# LED Light strips for night fishing - Now with Pictures!



## cyberflexx

I've seen a few companies who are now making LED night fishing lights. Everything from Nucli-Eye, NightFishion.net and BlueWaterLeds, and the like. I dont mean to knock these companies, but c'mon, these things are expensive for what they are. 

I have been looking at LED fishing lights for about a week or so and came across https://www.superbrightleds.com.

I found some LED strips that were weather proof and water proof and available in UV Blacklight at 80 and 180 degree angles and can be cut.

I ordered two 96 LED narrow 80degree beam UV waterproof LED strips, mounting clips for them too and ordered one 60 LED wide 180 degree beam UV weatherproof strip that I will cut in half. I ordered one 30 LED weatherproof strip in Blue ( moonglow ) and I will cut it in half, and I ordered one 30 LED weatherproof RED strip. These are all 12 volts. Total amperage draw from the specs are about 1.7 amps so I can run for over 3.5days on a 12volt battery if I wanted. LOL. I ordered all of these Shipped to my house for $115 which is ALOT cheaper than the name brand units and packages.

I plan to make a removable night fishing system that will mount to the side of my Skiff below the rub ring and also be able to use these on my Ranger 519.

Each fisherman will have the following lights in their area of the boat ( where there are 2 people in the Skiff).
30 LED wide UV strip near the top
96 LED narrow UV strip lower to the water ( water proof too) so the beam will go out past the wide beam without interference
and beside this stack will be 15 LED Blue strip 

Crude ASCII Art of my idea..

**Front Fisherman**.....................................**RearFisherman**
**UV Wide-**.........**blue**  **blue**.............**UV Wide**
**UV Narrow**..............................................**UV Narrow**  

The wide beam will give me upclose UV light to see my line, the narrow beam will give me distance UV light to see the line and the blue LEDs should be enough to light up the bank to see cover.

The red will be cut in half and 15 red LEDs will be under my rear bench and under the edge of the front deck to give the floor some indirect light, and red wont attract bugs as much as other colors.

I am thinking each color will have its own on/off switch on the 1st run, so I can see how bright the thing is and wired to a 12volt outlet plug for easy connection in the boats. It might be too bright and if that's the case, I have enough LEDS to do both sides of my boat.


Let me know what you all think...


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## cyberflexx

My lights should be here in a couple days. I'm excited to get them rigged up and tested. I wont be able to get on the lake with them for another week though. Heading to to TN and then fishing Guntersville and Chicamauga for a long weekend.


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## cyberflexx

Just incase anyone is wondering, here is my order from https://www.superbrightleds.com


QTY 2 | WFLB-x96: WFLB-x96 series 96 LED Waterproof Flexible Light Bar| $ 26.95 |
WFLB-UV96: UV-BlackLight
------------------------------------------------------------
QTY 1 | WFLS-x-BK: WFLS-x-BK series Weatherproof High Power LED Flexible Light Strip - Black Circuit| $ 26.95 |
WFLS-UV60-BK: 100cm[39.3in] UV-BlackLight
------------------------------------------------------------
QTY 1 | WFLS-x: WFLS-x series Weatherproof High Power LED Flexible Light Strip| $ 11.95 |
WFLS-R30: 50cm[19.7in] Red
------------------------------------------------------------
QTY 1 | WFLS-x-BK: WFLS-x-BK series Weatherproof High Power LED Flexible Light Strip - Black Circuit| $ 14.95 |
WFLS-B30-BK: 50cm[19.7in] Blue
------------------------------------------------------------
QTY 50 | WFLB-x96-MB: WFLB-x96-MB Mounting Clips w/screws| $ 0.15 |
WFLB-x96-MB: Mounting Clips w/screws
------------------------------------------------------------


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## whiteboots16

Man I can't wait to start my lighting project. I have a 1648 semi-v that I am tricking out to be a cool little redfish chaser. I'm thinking about getting some leds that are sumergable to mount under the water line and under the hull in a few places, but the ones that I find are very expensive.


