LED Light for your Oconee Fishing Boat: 9 Things You Need To Know
Image by boats.com
LED technology has transformed fishing forever. Just take a boat from Sugar Creek Marina out onto Lake Oconee on any summer night, and you’ll witness dozens of boats with colorful water halos. Some LEDs can even be programmed to strobe or shift color in sync with music.
Sure, whatever, you might be thinking. I’m interested in catching fish, not putting on a light show.
All the more reason to replace those old incandescent lights on your boat with new LEDs. In fact, here are five reasons to do it:
You’ll catch more fish. Most fishermen are aware that light attracts fish, but not everyone understands why. Tiny little creatures called zooplankton live in lakes. They’re drawn to light, and at night they’ll swarm around a boat light until the water starts to look cloudy. This all-you-can-eat buffet of zooplankton will soon attract schools of bait fish, which in turn attract larger game fish.
LED lights require much less power than incandescents. LEDs convert 80% of the electricity they use into light and 20% into heat. Incandescent lights do the opposite, converting only 20% of the electricity they consume into light, and 80% into heat.
When your boat lights draw less power, you don’t have to worry so much about draining your battery or overloading your circuits, which means more time out on Lake Oconee.
LED lights last longer than old-school bulbs. Most high-grade underwater LED lights can last for 40,000 hours or more—that’s 4 ½ years’ worth of light.
LED lights are durable and shock resistant, surviving vibrations, rough weather, and collisions with unexpected brush piles.
Convinced yet? Good. Then here are 4 factors you should consider before taking your boat in for that LED upgrade:
Get the right kind of navigation lights for your boat’s size and type, and make sure to use them whenever you’re out between sunset and sunrise or during periods of low visibility. Failure to use navigation lights is one of the leading causes of Georgia boating fatalities.
Go green to attract more fish. Green light has a short wavelength, which means it illuminates further down in the water before scattering. Zooplankton are also highly attracted to green light, and crowds of zooplankton are highly attractive to bait fish. Blue and white lights also work well.
But keep the glow underwater. The same green, white, and blue lights that draw in swarms of bait fish will also draw swarms of bugs into your boat unless the lights are submerged 3-6 inches. For interior boat lighting, red works best. Most insects can’t see the red portion of the color spectrum.
And the most important thing to consider when getting LEDs for your Lake Oconee fishing boat?
4. Hire someone you trust to do the job right. You don’t have to know everything about boat LEDs; you just have to hire someone who does.