Gnwdad said:


> The only reason I switched from the HPS to the Led lights were because the new boat I bought had the platform engineered to the LED’s that were on it. I traded my HPS to prevent me from switching them out before giving the LED’s a chance. My LED’s are Seelite 5000K 12/24v, I’ve only had it on the water at night once and I’m not sure they can even compete with the original Halogen’s I started with many years ago. If they don’t perform I will have new 150 watt HPS lights in their place.


 

I should have included that I feel the LED’s are too close to the water, I’m only getting good light maybe four feet from the boat with shadowing 6-7’. With the HPS light mounted about the same height as the LED’s I had good light 6 plus feet and could see structure probably 12-15’ from the boat. I may order 7 more LED’s and mount them under the top rail above each light currently.


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## Five Prongs Of Fury

Gnwdad said:


> I should have included that I feel the LED’s are too close to the water, I’m only getting good light maybe four feet from the boat with shadowing 6-7’. With the HPS light mounted about the same height as the LED’s I had good light 6 plus feet and could see structure probably 12-15’ from the boat. I may order 7 more LED’s and mount them under the top rail above each light currently.


Adding more up higher will help for sure but based on what I've seen your still not gonna get the distance you had with the HPS. Just a bunch more light in the same area you've already got it. Not trying to be a smartass, just trying to help. Don't wanna see you spend a bunch more money and not be happy.


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## GIggaMon

Has anyone used a 100 watt LED I've been wondering how they would work?


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## johnboatjosh

Gnwdad said:


> I should have included that I feel the LED’s are too close to the water, I’m only getting good light maybe four feet from the boat with shadowing 6-7’. With the HPS light mounted about the same height as the LED’s I had good light 6 plus feet and could see structure probably 12-15’ from the boat. I may order 7 more LED’s and mount them under the top rail above each light currently.


Two things: 

1. I do think the lights will perform better mounted higher off the boat. But, they're never going to provide the same light per fixture that a HPS will. 

2. IF you're serious about trying the LED's up higher I've got several 12v 50 watt warm whites I'm willing to let you borrow for a test if you want. I'm in Covington County Alabama so you'd have to pay the shipping to get them there or come get them.


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## drifterfisher

jtrump said:


> twice as quiet and twice as bright ehh?? . I'm getting my hps setup going, had to find someone to fab and weld brackets to my boat.


To my ears theres no difference between the 3k and 2k hondas. BUT the 3k weighs literally 3 times as much as the 2K. 
Did you get your brackets made? If not I might could help if you don't mind driving. I'm in north okaloosa county.


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## Gnwdad

johnboatjosh said:


> Two things:
> 
> 1. I do think the lights will perform better mounted higher off the boat. But, they're never going to provide the same light per fixture that a HPS will.
> 
> 2. IF you're serious about trying the LED's up higher I've got several 12v 50 watt warm whites I'm willing to let you borrow for a test if you want. I'm in Covington County Alabama so you'd have to pay the shipping to get them there or come get them.


 Thanks, I may just take you up on this offer!


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## Gnwdad

Five Prongs Of Fury said:


> Adding more up higher will help for sure but based on what I've seen your still not gonna get the distance you had with the HPS. Just a bunch more light in the same area you've already got it. Not trying to be a smartass, just trying to help. Don't wanna see you spend a bunch more money and not be happy.


 I didn't take it as you being a smart ass, I'm a big supporter of HPS. I never thought I'd ever have anything else. The LED's seem to project a decant amount of light, my thought was if I added more at a different angle it would cover close to the ground the each HPS covered. It sucks to have to have twice the fixtures for the same light.


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## castnet

jtrump said:


> twice as quiet and twice as bright ehh?? . I'm -getting my hps setup going, had to find someone to fab and weld brackets to my boat.


If you live near Milton, call Steve at The Boat Shop @981-8085 and tell him Mike told you to call. The man can fabricate any type metal you want and does fine work.


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## Scruggspc

New switch board.


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## Scruggspc

All electrical run and waterproof. I will post a picture when I get the lights on.


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## drifterfisher

Clean lil sled. Just needs a trolling motor now and you will be set.


