Head Lights on Boats

[crazyfishinnut]

I disagree strongly!!! No one need to use running lights or continuous spotlights. Lights are great to show the bank while fishing or docking/loading but on the open water they cause more problems.
1st dont be on water you dont know after dark.
2nd there are 3 color lights on your boat for a reason coming around a corner seeing white lights one should assume that you are behind a vessel not coming up on VERY DANGEROUS with other lights on you cannot distingush red or green
3 dont be on water you dont know after dark
4 light travels like on rainy roads at night/with a lot of glare and blinds on coming boaters.
5 dont be on water you dont know after dark
6 Take a boating class and learn the hows and whys instead of assuming the laws should not apply to you because you are smarter than the many who do know and made them
7 for gods sake dont turn off your correct lights after dark

[HURRICANEBOB]

dont be on water you dont know after dark.

Some thoughts.
First, do you know where every piece of debris or floating logs are on any given lake? Are you real sure the wind isn't going to move them around since you last saw them in the light?

Second, given nobody on boats can use lights, why then don't the tugboat guys get whacked with tickets? That's really part of my point. If it makes sense for the "big-boats with radar", why not the litle boats that don't have radar?

I do totally agree with you, leave the red/green/and all round lit. I also agree headlights don't have to be aimed to shine the hole way across the lake, they ought to be like car lights aimed say 200 feet in front of the boat only.

Last, I do agree with you, its the law and we have to live with it right now.

[CTFSHWHISKER]

there really needs to be a "repeat thread" button on here somewhere,would save a lot of typing on the "lights" and "quit keeping" bass threads..kinda like the ol smoke em if ya got em saying..if you got a big brite light shine if it makes ya happy.just don't shine on me while i'm fishing 100 yards away from you running,you can't see a log if your seeing what color shirt i have on..
and i think the tug boats use the big lights mainly to find their markers like you see on the bank of the ohio and ky lake..

[sglass]

I have a good example about lights after dark. If anyone on this board fishes Herrington after dark then you use some sort of light after dark at some point in the year. The lake can be clean as a babys bottom during the day but when the traffic slows down at night most bends clog up with ALOT of floters this is very true in the late spring/early summer when the lake rises. One night at Herrington my uncle and I were runnung back to the dock not going that fast at all when all of the sudden WHACK!! We struck a large drum that was floating half under the water. If we had our lights on we would have seen it but we didnt since we were im eyesight of the launch and thought we "knew the lake like the back of our hand". Point being if I have to use my lights to navigate at night I will every time. If I have another boat approaching then I flick them off. They are not that bad if you use common sense with them. I have seen too many bad pictures where someone strikes something with their lower unit and it destroys their motor or busts the hull like an egg.

[RANGER519]

I have used lights on my boats for 25 or 30 years & have never been stopped for using them i don't leave them on all the time flash them on every so often.I run just fast enough to keep my boat on plane after dark.I use them to see if anything is in front of me in the water logs,buoys,boats with no lights on etc.. I'll keep using them i'd rather pay the fine than get someone hurt or tear my boat up.

just my 2 cents worth
ranger519

[crazyfishinnut]

Some thoughts.
First, do you know where every piece of debris or floating logs are on any given lake? Are you real sure the wind isn't going to move them around since you last saw them in the light?

Second, given nobody on boats can use lights, why then don't the tugboat guys get whacked with tickets? That's really part of my point. If it makes sense for the "big-boats with radar", why not the litle boats that don't have radar?

I do totally agree with you, leave the red/green/and all round lit. I also agree headlights don't have to be aimed to shine the hole way across the lake, they ought to be like car lights aimed say 200 feet in front of the boat only.

Last, I do agree with you, its the law and we have to live with it right now.

even with them pointing 200 feet away boats coming at you cant see thier water or debris due to being lighted and they in no way can see the other lights on your boat not even a little bit. with white lights showing green and red dissappear completely. If debris is your fear go slow and dont endanger everyone else on the lake so you can break the law

[gizzard shad]

Some thoughts.
First, do you know where every piece of debris or floating logs are on any given lake? Are you real sure the wind isn't going to move them around since you last saw them in the light?

Second, given nobody on boats can use lights, why then don't the tugboat guys get whacked with tickets? That's really part of my point. If it makes sense for the "big-boats with radar", why not the litle boats that don't have radar?

I do totally agree with you, leave the red/green/and all round lit. I also agree headlights don't have to be aimed to shine the hole way across the lake, they ought to be like car lights aimed say 200 feet in front of the boat only.

Last, I do agree with you, its the law and we have to live with it right now.

Where in the boating regulation book does it say it is illegal to operate a boat with a spot light?

[adam7456]

Back in April I was on Lake Cumberland at night doing some striper fishing. It was a clear night and I could see pretty well with no lights at all. I got up to move to a new spot and was enjoying the ride until a boat with headlights comes flying around a bend on the lake and blinded me. He kept on trucking and didn't care. I had to stop the boat and wait 3 to 4 minutes to let my eye readjust to the darkness.

To that guy I would like to say "Thanks a lot buddy, you messed up my fishing trip and put me in danger."

I see several people here with the attitude here of "Screw everyone else, this is my lake and I'm going to do whatever I feel like". It wouldn't surpise me if those are the same people complaining about other boats running at night and creating waves for them.

The lake is a shared resource by everyone. Everyone should behave in a manner that least disturbs everyone else on the lake. I have no use for you guys who think you own the lake and don't care if you blind everyone else.

[fisherman0625]

Everyone at some point in there life has done something with there boat to ---- someone off. I have the lights on my boat and No1 can tell me that without them in early spring and early summer that I will not risk my boat being destroyed without them. They have saved me a many of a trip. I just run fast enough to keep my boat on plane. The lights are fine and anyone looking to get them dont be chased away by all the negative comments. My advice though is to not run the all the time. Just turn them on every now and then.