Underwater Fishing Light Systems

The Easy Way to Bring Home Heavy Stringers!

Underwater lighting for fishing is not a new concept. This technology has been around for a few years. Anybody who goes night fishing on a regularly understands the importance of these lights and uses them often. Underwater fishing lights attract bait fish and we all know that bait fish attract game fish . Using underwater fishing lights can improve your chances for a successful night fishing trip.

Underwater fishing lights are not a catch-all for night fishing. You still need to do your research on being at the right place to catch your particular species, but with the addition of underwater lighting you will increase your stringer size dramatically .

One of the reasons "underwater fishing lighting" works so well to catch game fish is because most of the game fish have a distinct advantage at night. The bait fish are attracted by the underwater lights, can't react quickly enough to escape the predatory game fish.

The reason game fish have an advantage is because most of them can detect color at night. This creates a distinct advantage for the game fish because not only can they detect change in light intensity but also color contrast. It has been known for sometime that bait fish, shrimp, and insects are attracted to light at night but you're probably asking yourself what color is best at night? The answer to this question is the color; blue or green because they attract both the bait fish and the game fish.

There is commercial underwater lighting that gets their power source from a land based system but these systems are used primarily by shoreline landowners and will not be discussed here . When looking for a quality underwater fishing light check for the following properties in order, 1.) high intensity, 2.) emits a light color similar to the fishes space (blue or green), 3.) powered by a portable electrical power supply and 4.) be submersible. Number 4 is recommended because land based or boat mounted lights lose a great deal of their light energy to the reflection off the surface of the water.

Because of the power usage limitations of halogen and incandescent light sources, it is recommend that you narrow your search for a good portable underwater fishing light to florescent systems, because there power consumption is a 1/10 of the power used by other light sources. When comparing prices you need to look for the following specifications. The best florescent submersibles use 25 - 40 watts of power and they emit 1000 to 3000 lumens per tube. Remember from above, intensity of the light and color are key factors in attraction both the bait and the game fish, so look for these elements when you compare prices. The best underwater fishing florescent light units, in blue and green, range in cost between $150 and $200 and in most cases the cheaper the cost, the lower the quality and the further you will be from the optimal 1000 to 3000 lumens intensity target.

In conclusion, be sure to check the quality of a listed underwater light before you decide on the system to purchase! Cheaper is not always better when purchasing a underwater fishing, lighting system. Try this out, you won't be disappointed and good luck with your fishing!

Walleye Festival Rapidly Approaching

Local Festival Packs in The Tourists and Locals

It won't be long before the annual Wallleye festival begins again. I have been to so many that I could navigate the course blindfolded. This is a Carnival/Merchandise Hawkers/Trailers of foul cuisine/Small Circus Tent Talent Show and of course the most prestigious event - the crowning of the "Walleye Queen" and her court! These are picked from local High School Seniors but it's a real drama as Ms. Walleye joyfully waves to the adulation of throngs of spectators amidst cheers and catcalls.

The vendors will all pull up in their little trailers of deep fried veggies, meatball subs and of course, lets not forget watered down soda pop and hot dogs and burgers. The local gentry will be assembled behind a chain link fence which comprises the beer tent (small canopy) and slamming down brews non-stop, while they sit on the picnic tables and swap old stories and lies. They get sunburned red while chugging down the suds and about sundown the yelps and catcalls get louder until the "rock bands" start playing. These local bands that play - perform poor covers of good old time rock and roll anthems to the delight of the heavily intoxicated drinkers. You'd have to be half in the bag to cheer these bands.

Then there's the Northern section of the festival where the mini-carnival company sets up there vintage 1960 rusty, creaking rides. These are some hair raising rides as one gets on and pays close attention to the machinery. $1 per ticket and 2 or three per ride while the stereotypical carnies bark for riders. They also line the whole section between the rides, with every kind of scam game known to man. Throw a ping pong ball at the bowls of of goldfish sir - do it for the lady! Or the impossible ring toss over some cheap lighter or other trinket - only a buck! Step up sir and pop a balloon with a dart and take home a small mirror with Harley Davidson scribbled across the top.

