Fishing with Lights OFF!!

[Jabbo]

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..

[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!