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## Rivetseam

Well, I may be disappointed, but i built a flounder gigging rig to strap onto my skiff this week. From reading some of these posts, I may have made a bad selection in light warmth and wattage, but I wanted to attempt to build a cheap and efficient rig that i can easily take on/off the boat. Also wanted to be able to run it off my 24v trolling motor batteries for hours and not worry about buying or dragging around a generator. 
I picked up 4 TMH 27w LED flood lights from amazon for $13 each with free delivery. They put off a cool white 6000k light. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E0L6H5M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

I have less than $75 invested in this experiment so far. I built a rack that holds all 4 lights that I will strap onto the front of the boat. If it works well I plan on building 2 more racks, with 8 more lights, to mount on the front sides. I'm guessing that I wont get great results in darkly stained or cloudy water, but i'm not sure theres much I could do to fix that without spending 4-5 times more money. I will get to go flounder gigging 2-3 times a year...so investing a ton of money isn't the smart thing for me. 

I'm heading to Mobile/Perdido bay this weekend to test it out. 
:beer: Here's to hoping for the best:beer:


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## castnet

The only thing that really matters is what you are happy with. With either light, you will find and gig flounder and if nothing else, you get out of the house for a few hours. Enjoy yourself and be careful. Mike


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## Night Shift

Rivetseam: there are so many light combinations and setups out there. Everyone has their own preference. If you can stroll the banks with some light, and poke a couple of fish, then you have a fine setup. I've seen folks with a q beam and a broom handle with a nail or screw in it. It works! Cast some light and let er rip! Good luck to you.


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## Flounder9.75

If your going this week end you might want to stay over around Perdido. Mobile Bay is kind of dirty from all the wind and rain


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## flounderslayerman

Flounder9.75 said:


> If your going this week end you might want to stay over around Perdido. Mobile Bay is kind of dirty from all the wind and rain


Kinda dirty. More like a mud puddle.


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## Rivetseam

Thanks for the input guys. I figured Mobile bay would be bad. I'm staying on the Bon Secour in a cabin. Hoping to do a good bit of day fishing and just sticking some flounder at night. The place i'm staying has a dock on the river, so i have easy access to the water. There's also a launch right next door, so if the water is too muddy i can drive over and launch in Perdido. Heck..if it turns out horrible, i'll just go drop in Little Lagoon and stick some! 

For anyone that might be interested, here's some pics of my setup...


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## cape 24

So how did your set up work for you ????




Rivetseam said:


> Thanks for the input guys. I figured Mobile bay would be bad. I'm staying on the Bon Secour in a cabin. Hoping to do a good bit of day fishing and just sticking some flounder at night. The place i'm staying has a dock on the river, so i have easy access to the water. There's also a launch right next door, so if the water is too muddy i can drive over and launch in Perdido. Heck..if it turns out horrible, i'll just go drop in Little Lagoon and stick some!
> 
> For anyone that might be interested, here's some pics of my setup...


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## Rivetseam

From a functionality aspect, the lights worked great. They were stable and didn't draw much power at all. I ran the lights and my trolling motor on the same 24v batteries for 4 hours and only used 1/4 of the battery's juice. As for glare...There was some reflection on the surface that made it a little less clear than it would have been if I had submersible lights, i believe. It wasn't bad, but I think if the lights were underwater I would have had better visibility. 

I think the biggest issue is going to be with what kind of water clarity you're gigging in. I went out friday night in the Bon Secour bay area and I couldn't see even a foot into the water. the water was like chocolate milk. The lights were useless there. I went out Saturday to Little lagoon and it had great visibility there as long as I stayed in around 2 feet of water. When I got in deeper water it got cloudy. I could still see...but not great. There were some guys out there gigging that had high powered spot lights. They were using theirs in the deeper water, but i'm not sure what kind of lights they were or how they were powered. One guy was using LED's on a rod he was holding, just submerged under the water line. His seemed to work okay. But I believe they were "flounder gigging lights" which can be costly. Some guys were just using a flash light....so I guess there's that!

So...all that being said, These lights worked great for gigging in slightly stained water that is less that 3 feet deep. Anything over 3 feet was not great. If the water is muddy, they're useless (but i'm sure no light would work in these conditions). I didn't get to test it in really clear water because we ran out of time, but i'm sure they will work great in the same 3 foot depth range in clear water. 

For the price, i'm not sure if this setup can be beat. I may be interested in seeing what a difference in light color warmth would be. Instead of the bright white, i've heard some say the warmer yellowish lights work better. I'm not sure how much it would make a difference though. Excluding the batteries, I paid less than $75 to build this set up. I could probably do it cheaper if I built some more.


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