As you exit toward the parking area you're met with table on top of table of $5 tapestries, cheap lighter covers for your Bic lighter. Caps, pocket knives, keychains and SMC knick knacks line the entrance/exit. I recall how many times I've seen a gusty storm come ripping across the area, leaving the table vendors in shambles and looking like Hurricane Andrew had just swept through. Give them an hour and they're back up and hawking their wares again.

These local events are always held in the same spot - concrete, gravel and dirt/dust /mud. I always put my little Canon PowerShot S45 in a waterproof, dust proof camera case so I can be assure of getting pics of the festivities with 100% protection from rain or the clouds of dust suspended in the air. I always get some zany shots and my digital camera stays hermetically sealed until I get it home again.

Doesn't this make you appreciate your County or State Fairs? It should, although what you get is probably the same thing - only on a wider scale!

Pro-Am Fishing Tournament

Local Tournament Nets Large Fish

A large fishing tournament netted some very large Walleye this weekend. It's my opinion that these fish - running in the 6 to 9 lb. class are predominately pre-spawn females filled with eggs. I wish they would have this tournament in late May, thus conserving more fish in our already heavily overfished lake.

But no, our city fathers (a joke) - actually our city mother and her staff of jesters are purpose driven to allow any festivity or fishing tournament that will promote our city as a tourism "must stop" on the itinerary of every fishing enthusiast and fishing Association's list. This of course would not have anything to do with the fact that they are all private business people who survive by the tourist dollars that come rushing into town every year. Those who have year-round businesses are also aligned with those who do - so that they can all scratch each other's backs. Their business may not need the tourism votes and so they'll cast the tourism vote preemptively, in full knowledge that when their turn arrives to champion whatever cause they are pushing down our throats, the votes will be there to cover them.

And Jesus cast the vendors and money changers out of the temple right? I'd surely wish I had his courage and would walk into their "closed door" edited and televised meetings and turn their tables over while sternly rebuking them for their self serving governing of our small city. It appears to have become a den of thieves. Yu can put a fines suit or dress on a person. You can adorn them with titles and symbols of authority but that doesn't change the person who resides underneath these trappings.

I am not some crazy guy - just another of a majority of disgruntled citizens who are sick and tired of carrying the burden placed on us by local, city government. We pay the taxes that cater to these tourists. We pay for the renovations of parks, streets, historical sites. We pay for the severe increase in gasoline and food prices which are jacked up to the sky every summer to milk the tourists on vacation. The real joke is - every Fall when they depart - the prices stay the same! It's been our pleasure to pay $.25 a gallon less for gasoline by driving 15 miles away to visit friends. We combine that with a month's worth of staple products from the grocery store and we actually earn money by visiting our friends and family within a 15+ mile radius of our city.

Unemployment is rampant and almost every non-professional family must have both husband and wife working, just to make it. But they will spew out figures of how many thousand jobs have been created in our city. B.S. - they are referring to additional help to man the cash registers at the local convenience marts, bus tables at the restaurants, clean dirty motel rooms, in other words - minimum wage jobs in the service industry. Contrast that to 15 years ago, when they began to tax local industry so heavily that large UAW factories (several) that supported whole families, were forced out of our town and to Southern States, Canada, Mexico, UK and Asia or go bankrupt. We were able to have a husband work and take care of his wife and children. Now, the whole darn family must work to "not quite" make ends meet, in the lowest paying, degrading jobs that high schoolers used to work in the summer. Reference the above listed types of jobs.

Well our city does have a lot of beautiful sights and it is a tourist magnet, but it's over the backs of the local citizens, which I find shameful. Just like hosting tournaments for species of fish that are in the midst of spawn. Kind of like shooting deer, elk or endangered animals while they're giving birth. How's that for a mental image? This is exactly the same - the difference being that most people don't see fish as cute and cuddly little creatures. Enjoy your egg-filled lunkers guys, they're "on us"!

Ewa-Marine Flexible Housings

Underwater Housings - Performance at Budget Prices

The Ewa-Marine underwater camera housing is the best and also the original flexible housing. They were invented by Ewa-Marine in 1970 and became an immediate hit due to their high quality, triple layered, PVC film construction. Add to this a neutral, hardened, optical grade glass lens, embedded in the front lens port and you have an inexpensive alternative to a hard case which can be very cumbersome as well as extremely expensive.