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## JMichael

Hmm I've missed this thread until now some how. I don't know about others, but I'd be very interested in seeing how your lighting project works out.


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## fender66

JMichael said:


> Hmm I've missed this thread until now some how. I don't know about others, but I'd be very interested in seeing how your lighting project works out.



Me too....but with pictures. :wink:


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## cyberflexx

I just got back from a long weekend at Guntersville and the bite was off.. but thats OK.. still had fun.

Havent had time to work on this yet but I did get an opinion and compare this idea to a dual Nucli-eye setup ( that he has about $500 invested) on my buddy's boat while we were at Guntersville.

I hate to throw out name brands because the die hards may think I am product slamming, but I am not, just using it as a comparison and because I like to tinker and make things cheaper and sometimes better than what I can buy them for.

my friend was real leery of this idea, so I took my LED strips on the almost 9 hour trip just to show him. At the hotel in Scottsboro, AL I pulled out one of the narrow beam waterproof strips and hooked it up to my truck battery and laid the strip along my fender. We got some fishing line that would glow and sure enough, even under bright parking lot lots, you would still see that line lit up like a light saber for about 10 feet. IF we would have tested this in pure darkness, I'm sure it would have been alot further. We then did the same test with the Nucli-Eye and couldnt even see it out 2 feet from the side of the boat, under the same parking lot lights. We then hooked up the moon glow blue in a 15 LED section and did the same thing with his setup. He said that will light up the bank and trees with no problem! and said I really under estimated these lights and I think you will have NO PROBLEM with this at all. He said I could probably even cut my original idea in half, instead of having each person their own set of lights, just put one in the middle on both sides of the boat so you can fish either side of the narrow creeks. So each side would have the following: 
30 LED wide UV strip near the top
96 LED narrow UV strip lower to the water (water proof too) so the beam will go out past the wide beam without interference
and beside this stack will be 15 LED Blue strip to light up the bank in moon glow.

I dont have any pictures or anything, but will try to remember to take them when I go to make my proto-type for my boats. I am going to try to make this to where I can use it on my Ranger and Skiff


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## cyberflexx

whiteboots16 said:


> Man I can't wait to start my lighting project. I have a 1648 semi-v that I am tricking out to be a cool little redfish chaser. I'm thinking about getting some leds that are sumergable to mount under the water line and under the hull in a few places, but the ones that I find are very expensive.




I bet those waterproof strips from Superbright LEDs website would work.. I am guessing you are going to use green.. Look at these for $26 bucks.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/flexible-strips-and-bars/se-wfls-x60-series-60-high-power-led-waterproof-flexible-light-strip/103/503/
They look to be sealed with silicone and caps.. says they are waterproof. You might want to call them to be sure though and tell them your application and see what they suggest. Dont forget to buy the mounting clips for easy install..


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## cyberflexx

Look what I found! Someone else had the same idea.. A huge deal of information about these are listed here! I guess I chose my lights wisely!

Mine will be setup a little differently though...Same Concept! =D> =D> =D> :mrgreen: 

https://www.fishingtn.com/showthread.php?t=4782


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## Hanr3

ostpics:


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## highgeardaddy

The strips are really cool. I have not used the line-glow colors but that would work great working light jigs for smallmouth on summer nights. I have switched over most all lighting on my CConsole Skeeter to strips coupled with swapping the courtesy light bulbs with the LED panels. I guess you've messed around with them, but dont panic if they dont fire up on the first try, they are polarity sensative. Also the strips I have will seperate really easy at the connectors put some tape across the back. How are you attaching them to the boat where you can move them to your other rig (velcro?)

For guys looking at underwater lights, Chris at www.coastalnightlights.com has the bomb. I researched these things for months and I'm really happy with the big coastals on me' transom.

