Fishing with Green Lights

If you enjoy night fishing with regularity, you probably know exactly what you’re seeing in this somewhat cryptic picture: fish that have been attracted to green lights. Many of us who enjoy night fishing know that the greenie is a piece of critical gear – and those that don’t understand this have probably never used one. Personally, I simply would not leave the dock – ever – for a night fishing trip without the green light aboard. Here are some tips and tricks for using one to its fullest potential.

1. It usually takes between 45 minutes and an hour for the light to work its magic, so be prepared to wait a while and don’t be too quick to switch spots if you don’t see hordes of fish immediately.
2. While bait (fish, shrimp, crabs – all kinds of critters) will swarm the halo of green, predators usually do their hunting at its periphery. So place your offerings where the green fades out into the darkness.
3. If you can set up your boat so the edge of your green light intersects with an already-occurring light-line (from a bridge, a well lighted pier, etc), you have a prime spot picked out. Fish will be lured into the broader area by the bigger light source, then home in on its intersection with your green oddity.
4. Generally speaking, these lights work best when set just under the surface. You can lower them down to the bottom but this doesn’t often produce more fish (though there certainly are exceptions) and you run a greater risk of tangling your line around the light chord.
5. If you’ll be casting lures in and around the greenie, make sure you try black. This color is shockingly effective at times, at night in the light.

BONUS TIP: If you’ll be fishing away from other lights and near structure, anchoring up almost always and then setting up green lights works best. Fish will stick with you when adrift with the green fishing light deployed, but if you need to move back to your starting point to get back on the structure, you’ll have to pull the light and start all over again.