Light for smelt?

[13wolverines13]

The idea of catching a fresh smelt dinner thru the ice has me drooling. Plus my boys have never had fresh smelt. They were not spoiled like we were to be able to dip them like when i was a kid. Was thinking of a highins lake weekend with my boys and possibly spending some time trying for smelt so they can experience at least a smelt Appetizer. I have read several things on rigs but main question is do u need Submersible light? If so whAt lights do u prefer to use? I hear it is a real hit and miss fishery but would be fun to try

[slayin101]

What I do is take a bigger foam minnow cooler. Like a 3 gallon type. Line the inside with tin foil buy and old round style truck headlight I think its a modle h8, its a old single light with the bulb. Walmart has  them for about 8$. Cut a 1" round hole in bottom of the minnow bucket so the light tabs fit though to make your connection. And shove the the light down into the bucket. Its a bright light. But what we do its drill a hole just for thw light and set the light over the hole. It lights up the water pretty good along with the surrounding ice.. then you need to run two wire from the light to your battery obviously hahaha. But this set up work AWESOME for my buds and I. We always catch smelt and trout every time with this set up.. I will try to post pictures 2morrow so you guys can understand the concept if i confused you. And it costs less than 15$ to make it. And we use these summer fishing for trout and smelt at night.

[steelheader32]

Slayin101s idea will work fine. I use submersible green led light bars that i make myself. I sell them to if interested interested but to be honest if your not doing it every weekend a truck headlight will do fine.

[smeltbuster]

I also made a light, last year w/ some LEDs that I purchased on E-Bay, for about 15 bucks. It works great, but took some time to build it. You may want to try & set up next to someone that has a light, your 1st. time out. Most smelt fishermen are more than willing to share the space around them. It is a very hit & miss fishery, but still lots of fun.

[scout 2]

 You can also go to TSC and buy  alight that has an aluminum cover around it. Remove the light and put a small 12volt seal beam in side of it. Much more sturdy thab a foam cooler. I don't use a light anymore just fish them during the day

[13wolverines13]

Thanks for the replies. During the day sounds interesting. Especially with the little guys. Will give it a try too. Thanks

[Joe in T.C.]

For years I have used a "Brinkmann Q-Beam Starfire" light.

It is specifically designed for fishing at night for smelt, crappies and the like.

It runs off any 12 volt battery and is very bright.

Just make sure it is submerged underwater before you hook it up to the battery to turn it on.   

You can get on on eBay shipped for about $25 or  Pilgrims Village in Cadillac has them for $19.95

Smelt ice fishing is a riot for kids, and for us big kids too

Have fun

[DaveSS1]

I use the 24" alumiglo LED that is sold at Cabelas.  Pricey, but definitely quality and runs off a 12 volt battery all night long.

[WestSideAl8x8]

I have been ice fishing for smelt for some 30 years now. What I use, and it works rather well will take you an hour or less to make and about $30 in hardware. I use the camper style full size 12 VDC incandescent lights. You can get them at any RV supply shop or from ebay. I then took 3 of the old school sockets that you screw a light bulb in and would plug it into an outlet. I took 50' of 2 strand wire and soldered (you could just run the wire through the holes in the plugs) the wire onto the plug bases. Once you have the wires connected you screw the bulbs in and use electrical tape to seal it all off. I have 3 lights (25 watt) on my rig spaced about 8' apart. You need to tie a weight on the bottom bulb to sink it. On the terminal end I put a pair of alligator clips on. I always tie the end attached to the battery to the handle on the battery so it doesn't end up on the bottom. Lights up the area underwater like nothing else can, and lights up the ice so you can see really well at night. I have tried painting the lights with green paint (light coat so it will still shine bright) as well as red and I don't think it matters too much on the color. Good luck..... Mind you this set up is more suited to somebody that ices smelt all the time....

[mud_n_fun]

I slapped together a 4' long 600 LED smelt light today for something to do. A 3/4" PVC tube to wrap the 2-15 meter strips. Some mineral oil. A florescent tube cover and some PVC caps. Some plumbers goop to seal it. Some speaker wire and alligator clips to finish it off.





Took about 40oz of mineral oil to fill the tube.

[sweetdad040]

I slapped together a 4' long 600 LED smelt light today for something to do. A 3/4" PVC tube to wrap the 2-15 meter strips. Some mineral oil. A florescent tube cover and some PVC caps. Some plumbers goop to seal it. Some speaker wire and alligator clips to finish it off.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

Took about 40oz of mineral oil to fill the tube.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

Outstanding..... Is there enough weight to over come the buoyancy of the air space???

[mud_n_fun]

Outstanding..... Is there enough weight to over come the buoyancy of the air space???

What air space? It is filled with mineral oil. The pic was while filling not the end result.

[baitslayer]

Mud_n_Fun. looks like you made a pretty nice light. Filling with mineral oil is brilliant. It has been working great in the light I built last year.

[187fish]

You run with a vex battery, or full size? Curious on the run time..I use an aqua star and its great but will suck a deep cycle dead in 4-5hrs..and thats a heavy battery..I know the leds run longer just wondering how much longer..

[mud_n_fun]

Mud_n_Fun. looks like you made a pretty nice light. Filling with mineral oil is brilliant. It has been working great in the light I built last year.

Hmm, didn't I learn about this from you? LOL

A 15 meter strand of LEDs draws about 4amps. That is per hour. My 30 meter string will draw 8 amps per hour. On a 120amp battery I should get 15 hours under perfect conditions and a single strand will get you 30 hours.
That is way more time than I will be on the ice.