I'll be glad when the high power LED stuff to comes down in price. I'd like to move to those for boat headlights (yes, I run at night and I light it up). At this point the best stuff is coming straight out of little shops in China, but even if they offer a warranty It'd take forever to get service.

Let me know if you get down to the Kingston, TN area of Watts Bar/Emory River/Clinch River/Tennessee River. I hHad some big projects down there and learned some great bass spots. About now the Muskie start prowling the Emory.

Cheers.


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## cyberflexx

highgeardaddy said:


> How are you attaching them to the boat where you can move them to your other rig (velcro?).



Iam thinking of mounting them to a section of plastic angle ( I'll have to check Lowes and see what they have). The gunnel of the skiff where the rub ring is located is rounded, underneath that area is where the bolts go through to attach the front deck and rear bench seat. I was going to use the "L" shaped angle bar and drill a hole in the top and use the existing bolts and use wing nuts to hols it on. the "L" angle bar will run the length of the boat, over the side. When I use this on my Ranger, well I haven't gotten that far yet but thinking take the light bar and somehow clamping it over the side. I plan on making the 'controller box' ( light switches ) like a wired remote and not perm. mounted either. Just plug the main wire into the lighter socket and flip the switches you want to turn off or on. I will have to make the main power wire long enough and thinking about using a radio shack project box as the base for the on/off switch controller and seal it with silicone just incase.

Don't worry, I plan on taking pictures when I get to working on this thing, hopefully this weekend.


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## cyberflexx

I had a few minutes this afternoon during a conference call and I designed the schematic for the wiring of my setup. This is a crude drawing as the free design software didnt have a couple of the components so I made due with what I had..

There is about 1 amp draw from the lights (minus the red leds for under the seats- not in this schematic). 

Example: if your deep cycle battery is 115 amp hours, then these lights will have the ability to last 115 hours @ 1amp draw. :mrgreen: 

Tell me what you think..


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## highgeardaddy

The control box will work, the challenge is how to keep the multiple LED leads from turning into a birds nest-particularly once you take the set-up on and off a few times. You will be able to use tiny wire and virtually any cheap 12V switchs on the box.

On my Tracker Tincan CC there is a nice flat surface right under the rub rail where it seems like you could stick 3M weatherproof velcro. Maybe not a continuous strip, but just short intervals. I have not played with the mini light bars referenced on the TN fishing link but the flat strips would stick well to velcro. Note he makes some great points, particularly the key to getting them below your line of sight on the casting decks to keep your night vision tuned in. They must have bumped up the intensity on these, seems like it would take several of the ones I have on the Skeeter to get it done where you could see the bank from casting distance. I want to try to stack blue or green w/ the UV or blacklight color strips as opposed to buying another blacklight. Red seems useless to me, that light wavelength does not travel very far...

Cheers.


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## cyberflexx

Good point on the birdnest. I have thought about putting the control box near the battery so there isnt a very long tether to it, off the main power power cable. I was going to use zip ties to hold the wires together and put it in flex loom to help keep the mess down. I'm still in the planning stage on the wiring. It's hard for me to work on the little Skiff boat after work as it is in a friends garage about 5 miles from my house. I am mainly going to use the lights on the little boat, but want the option to use them on the Ranger. I'll have to see if I can get started on it during the weekend.

I have some switches in my electronics junk box at home and I may even have small project box to use. I am wondering if I should make it modular, so I can add and remove LEDS from the light bar if it's too bright or too dim. I have alot of ideas flowing in my noggin..


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## highgeardaddy

Yup I'm with ya' on the time crunch. Getting dark earlier every day, the project boat is in the driveway so I'm having to work with mother nature and under work lights after sunset. Trying to get the Tracker 1654 modified as a utility Duck Gun boat. The neighbors love me. At least its not another trailer suspension renovation with air hammer work 

A few more thoughts on the LED setup.
-Those simple two prong 12V plugs may be the ticket for keeping it modular (being able to seperate power leads from the lights and the control box) and polarity straight. This also allows you to have varying power lead lengths for different applications. See ebay item No. 261095027159 . I use these plugs on headlight/driving light setups with the lights on RAM arm mounts so I can move the lights around on my ATVs, UTVs, BOATs etc. Just put a power lead and RAM ball on each rig and you are ready to roll.

