How do you use your lights for night fishing

[MsgMills]

Serious note here, Water Patrol will give you a ticket at night if you don't have your lights on at night. Something like a $ 85.00 fine. I have even heard of the Water Patrol giving tickets to boaters who start up their boat motors and back off the trailers. They don't have their lights installed and on....Bad move they just earned a ticket....Supposedly if your big motor is on at dark time, the lights must be on.... NO Questions.....

So if your out after dark, keep them lights on......

[kc]

Serious note here, Water Patrol will give you a ticket at night if you don't have your lights on at night. Something like a $ 85.00 fine. I have even heard of the Water Patrol giving tickets to boaters who start up their boat motors and back off the trailers. They don't have their lights installed and on....Bad move they just earned a ticket....Supposedly if your big motor is on at dark time, the lights must be on.... NO Questions.....

So if your out after dark, keep them lights on......

Years ago I got a ticket fishing with my dad in the cancer night tournament in June on Nolin. We were fishing way out a long point on the inside curve of the lake where boats would tend to short cut a run. The officer was a real jerk but what we found was that from many discussions (official and not) is that if you are out in the lake in any way in the "navigation channels" you better have your light on. If you are back in the creeks or near the bank (IE not in a navigation channel) they wouldn't ticket you.

All that said I do not fish with my lights on at night. I am a believer that anything unnatural can and will spook the fish -- especially big fish. I don't fish with lights and I don't leave my running light on all of the time. However, I do flip it on if a boat is approaching. That's what got our goard about the officer who gave us the ticket. He was actually running the far side of the lake and when we flipped our lights on he then noticed us and swung over to do his deed. At the court house he didn't show and the ticket was dismissed but I didn't think that we should have been written up in the first place. The whole point of having a light on is to alert other boats to your presence. That is exactly what we did when we flipped it on as he approached us.

On the flip side of that thought I would like to have a nickel for every time I was heading for a point or bank only to have a boat light up as I approached and I made part of my run for nothing. But as I stated I don't want my light on either so I can live with that.

kc