Lights for Setting Decoys in the Dark and...

L

Larry Eckart

Well-known member
Platinum Sponsor
Guys (and Dani),
What do you use for light when setting decoys/picking up in the dark?

What do you use for running lights in the dark in addition to the standard bow and stern light, if anything?

I am interested in using my new to me Lund Laker in the dark more than I used my Whalers that way.

Many thanks,
Larry
 
in a marsh setting - we don't use lights even well before sunrise the difference between the water and the flag /cattails is pretty clear

once you turn one on - night vision is lost for a while
 
Hi Larry,

I'm going to give you a different answer than you're expecting. The only light I carry is a mag lite to shine in a circle when I arrive at my gunning destination to see if anyone else is set up in the vicinity. Otherwise, I've always felt strongly that using your night vision to navigate and to set up was superior to the the often distorted view you get from light reflected off of walls of vegetation. I used to manage and live on Thief Lake - one of Minnesota's better duck hunting destinations. The view out my picture window of the marsh in the wee hours of the morning was something to see - the battle of the Q-beams like light sabers in a Star Wars movie. Interestingly, these light shows became less dramatic when GPSs came along, and the light wasn't as necessary to find your location.

Thief Lake is a large (7100 acre) marsh that at normal fall lake level is~3.5' deep, and contains thousands of hardstem bulrush and occasionally phragmites islands and points. Typical hunting procedure is to find a suitable island or point with the wind in your favor, throw out your decoys,and slip your boat into the bulrush. On most WMAs in Minnesota, motors are not allowed (minimizing disturbance). On Thief Lake and some of the other larger lakes (again, just on WMAs) motors of up to 10 HP are allowed. Speeds are pretty moderate.

Now, having said all of that, I have had times when the sun came up and I've set the decoys in a little bit tighter than I intended. Oh well - time to adjust the spread.

Just to make things interesting, in Minnesota, boats used for duck hunting are not required to have running lights.

Joel
 
Guys,
I should have been more specific. I'm not really talking about setting up for puddlers, but setting long lines for divers. With a puddle duck spread I would just use my head lamp or a mag light. I plan on using my Garmin Striker to navigate to a spot or to the ramp in the dark. I was wondering what you use for light when setting long lines. We used to use one of the hand held maxi lights on Lake St. Clair when I lived in Michigan. I was curious what the diver hunters here used for light.

It may be superfluous since one of the things we learned on Lake St. Clair and in northern Michigan is that it paid dividends to wait until first light to set your long lines specifically because you can then see what you are doing and can also see where birds might be working.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Larry
 
I've never used lights, including nav lights (my bad), your night vision isn't ruined and you'd be surprised how well you can see. Depending on the night, I'd sometimes use a handheld spot just to see how far, or near, lol, the bank I was. Never used for setting, and yes, there's usually an adjustment needed, but that's normal at any time.
 
I'm with the rest of the guys on this one, no lights other than nav lights when I can get away with it.
Even setting up in water just a little too deep for wading, which we often did for divers and gadwalls on open water of Mobile Bay, I never used more than a small spotlight to check things over, shine off other boats, etc..
 
I have five, six diode, LED banks mounted on the cockpit interior gunnels that enable me to see what I am doing, avoid tangles while setting from Toro leaf bags (20-24 birds per longline) and not lose my night vision. Larry, I would look into installing a pair of LED red diode rope light just under the gunnel trim on your Lund, particularly if you are hunting with less experienced folks who haven't spent much time on big water in the dark. I set with my front blind panel folded over and clipped onto the blind side panels so I am consistently dropping down inside the blind to shuffle anchors and decoy leaf bags around; nice to stand-up and still see well. I also ALWAYS set off the bow when setting longlines, keeping them on the opposite end of the boat from the prop., just a habit I picked-up from setting and pulling gillnets.
 
Last edited:
Larry,

When I set long lines it's very rare to set up in the dark. Just not necessary. As you know, divers don't start moving until way after first light giving you plenty of time to set your rig. On the rare occasion when I need to set in the dark it's head lamps + a spot light at the ready if needed.
 
Carl said:
Even setting up in water just a little too deep for wading, which we often did for divers and gadwalls on open water of Mobile Bay, I never used more than a small spotlight to check things over, shine off other boats, etc..
Click to expand...

I don't set a lot of diver lines but when I do set them in the early morning, I did the same as Carl.
 
The best use of the spotlight is to warn off other hunters, who invariably want to set with one foot in your boat....

Something I often did, especially first few days of the season, was after setting, in the dark, I'd walk 100 yds both sides of the rig and hang a small battery lantern a few feet high. The swaying of the lanterns looked like guys setting up and usually kept others further away...ducks never seemed to mind...[cool]
 
Not to hijack but sometimes me and my buddy took two boats and after selecting our blind, left the extra boat in the next closest blind with the lights on. It works....
 
Last edited:
Hi Larry,

I basically use two types of lights when sea ducking. I have just a simple multi color light that clips to my hat for boat stuff and also at the boat ramp. Once on the water I use a hand held spot light. This one has been great, going into season 4 with it. It's small, lightweight, throws a great beam and battery life is great, not to mention it's rechargeable and cheap...I mean cost effective. Good luck with your decision.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Defiant-450-Lumen-LED-Compact-Rechargeable-Spotlight-99814/305243773
 
1000 lumen head lamp from amazon for the guys working the decoys and long lines but where I?m hunting in NJ divers fly all morning it seems so we often set up in the gray light.
 
Hi Larry -

I use a handheld LED spotlight always. Way too many things to run into in the night and many of the area I hunt have submerged stumps I want to avoid when running slow. Also use it to check depth as there are many sandbars to avoid.

The one I have is from Stanley and it is rechargeable. I got mine at Walmart and it was like $30 or so.

One thing on LED lamps to be aware of is the color temperature of the LED?s being used. The ones that are called daylight, or cool, are typically 5000 deg K or higher. In my experience these are bad for spotlight being used on water as it is hard to distinguish between water and horizon. These also tend to wash out green which makes finding shorelines difficult. The closer you can get to a 2700-3500 deg K LED the better off you are. These are often referred to as warm on labels. The warmer colors have more red in them which makes seeing what you want to see easier.

I had a headlamp from Fenix that claimed to be warm light but was not even close. Sent it back and spoke with Fenix to get one that was actually around 3500 deg K. Much nice light.

Something to consider.
 
Good comments mark. I've been using zebra lights headlamps with 18650 batteries and really like them. They are spendy, and they offer too many models. But I really like them. A high cri floody from zebralight with 18650s is close to ideal for my uses.

I've been using the Stanley handheld lights on your suggestion and they have worked well. Thanksm
 
tod osier said:
Good comments mark. I've been using zebra lights headlamps with 18650 batteries and really like them. They are spendy, and they offer too many models. But I really like them. A high cri floody from zebralight with 18650s is close to ideal for my uses.

I've been using the Stanley handheld lights on your suggestion and they have worked well. Thanksm
Click to expand...

CRI, or color rendering index, is very important in choosing a LED light. CRI tells you how well the LED will render color. The higher the CRI, the better the light shows the color of what you are looking at correctly. A decent LED will have a CRI of 80 or higher. Even better is one with a CRI of 90 plus but they tend to get expensive.

Thanks for the reminder Tod.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top