Norman Nightstalk 1-23-21, sorta

More of a shakedown trip, not worthy of a report really. Trying new stuff. Have a new-to-me boat I'm trying to set up for night stalking. I'm a Q-Beam Starfire II baby from way back, but trying to find a more battery friendly alternative when running two of them. I ordered 2, green LED submersibles.

Report....fished two spots. Both spots we marked a little bit of bait and scattered unknown fish prior to setting up. Spot #1, 25FOW, set up, and within 10min, had a 10"er on the shallow rod. Fish was 2ft down. Had rods varying in depth and location relative to lights. That was the only bite I could see, but unlike the Q Beam's, there wasn't enough ambient light see the rod tips and line on my 10ft Pro Anglers, other than the obvious tip-to-the-water-bite from the fish I caught. Part of my night stalking set-up ideology goes back to the Rango days 10+ years ago, of having all my rods exactly the same, and grabbing the one that looked "different", which was often a subtle bite like crappie can often have.

Fished for another hour and a half with nothing to show, and even the few bait that did show up under the lights, disappeared. Set up on another location, 22FOW, in close proximity to a place I know holds crappies year round, and have caught a two man limit at on Christmas day. Gave it 45min and nothing. Finally tucked tail and went home.

Normally I'll give it a while, give the lights and magic time to work, but my partner was frozen by that point, and the action was nonexistent, not even perch or spots to entertain.

Still undecided whether the green LEDs work or not. I don't want to have to go back to Q Beams and carry an extra battery just in case.

I'm also going to take a page from a post made by another forum member, (cant remember who to credit) and make some light bars to mount on the edge of the boat, shining into the water, with LED spot lights. He claimed to get a full night of run time with 4 lights, all night. I can tell you right now I wont fish THAT long regardless of the bite. So hopefully that solves a couple issues of 1) questioning the greens effectiveness, 2) enough ambient light without a separate dedicated light source to illuminate the rod tips.

I use blue led light suspended from the sides of the pontoon , Hi Vis yellow line with green led submersibles . The blue lights make the yellow line easy to see. Get a propane heater to warm your hands. The Less use very little amperage so the batteries last. I use my trolling motor batteries for lights, and an auxiliary battery for the bait tank and other stuff
Don't give up

I painted the rod tips white years ago, per the advice of an ole timer, and It has made a huge difference for me in low light conditions.


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Originally Posted by MThook

I use blue led light suspended from the sides of the pontoon , Hi Vis yellow line with green led submersibles . The blue lights make the yellow line easy to see. Get a propane heater to warm your hands. The Less use very little amperage so the batteries last. I use my trolling motor batteries for lights, and an auxiliary battery for the bait tank and other stuff
Don't give up

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I need to try a blue (black?) light. I'm not going to give up, just may give up on green LEDs. Ive caught too many fish under Q Beam Starfire II halogens to give it a whole lot of time. I'll wait til it warms up a little before making the final decision.

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Originally Posted by Wylie

I painted the rod tips white years ago, per the advice of an ole timer, and It has made a huge difference for me in low light conditions.


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Yep, these have been painted since I bought them.

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Originally Posted by TreednNC

More of a shakedown trip, not worthy of a report really. Trying new stuff. Have a new-to-me boat I'm trying to set up for night stalking. I'm a Q-Beam Starfire II baby from way back, but trying to find a more battery friendly alternative when running two of them. I ordered 2, green LED submersibles.

Report....fished two spots. Both spots we marked a little bit of bait and scattered unknown fish prior to setting up. Spot #1, 25FOW, set up, and within 10min, had a 10"er on the shallow rod. Fish was 2ft down. Had rods varying in depth and location relative to lights. That was the only bite I could see, but unlike the Q Beam's, there wasn't enough ambient light see the rod tips and line on my 10ft Pro Anglers, other than the obvious tip-to-the-water-bite from the fish I caught. Part of my night stalking set-up ideology goes back to the Rango days 10+ years ago, of having all my rods exactly the same, and grabbing the one that looked "different", which was often a subtle bite like crappie can often have.

Fished for another hour and a half with nothing to show, and even the few bait that did show up under the lights, disappeared. Set up on another location, 22FOW, in close proximity to a place I know holds crappies year round, and have caught a two man limit at on Christmas day. Gave it 45min and nothing. Finally tucked tail and went home.

Normally I'll give it a while, give the lights and magic time to work, but my partner was frozen by that point, and the action was nonexistent, not even perch or spots to entertain.

Still undecided whether the green LEDs work or not. I don't want to have to go back to Q Beams and carry an extra battery just in case.

I'm also going to take a page from a post made by another forum member, (cant remember who to credit) and make some light bars to mount on the edge of the boat, shining into the water, with LED spot lights. He claimed to get a full night of run time with 4 lights, all night. I can tell you right now I wont fish THAT long regardless of the bite. So hopefully that solves a couple issues of 1) questioning the greens effectiveness, 2) enough ambient light without a separate dedicated light source to illuminate the rod tips.

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TreednNc you need to come out and join us one night at Wylie r high rock when the nc bunch gets together with the sc guys for a nite stalk


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As far as I know they don't make Q-beams anymore. LEDs are the way to go. I tried a blue light once and that was it. I'll post some pics of my night light set up later.

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Originally Posted by mac crappie

TreednNc you need to come out and join us one night at Wylie r high rock when the nc bunch gets together with the sc guys for a nite stalk


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Search through some of Rango's old posts on the SC Forum. I used to do the "rodeos" a few times years ago. Took a hiatus, but I'm back at it again lol. I used to keep the NC side of Wylie hot at night as well lol

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Originally Posted by turkeyfootnc

As far as I know they don't make Q-beams anymore. LEDs are the way to go. I tried a blue light once and that was it. I'll post some pics of my night light set up later.

