Night Fishing - Blacklight/led Questions.

[bassman1308]

Bill B: The Wakelands ran the Viola dock many years ago. Jim, his brother and their dad. I beleive the Johnson brothers ran the dock after that. They all could catch bass and did a little guiding.

Whack um: I've used the Stan Sloan black light for 10 yrs but I'm sure there are other good lights that have come out since I bought these. My lights have jacks on them and they plug into my Rangers cap, one on each side. Nice set up IMO. They also have a white light if needed but I seldom use it as i'm usually off the bank quite a ways. IMO, the best use for them is helping net fish as the line shows up very well and your netter can tell where the bass it at. BPS exel 20 lb floresent works well and as someone mentioned, it is cheap compared to others. If I'm feeIing confident, I'll go to 25 lb. : -) I do love night fishing.

[Tblrock]

Stan Sloan -- 17 or heavier flo. Stren or BPS excel if you respool often..

Growing up in Stockton. My skills fishing docks lighted, or otherwise never matured. My distaste of being saturated in bugs resulted in life long indiffernce to any type of glow/moon or white light in the boat. Fortunately, I still managed to embrace a passion and preference for chasing the blacks or to be politically correct "line sides" after dusk . With that passion came several vices, one them being line watching. The summation of all above led to a great appreciation towards a quality black light.

With my night fishing experience being limited to a short 30 years(27 and counting on T/R). I've owned the best and worst in black lights. I'll readily endorse any black light will work well with flourscent line. Provided it's a moon less night in Needmore branch on Stockton.

The challenge presented, Ambient light from other sources diminish reflective illumination of objects in the path of the black light. In other words, A bright full moon, brightly lit docks or lights from structures on shore adversley affect how well you will see your line or other objects using a black light. It amazes me how much ambient light from Branson is reflected on a night with low cloud cover in the Indian Point area. In my simple mind, a brighter black light is the answer.

Being a line watcher, I like seeing that sweet 45 degree bow in the line take just that millisecond pause on the initial cast.

Additionally, there is so much mineral content along with who knows what else in our lakes water that any object previously submerged is encased in a phosphorous like substance which will slightly illuminate with a good black light.

In otherwords, you can see that tree and every limb above the water line and several below. Even when I throw the blade I still use a black light as I like seeing my line angle to the water and trolling motor. Concerning the bugs, they still hit the black light but usually stay relative to the light source. Meaning placement of the light to the center of the boat usually allows relative bug free areas at either end of the boat. Rarely are bugs a problem on T/R when using a black light.

Back when Ronald Reagan was president and later Bush and Clinton, I got to make frequent donations on Friday and Saturday nights at the 13 boat ramp for a little while and later Mill Creek to toad harvesters. Seemed like all of them had a Stan Sloan black light. Through my employer at the time, every now and then I was able to speak with Mr. Sloan, Jeff and Tracy down at Zorro Bait Co. I felt his lights was brighter than any others and wanted to know why. Never mind that there was something about his blades that was different as well . After several years of asking Stan about everyhing I could think of, two key factors was unique to his lights. His ballast circuit was domestic with capacitors much larger than others and his bulbs were GE. I tried the LED lights last year and they seem to perform like the other import lights. Meaning they work but are not nearly as bright the old standby a Sloan. A good friend of mine had access to GE and Phillips black light bulbs and used them in the imported units. It made them brighter, but still didn't match the Sloan. The downside to the Sloans is in the 90's the cap of our boats became rounded and I lost more lights than I want to admit while running down the lake.

Unfortuantely, I've learned that Stan passed away last July and I think Zorro is still closed. So it's tough to get one of his lights. You can pick up used ones, just check the bubs and make sure they're GE or Phillips. Even worse, I never got to take Stan out on T/R on an April night like I promised him so many times.

I apologize for the long windness. I sitting here this new year with 9 month grandson hoping the man upstairs will let the boy and I take a few solid sacks of toads up the Mill Creek Ramp along with the next weeks donation.

Any way, Stan Sloan light - Stren or BPS Excel respooled often. Line test dicated mainly by how fast I want the bait to drop. But in late June and July probably won't be less than 25lb. Sawed off way to many times......

[Whack'emGood]

Thanks so much to everyone who has replied. It always amazes me how many guys are willing to give so much of their time and knowledge to help another on this forum. I guess it shouldn't surprise me... after all, I have witnessed it time and time again! What a great forum with great members. I will take all of these great tips/info into account and make a purchase for a light soon and also some fluorescent line. Now I can't wait for the night fishing season to come around again!

Thanks again everyone for all your help... it is very much appreciated.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Whack'em

[250XPS]

New blacklight just coming out. Table Rock Blacklights is starting up with a new light. Similar to Sloan's. Here is the text from there site.

We will soon have available two black lights for night fishing,

The Night Bite One and the Night Bite Two

The Night Bite One is a single bulb black light.

The Night Bight Two is a dual bulb black light available with either

two black light bulbs or a single black light bulb and a single fluorescent white bulb.

Both lights have housings made from 6063 aluminum,

Lenses are made of a high grade acrylic which is highly scratch resistant.

End caps made from fiber reinforced nylon offering superior strength and durability.

Both the Night Bite One and the Night Bite Two will either plug directly into the gunnel of the

boat or use a cigarette lighter plug, whichever the customer prefers.

The Night Bite series lights have been designed from the ground up to

meet the demands of both the serious week-end fisherman

and the dedicated tournament angler.

Our aim is to bring to the fishing world professional quality lights at a competitive price.

Our lights carry a 30 day money back guarantee

and a 3 year warranty against defects in materials or workmanship.

To contact us with questions or to get on our email list, send an email to us at

jerry@tablerockblacklights.com

Stay tuned and we'll see you again soon!

What are you doing tonight?

Get the Night Bite!

I bought the high price Led light. It works pretty good but $$$. Jerry told me lights come with RCA plugs you can

install on your boat plus he's working on plugs that will adapt to different curves or crowns on side rails.

Hope this helps.

[Whack'emGood]

250XPS,

Thanks for the info. Sounds pretty good.

I actually bought the Nucli-Eye Extreme and just got it. It looks really sweet, and I think I will really like it (hope so... it was expensive!). Haven't had a chance to actually try it out yet, but I will soon.

For those out there that may be interested... I will post my opinion of my new light after I get a chance to put it to the test.

Thanks to all that helped.

Whack'em