-Bonded two conductor trailer wire is plenty big for the LEDs and keeps down the clutter.


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## cyberflexx

Not much of an update:

Bought 3 SPST plastic toggle switches from Walmart. I couldnt find any, in my electronics junk box.
Gotta love working in the I.T. field...I found some old netcom headset cables at work from the headset styles we don't use anymore and they have some neat quick connects. They were heading for the trash. I cut one open and its 2 pair shielded but not for sure if the wires would handle the 1amp current as these are made for phone audio. I might get away with about a 6 inch section or less, just enough to splice some larger cable on to it so I can still utilize the connectors. This would be awesome for making it more modular and they fit together really snug.


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## cyberflexx

I went to Lowes and picked up some supplies. After walked around for an hour trying to find something to use as the light mount, i finally settled for a 10 foot section of white vinyl gutter. this turned out to be the perfect choice. It was lighter than aluminum angle and a whole lot cheaper too!.. I also grabbed some 16gauge red and black hook up wire, small electrical box, plastic lid that didnt fit and had to be cut down, wing nuts, wire flex loom, washers and a few other things..


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## cyberflexx

We fit the gutter under the gunnel of the boat, drilled holes so it would line up with the bolts for the deck and the rear bench and used a wing nut to tighten them down. We had to cut the 10 foot section of vinyl gutter down some to fit and also trim the bottom off as it got in the way..For some reason the pic wont attach..


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## cyberflexx

made a control box from a black electrical box and a lid that didnt fit. We had to dremel cut the lid to fit and drill holes for the switches. I wired my positive connections in series to the switches and the other side of the switch wll have the positive to each light strip. All of the ground are connected together and ran to the 12volt lighter plug adapter.


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## cyberflexx

attached the LEDS to the gutter with the clips for the waterproof strips and the other 2 strips have 3M adhesive backing thats pretty strong. Wired all the negatives together as well.

The top is Blacklight wide the middle is Moonglow blue, and the bottom long strips are blacklight narrow

Notice how we trimmed the edge of the cutter off to make it more of an "L" shape instead of a "[" shape? We thought by cutting that off, it would block some of the light and it made it easier to get the wing nut on the bolt on the upper side.


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## cyberflexx

LED 1st light test in the daylight.. making sure my switches work like the should


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## cyberflexx

There is 12 volt lighter adapter plug that plugs into the outet behind my drivers seat. this goes to the control box and all the negatives are connected to it and all the postives run through the control box and through the switches


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## cyberflexx

Here is a test in the garage. this boat is stored in a friends garage since my ranger is in the garage at the house.

We ended up closing the door and turning off the lights and testing each strip of lights.. the blue by itself really lit up the wall, the UV narrow beam lit up the wall really good by itself, and the UV wide beam lit up closer to the boat but up higher in the air. With all 3 of the strip lights on, the wall was lit up really good at 6 feet, so I figure these would have no problem lighting up the bank for night fishing. All I can say is WOW!..I am impressed for sure.

This is no way completed as I need to clean up the wiring some and I have a couple ideas I am going to add.

Tell me what you think for Version 1.0


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## cyberflexx

The back of the gutter where the screws for the light clips are needs to be coated with something as the screw tips are popping through just a tad. I am going to spray flex seal or something on them as I dont want my boat scratched up.

The adhesive that holds the 2 strips without the clips, may need a little help. I am hoping that over 24 hours the adhesive will be stronger but I might have to use hot glue or something to help it stick some. 

I need to put the wires in the flex loom to make it all neat

I did not get to make it hinged so I can colapse it for storage as I forgot during the build.


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## cyberflexx

If anyone has any other thoughts or ideas for this, let me know..

