fish house lights scare fish?

[fishbone]

I was wondering if anyone thinks house lights may scare fish or at least makes them shy to bite?

[harvey lee]

I always try and keep my lights as dim as possible when night fishing.

[danwilliams]

JMO...yes. Especially in less than 20' of water. Why I haven't went the LED string in my portable...yet. Old school I guess..

[eyebjim]

I too try to keep them as dim as possible and not directly over the hole. Every time I turn light on directly over a hole I do not catch near as many from that hole. I think indirect light has far less impact on them.

[Jim Almquist]

I wear a headlamp most of the time with just 1 LED and if i need to retie I will allow for more light. I fish very clear lakes and from what I see on the Marcum light will affect how they will react to your bait if there is to much light.When I have my light on I will shine it on the roof so there is not too much going down the hole.

[Steve Foss]

I believe it does affect the fish.

I leave my lantern and other supplemental lights at home if I'm going to be fishing from the portable and rely on just the LED headlamp, and then only when I have a fish on or need to retie and such. I don't need light to jig and read the Vex, and my bobber is a lighted bobber, so there's no need to have a light on all the time in the portable.

I also keep from shining it down the hole directly.

[Shack]

I think it is a plus!

I do not use L.E.D. lights (yet), I use 12v rev. light bulbs (2). I find at night, the crappies are attracted to the light under my shack. Many times I have caught crappies a foot or two under the ice. I always try right under the ice when things slow up, down below or fish are suspended high up in water. When the fish are running the surface at ice (looking for minnows), they are hard to find on locator or flasher. I think bait fish like this also, minus the couple minnows that break free when changing them.

I believe it is a known fact, pan fish (crappies) are attracted to light. They make lights for this purpose for use in other states.

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

yea the lights really do scare the fish but the lights also attract the particles in the water.. you can tell the particles are attracted to the light if you have ever turned on a light on an underwater camara at night. you get swarmed with particles! the particle then attract the baitfish in and the baitfish attract the crappies. it is a chain reaction and in the end the crappies will tolerate the light because they are chowing on minnows and particles but they really are not attracted to it;) it is all a chain reaction attraction! thats a pretty good rhyme if you ask me!

Later,

Ryan

[slipperybob]

It depends on the water clarity too. Whether the fish are use to seeing artificial lights or not. Like as described food chain reaction.

Sometimes when I'm not getting any fish, I dim the light down or go dark. Other times, I need to brighten up the light. It goes the same that sometimes the brightest glow lures get the fish, other times it's the dimmer glow lures.

[Carp-fisher]

According to one of my "Tips and Tricks" (The Freshwater Anglers Series) books, lanterns on the ice at night actually attract crappies. Well it doesn't really attract the crappies, it attracts the zooplankton, which attracts minnows and crappies. From my experience this is entirely true.

[Steve Foss]

Sorry, guys, I was talking walleyes. No argument that lights at night attract crappies. I should have been more specific.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I dont know but now I think I will expirement a little. Currently I dont use any light when night fishing. I do have a headlamp that I use the most when I need light and I also have a rope light in the portable incase extra light is needed but usually fish with both off.

[danwilliams]

I also was talking walleye...Mille Lacs ... Light bad IMO

Crappie?....down on Elk Lake or Blue or Green (for Shackbash.. hee hee)...as a kid we used to set lantern or candle close to hole as we could..seemed to definitely help most nights ....course I'd burn off a few lines every night..

[Borch]

Lights generally have a positive effect on catching fish whether it be crappies or walleyes. Here is my experience to support it.

1. It is illegal to use lights for the purpose of attracting fish. See MN DNR Regs

2. Mille Lacs launches put more light into the water on their night launches than anyone else possibly could. You know there's a reason for this. I've fished at night with lighted bobbers and no light as well as standard bobber and light showing on water, like the launches. When fishing deep water over mud there is a definite advantage for walleyes in using lights.

[danwilliams]

Borch...interesting regarding Mille Lacs. I'll do some research this winter. Maybe I'm just hung up on old school far as light and walleye? Things to do..so little time

(Btw thanks again for auger..she's very well broke in by now and slightly tweaked..screams pretty well.)

[slipperybob]

open water fish'n some shallow cats are attracted to the light while others are extremely skittish. Don't know about hard water.

[fishdog]

I like using black light I got a LED cap light that clips on, Its great for charging glow lures as well as helping see anything flourecent (my line,jigs,bobbers,ect). I tested the light penatration from the surface of my aquarium, nothing under the waters surface gets any black light; (from the side glass penatration is 10" at most) so Im sure very little light could get down there to make any difference to the fish

[fishinalot]

Lights do help the crappie fishing. Was out last night with my son.

He had a portable with a lantern and caught 15 crappies. I was hole hopping all around him without a lantern and only caught 5.

[scaup]

All I can say is that in 15 ft. of water lights did not slow them down last night.

[bassislife]

From what I've seen to much light doesn't make the fish skiddish. I've fished in 8 fow with my lantern blaring in my portable at night and the crappies were biting faster than ever! I think that night I ended up catching 35 in about 2 hours all 10-13"