spotlights

Any of you guys have spotlights mounted on your boat? I’m sick of buying batteries for a handheld, and Im looking for something to light up buoys on pool 2. Any recommendations?

You can buy a million to 5 million candlepower spotlight for under $50 that will clip right to your trolling or cranking battery and you’ll be able to see for miles

i have off road head ligths on the front and a spot light that hooks on to my battery just go to fleet

Get two if you’re on the river, I got in a pickle having one that burned out on P2 (barge traffic). Ever since then, I have two in the boat at all times, like the guys said you can get some hand helds for pretty cheap, one of mine is hardwired, the other plugs in to the cig lighter and is a rechargeable. As far as the rechargeable, even with a full charge, I only depend on it to get me to shore in an emergency, the recharge batts are not good for running. A couple power sources to depend on when running the river and needing spots are a good thing, think of that. Be safe!

I have a rechargable and one that plugs into a lighter socket both work great do alot of fishing and hunting in nelson bottoms and we run the marsh with no issues at all.

Some very good posts!

For me, I don’t have a rechargable. I’ve found them to be too heavy and the batteries won’t run long enough for my use.

The $19.95 cig light spots break just by looking at them. I must have gone through 3 or 4 when I figured out I was spending too much time returning/reparing them.

Redundancy is important when night fishing. I have two spots, one is a unit that runs off a sealed beam car headlight that I bought in the ’70’s and the other was bought at Harbor Freight. Both are corded to a cig lighter plug.

I don’t believe a person need the light that has the candle power of the US deficit. At 25 mph, I’m over driving my headlights anyway. Reliability is the key in a light.

That and one that won’t melt carpeting or seats if it’s left on and layed on the above.

thebigd25, I’ll see if I can locate Relator Ron. His flatbottom looks like a 747 on the river at night with his two spots attached to the boat.

I know he worked out something, but I’ve seen other folks with attached lights and they are always adjusting them. When your boat gets up on plane, depending on your load, it’s always at a bit of an angle. Unless someone is up there to adjust them while your moving, they have to stop, adjust and take off again.

Kind of a pain.

Sauger and I have one mounted just outside the driver side windshield. You can adjust it while driving or pull up and it comes out of the mount. inexpensive and handy

I love having head lights on my boat, I don’t out run mine at 30-35. Yea you have to do a quick adjustment the first time you fire them up for the evening, but once they are set they are good to go. I also use a hand held spot DC.
It really depends on where your fishing. On the Minnesota there are are a lot of hazards in the water.
Its funny when I look back and think about how it used to be. (Unsafe and hard)

Where’s WasteWateGuru when you need him!? HE has got a very nice set up on his River PRo, not sure exactly what kind of lights they are but they sure are bright. John can you get a pick of your set up posted here???????

I have 2 2million candle power hand helds that both plug into a cig lighter. One can be mounted to the front of my boat if I plan to be doing alot of running around. Otherwise I just hold onto it.

Firemen has got a KC daylighter that he attaches to the front of his boat, and it lights up the night VERY well. I think he has it mounted on a ram mount that he had to do a little customizing to get it to work.

The key to WWG’s lights is that they are HID. Which means they draw very little power and throw out a ton of light. It is also a pretty bluish color.

You can drop some coin on those though. The cheaper alternative is to buy a couple handheld HID’s and mount them up front. Aanderud has done that with his boat. Google Vector HID Spotlights to see what they look like.

Just like rod holders and space in your boat, when it comes to throwing light you can never have too much.

Quote:

---

I don’t out run mine at 30-35.

---

Knock on Wood! Pardon the pun.

You guys be careful on the curvy MN River!

Hey Burbob, what brand is that light and whered you find it? I like the look of it

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

I don’t out run mine at 30-35.

---

Knock on Wood! Pardon the pun.

You guys be careful on the curvy MN River!

---

Thanks for reminding me to mention that I do use a hand held spot going into the corners. To light up the blind spots.

Quote:

---

The key to WWG’s lights is that they are HID. Which means they draw very little power and throw out a ton of light. It is also a pretty bluish color.

You can drop some coin on those though. The cheaper alternative is to buy a couple handheld HID’s and mount them up front. Aanderud has done that with his boat. Google Vector HID Spotlights to see what they look like.

Just like rod holders and space in your boat, when it comes to throwing light you can never have too much.

---

I will add one to the “WWG’s headlights rock” vote. He spent some good coin on them but hey, it’s worth it for the safety factor and when you look at it as a % of the boat value, they were a good bargain.

I spent considerably less but got more of a redneck solution for of my lights. The HID spotlights from amazon.com did it for me. While they are redneck looking, they do light up the river quite well. I ripped out the little 12 volt rechargeable batteries and wired them directly to a deep cycle battery. They run about 42 bucks a pop (or at least last summer they did), which I thought wasn’t too bad.

