REAL-WORLD fishing experience with LEDs

Yesterday, my buddies invited me to go night fishing, and my response was basically "meh." They later called to ask if I wanted to have dinner with them at KFC before they went fishing, and I agreed to drive.

Long story short, it turns out that they thought I was agreeing to have dinner AND go fishing with them (an hour away), so I did. They said we'd be back at around 10:30-11:00 pm, which isn't too bad.

I ended up getting back home at around two in the morning. One person in our group of three wanted to keep fishing... and fishing... But we eventually convinced him to start packing up so we could get home.

I didn't think I'd be going fishing, so I only had my EDC of a P1, Pierce M10, and Gladius / FM34, which isn't quite runtime-oriented. Luckily, the Gladius has variable brightness, so I mostly used that. Whenever someone needed to pick out a chunk of bait, thread a hook, et cetera, they'd say "David, light!"

There were other anglers at the pier, and they had lights as well, of course. One had an Ace HW 2D incan and a little LED light that likely ran on button cells. Another group had a fluorescent lantern and a multi-LED 1AA light. It was kind of fun to walk up to these non-flashaholics trying to make do with a few lumens of orange or blue light and "help them out a bit" with my M10. Any one of my lights could turn an entire work area into daytime.

I kept on lamenting that I "only" had three lights. If I'd known I was fishing, I would have brought my Dorcy 3W lantern, SMJLED PR2 in a 2D host, and some headlights. In fact, my last real-world experience convinced me to buy more headlights for the exact purpose of providing everyone in my party with a hands-free utility light. Still, the lights I had served quite well.

We caught some fish, too.

Saw the thread title and thought it was about using LED lures. Oh well, good post anyway. Always fun to have a situation where you get to pull out and use a good high end light when others are getting by with some pitiful dollar store junk light. They try to convince themselves that theirs work just fine, then want to use yours. I was helping my dad one night and he said, "Bah, I've had this light for a year and it's still working great!" 30 seconds later he dropped the light and blew the filiment. I've since given him a couple of my retirees as I've gotten new and better. He's a convert.

Anyway, I'm curious about the LED lures. You'll have to try them on your next outing and report back.

Tiger, I also thought this was about LED lures. I made my first LED spinnerbait back in 1989. Cordova Lake. I hooked plenty of Smallies and Pickeral. I also found the Carp woudn't stay away from the bait.

I went night fishing with my buddies again last night after the CPF Korean BBQ get-together, but this time I was able to stop by home first!

In addition to my P1, M10, and Gladius, here's what I brought:

-4D MagLED in Mag's belt loop ring holster
-4D Dorcy spot/flood lantern with Nite-Ize PR LED
-Dorcy 3W LED lantern
-Streamlight Argo HP

The spot/flood lantern with the NI was extremely useful. I would just prop it up on a bench, turn it on, and forget about it. It provided a smooth wash of enough light to work by. At one point, a buddy jarred it from a bench's backrest and it fell to the concrete bench's seat, but it just got a tiny little scratch on its head. For a product that costs less than $5, I was quite pleased with its quality.

I went fishing with two buddies, and the serious angler in the group was adamant about wanting a headlight. I told him that the Argo HP was very similar to my 712L, but with whiter output, and he decided to go with it. He kept it on his head most of the time, and it was on almost constantly. Low mode provided enough light for him. Removing it from his head on the drive back, he said, "My hair hurts!"

The MagLED can really, really throw. I could shine a nice spot with it from the end of a pier to the treetops back on land, perhaps 100-200ft away. It totally overpowered every other light there. I did feel a little weird, though, walking through a supermarket (for snacks) with a black 4D war club hanging from my belt.

The Dorcy 3W lantern can also throw. In fact, the edges of the beam were parallel through the dark, slightly foggy night air. It has less total output than the MagLED, but the throw is a wonder to behold. It was more convenient than the Mag, though, since it's more compact and has an adjustable stand. I could see the sandwich I was eating by light bounced off the bench's backrest. I also discovered that the adjustable stand can be slipped behind a collar to provide about three pounds of hands-free lighting (which had the added bonus of making me look like a "total dork," as well).

For close-range tasks, total flood is wonderful, and throw is extremely useful when lighting up a hooked shark at the water's surface forty feet away.