There are pretenders out there who market their product line so heavily that one would think they are the best, but I've sold them all and they are grossly inferior in "every way" to the Ewa-Marine waterproof camera case for snorkeling, scuba. Above water usage is as good as out of the bag - in picture quality tests. The pretenders or "Ewa - knock offs" use different closures like "plastic closure levers" to seal them, unlike Ewa's dual closure rails of anodized metal, which seal the housing shut via solid locking lugs which thread down and are then hand tightened - sealing off the contents of the bag or pouch.

The Ewa "knock offs" also use PVC in the lens port, not optical grade glass, which becomes slowly nicked and/or cloudy after exposure to the elements, eventually rendering it good for nothing, regarding picture quality. They are to be avoided if at all possible. Why do you think they're so cheap?

During both Middle East campaigns, the Ewa-Marine flexible housing was ordered in bulk by Elite Special Forces squads of the Army, USMC and the Navy due to their high quality and easy portability. They were capable of shooting underwater reconnaissance pictures as well as shooting reconnaissance pictures above water, while offering protection against the water, wind, sand and grit which can take out a digital slr camera in short order.

If you're a snorkeling enthusiast, scuba diver, kayaker or boater, you'll feel much better having your camera in a good waterproof housing. They are no substitute for a hard case with all the bells and whistles but they do fill a niche for those who need 100% waterproof protection and don't have the space or don't care to transport these larger, bulky hard cases. They are without a doubt, very inexpensive by comparison, but capable of shooting similar quality pictures and with the proper care, will transport easily with your luggage and last a very long time. You might just see a housing that is in mint condition and over 20 years old - selling on eBay - I do quite often! That alone is a testimony to their quality.

If you just can't see dropping another $1K to $5K on an Ikelite or Sea and Sea housing for some vacation shots while diving - then check out what an Ewa-Marine housing can do. You will be pleasantly surprised!

Picture I.D. Required To Fish Canada

Local Charter Captains Hope for Cool Summer

Laws for fishing Canadian waters are now requiring a picture I.D. along with the appropriate guest license for tourists to fish in the colder waters found along the Canada / USA border. This would be a Visa or simply a driver's license but it must be a "government issued" form of picture I.D. card.

Some local charter fishing Captains have expressed concerns due to the large amount of Amish clients who oppose having their pictures taken. Now, I don't know why that would be such a big deal, as I see these folks every summer, rolling into town by the van loads. Someone is driving the vehicle and they appear to be dressed and look like Amish men. How did they get up here w/o a driver's license? I doubt if they espouse the belief that they can drive w/o a State issued driver's license, as that would be breaking the law. The license has a photo right smack on the front, so where's the rub here? I'm not familiar with all of the Amish beliefs and lifestyle, but I do know I've seen varying degrees of "Amishness". Some only use a horse and buggy while others have no-frills automobiles, vans and trucks. I see satellite dishes on some of their homes now as well - another indulgence that they did not allow in the past - TV. Perhaps there are a few men designated by the community who are allowed to hold a driver's license and thus the beef - if the majority don't have the picture I.D. but I'm not quite sure really.

As a man from a Christian background, I see the Amish as good God fearing (keyword here is "fearing") folks, who make a good living from their large land holdings and sales of crops, right on down to Amish handcrafted furniture, crafts, pies, organic beef and chicken. Sounds good, but they are frozen in time and the "buzz" is that Amish youth of today look for change. I don't understand their primitive notions about not having one's picture taken or what constrains them, as the Bible says "I come that you might have life and life more abundantly." Also, Christians are taught by the Bible to obey the laws of the land. If you want to fish out of USA waters and then move out to Canadian waters - then you MUST HAVE a picture I.D. or reel 'em up boys!

The reason for this hub-ub is that during the dog days of July and August, the fish move to colder water and you can still get a good "bite" just across the line in Canadian waters. As a local, I'm more concerned by our policy of not allowing our commercial fishermen to net Walleye while Canada does allow it. That doesn't seem fair since we share ownership of the same lakes but they net the fish and sell them back to us at ridiculous mark-up while our fishermen have to hand pick them out and toss them back in the lake. That would make me more concerned than whether the Amish need a picture I.D. to fish Canadian waters. I have to admit that my income doesn't rely on Amish clients though and some charter Captain's income does rely on their business. Well, they'll either pony up a picture or stay on the USA side of the lake, that much is for sure and the local fishing guides will have to enforce the regulations.