Light Up….
Way back when I was a kid, my parents and I used to do a lot of trout and kokanee fishing off the face of the dam at Lake Cushman because my father worked there. Fishing could be good during the day, but it was far better at night.
Part of that, I’m sure, was because the lights that curved along the face of the dam were bright enough to attract plankton. The plankton also attracted small fish, and those baitfish attracted the rainbows. The kokanee were fine with plankton for a late-night snack.
It’s the same phenomenon you will see on the piers in Puget Sound. The lights on the piers attract plankton, and the plankton attracts baitfish. The baitfish in turn attract predators, everything from squid to salmon.
While you can’t fish from the dam now, it is possible to replicate the success we had. Pick up a submersible light, and fish at night from your dock or boat.
There are a host of lights on the market as fishing with a light at night is a big deal in the South. Crappies, walleyes, white bass, stripers are suckers for that kind of thing. It’s the plankton-baitfish-predator trifecta.
Berkley may well have the best system in its Premium and Magnum Submersible Lights. I’ve been playing with them and find that when used in a system with the Berkley Power Pack Battery, I can run a light for about as long as I care to stay awake.
The two lights use green LEDs. Both have control cables 20 feet in length. One, the Premium, is 100 lumens, while the Magnum is 10 times as bright at 1000 lumens. And both lights have three brightness settings to help you adjust the light to produce the best result.
The lights are in a waterproof (Duh!) housing that is weighted to aid depth control. The power cable is fitted with a plug intended for a 12-volt power point. However, included in the clam pack is the female half of the plug, and that is equipped with two alligator clamps so that you can hook the light to the posts on a 12-volt battery.
Speaking of batteries, Berkley’s Power Pack Battery is a good match. It has a 2.4-amp rating, which might not be enough for a large incandescent light for a long time but is a good fit for LEDs because of their low current draw. The battery comes with its own charger, and it also features a USB port to connect to tablets or phones. It has two posts to accommodate clamps. Its small footprint and capacity make it a good choice to run depthfinders in rowboats or kayaks as well as the lights.
For more information, go to: www.berkley-fishing.com.