Alright guys, I just made a green light and it works great for attracting baitfish....now how do I use it to catch fish? Haha, the reason I ask is we just fished last night and had THOUSANDS of shad swarming the light, but didn't catch a thing. How do most people use them? What type of fish? Structure? live bait or jig? etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I have attracted a huge baitball at time and failed to catch a single fish, tho that's not the norm. I fish for crappie by dropping minnows below the baitball away from the light. Many think you should fish in the darker outer edge of the glow. You also need to drop the light in a spot that is likely to hold fish.

This!

I've used them in the past for Crappie and sand bass. You still have to use them in an area that is holding fish. They'll move a little ways for the minnows but only so far. Look for a brush pile, bridge or dock. Once they get to feeding, they'll come into the light chasing the bait. You'll know they're there. It usually took me about 30 minutes to attract the bait and the fish followed. I'd say if you are having any luck within that time then move to another spot.

The fish will normally be outside the glow of the light. Sometimes you'll see stripers and sand bass blast through at high speed but the fish do not like the light. The minnows are after the plankton that are attracted to the light.

You have any pictures of the light you made?

We use them with GREAT success on whites and few crappie under bridges. I believe that the crappie may be pushed out by all of the white bass that hold in and near the light. Though it could just be that whites are like a starving Wolf pack anything they see from jigs to live minnows, and are beating crappie to the bait. I have noticed that the brightness of the light seems to matter. I have a 12" led green light my dad uses a 26" green led. I will be killing fish only only one set of pilons away while they don't seem to be getting a thing (not sure why). Well hope any of this helps.

The one my friend has attracts Bass and Catfish. It's just outside his boat house so when the lake is clear you can see them circle the light at night. We have caught several bass just before day light with top water and rattle traps.

Thanks guys! Very helpful. Think I'm going to take it out to Lavon soon and sit under a bridge with some minnows and jigs. I don't have a pic of the light right now, but I will try to get one soon. There are several good youtube how-to videos out there. I took a little bit from all of them to make mine.

If you are fishing a bridge and not catching, leave the light in as you troll to another pillar. The bait fish will follow you and you won't have to wait for them to congregate again. I've move huge schools of bait fish from coves out on top of brush piles that way.

At the coast we had train headlights on our dock when I was a kid. We'd turn the lights on at dark and go back inside. You could see the water through the kitchen window. We could see reflected shrimp eyes in the water almost immediately, but until the shrimp started jumping out of the water we wouldn't catch any fish. It sometimes took the fish an hour or so to find the buffet we laid out for them. I know this isn't in fresh water, but I believe the basic principle would apply. Just gotta' give the hunters some time to find the hunted.