I'd like to know your thoughts..

Thanks!


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## highgeardaddy

Looks like its coming together well.
Can you clarify how you attached the modified gutter bracket to the boat?
How did you make the smooth long cuts to the gutter?


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## cyberflexx

highgeardaddy said:


> Looks like its coming together well.
> Can you clarify how you attached the modified gutter bracket to the boat?
> How did you make the smooth long cuts to the gutter?




We used a dremel rotary type tool with a cut blade to make the slice in the gutter. We cut it right along the seam so that gave us a straight line to use. Then we used a sander tip and sanded the edge, the best we could..

The way we attached the gutter to the side of the boat was kinda by luck. On the Carolina Skiff J12-16 models, the deck and benches bolt to the gunnel edges. The underside where the gutter is located has the tag end of the bolt with enough threads to screw on a wing nut. We just marked these bolt locations on the gutter, drilled them out, then put the gutter on and tightened it down with the wingnuts. There is 1 bolt on the rear bench and 1 bolt at the front deck that we used, no other supports between these to points and its pretty solid. This idea was a great find as it made these lights easily removable.

I am not sure how I am going to attach them to my Ranger though.. Haven't gotten that far yet.. LOL :lol:


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## JMichael

I wonder if putting a reflective coating on the inside of the gutter would add much to the brightness and distance the LED's shined.


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## TheBreeze

cyberflexx said:


> If anyone has any other thoughts or ideas for this, let me know..
> 
> I'd like to know your thoughts..
> 
> Thanks!



This project is exactly what I plan to do with my rig for night fishing. I looked at the links where you got your lights and other eBay led's and I'd like to know your thoughts on the RGB strips. If I understand correctly, the ones that come with the remote allow you to pretty much change to the color to whatever, whenever? I really don't have a color preference, but the blue shining from under the top rail down onto the deck looks sharp, but I'm not sure what color would offer enough task light without a glare (if that makes sense). I plan to put some on the outside of the boat also, still in the research stage myself.


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## cyberflexx

TheBreeze said:


> This project is exactly what I plan to do with my rig for night fishing. I looked at the links where you got your lights and other eBay led's and I'd like to know your thoughts on the RGB strips. If I understand correctly, the ones that come with the remote allow you to pretty much change to the color to whatever, whenever? I really don't have a color preference, but the blue shining from under the top rail down onto the deck looks sharp, but I'm not sure what color would offer enough task light without a glare (if that makes sense). I plan to put some on the outside of the boat also, still in the research stage myself.



I'd be careful on the colors as those bugs will be very annoying. I dont really know anything about the RGB lights and the remote. Becareful of the ebay LEDS that say UV Blacklight, I've read where some vendors sell them that arent really blacklight. I trust the ones from my link.

I'd do some research on light colors and bug attraction before buying anything.. I have my lights down below the edges to keep the bugs low and out of my face.

I havent tried these yet as its been too cold in the nights now..


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## cyberflexx

Hopefully I can test these lights this week. I'll try to take some pictures..


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## RiverBottomOutdoors

I have 2 Nucli-Eye Atoms in UV mounted to my transom. I use them for catfishing at night. I use UV line that glows in the blacklight/UV. That way, I can turn off all lights except the Atoms.

I will say that the Nucli-Eye products are well built and I can understand the price. These aren't plastic pieces of junk. They are built to last.


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## Redleg62

got these off ebay. Just interior lighting for now. Storage areas coming soon. $45.00 or so


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## cyberflexx

I've held the Nucli-Eye's in my hand, seen them work, and not saying they are a peice of crap, but I do know LEDs only cost a few bucks each and there is only 6 in each unit, then you have the machining of the metal housing and the nice little jacks and toggle switches and stuff, that still does'nt justify the high dollar price tag. I'm not saying they are junk and no one should buy them. One of my hobbies is electronics and I love to tinker around and make things and I'm just trying to find something a little more in my price point that does the same thing. I'll find out thursday ( weather pending ) how these things workout.


