# Underwater lights



## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

I know it's a much debated item, but what are the best colors for underwater LEDs?

I think blue looks the best, followed by green, and before anyone says it, I have already confirmed it is not illegal to display blue lights as long as they are not flashing or in any way confused with law enforcement. It is also not illegal to use green as long as they can not be confused with nav lights.
I've heard some guys say white works the best as it's closer to the sun light. So between blue, green, and white, what is the best for fishing purposes?


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## Megalops (Oct 23, 2011)

Green worked for me and my buddy a couple weeks ago. He caught 3 snook I hooked one. Seemed green underwater leds held the fish. 

My brother in law has blues on his 27ft cobia and they're beautiful for sure.


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## Megalops (Oct 23, 2011)

Meant to say underwater green on docks.


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## Megalops (Oct 23, 2011)




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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

The best for what?

If aesthetics is your goal then you have to choose the color you want.

If fish attracting is the goal then you have to get the green one with a certain light spectrum.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I do quite a few night charters and spend a fair amount of time each night working docklights.... What's most important to me are the lights that hold fish and I've figured out a couple of things over the years that might be pretty good tips for dock owners who want their lights to attract and hold fish....

First the light needs to be in at least four feet of water (or positioned over four feet of water or more if you're using regular docklights...) and that water needs to have tidal movement - lights in backwater canals with no current rarely hold much... Second, the light needs to on every night, night after night before they become feeding spots. Lights that are only on occasionally never attract and hold fish. If you set them with a timer to go off each night... that's okay, the fish will learn to hold there whenever the lights are on.... as long as they're on every night. Typically with a new installation (or a light that was off for months and has just been turned back on...) it will take a few months before I begin to find fish there.... Lastly, the only lights I expect to find fish in are either white (which looks yellow late at night) or those green lights....). All of this is for Biscayne Bay -my stomping grounds since 1972.... but I imagine it will work for other areas as well.

By the way, for old style above the water docklights - the only ones that regularly hold fish for us are the ones that are aimed directly down into the water and create a nice green circle of light in the water - anything else is just decoration....

For those of you who have underwater lights under your boats... hope they work out for you... The only underwater lights I've ever had any success with were set up as bully netting lights for hunting crawfish up on bonefish flats in less than three feet of water....


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

DuckNut said:


> The best for what?
> 
> If aesthetics is your goal then you have to choose the color you want.
> 
> If fish attracting is the goal then you have to get the green one with a certain light spectrum.


While I do think they look cool, the purpose would be mostly for attracting fish/bait. Catching bait before sunrise, and some late night snooking by the passes would be the main use. I was thinking about using the oznium.com LED's like I've used in the past. They worked very well and are pretty bright considering the tiny size. 

The blue above looks sweet, but even though I can't find a true consensus, it seems the green is thought best for attracting bait in most inshore waters. 

I have a few blue LEDs left rigged to a 9v battery for testing. I might take them with me to Englewood next month and toss them overboard in a zip lock bag.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Green has come about after decades of white. Either one might be "best" on any given day. How about rigging up a tube filled with both colors that you can change the color at any moment.

You have experience with the led lights already so that is not an issue. Fluorescent lights have plastic sleeves that slip over them to protect in case of breakage. I think that would make a great housing to stuff some lights into.


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## Cut Runner (Jan 25, 2017)

T-h marine makes a nice little under water light and it's only $18 , before you scoff at me keep in mind they come standard on all new sea-hunts robalos etc. One of my ocean leds died on my skiff and they don't make the model anymore so I was going to have to buy 2 new ones for $500ish... instead I just bought 4 of those t-h ones and my findings are that 4 $18 t-h marine lights are brighter than 2 ocean led $4-500...


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

18 bucks sounds pretty good, I'll look into them.
DN I might order a few to play around with.

I took my spare 4 chip LED's out and put them in the pool tonight. Now let me say the pool is not clean. The filter has been off for a while and it's so cloudy you can't barely see the bottom even though it's only 3ft deep right now. Before you judge know that I'm removing the pool next week. The lights seem to do well, if I were to built a rig for them I would use maybe 4-5 on each side. Also please note these are 12v lights, but I'm running them off a 9v battery, so they are not as bright as normal.


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)




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## Fish-N-Fool (Jan 10, 2017)

firecat1981 said:


>


I have been drinking, and this reminds me of the movie Abyss


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