Lights?

My favorite time to fish is after dark. I set up my lawn chair in my 14′ jon, put my feet up on the back seat and sit. Problem is I can’t see my rods. Gets pretty dark in those back waters. Does burning a lantern in the boat or over the side (mounted in oarlock) affect catfish action? Does it attract them? Does it repel them or make them skiddish?

I doubt it affects the cats too much…. but I bet it attracts the bugs like crazy… you will look like a bug carpet sitting in your lawn chair!!…..

get a glow tip or someone sort of light stick for the end of your rod. It’s way to buggy to have a lantern out in the back waters.. or get a bell then when you get a hit hold onto your rod.

Yep you wood look like your name woolybugger if you light up a lantern out there. Second thought though when are you going? It might be bug free a hundred yards in every direction around you. LOL Steve

All the bugs that fall into the water because they are so fat from sucking up your blood may actually attract baitfish which will inturn attract some fish.Or atleast all that blood in the water will chum them cats up for you!

I use a headlamp and either a clicker reel or Shimano Bait Runner to detect bites.If I need more light my stern navigation light puts off enough light to land a fish.

yea your right. Tried it for about 25 seconds. Bad idea. I will just do the little flashlight and listen close trick.

Man I thought that we had more bugs than anybody but if the information is true from the past posts I might be wrong. I too do a lot of night fishing and only have problems with bugs for about an hour or so after dark and after that I see very few bugs.

I fish with white rods as they are a lot easier to see than a dark color rod. I will also put a piece of reflective tape on each of my rod tips so any light that I use will reflect off of that.

I use lights all summer long and I have not been eaten up yet. I do use bug spray for that first hour after dark but after that I don’t see enough bugs to worry about putting it on.

Keep on fishin in the dark and don’t worry about any lights as they do not scare fish away. If anything it attracts fish!

Good Cattin!

I would strongly recommend not using lights if you’re fishing for flatheads. Any light at all will keep them away for sure. They are very light sensitive. I’ve seen a few articles that say that flatheads can be steered away from cover when hooked by shining a light in front of them. They turn the other way in a hurry.

matt

There’s a new open face real out there for night fishing.You can put it on free spool so the cats can run.When they take line out a red light flashes on the spool and it beeps too.LOUD it works off a watch batt. They carry them at Five Seasons Bait and Tackle in Cedar Rapids,Iowa for about $50. there great cat reals. Good fishing all

I saw those reels somewhere, I think cabelas.com or basspro.com. I was kind of waiting for someone to review them. Whenever I see something like that, I never know whether it’s some cheesy-gimmicky thing or something useful.

It basically sounds like a spinning reel with a bait clicker. Is there any way to adjust the tension on the free-spool? How long are the batteries supposed to last, assuming you haven’t had to replace them already? Down here in the “land of two rods” something like that would be useful for a 2nd line.

I fished with aguy who had one of these Mitchell reels.I kinda like it and might get one.
I have a Pinnacle and a Shimano Bait Runner that also have this freeline feature.They don’t have blinking lights but clicks like a baitcaster when the fish is runing with the bail closed.They have two separate drag systems that allow you to adjust the tension on the free spool.When you want to set the hook just turn the handle on the free spool drag clicks off and your ready to fight!The Shimano is the best of these reels and retails for about $110.They are a good alternative to baitcasters with clicker reels.I like them because there is nothing worst than picking at a bird nest in the dark!

Woolybooger,

Are they paying you up there to keep updated on the flatheads? Just kidding. Get some reels with baitclickers. Or get a black light setup and paint the tips of your rods white or put some white tape on them. The black lighting doesn’t attract as many bugs and the rod tips will glow extremely bright. You won’t have any problems seeing them.

After you and I are done with our part time summer obligations, I wouldn’t mind hitting the river with you a few times.