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## JMichael

RiverBottomOutdoors said:


> I have 2 Nucli-Eye Atoms in UV mounted to my transom. I use them for catfishing at night. I use UV line that glows in the blacklight/UV. *That way, I can turn off all lights except the Atoms.
> *


You're not required to keep a white light/anchor light on when anchored in your state?


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## RiverBottomOutdoors

JMichael said:


> RiverBottomOutdoors said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have 2 Nucli-Eye Atoms in UV mounted to my transom. I use them for catfishing at night. I use UV line that glows in the blacklight/UV. *That way, I can turn off all lights except the Atoms.
> *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're not required to keep a white light/anchor light on when anchored in your state?
Click to expand...


Indeed we are. Where I fish and when I fish lends itself to minimal boat traffic so I tend to only cut the anchor light on when a boat is approaching. So, far no ticket.


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## cyberflexx

I was able to use these lights last night and all I can say is WOW!.. These work better than what I had expected. I tried to get pictures of the glow and the line with my cell phone camera and the images we just all black. Here are my results.

We tied the boat off to a couple of trees. Once it got dark and our eyes adjusted, we kicked on the wide, narrow and blue LEDS. 

We could see stumps out of the water at approx 35 feet and cast to them and see our glowing line with no issue. The blue LEDS lit the bank up at about 80 feet and we could see a little blue light about 15 feet up the tree trunks. After we fished in that location, we decided to see how it would do when we would fish like normal, going down the bank with the trolling motor. We were about 40 feet off the bank and it was perfect. We could see everything and managed to pull a LMB off a beaver hut. At approx 40 feet off the bank, the grass and trees lit up really good too and that's plenty far enough away to fish when going down the bank. We were even able to navigate through some standing timber with no issues.
My friend told me that we could see to fish just as good in the night as we could in the daylight with these turned on.

I HIGHLY recommend giving this a try!

Here are a couple pictures taken from my cell phone. One is of the boat on the water. Looks like there is only 1 light strip on, but all three were on. My cell phone couldnt focus in very well on the light source. The other picture is of my friend about 25 feet away, standing on the parking lot at the boat and ramp, I was on the opposite side of the boat from where the lights were located when the picture was taken.

Tell me what you all think!


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## JMichael

Certainly makes his shirt show up well enough but I can't make out anything else like his legs or arms. Is that because of the quality of the pic or could you not see them in person either in that situation?


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## cyberflexx

JMichael said:


> Certainly makes his shirt show up well enough but I can't make out anything else like his legs or arms. Is that because of the quality of the pic or could you not see them in person either in that situation?



Remember, I took the picture with a cell phone, not a high quality camera and I only had the blacklight narrow beams turned on, not the blue or the wide beam blacklights. In person, you can see his pants a little. I should have taken another picture with all the lights turned on but we were eager to get home. When we were fishing, it was so awesome, and could see trees, brushpiles, and the bank really really good. We trolled down the bank as you would when bass fishing, and even stopped to hit a beaver hut and we were about 40 feet from the bank, plenty enough distance for a good cast. We could see pretty much everything.

I highly recommend giving this a try.


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## shallowminedid

i used the led strip lights to light up the inside of my boat. theyre crazy bright. i got 2 17 foot rolls for under $20 a few rolls of 3m and it worked awesome. first try adding pics so they might not show


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## cyberflexx

Those are nice. how bad are the bugs with those on? I did notice that all the bugs with my blacklights were down below the side and not all up in the face, which is nice..Thats one thing I dont like about night fishing is the mosquitos and moths around the lights. I'm a big mosquito magnet, the love me..


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## shallowminedid

bugs were horrible!! i now also keep one of those big off candles right next to my seat. i usually only turn them on as needed but even when theyre on for a min or 2 its like the bat signal for bugs. also lights up the ramp so u can back down, a lil snow blind from staring into them


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## New River Rat

Nice Mods here!