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They dont but it's hard to beat the light they throw. I've still got mine. Just hate the draw on batteries. I'll keep at it with the LEDs. Ive got stuff set up to make two light bars with two lights each, like this......I'm anxious to make it and go to Wylie and give her a go.

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Originally Posted by Seekbigger

I fish a lot at night and catch plenty of fish, I also use the green drop sticks in the water but I use led light bars mounted to my rail of the pontoon, they are super bright and I have baitfish by the 1000's jumping all around my boat most nights, while my brother in law uses only a blacklight and doesn't have near as many baitfish. I run 4 of these lights all night on one 12 v marine battery. Check them out. I did put some green film over them just to soften the light a touch, they are super bright and will attract the fish. My friend and I were fishing side by side one evening spider rigging last summer when I turned these lights on at dark he had to leave they were so bright lol. He ordered him some after that.Attachment 336091Attachment 336093

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My :twocents Get you a painters light. The one with the aluminum shaped cone and cut the plug off and put some alligator clips on to connect to the battery. Use a 12 volt light bulb in the light. Clamp it on the side of your boat and adjust to where you can see rod tips plus give you light to see in the boat a little. Or get the same light fixture and run a 110 curly bulb @ 26watt and use a small inverter to run your light. Don't cut the plug off! I use this most all the time and it works great. I run three on the side for best lighting. Only times it is a pain is late summer when bugs get bad. But keep it out over the side of the boat and you can feed the fish bugs. LOL I some times drop my four foot hydro glow in at the back of the boat but I can't tell much difference on which is the best. We catch fish on both. Sometimes more on one or the other. Depends on who's near it. Like Mac said come on out with us and get back in the grove of fishing at night. :highfive You might learn a new trick from an old Big Dawgg!!! :Rofl

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Originally Posted by BigDawgg

My :twocents Get you a painters light. The one with the aluminum shaped cone and cut the plug off and put some alligator clips on to connect to the battery. Use a 12 volt light bulb in the light. Clamp it on the side of your boat and adjust to where you can see rod tips plus give you light to see in the boat a little. Or get the same light fixture and run a 110 curly bulb @ 26watt and use a small inverter to run your light. Don't cut the plug off! I use this most all the time and it works great. I run three on the side for best lighting. Only times it is a pain is late summer when bugs get bad. But keep it out over the side of the boat and you can feed the fish bugs. LOL I some times drop my four foot hydro glow in at the back of the boat but I can't tell much difference on which is the best. We catch fish on both. Sometimes more on one or the other. Depends on who's near it. Like Mac said come on out with us and get back in the grove of fishing at night. :highfive You might learn a new trick from an old Big Dawgg!!! :Rofl

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Yeah if the dawggs not in one of his moods he might let you rub him on the belly [emoji122][emoji122]


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Originally Posted by TreednNC

They dont but it's hard to beat the light they throw. I've still got mine. Just hate the draw on batteries. I'll keep at it with the LEDs. Ive got stuff set up to make two light bars with two lights each, like this......I'm anxious to make it and go to Wylie and give her a go.

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Did someone say Q beam? :)

I still have 3 of them from many moons ago, and i believe i have 5 brand new ones still in original package i bought from wal mart when they had them on clearance 10+ years ago.

These are the lights I use.
I fish slot at night on Wylie and these last me 2 or 3 4 to 5 hour trips between battery charges.
I love my lights.
I have 2 on the front sides and 2 on the back sides. I fish 3 rods per side. Mainly in the back of the boat for now. I need more rod holders to fish up front of my Trihull.
Thought I'd share these with you.Attachment 393377

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Here's what I use, I got my lights from Northern tool, I use a 6 ft piece of aluminum pipe to keep the bugs away. My last boat had rails to place clamps but this boat doesn't have rails so I made this and it's removable. LEDs are easy on batteries so unless you have a weak battery you can go a couple trips until you have to charge them.Attachment 393381Attachment 393382

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Originally Posted by pete

Did someone say Q beam? :)

I still have 3 of them from many moons ago, and i believe i have 5 brand new ones still in original package i bought from wal mart when they had them on clearance 10+ years ago.

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I know you're a Q Beam baby haha. My biggest by weight, still came with you that night down there. Caught some longer but not heavier.

Got some LEDs over the weekend. Just havent had a chance to fab them onto bars yet.
Attachment 393385

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Originally Posted by FisherFore

These are the lights I use.
I fish slot at night on Wylie and these last me 2 or 3 4 to 5 hour trips between battery charges.
I love my lights.
I have 2 on the front sides and 2 on the back sides. I fish 3 rods per side. Mainly in the back of the boat for now. I need more rod holders to fish up front of my Trihull.
Thought I'd share these with you.Attachment 393377

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I used to wish Wylie at night a bunch. Need to start back. I live 50yds from Norman, and 4-5min from the ramp, with a neighbor offering to let me use her dock, but Wylie is my night stalk lake.
Before I'd just throw 2-3 batteries in the boat and use the Q Beams, but I'm trying not to have to ad a battery to the boat. I'm hoping these LEDs are as good as yall claim lol

As the old saying progress is the new old. I used Q Beams for years. But these new LED lights are the way to go. I got both white and green drop lights. Start with white on one end of boat and green on other. If one gets more bites I switch to that color on both ends. Got some Led mounted to my rod holders to light up the rod tips. Use small lawnmower battery on each end. Have never ran out of battery for our Nitestalk. Short notice but a couple guys going to Wylie Saturday night for a bit of cold water fishing. Welcome to join us. Puttin in Ebenezer Ramp bout 5:30. Fish till rain comes in. Maybe midnight.


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