Fishing with Lights OFF!!

[Ranger492]

[QUOTE=Jabbo;419293]Fellas I think that your lights only need to be on while you are underway...

Reply: Wrong....the law is at all times. Now, I don't always follow it, and just like others said, I may exceed the speed limit on the highway from time to time too.

[QUOTE=Jabbo;419293]Your bow lights have a red and green side, This allows other boaters to know which direction your boat is headed and on which side to pass.

Reply: True...

[QUOTE=Jabbo;419293]If you are fishing a bank (stationary) and your lights would indicate that a boater can pass on the right or left. You could be liable for their loss should they run aground etc..

Reply: Not true in a million years...

[QUOTE=Jabbo;419293]I know that sounds Dumb, but Maritime Law is much different than what a lot of us would think reasonable. I believe that if you are drift fishing your Stern light needs to be on which is reasonable but not your bow light. I know my boat's switch will allow operation of one or both.. That is the reason why.

Reply: Not true, but again, I do turn my lights off at night when fishing out of navigational areas. Usually I have a black light on and will flip my nav/anchor lights on as soon as I hear another boat. I'm sure that there is a reasonable chance that I'll get a ticket for it one day (similar to how I'm sure I'll get a ticket for speeding one day), but it is a choice I make and I practice safety as much as possible by turning them on when a boat is in earshot (which is a long way away)


[QUOTE=Jabbo;419293]As far as operation speed... The Government has not regulated a lot of our public waters and that's fine, but we as boaters need to know the laws and keep safe.

Reply: Agree...but you don't know the law. Now, you may consider me using the on/off method not being safe....we can agree to disagree.

[QUOTE=Jabbo;419293]If you can't see far enough in front of you to avoid an accident, or if you are going too fast for the conditions (Dark is a condition) this would be your fault regardless of whether that other person had lights on...

Reply: Agree that we are all responsible for our own craft, but the law would side with the guy doing the hitting...the guy without lights should have turned them on at some point. It's not that hard to figure out.

[kydonky]

Fellas I think that your lights only need to be on while you are underway... Your bow lights have a red and green side, This allows other boaters to know which direction your boat is headed and on which side to pass.
If you are fishing a bank (stationary) and your lights would indicate that a boater can pass on the right or left. You could be liable for their loss should they run aground etc..
I know that sounds Dumb, but Maritime Law is much different than what a lot of us would think reasonable. I believe that if you are drift fishing your Stern light needs to be on which is reasonable but not your bow light.
I know my boat's switch will allow operation of one or both.. That is the reason why. As far as operation speed... The Government has not regulated a lot of our public waters and that's fine, but we as boaters need to know the laws and keep safe. If you can't see far enough in front of you to avoid an accident, or if you are going too fast for the conditions (Dark is a condition) this would be your fault regardless of whether that other person had lights on... What if it was a group of swimmers? They don't have lights but if you hit them it's your fault.. Same thing.
Maritime law is what we need to know.. As far as loading and unloading a boat.. I think there may be some other issues there. Like the CO being a Butt or maybe the guy in the boat took it out for a loop or two to warm up the engine.. without being there, who knows..

The reason you have a switch for stern white light, bow combination lights and stern light is.

Red and green comination light and 360 deg white stern all around light while underway. (on powerboats less than 39.4 feet) (most of us)

The white stern light only is used when you are anchored or moored where there is navigation.

A stern ligh (135 deg light) on powerboats over 39.4 feet and sail boats. Powerboats over 39.4 must also have a masthead light and sailboats will need a maxshead light when under power.

If you see only the red and green bow lights of a boat, it is becasue it is a sailboat under sail and you give right of way. Yes there will be powerboats out there with a non working stern light, but the reason a sailboat has the white light visable only from the stern is that if you only see the red and green lights you can identify the vessel as a sailboat under sail.

Absolutely not fact that you are liable if someone passes you on your port side and runs agound because you had your lights on.. You should know your channel, waterway period.

The Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife has a boaters safty education class for certification on line. I think there are some that could use a review. I took it and learned a few things. Even if you do not pay for the certification you can learn something from the course.

EVERYBODY SHOULD GO TO http://www.boat-ed.com/ky internet.htm

http://www.boat-ed.com/ky/ky_internet.htm. and get the facts and learn the rules.

[coachjoe]

I fish a lot at night and there is no excuse for not having the lights on. I have caught many big fish at night and always had the lights on. Make the fine big enough and maybe some people would get some sense!

