Thread: Best Night Time setup/bobbers

Best I came up with is a Thill bobber of choice and the small glow sticks most lighted bobbers are too heavy for my taste. I think Rocket bobber makes a glow in the dark float that can be recharged with a light source although I have never tried it out. I can remember searching the internet for the perfect lighted bobber. I started nig fishing more a d forgot about it.

Well, I got glow sticks, but the bobbers I have for the glow sticks I have to do the slip-cork method. The dang string that thill offers gets lose and well, there that goes. I'm trying to find youtube videos on night time crappie fishing to see what people are doing, but not too many videos out there.

Am I to assume that you're using lighted floats & a headlamp, because you don't have a lantern, submersible or floating 12V light ?? ... or because you're not fishing from a boat ??

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Am I to assume that you're using lighted floats & a headlamp, because you don't have a lantern, submersible or floating 12V light ?? ... or because you're not fishing from a boat ??

Hey CP! Well, Sir, my friend I go with has a green light but doesn't ever want to use it. He mainly just tightlines. I am more of a visual bobber type fisherman. We sit under a bridge at night from his boat. I have 3 poles I use and then 2 for casting jigs. I am currently using a bobber that you can place a glow stick in it, but the spring catches the line and it won't drop properly to the depth I need it to. I was just wondering how you guys do it with great success. Without a light. Oh and yup, I have a head lamp, but I don't like shining the light on the bobber ya know.

Other than glow bobbers,or the more expensive lighted bobbers,you are gonna be pretty limited on watching your bobber.line watching may be the best option if your determined to night fish, but hey,I'm interested in others thought also.

(just some random thoughts)

A 9V lantern ?? Then you wouldn't need a headlamp or lighted float.

I have a couple of blacklights that I use to night fish for Bass with, and one has two bulbs on the same side ... one is a black light and the other a white light. The blacklight will light up a 6lb test hi-vis or clear/blu fluorescent mono to where it looks like ski rope, if you're in near total darkness. And I'd almost guarantee it would do the same to a float that had fluorescent paint on it. And if the floats don't have that kind of paint ... the white light will light up the area !!

I also have a Coleman gas lantern, which is what I grew up using to night fish for Crappie with ... and one of those in the middle of the boat, hanging over the side or mounted on a hanging rod will light up the area.

As with most any "light" (even blacklights) ... you're going to draw bugs. Most of them will just be an irritation, as the biting kind prefer darkness. But some good bug repellent, or a good little breeze will keep most of them away.

I think I may still have one of the "12V headlight in styrofoam" lights, that float on the surface, but haven't used it in decades. It does suck the battery pretty hard, which is one reason I haven't used it much. Well, that and the fact that all the boats I've had or fished out of prior to the one I have now, only had one battery for everything. And it shines "down", so it doesn't light up the area above the surface very much, either.

The new LED deals don't pull as much juice, so they're a lot more popular (and much brighter), and most are designed to use submerged. That may cut down on the bugs, but doesn't do much for lighting up your rod tips or floats.

Have you ever thought about putting a light stick on your tightline rods ?? Like taping one to the underside, near the tip. Don't know of any cures for the lighted floats, other than maybe taking the spring off and drilling a small hole thru the bottom stem & making it a "slip float" that way. A small bead between the bobber stop string & the float should keep your string from getting stuck in the hole. Even if the float lays down, from the lack of weight ... when you get a bite it will stand up (before disappearing below the surface).

I bought some blacklight led strip lights and glued them to the outside rim of my boat to be able to see my rod tips late in the evenings and early mornings. Pained the rod tips fluorescent yellow and fluorescent green and they are very visible in the dark. The fluorescent line also seems to be bright and well as twice as visible. Check them out and how cheap and easy they are to install yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...trips+on+boats

P.S. And the bobbers will also stand out like a sore thumb at night also.

When fishing under bridges at night I would hang the Coleman lanterns from vice grips or C- clamps so I could get them away from the boat seems like the fish would come to the orange white light from the lanterns. One bridge I used a rope to hang it over the water when fishing from the bank, the other Lantern would be hung on a tripod. I have about twenty Coleman white gas lanterns I have picked up because I liked them so much for fishing. Kamplite made an inverted Lantern that they advertised for fishing because its light came from the bottom