How Many Fishing Lights do you need?

How Many Lights Do You Need?

The old adage of bigger is better is true in some cases, but when it comes to
fishing lights it may not be. You may be tempted to buy (1) Magnum light because
it is bigger and brighter than (1) AquaStar light, but using (2) single bulb AquaStar
lights spread 3' to 4' apart will give you a much wider radius of light, will allow more
fisherman to fish in different zones of the light, and will draw the same amperage
from your battery as (1) Magnum light.

NOTICE: MAGNUM lights require sufficient power to run them or they will not burn
as bright or long as they should. MAGNUM lights require one Group 27 or better
Deep Cycle battery for each light, in order to achieve maximum brightness and
runtime. If quality batteries are not available, you are better off using the single
bulb AquaStar lights which require less amperage to run. (2) 100 watt AquaStar
lights spread 3' apart will produce more light than (1) 200 watt Magnum, while
pulling the same amperage from your battery. MAGNUM lights are nice, but you
have to have the power to run them to achieve maximum brightness.

See Battery Facts and Runtime for more information.

Using (2) lights will also let you experiment with different colors so you can see
which color is attracting more bait-fish on any given night. For example, starting
with one white light and one green light will let you see which light is attracting the
most bait-fish at that particular time. Once you see which color is attracting the
most fish, you can switch both lights to the same color.

So which lights should you use? The AquaStar lights utilize "one" 50-watt,
75-watt or 100-watt halogen bulb which will draw between 4 amps and 8 amps.
Light output will depend on the clarity of the water, but each light will normally light
a 10' to 15' radius. Spreading two AquaStar lights 3' apart will produce a 15' to
30' radius of light, while using minimal battery power. In our opinion, this set up
produces sufficient light and is hard to beat for most types of fishing in water up to
50' deep. The AquaStar lights are small and compact, easy to store and very
bright. Also see Color for additional information.

The Magnum lights utilize (2) 50-watt, 75-watt, or 100-watt halogen bulbs which
will increase the brightness but also increase the amps required. Since the
Magnum lights utilize "two" halogen bulbs, you have the ability to use one bulb or
two which can save power if you are using 12 volt DC lights. Magnum lights are
brighter, but one Magnum light pulls as much amperage as two AquaStar lights, so
if you are limited on battery power, running two AquaStar lights will give you more
light than one Magnum light with the same draw on your battery. If you have 120
volts AC available, the Magnum 120VAC lights produce up to 1.5 Million C.P. and
are the brightest lights on the market.

Remember, your lights are only as good as your batteries.
Poor Batteries Produce Poor Light and will run down much faster.

We recommend using Group 27 or better Deep Cycle batteries or AC to DC
converters to obtain maximum brightness on low voltage lights.
Also see 120VAC lights.

To help calculate how long the lights will run off of your battery see Run Time.

How Deep Should I Set the Lights?

Normally there is no need to set the lights deeper than 2 feet under the surface. If
you set the lights deeper than that, the fish will tangle around the power-cord
when you are reeling them in. Also, setting the lights a couple of feet under the
surface allows the light to shine up and then reflect back down illuminating more
water than if you set the lights deeper. It's like shining a light in a mirror. Of
course these lights are used for many different things such as shrimping and
gigging flounder, and these rules may not apply in those cases.