camera lights scare eyes

[legerski82]

  Just bought a marcum 825c it has two led white lights, and was curious if anyone knew if it would scare walleyes off.

[Adam Bomb]

I dont use a camera, but my fishin' buddy does. He said walleye are not particularlly fond of the lights. Infact, he said, when it gets dark he shuts the camera down because he catches more fish when the lights arent on.

[Joshey3]

Does this also go for infrared lights that some of the cameras have?

[Adam Bomb]

Cant say

[fishstalker]

From all my experiences, Walleye absolutely HATE light! I'd keep the camera out of the water.

[NYFishFinder]

Would you say just walleye don't like light?  I do know that many places down south intentionally put lights in the water at night to attract fish.

[fishstalker]

Walleye hate light, but from experience, pike, bullhead, and bowfin are some how attracted to it.

[Adam Bomb]

Your correct in implying that walleye dont prefer light. They prefer low light periods, thus their peak feeding times. Or, you could make the same assumption by fishing on the open water. On high sun days the bite usually dies if the wind quits and the lake goes flat. When this happens often times youll see once suspended fish hugging bottom because of the sunlights deep penetration. But, if the wind picks up and you get some surface clutter diffusing the light penetration, youll often times see them suspend again and the bite pick up. Where i fish there is almost a direct corralation between the two...Plus, thats why they have such large highly developed eyes...for seeing in low light conditions.

[emptyhanded]

I used my aquaview on lake nippising and the lights scared them for sure -- after I pulled it out of the water, I got more hits

[NYFishFinder]

What about a glowstick?  Doesn't give off that bright light but gives a nice flourescent glow.  Just wondering because I know neon colored jigs work well for eyes.  Most likely just another stupid question I have

[Adam Bomb]

Glow lures work very well on walleye. The degree of glow the lure has can be cursial though. Sometimes they like a more intense glow and others, more subtle. In either instance I think glow lures are affective because they stand out against the dark backround and make an easy target.

As far as using a larger glow stick solely as an attractant, im not sure how well it would work on walleye as ive never tried it. That said, i usually dont wait for fish to come to me, i go to them. Its more productive fishing that way...at least for me. And once theyre located on the electronics, glow or no glow, walleye can find your presentation. Its more about finding the trigger, which may be the glow in some situations.

[iluvcrappie]

I can say that in my experience I have seen camera lights both scare fish and not scare them.................a ll depending on the water you are fishing.............I have had my camera in the water with the lights on and watch walleyes swim through but nothing will bite...I pull the camera out of the water and wham it is like someone flipped a switch and I can't hardly keep my line in the water................. ...............

[BaitWrangler]

Would you say just walleye don't like light?  I do know that many places down south intentionally put lights in the water at night to attract fish.

People do that because the light attracts microscopic critters, which brings in the bait, which catches the attention of the bigger fish. The light isn't directly what is causing the big fish... the bait fish either.  They'd actually like to avoid the light too, as it makes them easier to spot.  Instead the bait fish are after the food that the light attracts because they can't refuse an easy meal.. like the bait fish, the game fish can't refuse the easy meal either.

Different animals are built for different life styles and enviroments. I don't fish for 'eye but from what you all say they are night biters. Animals that perfer to hunt during the night typically do so through the means of specialized sensory organs. (Eyes, ears, pores, etc.)  Too much light could mean sensory overload for them which causes them stress and probaly makes them less likely to bite.

Sorry to be so long winded. I always seem to be.

[BaitWrangler]

Who ever suggested IR light, you are likely on to something there and I'd be very curious to hear peoples experiences with those as opposed to white LED's.

I say this because (as weird as it sounds) another hobby of mine is breeding/raising different species of scorpions. Scorpions are noctural and actually extremely photophobic (light causes a lot of stress).  Some light is perfectly fine for them, as it's hard to avoid sunlight 100% of the time in nature... but constant exposure to bright lights causes them stress over time and they eventually die.

To prevent this, people in the hobby (and researchers/labratories) use IR lights.  The wave lengths put off by the IR lights are not detectable by their crude visual systems and therefore they are not stressed.