I mount them directly to my john-boat on a 4×4 riser to get them over the lip above the front deck. I don’t have a picture of that configuration. I also have them mounted on a 2×10 on the front of my crestliner, utilizing the trolling motor quick-release bracket (since I don’t need the bow mount trolling motor when catfishing). With that quick release bracket, I can take them off when not needed. (read: when wife is along and we’re on a lake…which does happen occasionally)

Here’s a couple pics of my redneck crestliner:

Ignore the random bunjee cords and aerator crap and home depot bag in the pic…

I bet those do nicely….
Pretty soon the Minnesota river is going to look like a highway with all the boat with headlights on them.

Yeah, I had those mounted on my little john boat last year from July on, but now that high water is back and I can use the crestliner for a while, had to come up with a mounting strategy. They work all right, and for the price I can’t complain.

Quote:

---

Hey Burbob, what brand is that light and whered you find it? I like the look of it

---

It is made by Primos, they call it an ATV spotlight. We also have two floods mounted on the passenger side of the boat wired in to a switch. The floods work great for fighting/netting and also are nice to light up timber snags when you cast

What – Y’all afraid of the dark up there?

With all those lights on the water, I wonder what the fish are thinking?

Shawn

Quote:

---

What – Y’all afraid of the dark up there?

With all those lights on the water, I wonder what the fish are thinking?

Shawn

---

I guess you’ve never fished the MN before huh?

Sometimes during a full moon it’s actually easier with no lights at all, but then you have the random guy anchored in the middle of the channel with no lights on either. That never turns out well.

During low water periods, the snags and sandbars will literally gobble you up if you 1. Don’t know how to run it, or 2. Cannot see them ahead of you, and it’s not all about going fast either. I’ve ran into my fair share of jungle items while putting along at trolling speeds.

I use a small rechargeable called a Streamlight.
I clip it to the buckle straps on my pfd.
It works great for me cause I’m usually standing while cruising. All I do is point my body which way I want the light to shine. It keeps my hands free to run the controls.
They are awesome lights and very powerful for their size.
I have never in the three years I have had it run the battery down to where it was unusable.
http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=121

Quote:

---

They are awesome lights and very powerful for their size.
I have never in the three years I have had it run the battery down to where it was unusable.
http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=121

---

These are awesome
We use these or something very similar for Fire Fighting Dave….. They are unbelievably bright and batteries last forever….. I’ve been tempted to take mine out in the boat.
just to check out on the water.

They are for fire fighting, new fire trucks are equipped with a bunch of them. I have family that work for a local fire truck manufacturer and got mine through them.
They work great in fog and smoke, which is nice especially if you get caught in the fog at night on the river.
Any good cat man knows what the evening fog is about and regular spot lights just plain do not work in the fog.

You must be talking about close up now? My headlamp has more juice than that thing does, if it’s like this one LINK

The new p7 flashlights will boggle your mind. The stuff is so new that it won’t be in retail stores for a long time. Maybe a year from now. The amp draw is too high for regular old D batteries but it isn’t too expensive to get a couple lithium rechargables and a charger.

Example pocket torch, try something like one of these LINK The things are amazing, it’s like being able to whip a car headlight out of your pocket. I got a similar one, I was amazed it was 6″ long.

I know you guys have an aversion to anything not available at walmart or cabelas but this time you’re missing out on something cool.
I took this pic just to show you guys the size

For handeld spotlights – go to Menards. They sell an inexpensive ~$10-15 large regargable spot. It is white with a small black foam handle. I purchased it in a pinch one year and it turned out to be the most durrable light I have ever owned – honestly!

Funny story with cheap light #1)
The light quit working after it submerged in saltwater for several days (in bottom of boat) and charging connection corroded – ran it for 6months without charging. When it FINALLY diedd, I bought a new for $10.

Funny story with cheap light #2)
In a sleepless act of rage while duck hunting in 5 degree weather I threw it on the floor of the boat. Needless to say, the casing shattered. It was hanging by pieces. I took it home, duct taped it all up, spray painted it safety orange…..and still use it.

I plan on putting headlights on this summer though….just because I can.

Quote:

---

I plan on putting headlights on this summer though….just because I can

---

Ah HAH!! No more running in Stealth Mode?

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

I plan on putting headlights on this summer though….just because I can

---

Ah HAH!! No more running in Stealth Mode?

---

Just because you have them doesn’t mean you have to run them all the time

Speaking of stealth mode, for years we relied on nothing more than those 6v battery powered ray-o-vac headlamps. The river was full of snags, but it was a small river maybe 100′ wide. And we didn’t run miles up and down the river in the dark either.

I use a similar type light now, but it has a brighter halogen bulb. It’s fine for the medium sized river closest to me, but on a larger river like the Rock with numerous islands I need something brighter with a longer beam, like a handheld spot.

My only worry with lights powered off the battery is having enough run time for the sonar unit and aerator.

Btw, no I haven’t hit the Minnesota yet…only fished in Minnesota once on lake Superior.

Shawn

Quote:

---

My only worry with lights powered off the battery is having enough run time for the sonar unit and aerator.

---

People wonder why I have a 24 volt trolling motor.

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

My only worry with lights powered off the battery is having enough run time for the sonar unit and aerator.

---

People wonder why I have a 24 volt trolling motor.

---

Those HID’s take very little juice at all.