[twise7]

I'm sorry to be blunt, but if you don't have your lights on at night you're STUPID and shouldn't be allowed to operate a boat. There's no room for argument on this subject. None of this, "turn them on when you hear a boat" or anything. There is no possible reason why your lights shouldn't be on from sun down to sun up.

Couldn't agree more. My advice - get your lights on and live to fish another day.

[brlfishing]

anyone who would not have nav lights on is not only a danger to themselves but also me and everyone else. you would have to have some sort of chemical imbalance of the brain to even think about not running your nav lights at night. but nothing suprises me anymore. soon you will hear about the people in kayaks at barren river getting ran over. 3 of them were out in the dark with no lights as a tournament was ending last year and almost got nailed by the boat that was running in front of me. luckily i seen him cut hard left at the hogs back and thought it was odd to do so, so i let off and followed his line and then seen why he had done so. dont let your last fishing trip be due to something avoidable.

[kydonky]

It's a plain as night and day. Navigation lights when underway. 360 deg white anchor light anywhere there is navigation when moored or stopped. The only exception is manually proppelled boats (row boat). They must have a white light ready to display to all nearby traffic.

I was cruising down the river several years ago at idle speed with my lights on. The river was packed for a fireworks show that night. Very dark. Houseboat moored in channel with no lights. Yes I bumped them, broke my winshield, they were all drunk, "A" hole would not give his name, I got Reg #, state police contacted him, he paid for my winshield.

[coombro]

you could always use a lower wattage bulb, Law doesnt state how many lumenaires your light has to put out does it? still be visable.

[RICHYD4U]

I was on Nolin the other night, and it was getting dark....this guy in a boat with two women was sitting right on the backside of a point in this cove with absolutely no lights on. I could barely see them from were I was at, mainly because I was looking at them with a little light reflecting of the water...otherwise, you couldn't see them at all. Sure enough, a guy comes ripping out of the cove and takes that corner and missed them by a few feet! CRAZY!!! People that don't put their lights on their boat, I fear, may not have any lights on upstairs either! lol!

-Rich

[Col Forbin]

I fished at night last night, and very few boats had thier lights on. Of course, it was a bright full moon and you had pretty good visibility. However, there were quite a few boats on main lake ledges with no lights on that would turn them on when I was motoring to them. I just don't get that out on the main lake. My motor isn't that loud, so I would be within 100 yards of them when they turned them on. I was running on plane, but just fast enough to stay there - and I still had to drop off plane several times. Good thing I didn't have a quiter 4 stroke, I probably would have gotten much closer before they heard me.

I leave my lights on most of the time at night (especially on the main lake, or in bays). The only excepetion - I will flip them off if I am back in a pocket bay.

[dac244]

Here is a different take if you are running and hit somebody with no lights on don't that mean that you couldn't see where you was going in the first place? There is a certain amount of danger involved on both sides of the issue.

[kydonky]

Here is a different take if you are running and hit somebody with no lights on don't that mean that you couldn't see where you was going in the first place? There is a certain amount of danger involved on both sides of the issue.

If you are in navigation channel or navigtable waters the person with lights off is the cause of the misshap. Remember, boats do not have brakes, some houseboats may take several hundred feet to stop. Can you imagine anchoring in a channel on the Ohio with a 15 barge pusher bearing down on you. You with no lights and your motor does not start!!

Get real. Go to the Kentucky fish and wildlife website, click on education, click on safe boating link and take the course. Learn the rules of the road.

Visablilty is decreased at night, lights on "both" vessels allow you to see each other!!! They also tell you the position of the other boat. You see a red light you know the other boat is approching from your right (because you see his left side) If you see red and green you know the other boat is approching you head on. A white light only means the other boat is anchored or is running in front of you in the same direction.

Course take an hour tops to actually learn the rules. Stop guessing and learn how to opperate a boat.

[dac244]

If you are in navigation channel or navigtable waters the person with lights off is the cause of the misshap. Remember, boats do not have brakes, some houseboats may take several hundred feet to stop. Can you imagine anchoring in a channel on the Ohio with a 15 barge pusher bearing down on you. You with no lights and your motor does not start!!

Get real. Go to the Kentucky fish and wildlife website, click on education, click on safe boating link and take the course. Learn the rules of the road.

Visablilty is decreased at night, lights on "both" vessels allow you to see each other!!! They also tell you the position of the other boat. You see a red light you know the other boat is approching from your right (because you see his left side) If you see red and green you know the other boat is approching you head on. A white light only means the other boat is anchored or is running in front of you in the same direction.

Course take an hour tops to actually learn the rules. Stop guessing and learn how to opperate a boat.

I know the rules you missed my point what type lights doe's a floating log or a stump have on it?