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## nick4203

hows the double sided tape working out for mounting? i had gotten something similar and cant think of any other way of mounting i want them low pro and inconspicuous they all have double sided tape on them and that seems fine but to how well they will hold i have my doubts i was thinking something like hot glue or silicone or something? i got some nav lights green and red strips then white light for the inside any ideas


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## shallowminedid

its been well over like 6 months i use it pretty much every weekend rain or shine been in the 20s all week and the tape is fine. its a 3m outdoors double sided taped supposed to hold like 10 lbs a sq in or something. had to resoder one of the light strips though. wasnt really plan on takin my decks off 13 times after putting the lights off but u know how things go


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## DanMC

cyberflexx said:


> Those are nice. how bad are the bugs with those on? I did notice that all the bugs with my blacklights were down below the side and not all up in the face, which is nice..Thats one thing I dont like about night fishing is the mosquitos and moths around the lights. I'm a big mosquito magnet, the love me..[/qu
> On the show Moonshiners i saw this guy spray himself with Listerine to keep bugs away...has anyone tried this before ? :shock:


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## russ010

DanMC said:


> cyberflexx said:
> 
> 
> 
> Those are nice. how bad are the bugs with those on? I did notice that all the bugs with my blacklights were down below the side and not all up in the face, which is nice..Thats one thing I dont like about night fishing is the mosquitos and moths around the lights. I'm a big mosquito magnet, the love me..[/qu
> On the show Moonshiners i saw this guy spray himself with Listerine to keep bugs away...has anyone tried this before ? :shock:
Click to expand...


it works... just make sure to use the gold Listerine. If you spray it around your face, be careful when you take that first breath, it will almost knock you out


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## erictetterton

I chose red LEDs to keep my night vision and hopefully keep some of the bugs away..


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## erictetterton

oh and i used the roll of LEDs sold on ebay for like $13


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## Hanr3

Nice job on the lites.


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## cyberflexx

shallowminedid said:


> its been well over like 6 months i use it pretty much every weekend rain or shine been in the 20s all week and the tape is fine. its a 3m outdoors double sided taped supposed to hold like 10 lbs a sq in or something. had to resoder one of the light strips though. wasnt really plan on takin my decks off 13 times after putting the lights off but u know how things go




Sorry it has been a whilte since i returned to this post.. life gets in the way sometimes.

I had to use some superglue on my strips to help tack them down as overtime they started to come a little loose.



This season, I plan on making a super bright head light as my automotive fog lamps must have been drawing too much current last time we were out as we smelled a hint of plastic melting as we were heading back to the boat ramp. When I do that project, I'll add that information to this link. It will be a month or so before I begin working on that. 

My Skiff is now in a storage unit as my friend is no longer in the home with the garage since he had moved. I am working on getting a power outlet installed in my unit so I can use my battery charger. Luckily for me, the storage unit is 2 miles away, and I can put some of my other things in there as well.


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## Hanr3

Question for you on the auto fog-lights. Did you use a relay? If not, that plastic burning odor is the switch, especially if these lights came in a kit. The switch is not rated to handle the load of the lights. The intent is to switch a relay, the relay pulls power from the battery for the lights.


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## cyberflexx

Hanr3 said:


> Question for you on the auto fog-lights. Did you use a relay? If not, that plastic burning odor is the switch, especially if these lights came in a kit. The switch is not rated to handle the load of the lights. The intent is to switch a relay, the relay pulls power from the battery for the lights.




My lights were mounted to a small section of 2x4 board then I just had my lights rigged positive / Negative to a 12 volt lighter socket plug. On the front of the boat is a 12v outlet that I installed for cell phone chargers, lights, or anything like that. I bet you hit the nail on the head as I did not have a relay or anything. My biggest concern is that I might have melted wire under the decking. I think I used 12 or 14 gauge wire on that outlet but I can't remember.


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